If you are financially comfortable, have you started cutting back on non-essentials?

[LabraDabraDoo]

I realise that we are very fortunate to have the financial headroom to choose to cut back and at the moment we spend quite a bit on non-essentials. We did a budget last night to look at likely price increases (especially fuel) and it looks like, while our jobs are secure ( although our investments are in the doldrums) we will be cutting back on quite a few non-essentials. Anyone else also making this choice yet?

Our list includes:
Back to buying decent quality supermarket meat and reining in trips to the farm shop.
I’m not buying clothes this Spring, I have enough to clothe a hundred middle aged women. We aren’t heating unused rooms in the house. Horse riding lessons are being suspended ( kids didn’t seem too bothered so that’s an easy £200 saved). We’ve cancelled our plan to refloor downstairs (wooden floors, so that’s a big saving). I planned to raise the children to a cottage in Norfolk for a couple of weeks in summer and we’ve arranged a house swap with a friend instead. We are not going out to eat for the foreseeable, and outings will be free swimming at the gym, dog walks etc. All other home improvement plans and big spends ( I considered renewing my car) are on hold. There are some things I hope we don’t have to cut, like cancelling holidays, music lessons and our lovely cleaner. We are still saving money into pensions and investments.

Anyone else making cutbacks? Do you think it’s going to start having an impact on people who provide non-essential services or are they still enjoying a post-Covid boom?

Lighting making sure that lights are off in the evening only sitting room lamp and TV light. Charging up tablet phone kindle in the evening pulling out plug when charged.

Shower on low gush rather than full power I still get clean. Washing make sure I have a full load, hanging stuff out when weather suitable and finished off in the conservatory. Gas tumbler which is cheaper.

Shopping we keep a shopping list running in the kitchen. OH takes his rucksack and cycles to get in-between shopping. He likes Lidl so off he goes.

We downsized a few years ago to an all electric house bar heating so are having an inset multi fuel stove put in next month. I've been twitchy about heating for a while OH agreed finally. He did try to put it off summer time but the prices are going up. Our stove last delivery was £400 cheaper

Interesting thread. I think I am more worried about how much worse it could get. We have savings to dip into but these could quickly deplete. At the minute I am more concerned about the cost of fuel, and will be reducing usage; lower thermometer, less driving etc. I just worked out that the tumble dryer is costing about £1 a load, so will be line drying much more. I will make a marked effort to support smaller businesses, though.

We are very comfortable, but we already went through a major life change last year - retiring early and moving house. We are leaving our pensions invested for now and drawing on ISA savings for the next several years. So we are already adjusting to a new economic reality with several significant changes having taken place simultaneously.

As part of that “life restructure” we bought an electric car and installed solar panels and battery - exchanging capital now for lower outgoings going forward.

We are “paying” ourselves a fixed monthly income from the ISA’s and our task is to live within it. Otherwise we would have to increase the monthly transfer to give ourselves a “pay rise”, and that means the pot will run out sooner than planned. So far, it feels like there is enough slack for us not to need to consciously cut back on anything, but only time will tell.

Thanks to the EV and solar panels, my consciousness has been raised in relation to energy use so we are all over that one. There are certain things many people do regularly which we simply don’t do, e.g. drink alcohol, Netflix/Sky subscriptions, nails and fashion. But we do concerts and cinema and lunches out pretty regularly. We will continue to do these until and unless the money starts looking tight - both because we want to enjoy our retirement, but also because we do feel an obligation to support the local economy to enable others to pay their bills.

If it comes to it, we would cut back on those leisure items as that is the main area of non-essential spending for us.

We are "comfortable" in the sense that we can pay all our bills and help our adult children out with things like house renos.

But we are older and have saved. We also are quite frugal, especially DH.

We stopped eating lunch out on the weekends due to the pandemic and haven't started again.

Our main expenditures have been traveling, and that also has been cut.

We are careful with things like turning lights off, keeping our place on the cool side, shopping sales and using foods in season when they are less expensive.

Our City is a very expensive place to live so being careful is important. Things can change in an instant. Food prices are way up here.

Where I am struggling with this is more of a moral dilemma. I live rurally and there is no public transport within a 5 mile radius. So I drive.

Normally when I am out and about (maybe once a week) I would buy things from small local businesses - gifts, books, cleaning products from the hardware store, maybe a takeaway coffee. Take away that journey, then I'm not going to spend with those businesses. Worse still chances are I will be buying from say Amazon or other online giants when I need to buy a present etc as they are noticably cheaper.

Morally that doesn't sit well with me, financially that decision saves money.

Things on my cancel list - cleaner, clothes (apart from second hand), holidays and all the money I spend when I'm away at local businesses, beauty treatments, sports massages (these 2 are not frequent), sports coaching.

I wonder how many people will cancel their kids off local clubs - eg football, scouts, swimming, dance, rugby etc. There is a risk that some of those will become unviable and therefore they will close to all kids (even those who would continue to pay).

