What have you stopped buying due to a price increase?

[heartbroken22]

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

Today it cost 9euro to send three small magazines to my aunt who is just out from hospital. My first thought was that I can’t do it again

I’ve been reading up on how to grow perennials from seed, and how to take cuttings and split my existing plants. I grew echinops ritro last year - only two plants took out of a £2.95 packet of seeds but when I saw them in the garden centre they were £10.99 each! This year I’ve sown verbena bonariensis which have done surprisingly well after a complete failure last year - I think I have 30 plants to put in the garden. This year’s challenge is to successfully split a Bowl of Beauty peony which is my pride and joy.

I have severe gastric problems so heartburn lasts days or weeks.
My stepdaughter might be willing to try one. She has a tassimo but we keep oatly pods in for her visits.
I’m sure she’ll test some for me.

@TomRaider

Totally agree. I remember reading a few years ago about how vet bills had increased in proportion to the increase in pet insurance. We had dogs in the 70s, 80s and early 90s. Vet bills averaged £20 to £50 a visit for minor stuff like vaccination, steroid injections as they aged etc. Worst bill was when the lab ate half a rotted pheasant, bones and all... ££80.

@LairyMcClairy

Ooh! What’s working well? I always think you need to know what you’re about in Aldi and Lidl, and I don’t..

my MIL and SIL will not want to eat more than bites. They usually can't afford to eat a full meal out and even though we are paying and they can order what they like, i suppose old habits die hard. I remember taking my MIL to a gastropub and we basically just shared a nut roast between the three of us and i had a soup, and MIL insisted on tap water (i had a coke and DH had a beer) and the bill only came up to £40 for all three of us. my MIL was horrified.

We ate at the salt room before for DH's birthday. I think we only ordered 4 starters the last time DH and I ate and we were very full.I don't usually drink alcohol either. We don't have large appetites either! My Dh doesn't remember how much we spent but it was probably like £60-£65?

@thenightsky my dog had a vet treatment in the eighties, was cheap and done there and then. Two years ago another dog I had needed the same. Vet insisted it could only be done under a General Anaesthetic for lots of money.

Aldi copy just as good. Less than half the price.

We’ve also started re-wearing clothes before washing as long as they are clean and don’t smell (apart from underwear of course 😂), we only use the tumble dryer for 5 minutes to get the creases out of clothing before it then gets hung up to line dry outside or put on the airer inside. If we want to treat ourselves to something then we are less likely to do so now. Eg I want an Apple Watch. I can afford one, but I’m leaving it for now. We only shower and when we do its only for a couple of minutes. We basically think twice before we buy anything now and when we do we always question if we can get it cheaper or cut costs.

We will also be cutting right down at Christmas. The children will be in for a shock.

The M&S mini bites they’ve egg gone from £4 to £5 for 2 tubs. At £4 they were a treat, £5 feels too much!

All the extras: red meat, kitchen roll, fabric conditioner, flavoured yoghurts, soft fruit, bagged salads, wine, fruit juice etc. Nothing that really hurts though. Heating is off, has been for ages. Really not looking forward to the winter.

No more eyebrow stuff, threading, dying etc., doing myself and ditto hair, am colouring with box dyes. Can anyone explain the legendary Mumsnet haircut!?
Meal deal sarnies etc, finito. Eating out has been drastically reduced. We do the occasional pub meal. Having alot more vegetarian food and meat just occasionally. Amazon fripperies no more.
Doing minor plumbing repairs ourself, u-tube is great for this & we saved calling a plumber out today by fixing our wobbly monobloc sink taps ourselves.

We are budgeting very strictly, cutting out treats, meals put, days out, considering every journey etc.
Some of the easiest things to cut from our bill come with ethical dilemmas. One is things that we’ve been buying for environmental reasons (and because we were lucky enough to afford it) - recycled loo roll in paper packaging, smol washing tabs, oat milk… These will sadly probably have to go soon. The other is charity donations and I want to keep those up if at all possible…

THIS! and if you happen to get the cream on a yellow sticker, SO much the better! It is so easy to do, I have done it with a hand whisk and a nutribullet, both turned out fab and I was able to freeze some too!

