What have you stopped buying due to a price increase?

[heartbroken22]

?? Don't buy as many eggs as we normally did or chicken...

Lurpak! Absolutely not paying £5.00 for a tub that used to cost £2.50 on special offer! Then it was £3.50, and now leapt to £5. I have discovered Lidl’s Danpak at £2.15 and it seems to be the same quality and taste.

Lidl and Aldi’s version of lurpak are excellent

DH and I started cutting each other’s hair in lockdown and have continued ever since. I think we spent about £45 on some scissors and clippers and have saved that many times over. The price and wait times on appointments are 🤯

Pet insurance and pet care are non negotiable for me. If the treatment was in her best interests, then she would have it, regardless of whether the insurance covered it or not

Not buying as many clothes as I really don't need them.
The biggest thing for me is not going to the shops everyday, meal plan and try to do 1 online weekly shop. I've saved loads, still shop at a quality supermarket and still able to buy quality. I am not really missing out. I just used to waste so much on unnecessary shop trips.

@Gingerkittykat yes I'm also a bit confused where @MadameOvary81 money is going.

We earn around six figures between us and granted we've been making a few economies recently around discretionary spend so we can comfortably afford heating bills and so forth,but we can still afford to go on holiday and have a few days out and we run two cars.

We’re using butter more sparingly, and I’m going to work on my pushbike.

Dog groomer as we've got 2 dogs & and a the price increased to £33 from £25 per dog! So bought dog clippers and do them myself (was a hairdresser years ago😊)

JRM said one of the Brexit benefits was fish fingers being 2% cheaper.

I’ve stopped buying Starbucks 220ml almond iced coffee. They went up from £1.75 to £1.95. Sometimes I get them reduced for £1 but not often.
I’ve changed to Cold Brew iced coffee £2.75 for 750ml but I got at Morrisons for £2.

I’ve stopped getting our dogs groomed and do it myself. Also dye my own hair now instead of getting highlights.

changed dog biscuit brand and started snapping dog treats into 3 so they last longer. We have tubs of treats that I’ve cut up into small bits and then I fill a small tub to put in the living so they can a few during the day. Saved loads doing that. Especially denta sticks broken into 3.

I would add if you groom your own dog you need some decent scissors, decent clippers, nail scissors and something to sterilise wounds 2/3 times a day for about 5 days in case you nick your dog. So hibiscrub or colloidal silver. I use hibiscrub.

I am gluten free, dairy free but I’ve stopped buying store products and started making my own or going without or having alternatives such as carrots, fruit, water etc

Anything that saves money

Close to 6 figures...not on just yet and probably never will be as I reckon pay rises will be suspended for many years to come (in our industries, at least).

Until 8 weeks ago, our rent was £17000 a year, and before that, £22000 a year. We are much better off now that we have moved, obviously. Like everyone else, our bills (heating, water, food etc) are eye-watering, our car is £600 a month, we have several pets that cost us about £600+ a month (food, litter, insurance, meds), we have large life insurances and pensions, private medical insurance, a very young child who outgrows his clothes at the rate of knots and seems to need something replaced every month, we still have some subscriptions, internet, phone bills, diesel, birthdays, xmas, the cost of things that break and need replaced ( we were £700 last month to fix a valve on our car)....on and on and on....

Are there more things we could do/cut out to be frugal? Totally! If we didn't have our pets, for example, we'd be laughing all the way to the bank, but our lives wouldn't be as rich for having our little balls of fluff. Corny, but we love them. The car we need due to work or that would go, too, and we often have to replace equipment at great cost so we can do our jobs.

We regularly fantasise about chucking it all in, buying a camper and buggering off to deepest, darkest Europe to pick strawberries for a living and be aging hippies, living a simple life away from the shitshow of the rat race. It's all bollocks.

We are eating lots more junk food because it's so cheap, sadly.

My fresh vanilla coffee beans. Making do with more instant coffee or tea.