My window cleaner has been today, an absolutely lovely bloke, who set up his business at age 17, (been doung my windows for last 10 years) reliable take great pride in his work, whilst chatting it turns out he has lost £1800 worth of clients so far this week, so essentially £150 of his gross income per month just gone, really do feel bad for those in service industries, My wheelie bin cleaner has had clients cancel, also lost income.

Just looked at the premium brand stuff we buy and looked at swaps on some (not all) and realised I can actually ditch quite a few to make the savings to continue using their services, it will not cover the cost of increased energy but we are lucky enough to absorb that in our income but could not do that without the swaps and would have had to use savings.

I’m replacing Sky with Now TV. Not leaving items on stand by. Cancelled gym membership. Bulk buying. Going to bed with electric blanket rather than having the fire on. Only using the oven at weekends, hob or slow cooker the rest of the time. 3 minute showers. Only using the car for essential trips. Doing maintenance jobs now ie getting the chimney swept and the boiler maintained. Keeping the curtains shut when it is really cold outside.

Yes we are. We are in the lucky position that we don’t really need to but I don’t think it does any harm to take a look at what you spend and see if you’re spending wisely.

I’ve slightly changed the way I drive to help fuel economy, I’ve turned radiators off in unused rooms (& kept their doors shut) and am trying to get back to a big weekly shop from Aldi rather than buying daily at the coop/M&S. Also trying to find time to make packed lunches rather than buy on my lunch break.

We're making best use of our money. Food shopping is now done at Aldi or Asda and we shop around for fuel (one petrol, one diesel car). Our gas and electric is now £129 a month, and we're loathe to see this go up, so we've been adding draught exlcuder tape around ill fitting doors, used DH's shirt as a draught excluder on the dining room where he works from home and we've used £30 of secondary glazing film to triple glaze the windows. It's been noticeably warmer and quieter and we've noticed the heating hasn't been on as much, although it has been warmer too.

We're keeping our national trust membership as we can do cheap days out with the kids if we take a picnic, and keeping swimming lesson and martial arts as these are key for the kids (one has ASD so the control side of martial arts is a big help). Previously, we'd wanted to go out for a meal on a monthly basis (we nevr do takeaways or meals out as we have no childcare), but we can't afford that now. We don't smoke or drink, and DH's car is used less now he's mainly working from home so we've booked a couple of weekends away, at Easter and August Bank Holiday, in the UK (B&B with family, then glamping) so we have something to look forward to.

Comfortable just means that the money coming in is more than the money going out, surely? However much that might be – it's all relative.

I'm not cancelling anything - though reading this makes me feel maybe I should be – but I am finding that the size of the gas/electricity bill is encouraging my family to be more environmentally aware than before! Have reprogrammed the heating not to come on in the morning and no-one really notices till the evening. As it gets warmer we should need it less anyway.

We’re retired and the mortgage is paid off. I have an inheritance coming which actually means that for the first time in my life I am reasonably comfortably off by my standards.
We were going to move house but have had to cancel that so we’re spending on the house to make it as we would like it and as eco friendly as possible.
A new boiler has been installed, a wood burner is going in - we can access dried wood easily so out heat costs will drop.
We will probably have the roof replaced at some point because the lining under the tiles is in tatters (there’s a good thickness of insulation in the loft)
I have upgraded my car for an eco version, that’ll last me for years.
We rarely have takeaways (can’t remember the last time!), rarely drink and have an occasional holiday in the UK.
The house will be redecorated and new carpets installed then hopefully that’s us set for the next 15 years 😊

Obviously I realise for many the reality is very different; I do shop locally whenever I can and do my best to support local businesses. I also contribute to the local Foodbank and other charities.

Personally, we are watching the heating and we will be trying to drive the car less. Thankfully our summer holiday was booked months ago, so we don’t have to pay inflated prices to cover increased fuel costs for the flights, but we did change our Christmas plans from long-haul to somewhere we can drive.

We had been planning to do some home improvements, but will keep that money in savings for now.

We also looked into the purchase of an electric car this week, though that was a non-starter because tech is moving too fast right now… we will potter along with our current car for a few more years before we take that plunge as it at least has good fuel economy.

We're pretty frugal, and low earners too, but financially stable and not huge outgoings.

There's a lot of things we don't have anyway (gym, sky, Netflix etc) but we are using the heating a lot less, and not using the car 4 days out of 7.

We are in walking and biking distance of work, but just need to take DC to school a few times. I need to get DC a phone, but it will be a cheapie and SIM only deal

I'm glad I don't work from home though, at work the heating is on!

@TammyOne

It’s all a bit “ fun frugality “ raising your own chickens and planting seeds. Buying fewer organic groceries.. I mean, go for it, save your money, but these type of posts do read a bit like it’s a game- working out little savings while still having a lovely life. I think a lot of people in this country are sick with worry so might be a bit spiky about these kinds of posts.

Very much this

Comfortable just means that the money coming in is more than the money going out, surely? However much that might be – it's all relative.

I don’t think that is necessarily what it means, though. If you are putting money in savings, pensions, investments, is that money coming in or going out?

