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 have given up hope. We have good jobs and thought we were doing okay a few years ago when we started our family, but we are now on our knees with a huge childcare bill that's double our (now increased) mortgage. We tried a 'buy nothing' February but still went £200 into our overdraft. We are selling everything we can but have no savings left and are dreading our next gas bill. Life has become bleak.

Thankfully we live next to a national trust park so lots of places to go walking with the kids and explore and play for free, so they don't feel like they're missing out on anything. I've become very good at packing snacks and finding places where kids eat for free too.

Holidays, expensive days out with the kids. I buy most of our clothes in Primark and Matalan. We've always been a low income family despite working hard and we do still get by. There just isn't a lot left at the end of the month that I feel I can splurge say £60 on one item of clothing for example eunless it's for a birthday or something and I make allowances for it. I have always shopped in Aldi and Lidl and I can't cut back on food as too many mouths to feed. It's just the " luxury" things I've had to cut right back on. Things most people probably don't consider a luxury, but is to me.

Holidays away are now a week or shorter instead of two weeks. I make one pack of mince last four meals, by adding beans or lentils. Stopped buying little treats for myself: Diet Coke, fancy biscuits etc. takeaway once a month, max. If I have a coffee while out, I don’t get a cake with it. I’m hoping all this will translate to weight as I have stuff in my wardrobe I’ve barely worn. Oh, and I’m working my way through my expensive scents. Once they’re gone I may buy more but my days of having five to choose from are gone.

Food is mostly the same though I am (even more) aware of what offers there are in supermarkets and bulk buy when I see stuff I need which is reduced

we’ve cut down on eating out- used to try and go out as a family once a month at least. Now it’s only really we a special treat or on holiday.

I am always very careful with money. If I dont think something is value for money then I wont buy it, even if I can afford it. Always consider if you actually need something.
I manage all my bills carefully, always make sure you check you are getting the best price, go through Topcashback if you can, check if you can get a discount code. Don't let contracts go evergreen, always renew.
Yesterday I cancelled my contract with Sky Broadband because they tried to put the price up by £3.50 a month, I will not have it. I've only been with them 3 months and had to quote their contract back to them to ensure they cancelled without fees.
Get the best out of your bank account. Chase are excellent, you get 1% back on purchases and they give 4.1% on savings. My current account is always empty, I move money over from a savings account to ensure I earn 4.1% at all times.

We eat out very rarely now. When we go for a day out we pack a picnic as we do this most weekends and having our lunch out was expensive and not worth it. I also bought a flash and we bring coffee on our days out instead of buying.

Nothing really. We 're not high earners, but don't live a very expensive lifestyle (no kids, no car, no mortgage, rarely go on holiday, I've never been into any sort of beauty treatments) so probably have it easier than many. I keep more of an eye on gas & electricity bills these days though!

Switched from shopping at Ocado to Aldi. Also buying less convenience food & trying to cook from scratch more. This is saving us £40-£50 a week.
Rarely eat out.
Take a picnic if we go out for the day.
Generally being more aware of our spending - sometimes we can afford things but just can't justify the cost.
We've never spent much on alcohol, hair, beauty treatments, takeaways etc. so nothing to save there.

We've started shopping at marks and Spencer's for food because we get a discount and every week we have stayed under our budget but feel like yea is a treat every day so this has worked well for us.

Stopped us ordering out on the weekend so saving loads not that we did take away loads but we aren't doing it at all now and really don't feel like we are missing out.

Their meat offers and meal dine in offers are roughly sainsburys prices and then we go to Aldi for cleaning laundry and other household stuff.

We are really fortunate that two years ago our income went up quite dramatacially as there's no way we would survive now on what we were on then.

We were both working two jobs each and still scraping the barrel so it makes me appreciate and remember how hard it is.

