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?

@YeOldeTrout I do everything on your list except takeaway coffees (because I hate coffee/tea/all hot drinks ) and borrow money for something I don’t need.
I’m the least frugal person I know!
My brother is in awe of how I’ve turned out this way when he is the most frugal person I know.
And giving stuff away (kids clothes, books, games, adult clothes, household stuff we don’t need anymore etc) is just sensible - plus I’m lazy so usually send a group message around when I’m having a clear out asking if anyone wants anything before it goes to the charity shop, saves me a trip

@Porkchops83 would you like to expand on that?

The discussion about local service providers losing business is very sobering. We live rurally, with a large number of micro businesses reliant on customers spending on non-essentials and I can imagine this will really impact our local economy.

This comment resonated. I’m mortgage free and ok for savings but my income is now low, so I’m being careful. My cost cutting is generally going to affect big corporations. No more Vue cinema, Netflix, Spotify subscription, Amazon prime, macdonalds - I’ll keep the milk deliveries and the local farm shop food, just eat less of the most expensive products and more vegetarian dinners.

@Porkchops83

This thread has literally made me throw up in my mouth a little bit!!!

Hide it then Peppa 🙄🙄

I think most of us will cut back even if in a good financial position, if it means you can save for the future or have more for other things like treats then it’s even better

I’m not sure why so many are coming on to post on a thread which is clearly targeted at those who are financially comfortable, to say it is tone deaf. If you’re not in that bracket, don’t click on the thread if you don’t want to hear that people are.

I haven’t cut back as such but I am more aware of my spending and think twice before I buy stuff. We’re hopefully getting a smart meter soon and I’ve stopped heating the house during the day whilst it’s just me WFH. I’m noticing we have less going in to savings and want to make sure we always have that cushion for emergencies should anything happen.

Petrol is going up and energy bills rising but I don’t see what the panic is? Seems over dramatic.

@Hellsbells35

Petrol is going up and energy bills rising but I don’t see what the panic is? Seems over dramatic.

At the moment, signs are pointing to a recession. Petrol is going up significantly. Energy bills are rising significantly. General cost of living is rising significantly. There’s absolutely no panic if you have unlimited funds, but most people aren’t in that position.

@Hellsbells35

Petrol is going up and energy bills rising but I don’t see what the panic is? Seems over dramatic.

That’s a very fortunate position to be in. Most of us are going to have to tighten our belts a fair bit for the foreseeable future.

@Hellsbells35

Petrol is going up and energy bills rising but I don’t see what the panic is? Seems over dramatic.

the standing charge on my energy bill has doubled. There is no avoiding this or reducing it by my energy use, that extra cost has to come from somewhere. I am hoping that by making small spending changes now I can avoid larger ones later.

We don't have to cut back or have much to cut back as we are pretty frugal.

If we can afford it, we will continue to patronise businesses.

The only area we want to cut back on is energy consumption, but that is so we don't inadvertently add to Putin's coffers.

@Porkchops83

This thread has literally made me throw up in my mouth a little bit!!!

Read the title thread and accept there are all different people in life. Ignorance isn't a one way street

It never hurts to be careful with money and have pause and resets on how responsibly/irresponsibly you’re handling it no matter how much of it you have.

@KentdonMum - I agree with you. We are probably what you’d call well off now (though it’s all relative, some of my closest friends are earning 250k plus and one at least 600k, and offshore too so no high tax! - we certainly aren’t!) but I’ve been on the bones of my arse in my 20’s before - loads of debt from stupid spending then lost job - so I am very conscious of how we spend now.

We also have 2 very young DC so have a responsibility to examine our spending when costs are rising to ensure we are spending it as sensibly as possible.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that - my friend who earns 600k, I know for a fact doesn’t really think about what he sticks in his supermarket trolley (and why should he), we can afford to buy nice food but I still keep an eye on it and make sure I get the best deals where I can - it’s all relative

Yes same here. I have bought some gorgeous teddy blankets from Dunelm for £8 each and we are snuggling under them or wearing extra layers rather than having the heating on as much as previous years.

Cut down on takeaways - just 1 allowed per fortnight.

Batch cooking so 1 or 2 nights a week we can must throw something in the microwave rather than using the oven and hob.

Down-branded on most shopping items although we already used cheapest brand on quite a few things anyway.