@Vapeyvapevape

I would put my financial situation somewhere between comfortable and just about doing ok . I'm turning the heating off earlier, no more take aways, showers only (my dd has a bath and then a shower to wash her hair) , I'm making a flask of coffee (wfh) so I don't keep boiling the kettle.

I'm embarrassed to admit that it's not occurred to me to make a flask of tea. I get through many cups. What a great idea (I wfh) so thank you!!!!!

Yes, we're starting to make cut backs. That's mainly so we can continue to save, I feel uncomfortable with the idea of spending all our outgoings. I'm cancelling my fancy pants gym membership, and I'll sign up to the council gym. I never used the pool/sauna/spa anyway, and mainly go to classes. I've tried a few classes at the council gym and they're just as good, so I've no need to spend the extra £30 a month. I'm making more use of my Instant Pot by batch cooking soups to take to work, and cooking meals with lots of veg, beans and lentils, which as well as reducing our meat bill is healthier too. I didn't buy any new clothes for a year a couple of years ago (for environmental reasons), so I think I'll do another year's new clothes ban starting now, as like you say, I have enough. The house swap is a nice idea for holidays, I'll need to have a think who might want to swap houses with us.

Comfortable here, but realised spending over 100 a week on food when there’s only two of us now and DH works away four nights a week is ridiculous. Especially since I have two freezers rammed.

So the last couple of weeks I’ve taken 40.00 cash out and gone round the supermarket adding up in my head and only buying essentials.

Came in under budget last week and 17p over this week. £120.00 saving with absolutely no sacrifices at all.

Madness.

@Springandsummerarecoming

We are also getting rid of our national trust member shop too.

Why do that? We pay a tenner a month for family membership giving us unlimited access to properties. Great at weekends for a decent walk out. Especially for the kids.

@1winterblues

I also don't think I am well off by any means but yes we comfortable. In so much I didn't check my bank before I spend money etc.

Yes we are definitely looking at where we can cut back like heating, eating out and takeaways.

I am paying much more attention to the weekly food shop, and trying to meal plan more and eat leftovers up. (Yes I know we should be doing this anyway) I often over buy cleaning things and toiletries but now am not buying them until we actually run out.

Somethings I have moved to fortnightly like organic chicken delivery and ironing.

I am also not buying any clothes for me and this is a big motivation to lose weight

I am absolutely aware that we are in a privileged position compared to many families.

Overbuy on cleaning stuff, you may as well carry on instead of waiting till nearly empty,as the next lot will be dearer, that’s what we do, it won’t eat or drink anything,so that’s a definite saving

I find these posts intriguing

If you’re not big spenders at al
But could “easily cut back”
On what?
Genuine question

@Landedonfeet - when I say we're not big spenders, I mean we don't go to the theatre or cinema regularly, we don't spend a fortune on clothes or expensive cars, we live modestly and well within our means.

But that doesn't mean we couldn't cut back - we could easily stop all our subscription services and weekly takeaways, for example. We don't spend loads or buy anything extravagant, but we'd easily save £100 a month.

We could also switch to using the wood-burning stove instead of the central heating, minimise our leisure journeys by car and stop spending money on unnecessary hobby items.

But as I say, we don't spend a fortune on those things so at the moment, there's no need to cut back. We save plenty on our salaries and live in a cheap area. We don't have children and have a small mortgage so there are no huge obligatory outgoings.

We're just naturally quite frugal I suppose.

@Pyri

I understand the point of this thread but think it’s a little tone deaf to talk about cutting back on horse riding lessons etc!

No it's not, are people only allowed to talk about it if they're on the breadline?!

@Landedonfeet

Our bills are
Electricity- can't cut back
Phones x2 - could find better deals I suppose
Internet/tv - could find a better deal or cancel altogether if needed
Life insurance- I wouldn't dream of cancelling but may be able to reduce?
Food- cut reduce a bit more
Fuel- cut reduce being in the car
Car expenses (tax and insurance) x2- I suppose we could reduce down to one car
Waste (bins) - could reduce or cancel maybe and bring it to the dump ourselves
Childcare- could cancel as dh works from home .

@quicklybeingdrivenmad

My window cleaner has been today, an absolutely lovely bloke, who set up his business at age 17, (been doung my windows for last 10 years) reliable take great pride in his work, whilst chatting it turns out he has lost £1800 worth of clients so far this week, so essentially £150 of his gross income per month just gone, really do feel bad for those in service industries, My wheelie bin cleaner has had clients cancel, also lost income.

Just looked at the premium brand stuff we buy and looked at swaps on some (not all) and realised I can actually ditch quite a few to make the savings to continue using their services, it will not cover the cost of increased energy but we are lucky enough to absorb that in our income but could not do that without the swaps and would have had to use savings.

very useful contribution and exactly why this thread and discussion is very valid. If sense checking how everyone else is responding to increasing prices helps people re-evaluate and make 'better' decisions that support those in the most need, surely that is good.

Oh and the cleaner- I could cancel her too if needed