All our bills are paid on time etc but we need to work on getting more into savings and pensions now

Hair cuts

Nothing but only because we'd been living on just our modest work pensions and now both receive the state pension. If we were still waiting for the state pension we'd have been dipping into savings an increasing amount as we've definitely noticed the increase in the cost of utilities and, particularly, food.
We don't eat out anyway as found it an increasingly exprnsive and disappointing thing to do. Coffee out on a regular basis is also something we don't do unless we're out for the day.

I don't use the tumbler dryer as often but other than that nothing else has changed.

Given up:
Gel Nails
Getting my hair done
Botox
Marmite
Posh Cheese
Eating out

Cut down on:
Meat
Booze
Fun
Clothes
Holidays

You only need to economise if your pay was already breaking even with bills and hasn't increased by at least inflation. I'd change job if I didn't get a decent pay rise and my employer knows it. You need to make yourself a valued member of the company, deliver deliver deliver.
I can't say I've noticed the COLC but I appreciate a lot have.l and also a lot of low skilled jobs are transferable to those with minimal experience and the issue is those people experience pay contraction. Have a skill not many do and you're in control.

It's an app where you can read as many magazines & newspapers as you want online for £9.99 a month.

I’ve given up gel nails & having my eyebrows done - I feel bad for beauticians as it’s the first thing to go but I just couldn’t justify the price increases.

Also less meals out / takeaways and less treats in the food shop

Amazon Prime
Food shopping
Clothes.

@MariaDingbat that sounds tough, I hope things get better for you soon.

Discussed with family to stop nephews present giving just cards now.Non of the children are going without and buying gifts of around £10 each was mounting up then postage costs on top.
Buying grandchildren’s clothes on Vinted instead of M&S has been amazing for bargains.The money saved pays for lovely days out with a picnic.We have always been frugal so that helps.

Agreed! We rarely eat out anyway but recently compared the pleasure we got out of a 1.5 hour meal in our local Italian for a relative's birthday vs same cost for a full 8 day out to a brilliant local attraction with an ice cream for the kids at the end and it was a stark contrast of how much value we get from that as a family.

Gym membership & weekly Pilates 🤷‍♀️

It was costing £40 for the gym and £9 weekly for the pilates!

I stopped my nails during Covid and occasionally just buy a nail polish and do them at home, as I work from home I don’t really bother anymore! I don’t actually see people..

My hair needs a cut and colour but my hairdresser put her prices up and I can’t justify the 40% increase..so I’ve not had it done since last November.

I’ve stopped out weekly takeaway but that more of a health kick than ££ saving.

I have to admit we are really starting to feel the cost of it all now or maybe I am just a lot more conscious of it all

Don't eat out anymore. Was never a big fan anyway, but can't justify the prices bog standard pubs charge for a miserly burger and chips, and don't get me started on Pizza Express.

Most of the leisure industry is off limits now, things like going swimming, visiting a castle, for what is the costs are bonkers.

As for food shopping what bugs me the most is shrinkflation. At this rate we'll be paying for dust. For example, tubes of toothpaste used to be 125ml, then 100ml, now 75ml. So the RPI might be 4% but we all know that's bollocks.

Buying new clothes - mostly buy my stuff off Vinted now.
Buying craft magazines (bit obsessed with knitting etc) - they are about a fiver a pop and it's not worth it.
Going to cinema - just wait for it to come on Netflix now.
We've postponed getting a newer car and are trying to make our (very) old one last another year or two.

The main difference I've noticed is I'm no longer really able to save anymore. All my money is gone by payday

Our Lifestyle of choice is to do as much as we can ourselves without sacrificing our small luxuries, which means we cook all our meals, use a cafetière, make our own cakes and pastries, granola, and bread.
what we haven’t sacrificed is our weekend walks, football matches, gym membership and cycling.
It’s amazing how much you save cooking & baking yourself.

I prefer my own garlic bread . Crush garlic clove into butter and spread on plain bread if you don’t have a baguette .
you can get the vaccum packed mini baguettes that last for month if you preferred them.