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?

Oh and we went the other day and cut the Amazon plus (prime? The tv subscription thingy!)

You might find your local library has free magazines on the Borrowbox app.

Takeaways
Cleaner
Random top up shops

Bought a clothes spray so I don't wash my knitwear as often.

Gave up takeaway coffees.

Bring in my own lunch and work from home more to avoid commuting costs. Use the car less in general.

Massively cut down on buying new books. I've started using the library reservation service and BorrowBox. I source second hand for ones not covered by the above.

Stopped takeaways. They were never as good as I hoped anyway and kept me up at night from all the salt.

Meal planning. Avoid popping into supermarket and use Tesco delivery so no unplanned purchases.

Less expensive days out. Trying to do free things.

Our window cleaner wasn't great anyway but we stopped getting our windows cleaned last month.

Don't buy alcohol, no dessert things like yoghurt, ice cream etc. No "frills", condiments etc

No streaming services on TV, just free ones like iPlayer etc.

Gave up the gym

I have a Pret subscription so still get daily coffee but only if I'm near a Pret (which I usually am!) - this will be one of the last things I'll cancel as it's pretty much my only indulgence now! No meals or drinks out, no fun that costs money.

Cut my own hair (it doesn't look great 😂)

Two full time incomes here, no conceivable way of significantly increasing income so on we plod with our dull no frills life.

Nothing on purpose, we have an income of around 68k but live in South West Scotland and whilst our spare money is less, we don't actually have to change what we are doing. We are just saving a bit less.

Our fixed mortgage that was 390 was fixed to 450 and have 72k left on it. Insurances have all gone up. Price of food - but one of our kids moved out, so we don't feel it. My gas and electric from EDF has gone up, but it's not too bad. Wer lucky that where we live isn't as expensive as London. We arent drinking very often anymore now since last summer, so that will likely be saving money.

No takeaway or Starbucks. Invested in a good travel coffee mug and take it from home

Home cooked meals, use Lidl and Aldi instead of Tesco

No real trips out or holidays

Had no idea Aldi did click and collect… had a look and the nearest one to us is an hour away which is a real shame.

Holidays are now unaffordable for us- can’t seem to find much for under 3k for a family of 5 which is just not possible while our mortgage is so high. We were looking for a UK break but the prices are stupid for a cold rainy day in the lakes, I think I would rather stay home.

We’ve also scaled back days out and eating out massively.

We also got rid of cars on PCP a few years ago and now drive bangers. I really miss my new car but I don’t miss paying £300 per month for it.

Also sky TV.

Holidays. They’re so expensive that just not going on holiday means I don’t have to cut down anywhere else and even have more spare.
Luckily my DC have become young adults now and can sort their own holidays so I don’t feel guilty. I have actually loved my staycations the last three years. I allow myself a couple of hundred £ to do things I want (London so lots to do).

Oh and TV licence. We only watched one thing in a year (coronation) so just wasn’t worth it for iPlayer.

Waitrose to Sainsbury's. Nothing more specific.

Fresh juice
Organic products
High quality cat food
Reduced cleaner from weekly to fortnightly
Less branded stuff (cereal etc)
Gardening stuff
Random bits for the kids (magazines/bubbles/slime)
Hot drinks out, we take a flask now
Was about to sign DCs up to piano lessons but didn't in the end

Stopped buying clothes and shoes for myself. I have enough, now I WFH.
Colour my hair at home.
No takeaway coffees.
Eat out rarely.

I miss the last two.

Popping to sainsbury's for "a few bits" and spending 60 quid on 2 or 3 bags of shopping. I now shop exclusively at aldi or lidl with a list that's added to each time we run out of something, and sticking to the list.

I used to do a big shop at one of those 2 but would invariably forget something, go to sainsbury's as its the nearest, and get stung every time. Now drive 3 miles out of the way to go to one of the cheaper shops. Sounds counter productive for one or two items, but for some reason I lose all sense of what's affordable when I'm in sainsbury's. So now I pretend it doesn't exist.

On the other end, I haven't stopped buying good butchers sausages, and I haven't stopped buying those shaky laundry ball thingys. Definitely a luxury purchase because I could do without both. But I don't want to.

Buying pizza - make my own now.
Shopping just at Tesco, I pop to home bargains for bin bags and Aldi for Greek yoghurt, tea/coffee. Weekly spending cap on my Tesco shop and meal planning more carefully to keep the price down.
Swapped fresh for frozen berries.
Buying books, we visit the library now.
Now oldest doesn’t get universal FSM she has a packed lunch.
Think carefully about school holiday activities to keep the budget low.
Rarely do soft play other than the cheap council one.
Using the heating a bit less.
Buying coffee when on a walk with friends. We bring our own now
Massively curbed my Amazon spending.
Going to start shopping for clothes on Vinted.

Expensive skin care, clothes (haven’t bought anything for 6 months), Botox, cut cleaners hours (thankfully she had a waiting list and could make up the time with other clients. I wouldn’t have done it if she couldn’t).
I make a packed lunch if we’re going out for the day rather than assuming we’ll eat in cafe. All luxuries though, no essentials have been culled.

This. Thought if myself as very comfortable a while back, cant complain about my wage, but now penny pinching on the food budget and no disposable income to speak of.

Actually, i HAVE cut down on takeaways as theyve gone from 30 for all of us to 50 and its always ridiculous portion sizes and disappointing food. Falling back on readymeals and batch cooking more.

We used to get coffees on the way to work but have stopped that.

we deleted Uber eats etc as the price just kept creeping up and up while the food seemed to get smaller and soggier. Last straw was when KFC got 3 adults and 1 child came to 80 pounds! Wasn’t even a lot of food.

I no longer buy things to try. Too many ended up being thrown away or lingered at the back of the cupboard. Buying more in Lidl, less in Sainsbury's but Lidl is 12 miles away so it has to be worth the trip.

Have barely had heating on this Winter.

Although I can afford it, I can't justify the cost of hot yoga classes for the number of classes I would be able to attend. Monthly pass is £100, while individual classes are £25 for 90 minutes. I could only guarantee going twice a month, so it would feel wasteful, particularly as I already have a separate, much cheaper gym membership, which I use weekly.

I've found doing a regular delivery from asda is cheaper than Aldi ... not necessarily item by item, but because you buy all you need, so no "popping to the shop" and because you don't buy crap while you go around.

After a succession of painful cleaners, I've given up and do a task a day during my break. I could have kept one, but I found I can't justify the cost for a half hearted attempt that still took my time too.

Similarly, I could still afford takeaways but I can't justify the cost for the poor quality, long wait and cold food that usually arrives. We don't go out to restaurants so much for the same reasons.

We like our house and it's nice to stay home, so I've found it's about making other times special. We'll make "afternoon tea" or get a supermarket takeaway.

I think half the things I've changed aren't just about the money, but about things like poor service, poor quality, entitled and rude people, wild children ... so when you add those all up, you wonder if it's worth £40/50...