What things have you dropped due to COL?

[Woodstocks]

What food items or other household bits have you stopped buying due to COL?

We used to love garlic bread with pasta, onion bhajis with a curry, nachos with a Chili etc. but have now stopped these side bits as too expensive. What about you- what has fallen by the wayside and do you miss it?

I no longer have a cleaner and now eat less meat as its expensive and often not great quality.

Not out of necessity but because I resent the price hike, we're not taking the cars to the car wash every week now. We get the jet wash out and let the teenagers earn some money instead!

I stopped buying garlic bread because I prefer making my own garlic flatbread. So easy and quick - and cheaper!

Cancelled Amazon Prime yesterday; we eat out a lot less and take aways are very infrequent. I use to buy clothes as and when. Now I don’t. Longer gaps between my coffee pod orders. Less meat, less alcohol, less impulse visits to Tesco.

I have stopped buying so many snacks

Pret A Manger - they hiked up the prices by about 70% (if not more) on what they used to charge before the pandemic, so au revoir to the new owners of Pret 👋

Freshly baked pastries, I still buy them, just not as many as it used to be

pork ribs, they have become a lot more expensive and often not available

grated cheese, used to buy 2 packs for £3 but it has gone up a lot, I buy blocked cheese intead now

Its not really because we cant afford it, we can, but knowing how cheap everything was before and how much they have gone up in such a short period, I just dont feel its right to spend that much on the same items, speciallg a lot of them have shrunk in sizes or quality or both

We've stopped the random
Mid week popping to our local sainsburys mini shop as it's so bloody expensive.

At one point we weren't doing a proper weekly shop with a list and loose meal plan for the week and just popping to sainsburys probably four to five times a week and then again on the weekends and we're spending an eye watering amount

As much as I hate doing a bigger weekly shop because it takes up a precious amount of time on one of the two days we have so much else to fit in however we've been doing it since Jan and it's made a massive difference to our outgoings.

It's coming upto the month of juggling and doing some shopping around as council tax mortgage rates water and utilities will all be going up again for April.

We stopped buying fun things to go with meals (garlic bread, onion bhaji etc.). But have now started making them - much cheaper and probably healthier.

We have stopped streaming and have gone back to DVDs. Swap with friends and buy in charity shops when less than a quid.

Also stopped eating out. Didn’t do it often, but it’s now more expensive AND less of a pleasure. Ditto drinks/cake out and about. Trying to frame it positively (health, better quality at home etc) but it’s economic really.

grated cheese, used to buy 2 packs for £3 but it has gone up a lot, I buy blocked cheese intead now

A common sense swap. Pre-grated cheese is shit anyway, it doesn't melt properly due to whatever they coat it with to stop it sticking together. Usually pretty tasteless as well.

Takeaway coffees and we've also got a cheaper car, we just couldn't afford the finance anymore so bought a cheaper one. I now very rarely get my hair cut. I used to get it cut and dyed every 6 weeks now I might get it cut 1 or 2 times a year and no longer dye it.

We didn't renew our Amazon prime last year and won't be renewing Disney+ when it expires on March.

My french husband will agree with you but I am not from a country that eats a lot of cheese and I dont have the same taste as most people here. I dont like what most people think is good cheese, its totally personal. I only buy grated cheese to top up a pizza nothing else, its good enough for me. For hubby I always buy French cheese, but choices are limited here anyway.

I often put half a block (big Aldi one) through the grating disk on the food processor and store it in a tupperware in the fridge. Seems to last well, and saves grating it every time.

Things I have cut out this year:
Steak/ proper meat (rely more on processed meals now)
posh fruit e.g berries, pineapple etc,
eating out,
new clothes that aren’t on sale or second hand, haircuts,
baking,
yoga classes
paying to commute (I cycle instead), buying anything to eat or drink on office days
presents / donations for teachers
donations for charities
childrens clubs - only let them do the cheaper ones at school
dentist appointments - I currently have 2 dental infections, 2 missing teeth and a mouth full of sores but I just can’t afford it!
try to buy frozen or tinned veg where possible instead of fresh
Some of my prescriptions - ran out of money last month when SSRI prescription was due, so ended up withdrawing cold turkey and thought fuck it to the £10 prescription charge each month (this has kind of backfired as I am now off work sick with my mental health). Acne prescription has also waned due to £ and now I have a skin infection grrrr
taking the kids swimming
washing loads - trying to rewear things as much as possible before washing
cat food - buy the cheapest available now
Work whip-rounds (though I pretty much stopped donating to these when we started working from home).

Oh do stop it this is MN they only shop at M&S & harrods.
Do agree though for 37p can go wrong i got 2 today.😋

Given up buying cake and biscuits, anything sweet now, partly due to covid loss of smell/taste and dental problems.

Lurpack

Is it not worth the prescription prepayment cert if you have SSRI and acne scripts? We bought an annual one on instalment a few years ago which really helped. So sorry you are having to make such choices.

Fabric conditioner.

I’ve tried lots of different cheaper cat litter as the price went up to almost £15 a bag, but honestly they are all rubbish and I have to change the litter tray more often so doesn’t seem to save money.

Going abroad
Takeaways and eating out
Days out
Cinema
Date nights out

Won't buy lunch on the go... even a meal deal. Wait until home and have leftovers or soup etc. Buy a chicken instead of a sandwich and do three lunches from it for the same price. Some dinners are jacket potatoes and I actually like that

We still go out and buy home stuff.

We are a bit more careful but set our mortgage before the hell and are savvy with bills an the rest

I will have to look into the pre payment script thing - the acne medication is a recent addition so I had previously only had one prescription per month to worry about!

Given up shopping in tesco. I do Aldi click and collect now and save about £20-30 a week. Can do pretty much my whole shop there. Quality of alot of items is better for the price and their customer service at click and collect is 100x better than tesco and sainsburys! The few items i need i can't get there, i go into tesco with a list and don't deviate.

No cleaner anymore either.

Less takeway and eating out or being more savvy about it, using vouchers and discount codes.

Sky went a while ago. Have basic freeview now. We only pay for netflix. Disney we got free for a year. So probably wont renew when that's up.

I've also reduced the amount of stuff I give away for free and have started selling it too. Even for a small sum. I put money made in a seperate savings account. Upto over £300 now.

I get my hair coloured/cut less.
I've cancelled a couple of household item insurances.
Cancelled the lottery - postcode one.
Drive a lot less and catch bus more.
Instigated a SORN on a vehicle we don't use much.

Heating- our house is old and drafty.
Holidays - stick to the UK in low season now.
Eating out is a rare thing.
Same as most people.