Reading this thread makes me so glad that it in the last decade we have live well within our means and haven't lived to our limits.

Much to the ridicule of many of or contemporaries who have been one double mcforeign hols, new cars, bigger mortgages and so on.

The years of paying 150% of the mortgage, no new cars and living sensibly.

Now while we are feeling the price increases we haven't had to cut back yet. We have quite some headway before it would bite.

One of our neighbours who ridiculed us as they built a £30k extension we rejected as bad value (they bought our plans) are no looking to sell up as they can't afford to pay the bills. That 30k is crusifying them now and it's only adding £15k to the house value. If they can't find a way of staying they're going to £15k out of pocket.

Cherries are on sale this week at my local grocery store for $8 a lb. So, cherries.

Am now cutting my own hair.
cancelled Amazon prime.
no take aways, no coffees and no eating out.
cancelled Apple Music
Walking only so no buses or taxis
no new clothes or furniture all second hand now.
have given up sugar, honey and jams.
no cinema or shopping trips
no chocolate, crisps, cakes or biscuits

No take aways
Only use the car when fully needed
I've stopped using the tumble dryer completely
Bulk cook and freeze home made meals
Never buy lunch from work or the shops - always take from home

I have stopped shopping at Waitrose.

Sacla Pesto has gone up to about £3 now, used to be my favourite but stick to own barnd now.

Meals out. Can’t justify spending the same in one meal as we do on the weekly shop, I’d rather save it and eat well at home. Another nail in the coffin for the hospitality industry with everyone cutting back.

Won’t compromise on Lurpak, though. I have tried the imitations and they are just not the same!

Yes!! I was so shocked by the price of Lurpack today I took this pic in the supermarket to send to my sister! (Got some funny looks in the butter aisle ha ha)

Our gym membership, which I dearly love but just can’t justify for the amount I’ll be able to use it when I start working full time.

I have a DC with ASD so have juggled part time, study etc but just can’t afford it now. I have to work. Even though we may not have childcare after this year. So fuck knows how that will work.

Holidays will only be camping for the foreseeable future. Days out will be National Trust, English Heritage, walks; both on holiday and at home.

We’ve not been able to have the hot tub out, we’ve ditched using the tumble dryer as much as possible in favour of a line in the garden.

Food wise, not too much and I’m quite a savvy food shopper anyway. Possibly a bit less fruit but there’s also less wastage so it obviously wasn’t necessary anyway… butter I now bulk buy when sainsburys give me a nectar price offer on it (still £1.50 odd a pack!!). DC have packed lunches, as do DH and I. We get tassimo pods delivered on a subscription which saves a fortune in takeaway coffee.

Walking as much as possible to save diesel/petrol. Trying to combine journeys. DC3 attends a school slightly further from home due to aforementioned ASD which makes it impossible to walk, so we have to maintain 2 cars for now which is frustrating. In theory would like to drop down to one… would be good if DH could drop to only 1 day in the office a week too to save on child/dog care but not sure that’s possible.

It’s all really grim. We are categorically not a low income family, but we are struggling already. I hate to think how this is affecting those less well off.

I started getting milk delivered during the pandemic and have stuck with the delivery company, even though it is more expensive. They are now putting prices up by 10p per pint. I will stay with them,but a lot of people won't be able to.

More businesses will start to go under soon as we all spend less. It is grim.

Meals out are definitely more expensive.
I’ve become very careful where I go - tried and tested places only.
My local pub has a Sunday desert menu where each choice is £8-9. Was £4-5. Way too much.
Their Sunday dinner is amazing though - £16 per person for a roast (was £12). Probably expensive for a pub but worth every penny.