What have you stopped buying due to a price increase?

[heartbroken22]

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

use oven less
use slow cooker hob etc
rarely put a light on tthough as sure this will change in winter
from April very conscious of heating
trying to use as little petrol as possible
not using tumble dryer easier in summer
def getting heated throw and electric blanket for winter
have lots of thermal tops hoodies flecces thermal leggings in readiness for wfh in winter thick socks boot slippers etc
no more clothes have loads this is hard to stick to
just eating out once a week cheap curry night at travellers joy
no take always
longer between hairdressers then it's only a wet trim colour it myself
eating out of freezers thus cutting shop right down
trying to use leftovers up rather than throwing them away
filling up with fruit that's on offer
buying yellow sticker items and freezing
buying less cleaning products and bathroom toiletries shower jel shampoo conditioner soap bubble bath and using what we have lying around the house all ready

I agree BorrowBox and Libby from library are great.
Also if you like audio books sometimes there are free to listen on YouTube. From random people reading the books.
I agree BBC sounds is great and I love Podcasts.

One thing we always check now are the multi pack offers / giant sizes etc....and guess what..found its usually cheaper to buy individual ...e.g tuna tins, sunflower oil ...!!

Council tax

I have a tumble dryer because my son has asthma so I can’t dry it indoors or outside due to the pollen

I do too, but I dry outdoors then tumble for 10 mins only to remove pollen before putting clothes away.

I rarely use a trolley now, even a small one. I find it's easier to take two reusable bags and use them instead - though I don't think Security like people doing this! It cuts down how much I buy and also makes me think about how heavy it will be to carry it home.

John Lewis pet insurance was the most affordable for our cats this year, and the reviews are good.

Cannot do without butter since the deprivation of rationing, but block butter is definitely cheaper than spreadable which is strange. In summer, block butter softens quickly.Pet insurance is so expensive because of vet. fees. Cats, on the whole, need few treatments until quite old. Better to cough up when necessary.

Most branded things unless on deal. Eating out the freezer rather then keep buying what we don't need. Not eating as much fresh food. Pack lunches rather then paying for school lunches. Will be changing pet insurance companies next

You could always ‘borrow a dog’ to get the experience.

Reading through the amazing amount of money people seem to spend on eating out of the home, coffees, lunches, take-aways, meals out , food boxes etc I do wonder if, when things normalise if they ever do, whether people will go back to their old life styles or will realise how much they were wasting?

AGreedd honestly the differwnce is shocking.you can look at a few items and think meh really.but you start to get into the groove find your usual,do a few shops and you look at a full trolley and know just know this in Sainsbury's or Tesco would only be a few bags.amd then when you might pop into Sainsbury's or Tesco and gwt a few items and spend the same as your weekly shop at Aldi or Lidl that the overall difference is huge.

ALDI do a range of dolce gusto-compatible pods and they’re £2.50 for a box of between 8-16 (depending on what specific drink).

I've found my favourite coffee on Amazon subscription which is 2/3 the price of the cheapest shop. I now have it delivered every 5 weeks costing £8:24 with an extra 5% off + free p&p. Also my Garnier hair dye was cheapest in Boots (9:50) only when bought in packs of two but Amazon are delivering 1 every 6 weeks costing £4:01 with 5% discount no p&p.
You can alter the timings too. Every little saving helps.
Also, my banks round up to the nearest pound when I spend on their cards and every £10 gets transferred into a 3.3% savings account.
I haven't needed to cut back on anything...yet

And this is the attitude that means they can spank you for whatever they want to charge.

It's why a pill for an animal costs £7 each and the identical human tab 7p.

The proliferation of vet insurance has become a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts.

You insure mutely at £50 a month, get a huge vet bill for overpriced stuff that 30 years ago would have cost a out a tenth of what it does today. And you go "wow I'm so glad I bought that insurance it's great value" so you buy more.

The vets know that you
a) don't mind what they charge cos it's insured
b) actually quite like it because you feel like your getting good value for your insurance premium.
C) like it because it looks like theyr doing something about mutleys ailments.

I opted out years ago when our 2year old lab was declined further cover after they found a heart murmur. We put £20 a month in the dog account. He's 14 now, he's not been to a vet for 11 years after he went after being stung by a wasp. On that occasion they just started giving him jabs "this one is for the swelling, this one is an antihistamine, this one is a painkiller, this one is a vitamin, this is a snake oil jab" at. At no point did they discuss the costs and were surprised that I thanked them and said I'm paying £70. And invited them to sue me for the rest as they didn't discuss the fees. I think they wanted about £250.

The dog account has about £2500k in it now (we've even lost the card)

He's 14 he has degenerative myelopathy and a delicate stomach. I'll be honest, his days are numbered as the weekness grows. If anything does go now wrong it's curtains.

Its probably unlikely anyone would ever have done an op on him anyway due to the whacking great heart murmur.

It's all in marked contrast to the lab down the road that is 8yrs old. I remember when we moved in ours was a bouncing 5yr old loon and the snarky woman remarked, ooooh he looks a lot older and made a nasty remark about not feeding him some ridiculous priced dog food. Well now at 14 having lived in a diet of £12/20kg working dog kibble and not seeing a vet he's a damn sight younger looking than their 8yr old. Will still play fetch and isn't overweight and riddled with arthritis like her dog. Im dying to remind her of her comments.

I should also add that because of insurance vets do all sorts of more expensive treatment that costs more, but it's insured so its fine, but then that means the insurance gets ever more expensive. To the point we now have dog insurance that costs twice as much as my car insurance. If the dog broke his leg I'd be better off running the dog over and claiming on the car insurance!

short showers
no bedding plants this year
cutting down on flowers

Are they nice though? I’ve tried Aldi coffee and could taste the chicory in it. It gave me really bad heartburn.

@onthefencesitter

DH just booked for 4 of us including MIL to go to salt room in Brighton which will probably cost £100 for all of us

There's no way it will only cost that! DH and I went there a couple of weeks ago.

Just have a look at their menus

Cheapest starter is £9, cheapest main is £19. And that's before you have any drinks or dessert!

They don't have a little bit of money to put away.

No food at all? That must be tough.

waiting for a full load before putting machine on
washing on 30 quick wash as much as possible comes out wetter but then ifit's a hot day and you are libe drying it then can get it dry anyway

This is what I’ve done. 😊

@LadyMil I’m sorry, I can’t say! I’ve not actually tasted them myself, was just looking at them a while back because I was looking at buying a machine and was curious about pricing in various stores/amazon/etc. Decided against in the end and stuck with my filter coffee. But it wouldn’t hurt to try, I guess!

DahliaMacNamara
Our dog died last year, but after allowing for a fallow dogless period, we've decided we can't afford the expense of a dog in the household. Not the fee for a rescue dog so much as ongoing costs like food, insurance, petrol to take it on nicer walks, toys, equipment, treats..
Do you not still have your stuff from your old dog? The only thing that seems an issue here is the food and possibly insurance given that it sounds like your decision is making you feel that life is extremely tough?