Do you feel sad at being priced out of little luxuries?

[corkface]

Everything keeps getting more expensive and this month it is hitting home that little luxuries I used to be able to enjoy occasionally and never took for granted are just getting too expensive at a time when more and more of our income is going on bare minimum necessities.

This morning I met a friend for a walk, we used to go for tea and a slice of cake after to chat in the warm but its just too expensive now. I thought I'd bake a cake and take it with me next week with a flask of tea for after our walk but when I priced all the ingredients that was too expensive as well.

I am grateful I have a place to live and can still cover my bills but it just feels like every little bit of extra money we might have to do the odd nice thing is being squeezed out of us. Its quite depressing.

There were talking about this on the radio. How more people have gone back to working just to cover essentials, rather than having money left over for ‘nice’ things. It’s a pretty shocking state of affairs that so many families with two full time working parents are feeling like this in a developed Western country.

I’ve been using mounjaro
so eat once a day… reduced food bill
i stopped buying clothes and make up now since Xmas.

i only drink one coffee at work as my treat….

A lot is on credit, most people I know living this life have a lot of debt

I am pretty thrift as well do a lot of my ow mending and DIY where I can. Its just that it was nice to sit in a nice cafe with a pot of decent tea and a nice slice of cake. It was just a little treat and a nice way to spend some time. Its not the same as grabbing a free drink from the garage although I still thinks that's a good idea.

It is sad that people are having to scrimp on warm water for washing now. It all feels like something has gone very wrong.

I've never bought teas/ coffee out as Ithink it's always been too expensive,
For the cake, cheaper and easier to buy a naice one from a shop and take that

it would be a lot cheaper to just eat less without pqaying for the mounjuro

Harsh! May be using it after a lifetime of struggling to stop weight gain

It’ll be more complicated than that. Life isn’t black and white.

That’s how the supermarkets have won by out pricing the independents, the rich raise the rents, so the independents have to raise prices and send you off to the supermarkets it’s a sad circle

I hear you OP it's very different now than it was 5 years ago.

I've cut back on "all those little fivers". The meal deals, sandwiches, coffee, cake, snacks, etc etc. They all add up.

It's bad enough food has gone up and it's more expensive to buy good quality food now as well so i'm eating well, but "all those little fivers" have gone. And with it, like you say, a nice little treat.

Yes … I don’t buy the Sunday papers, Radio Times, flowers, hardly ever go out for coffee. No takeaways. Clothes are all from Vinted.

After my ten free garage coffees I get a free one in a nice Costa though and while away an hour with a book or mumsnet!

It is a bit sad. It’s not something I’d of worried about a few years ago. I work full time, I’ve had pay rises, worked second jobs. Always hustling to do more with less. The cost of living has outstripped anything I do to earn more.

I really don’t know how people on low fixed incomes are surviving tbh

Yes why are we going backwards.. it feels very wrong.

just saying that on a thread about not being able to afford little luxuries it seems a bit crass to say you're savin money by using expensive weight loss injections

Seldom buy magazines now. Sitting dentist's reception yesterday - "Good Housekeeping" = £6.99 😮

I recently joined a womens group and they do Sunday Lunch and 1 Dinner each month and I have had to decline after seeing the menus. Lunches about £20 with a small wine and Dinner was £40 with no drinks. It's a shame as I enjoy the company but that £60+ would keep me in home cooked food for a while not 2 meals but it would make a hole in my food shopping bill whereas 12 months ago I would probably have gone.

I used to buy a coffee when out a few times a week. I refuse to pay £4+ for a mediocre coffee now and take one out in a thermal mug instead
i also only buy things when on a “ points” offer i supermarket

And in our local big shopping mall, (where all the food outlets cost a week's grocery cost for one meal) a load of new shops have opened....selling luxury watches, costing thousands!!! The rents are notoriously high there, so they must be selling these watches, but to who? Like OP and many others, I'm finding even little luxuries harder to fund, so I'm puzzled.

I would never go for an incidental coffee and cake anymore and I used to whenever I wanted.

It's now far too expensive. A cafe in our town (nothing special) charges £4 for a coffee and £4 for a small slice of cake. It's no longer justifiable, even though I can comfortably afford it.

I remain quite stoical about it to be honest.

I'm old, lived through the 80's and 90's so i've been down this road before. That was really really hard. But at least you could earn more if you wanted to. Nowadays earnings are so low.

The statistics don’t bear this out. Growth in debt has been slowing since 2022, and several debt surveys show the reasons for debt are not because people are buying coffees and going to concerts.

I think part of them reason this myth endures is, media is full of people struggling. Even on here, if you even dare to suggest you aren’t and want to ask a financial question you’re accused of having diamond slippers which are too tight and told to “read the room”. I have no doubt the number of people struggling is higher than it used to be, but in percentage terms, the majority of people are managing pretty well, but in a situation like the OP where it is the little things they are cutting out.

I’m on a similar situation, we haven’t had to worry about money for about a decade and we don’t need to now, but we do think twice about splurging on things we previously would do without a thought.

I guess it’s just who we are surrounded by, I don’t really know anyone with lots of money. Where I live, through my job, friends etc.. just people with average jobs.. the ones who live that luxury lifestyle have credit.

Yes so costly now. Coffees around 3.50/3.70 euro we Dublin. I cut back on glossy mags too. Clothes just trying re wear things.

I completely agree that the very dominant media narrative only partially seems to match what I see around me. Today I took the kids to the cinema and out for lunch, and town was absolutely full of people doing the same. But that seems like quite a crass comment on this thread, I know - which is exactly why the narrative is so different.

I never understood a pleasure of sitting in a crowded coffee shop and always preferred take own flask and snack/picnic and enjoy it in a picturesque spot or park.

I don't bake but shop bought cake or biscuits are still cheaper than in a cafe. Only really eat out when traveling away from home.