@MoonbeamSprinkles

I love how every single person on this thread believes themselves to be frugal

Where are all the unfrugal people?

Are we reading the same thread?

I posted and indeed dozens of other posters have either said
No - we won’t cut back
Or
We will make small changes but we are lucky we do not currently have to do more

@Hellsbells35

Petrol is going up and energy bills rising but I don’t see what the panic is? Seems over dramatic.

Panic it seems is what drives so many (on mumsnet at least) these days

I sympathise
But I wonder what life must be like for them and indeed their children living in this constant stay of high alert

@YeOldeTrout

Yeah that 's fair about the frugal / unfrugal... who are they, indeed.

if i did below things, `i would say I wasn't frugal:

Bought coffee to go
subscribed to netflix amazon etc
had amazon prime
used a tumble dryer
bought lots of take-away food
bought clothes when I didn't need them (before they were falling off/ full of holes/ unuseable)
shopped as recreation
ate meals out "for a change" or because I fancied it
shopped for clothes outside charity shops
went to live entertainment like concerts
drove when I could cycle or walk
got my hair cut/coloured professionally
went to spas, or beauty salons
ever got my nails done
had a gym membership I didn't use
had any hobbies
wore make up (means buying it)
vaped, smoked
borrowed money to buy things not strictly needed
redecorated because I fancied it
bought lunch out rather than have pack up
wasted food
wasted electricity, heating
didn't try to sell stuff (binned or gave away instead)

I don't object to anyone doing those things if they can afford them, btw. Just saying they are sort of habits that don't sound frugal

We had expensive holiday at Christmas -- not frugal. DS got a good spec Garmin for his birthday. I suppose that wasn't frugal, either. We have pets... I'm not perfectly frugal, just fairly frugal.

You honestly think getting a hair cut or giving p charity means you’re no frugal?

An you say gym membership but only If you don’t use. So if you use your gym membership than that membership fee is frugal

“ Petrol is going up and energy bills rising but I don’t see what the panic is? Seems over dramatic.”

The panic is that energy bills are costing over a hundred pounds per week extra, petrol costs have increased, mortgage rates have gone up, food prices have increased. Therefore, through no fault of their own, the daily cost of living could be £200 per month more than it was a few months ago, and not everyone has this money to spare. It could be the difference between having a safety net of income per month, and being overdrawn.

I've not started cutting back yet because my budget says I don't need to. We're still saving / have excess every month even allowing for increased costs so at the moment we're ok.

This may change if things keep getting worse so I already know what will be the first things to go if times get harder.

We are in a very fortunate position though. I have friends for who the price increases will be devastating as they are already budgeted to the nth degree and live on next to nothing once bills and rent/mortgage are paid.

MoonbeamSprinkles

I love how every single person on this thread believes themselves to be frugal grin

Where are all the unfrugal people?

Here we are as I said up the thread. I've never been frugal or had a knee jerk reaction to a temporary situation. It's what can cause a recession. Better to carry on if you can as it keeps the economy going. These threads always get competitive about how much people say they will do.
Remember Brexit? On MN huge House price crashes we're forecast, economy was fucked, prepping (hoarding) of food and medicine.
Similar with covid- On MN mass redundancy, house prices crash (again)- when the total opposite happened, over buying of toilet paper.
I agree with implantreplace people seem to love a drama and MN often take it to the extreme.
There will probably be a house price crash thread shortly.

We’re very fortunate that we are very comfortable and won’t need to really cut back. That being said I use the tumble drier about twice a year, we have already turned out heat off for the year apart from the (water based) underfloor heating downstairs and luckily I’ve put on a stone in lockdown so clothes shopping as a hobby currently just isn’t fun.
We will still support our local businesses, but will also support big corporates as they employ people too, and over lockdown I was so grateful to be able to order from Amazon Prime. Plus my pension scheme invests in big corporates and I’d like a healthy pension one day so I don’t object to companies making money. We go to a wonderful local independent coffee shop, but we also go to the local costa (franchise).
I am also keeping a close eye on my family to make sure that they are ok.

I fully appreciate how lucky we are in all of this, and agree that we have a duty to keep the economy going to the extent we are able to balance this with feeling secure ourselves.

Why is it a bit tone deaf to cut back on riding lessons? It’s all relative surely? Cutting back is cutting back and I know a lot of poorer people who struggle for their child to go riding. I really hate jealousy.