I’ve cut back on Ocado, shop at Aldi for most things now but still certain branded items from Waitrose. Tbh, the rising cost food and drinks are just a drop in the ocean compare to my energy bill which went up by almost £100 since six months ago and we are frugal about using energy! Don’t know how much extra I will have to pay for renewing my mortgage in December!

Coffees went at start of lockdown because we got a bean to cup machine. Don't miss Costa.
Tesco online shop once every 6 weeks for staples fresh fruit and veg fortnightly from asda.

No heating(use blankets) no oven (use air fryer)
Sold non ULEZ compliant diesel car in March.
Bulk buy meat and fish from butcher and fishmonger and freeze
We still eat out/take away once a week.
I shop the sales for clothes infrequently and I am much better at returning stuff I don't like. Would previously convince myself I would lose the extra pounds.

Lamb chops/steaks - a ridiculous price now
Chicken
Hovis bread - substituted by supermarket own brands, half the price!
Whiskas - I buy supermarket brands instead (cats aren't so keen though🙄)
Buy less eggs than I used to
Have cut right back on takeaways
Have become SIM only on my phone
I also do more shopping in Lidl which is great for basics and fresh fruit/veg is half of the price of the main supermarkets.

Cut back on pretty much everything. Cancelled tv license and netflix, cutting back on meat and eggs, buying less food which is so hard with two kids going through puberty and being bottomless pits. Not longer go anywhere but school runs, work stuff etc. by car to cut back on fuel, no days out or visits to family. Feeling pretty grim.

Can't believe how cheap are carrots !
No need to buy batteries for a vibrator - a quick rinse & they make lovely soup.

avocados, unless i can be reasonably sure of them

Iceland do blocks of butter for £1.90. I don’t eat during the day anymore, just have dinner with my DS.
Sometimes I get to make some crepes if there’s eggs to use up. I make a lot more from scratch, not a bad thing. Still eating meat but less of it, a pack of mince will now do us 4-5 meals, whole chicken the same.
No work doing in the home.

I have a tumble dryer because my son has asthma so I can’t dry it indoors or outside due to the pollen. I wondered if anyone had or has used those dri buddy’s? Are they any good and cheaper to run?

🤭

Re coffee capsules… is there a cheaper copy for Tassimo does anyone know?

Stopped getting coffees and frequent lunches out. DH has stopped his personal training and membership ( which I always thought was ridiculously overpriced anyway, he is surely capable of going for a run by himself.)

No more garden centre visits as always spent too much there and plants aren’t necessities.

Bought dog clippers from Argos and did dog myself - I think he looks great 😁Stopped PetPlan which had crept up over the years to over £30 a month, after using price comparison site, and now have same type of cover for £12! Got meerkat movies at the same time to use on the odd occasion at first we still go to the cinema.

Would definitely cancel Sky if we could but are stuck in a contract, same with mobile phones.. will stop Sky and go to SIM only as soon as is possible.

Have also stopped picking things up from the local co-op so much - loo roll/dishwasher tablets/bin bags etc . All those little bits added up really and I’d never really noticed.

Instead we are buying in bulk online, after comparing prices. It costs more as an initial outlay obviously (and then there is the problem of storage, mostly under bed at moment !) but we will save a lot in the long run as well as fuel from popping out for top ups.

Using Lidl for big shop, although can easily be distracted by plants there, so have to move quickly through the front entrance…

I’d already cut back on hairdressers visits since COVID and never spend much on skincare products/make-up/nails or on clothes, I only buy second hand already really.

However, I did have Botox every 5/6 months. I missed the last one as didn’t feel I could justify cost - but really miss it 🙁People can scoff at that, but we all have different things that make us feel nice, and I am putting money aside to have that as my treat as soon as I can. It wont cost much more than amount than it used to to get my hair every 3 months, so I am justifying it that way,

Lurpak

@WhackusBonkus no, tassimo are barcoded so the machine wouldn't read any others, we gave up and went back to our dolce gusto machine