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?

I am a single parent but earn a reasonable salary. I'd consider myself comfortable but not excessively so.
The non essentials I'm considering cutting are my personal grooming. I spend £90 a month on nails, waxing and hairdresser. However all those services are provided by small wfh individuals that I consider to be friends. If I cancel, what happens to their finances?
The other way I could save money is cutting the children's activities, which are £220 a month 😱
But I wouldn't cut the children's clubs before I stop getting my nails done, as what kind of parent would that make me?!
So the reality is, I adversely affect my friends businesses, my children's quality of life.....or I find something else that needs to go.
I have no idea what though.

Another thing, I did not renew gym membership when it expired in February. I dont go often enough to justify it.

We are lucky enough to be currently comfortable but have cancelled my monthly supermarket delivery & will do the shop myself, use the car less & walk more, cancel NOW TV cinema, we have turned the heating down & set it to come on later in the morning, turned off the radiators upstairs.

My biggest saving is now taking my lunch to work rather than buying sandwiches/snacks every day - saves us about £15 a day between myself & DH.

Cutting down on gas and electric use, and arranged for a water meter fitting. Looking at getting a wood burner fitted, and a more energy efficient front door before next winter.

We have cancelled all our subscription box type things - I got a couple of craft type ones for the kids and a magazine, and alternated beauty and crafty ones for me - and prime. Will cancel either Netflix or Disney plus. No more takeaways (was mostly dh’s Chinese habit) and no lunches out, packed lunches/snacks anywhere. Not cancelling any extra curriculars (swimming and choir) but not adding any new ones which we’d been thinking of. Also had been thinking about getting a dog this year but think it’ll have to wait

I reviewed our monthly budget, doubled the amount we pay for gas/electricity (locked in at a good rate for a year thanks to the Martin Lewis tip), swimming lessons at the nice local gym will stop, ditto some music lessons at school come the end of term. Fewer expensive days out, more visits to free museums etc. We are not super frugal yet but I do look for offers and buy in the sales. Any additional household repairs/expenses (need new sofas and some new furniture) will come from an inheritance I will receive in the next few months (late elderly relative). I’d be much more worried if I didn’t have that cushion to be honest.

@TabithaTittlemouse

I hate threads like this where people pile in to tell the op that they are ‘tone deaf’ (a phrase that I absolutely hate anyway). Op has explained why she has posted, she’s not pretending to be struggling, she’s aware that she’s fortunate.

Are people not allowed to post if they aren’t using food banks?

I wrote that I thought it was “tone deaf”

I am also very fortunate in that so far, we haven’t had to make cuts etc, so this certainly isn’t sour grapes or something.

But for me, this is the kind of thing I’d think about and discuss with my husband to see what savings we might need to make. I think that a thread like this could upset those who really are struggling and wishing that their biggest problem is which hobby to cut instead of whether to eat or heat.

I do take the point though that you can scroll on by and would defend someone looking to spend their money on a holiday or something so perhaps I am a hypocrite!

In the past few years, I think many people have chosen to support such businesses, even if they are more expensive and I worry that ( while we need to do what is financially best for our family), it is these businesses that will suffer.

I think you're absolutely right OP. I'd have put money on local high streets having a bit of life put back into them once covid calmed down. I think more people are conscious about how and where they spend their money. For example, I could see butchers returning where more families are increasingly wanting to eat less but better quality meat with more transparency in the food chain.

I can't see that happening now.

I had bought most of my toddlers clothes from the cute handmade boutique-y shops on Instagram, but am not going to be able to justify it at all going forward. It breaks my heart, most of these businesses are run by mums like me.

Unfortunately the things we are considering cutting down are the things that will disproportionately affect smaller businesses Our craft subscriptions, expensive meat from the local butcher, book subscription.

I’ve stopped using the tumble dryer (which is a pain with 2 small children). Wear a Lidl fake oodie and try not to have the heating on when WFH.

I’m monitoring the situation closely. I still online shop with Tesco as then I don’t get carried away putting extras in the trolley. Our local Aldi is shocking with use by dates as every time I go there everything seems to be going out of date in the next day or two.

Also reviewing finances and little extras that creep into the budget like free Disney plus which isn’t free anymore.

We aren't in the same position as you at all, but we have been looking for things to cut back on.

Netflix has gone . Thats £10 a month.

The heating has now gone off , as we are on pre payment meters , it will hopefully mean we dont have to worry about gas until October time when it goes back on (unless we have a cold spell in the next few weeks, i do have £43 on my gas meter so it should cover for a good while)

Apart from that there isnt much to cut back on. We have a 4 day caravan holiday planned for the summer , i could cancel it , but its the only thing planned for this year and i really dont want to.

My daughter does a lot of after school clubs. I am going to gently bring it up with her over the next few months , but shes using some as her duke of Edinburgh award and they are great for her fitness.

Dh is really great at picking up extra shifts at work , but he does long hours anyway.

Im going to approach work about adding an extra half day from September. In reality it will only be an extra 3 hours a week , but if it helps cover the gas bill it might be worth it.

