What luxuries are you cutting out to combat the cost of living?

[Feelingthepinch22]

I didn't have too many but I've started to cut out my Butlers hot chocolate, weekly browse in primary, not cutting out my weekly few glasses of wine but have switched brands saving 3 euro, cut out the hairdressers completely & have started colouring my own hair (8 euro compared to 60 at the salon) no more meals out or takeaways, no heat on when the dc are at school...

Savings.

Savings are a thing of the past here...

Stopped buying a starbucks and lunch on my days in the office. Now take a jar on instant coffee and sandwich's.
Reducing the amount of meat meals we have for dinner. Told my husband less ready meals for his WFH lunches

Hubby doing the same, instant coffee in work & he bought a sandwich toaster in Lidl for his toasties 🥰

I'm only going to get my nails done before a holiday or special event, instead of every month as normal. I'll also go longer between hair appointments, say every 4 months instead of every 3.
Very rarely have a takeaway anyway, but will cut them out completely.

We both work from home, and have stopped putting the heating on. We now wear ski socks and big jumpers, and sit with blankets over our knees.

Making cheaper meals too; egg or beans on toast at least twice a week for tea.

School lunches in favour of packed lunch
Hairdressers
Nonsense Amazon spending
Frivolous supermarket spending

Nothing really at the moment but I guess in time we'll have to make adjustments.

Oh I've started dying my hair at home again and reducing the number of haircuts as while I can still afford it, I can't justify paying £180 every 6-8 weeks.

The first thing to go will be Netflix/Amazon/Now, local memberships to play farm, and we'll need to look at food costs. Sadly committed to several trips away this year so going to have to suck that up.

@CornishGem1975 oh my goodness, my cut colour & blow dry was 60 quid & I'm thrilled with the saving! I actually can't tell the difference between the salon & the supermarket box dye... 180 is so much for the hairdressers, you must be so happy with the saving, good on you!

@Feelingthepinch22 I used to always dye my hair myself anyway but got married last year and wanted a complete colour change etc got sucked into going to a salon every few bloody weeks. I'm quite happy to not pay that anymore. My greys grow through way too quickly and I'm more than confident at dying my hair myself at home after doing it for 20 years! I've got a local mobile hairdresser who will come to my house and trim my hair for about £25 so I'll do that when I get desperate!

We've just fixed our mortgage at a low rate so that's one less thing to worry about for the next 5 years. We shop around for utilities, broadband etc regularly anyway so we're confident they're as low as possible. We don't have any debt apart from the mortgage and no expensive TV packages etc.

We will however need to reduce the amount we put into savings each month. We're trying to do the food shop more cheaply. Fewer takeaways, meals out etc. Probably won't go abroad any time soon.

We do spend quite a lot on gym memberships and kids activities. They're important to us and hopefully we won't need to stop any of them, but we can save a few hundred a month there if it comes to it (which I'm aware is a privileged position to be in when lots of people are worried about their essential bills).

It is so easy to dye your hair at home I’m surprised more women don’t do it. Only possible expense is ruining something with the dye, buy a gown and some black towels from Amazon first.

We're eating more 'student' food - beans or scrambled egg on toast, bagels etc.
I was getting sick of all of the washing up anyway!

Less Costa
Less streaming services (just one or two at a time)
Home haircuts
Making the most of the washing/dishwashing/oven by fitting as much in as possible when using them
No tumble drying pants and socks
Heating now off for the year
No driving shorter distances (bikes or walks instead)
No nipping round to the shop for something, just making do without it until the weekly shop
Less expensive dog treats

3 weeks to go until I can fix my mortgage again. Fingers crossed that rates don't rise too much in that time!!

Oh, and reusing anything possible for plant pots to grow on seedlings...

We’ve pretty much stopped drinking at home. We weren’t big drinkers but a glass of wine with dinner was two / three bottles a week. This saves us about £20 a week.

I saw the tip on here about having some frozen pizzas in to use instead of being tempted by a takeaway. This is working for us and has so far saved us the expense of two takeaways in just one month.

We meet with friends a few times a month for food but we’re now going to places that offer early bird menus or mid-week meal deals. This slashes the bill by more than half!

I don't do any of this already, we don't have to count the pennies but neither do we spend on extras like coffees and regular takeaways. My hair is a simple wet cut, during lockdown I grew it and so it no longer needs to be done as often.

Disney+ I use my clubcard vouchers, and Netflix I have the basic package for one device only (if someone else is watching it, tough luck) which I pay for with a gift card.

Raining in DS's soft play habit, lucky we're getting on to park weather. Have also reshuffled our evening routine so we all eat at the same time, insted of doing tea for kids then cooking again for adults when their in bed. I reduced the heating to one hour in the morning and another in the evening, which no one seems to have noticed, so next step is off entirely.

I live alone so no one else is affected. So, got rid of TV . Haven’t got broadband anyway . Turned heating off most of the time. 2 baths a week ( helps my bad back) Shower or wash at sink rest of time.
Make tea or coffee for day in a flask rather than boiling kettle frequently.
Only cook “ proper meal” midweek and Sunday .
Otherwise have something on toast/ homemade soup / omelette .
Bake bread , cakes etc on day I cook hot meal midweek. Stock up freezer with bread .
Careful with use of washing machine . Full loads . Only wash what really needs it. I am a really messy cook and so I bought an apron .
I live in a flat with no outside space for drying . I try to hang clothes by open window but finish them off on a heated airer which is brilliant .
I haven’t really missed the TV . Mine was old and having just retired I felt that I would try and manage without and save the license fee. So far , I read a lot more and use the library .
I have an online shop once a month for the heavy stuff . I don’t drive and a disability makes it hard to carry heavy stuff on the bus . The delivery is less than a taxi costs me .
Used to have a takeaway couple of times a month but that’s once in a blue moon now.
I don’t feel poor . What else I can cut when energy prices go up , I don’t know. And I am lucky that I don’t have to provide for children . It must be so hard .

Stopped buying myself new clothes, but it's OK to buy 2nd hand from a charity shop.

@Malibuismysecrethome and @CornishGem1975 Please help me with mine!!

I skipped the salon and tried to do it myself and now have horrible brassy gingery roots.

My natural colour is mousy and I have old blonde highlights...I have been getting my dark roots bleached blonde at the salon and so I just want to try to do that myself at home to save £££

Any recommendations? I used 'Clairol Nice n Easy Root touch up Light blonde' which was easy enough to do but I don't want brassy ginger roots!!

I am using the train more. I get heavily discounted tickets thanks to DH working for the railway so I’m using the train whenever I can.

Other than that, no change in spending. Time will tell though

@Malibuismysecrethome

It is so easy to dye your hair at home I’m surprised more women don’t do it. Only possible expense is ruining something with the dye, buy a gown and some black towels from Amazon first.

I know, I only realised this a few weeks ago, so simple & it turns out the same... 8 euro in the luxury of your own home vs 60 euro at the salon plus the cost of driving there & paying for parking...

I’ve decided I’m not going to cut back and instead I’m going to make more money

We've turned the Aga off (we do have other sources of heating/cooking!) though to be honest we were planning to do that anyway on environmental grounds, but it gives extra motivation. Cut cleaners down to once a week when they put their prices up.

Realise these are terribly first world, but you did say "luxuries".