Other than that, i do a college course one night a week. The closest place that offers it is 20 miles away (but takes ages and a lot of fuel driving into a city at tea time). I would finish this year (as i only have 12 lessons left) but probably wouldn't go on to do level 2. Which would be such a shame, but would probably save a tank of petrol a month.

It's not tone deaf, people have different financial situations, why can you only talk about it if you are skint?

Fortunately I started a new role recently with a significant payrise. Instead of moving house as planned, the extra money will cover the rise in the cost of living for now without having to cut back.

Seriously considering not moving at all now, we could do with an extra bedroom but the cost of energy and potential interest rate rises is making me reconsider. We lost our house in the recession in the 90s and I'd rather stay in the smaller house we are in now then potentially put my kids through that. My parents never financially recovered from and were never able to buy another house. My mum is in HA and figuring out how she will pay for rent for the rest of her life.

Not yet. My monthly disposable income after mortgage and bills is about £1400. I shop at Asda anyway as it's convenient, I can't be arsed going miles to farm shops as a single working mum. I'm not into clothes so I don't buy many. Not into "stuff" either, like homeware and furniture, I'd only replace stuff if it was broken or falling apart.

Days out, holidays and DS's expensive hobbies (horse riding and music) are my luxuries.

First thing that I'll get rid of if necessary is charity donations. Then it would be my monthly nail appointment.

Same here. We don’t meal plan and buy good food but we’ll make more of an effort here to be more frugal. Hairdressers appointments will be less frequent, less eating out.

I’m only going to buy clothes from charity shops this year as well, I really don’t need anything new other than the novelty of buying something.

Local business will really suffer

Seriously considering not moving at all now, we could do with an extra bedroom but the cost of energy and potential interest rate rises is making me reconsider. We lost our house in the recession in the 90s and I'd rather stay in the smaller house we are in now then potentially put my kids through that

Similar here. We were looking to move later this year but think we’ll stay put now. Too much uncertainty and I don’t think it’s the time to stretch our finances.

@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!

It’s not tone deaf - the OP’s been clear in the title who the thread is aimed at. Those who know it will upset them can avoid it. This is a broad spectrum platform, people have different interests

Yes, we are cutting down on energy usage and we are deliberating over mortgage affordability as we are moving.

Yes, we're cutting back on pretty much everything we can. Comfortably off but self employed so income is not guaranteed, and will reduce as a recession bites.

The heat has gone off completely so the house is 12 degrees. It's actually not that cold, I wear a puffa jacket indoors and work standing up as you don't get cold that way. We're careful about hot water use, and grocery shopping. We already walk everywhere we can, so can't really cut back on car use any more than we already have.

Times are going to be hard for everyone, but harder for those who were struggling before this so I think those of us who are doing ok should continue to donate to food banks etc

To be honest I’m not going to cut back on anything unless I 100% need to but that’s mainly because I stopped going out for meals/nights out during covid anyway and never got back in the habit.

So the luxuries I have now are mainly service based things and I’d want to support them as much as possible . Also this is how I do most of my socialising, I seem to have replaced going out in the evening with getting my nails done.

I’m in a different position to most people though as I don’t have children and which means we’ve been able to stay in a small house and as a consequence our bills and mortgage are tiny.
This is because I grew up in poverty and have always felt the rug could be pulled at any moment so we don’t really spend much money to begin with.

I can’t imagine how upsetting and frightening it must be if you have children. I will try and keep circulating the money I do spend in the local economy as much as possible.

I'm not cutting back as I'm quite frugal already but new purchases and big financial decisions are going to have to wait a while. I refuse to pay the ballooned prices for used cars at the moment so moving to a bigger, more useful vehicle or the plug-in hybrid I wanted is going to have to wait at least another couple of years. A potential house move is on hold for similar reasons, until some of the city folk causing the price boom decide they can't cope with rural living anymore and sell up. I'm also stopping the new job hunt for a while too - the years' service I've built up at my current place will come in handy if things go TU and I'm made redundant.

I totally get where your coming from and don’t like the attitude that you aren’t allowed to discuss these things unless your on the breadline.
However, this is the most hilariously middle class thing I’ve ever read which makes me a little suspicious.

I think part of the problem is what does “financially comfortable” mean? I think I am financially comfortable. We earn about 55k between us. But financially comfortable means we have never had tv or gym subscriptions, we only shop at Lidl, we don’t buy new clothes at all ever, we don’t drink alcohol and we don’t put heating on. But we don’t need to look at the bank balance when we go to the supermarket. We can pay the council tax etc. That’s why at the moment we are financially comfortable -that’s what it means to me. We can’t cut anything back now prices are rising.

I’ve been avoiding putting the heating on so much. It helps that it has warmed up a little!

We eat out too much and get too much take aways so those will be the first thing to go. I think we are overpaying on heating at the moment which I’m pleased about. We have to drive for the school and nursery runs. The rise in diesel worries me.

No, we are retired and have already missed out on holidays because of Covid so it will just come out of that money we have already 'saved'