To ask how much money you have saved since lockdown?

[Cheapprimarkbra]

... Compared to same 12 days of the previous month (23rd - 3rd)? Not including the usual bills, subscriptions/direct debits and mortgage/rent, have you noticed a massive change your outgoings?

I am a self employed freelancer (as is DP) and we both rent, so definitely not an enviable position.
Between 22nd Feb and 3rd March, I just worked out that I alone spent roughly £384 on train tickets, clothes, coffees, online orders, meals out and takeaways. This same 12 days I have spent £78 (just food, essential office supplies and a cheeky lottery ticket), so that means my savings total up to about £306 in TWELVE days! I feel almost ashamed at how easily I would throw money away, and will definitely reflect on this whenever I go to buy something that I don't necessarily need in future.

It will be interesting to hear other peoples' savings stories!

We also got the kids clubs refunded : swimming and taekwondo tomorrow, so that's $300 refunded which is good.

I have saved on school bus, work commute, weekly takeaway. Still paying small businesses that aren't working (dog walker, gym/PT, window cleaners).

Have spent more on other things. Laptop/monitor , hair trimmer/scissors, stationery for school work, etc

Oh adding to my earlier saved a good couple of hundred due to not using petrol, no packed lunch and son eating less as not moving as much (very active normally and does a lot of after school sports) .plus if I can't cook that night as dont feel able (illness and disabilities) we are thankfully not hungry enough to need food as before I would buy a ready meal...didn't think of the extra we are using in utilities or Amazon mainly as I need to get my son educational bits. the fact I normally shop around where I can and having to pay over the odds as no offers on, plus I am going to need a new printer and done my first online shop that is already at 150 and no meat, (or alcohol as dont drink thankfully as that would whack up the price) or cleaning goods in it ( coeliac and milk allergies in the house bump up the price) and it's at asda where I don't usually shop and contains very few items I actually use as ordered stuff I dont normally buy.... so will wonder what I get....
So maybe not as much as I maybe thought I had.. although like others I am well aware of poverty as if this happened when I was young we would have been starving as we lived more hand to mouth and I have donated food parcels etc already, I am also in the low income bracket but manage well atm due to my offer buying previously meaning we can manage to avoid shops as much as possible as I am in the vulnerable category
On the positive side, the enviroment is in a healthier state and I hope people use this time to realise we don't need the excess consumerism we have been used to and become more mindful about their environmental impact and more caring towards others...we can dream....

@Cheapprimarkbra

Not sure tbh. We have spent quite a bit more on groceries, but less on petrol and takeaways, and also, we were going to go out for a meal with our 2 DC and their partners for Easter. (We were paying.) That was gonna cost us £85 to £100 or so. So we won't be paying that. We have been buying stuff online, but would have probz bought that anyway.

Our bank account doesn't look any healthier, but it's no worse either. Will be a bit worse though as we only get 80% of our salaries for the 3 weeks of furlough (and maybe more if it continues.)

Food bill has gone up and I've lost my job. No changes elsewhere so no savings.

Food bills up a bit but spending a lot less on fuel, socialising, eating out, impulse buys etc.
But I'm not earning as I'm a self employed peripatetic music teacher so overall we are losing money.

Money I have saved on commuting been eaten up by food costs! Have been getting deliveries of fresh produce from supplier who can no longer sell to the restaurant trade. Quality great but overall more expensive than the cheap stuff I was buying i. The supermarkets

3 grand and counting.

Actually costing us more.

I normally would go twice to the supermarket and maybe go another couple of times during the week to get bits and pieces.

Now we are buying stuff for all eventualities but even though it will get eaten eventually my food bill has gone through the roof.

I am feeding 4 adults each day where as Dd and Ds would normally be fed at work and Dp would normally sort his own food out as he eats differently to the rest of us

I am also having to buy things for delivery or click and collect locally because I am trying to keep working from home (not likely to be payed for this work till this is over) as I don’t qualify for any of the government handouts and have 3 other adults that are not working in the household also. So the costs have gone up and income has plummeted.

Well, I got my annual train and parking ticket refunded at about £3,200. If I go month by month, it's about £500, so I'm expecting to save c£1,500 on that.

Food - weekly shop is more but no lunches out when I can't be bothered with my pack up, no snacks or breakfast on the way in, so another £50pm.

No fuel to visit bf of parents, nor to go and do my hobby, so £50pw there.

No meals out, take aways or gigs. I've missed three booked gigs so far and had another refunded at £120. I imagine that's another £70pw

No clothes. But increased heating costs. And obviously loads on hand sanitizer and loo roll ;)

I'm not sure. Our regular bills still stand, I wouldn't stop payments to the extra curricular teachers, my gym and all the rest still need paying, to be honest I don't want them to go out of business. Commute is cheaper, lunches out are cheaper, lunches at home are more. My mum is taking it in as a key worker loads of overtime all the local businesses giving her free dinners. We can't wait until we can boost our local economies.

Spent so, so, so much more on food and PPEs.

Nothing.

We don't live in the UK. My husband has lost his job, a job offer for me has fallen through, and accessing support is being really difficult.

We were pretty frugal before, but to be honest this is pushing us both to the edge.

I support any measures which will save lives, because you can't put a price on that. So I see it all as a necessary evil. But I truly struggle to imagine how our lives will be in a few months time.

Absolutely fuck all, if I'm honest. I'm still working ridiculous shifts (nurse) and am still spending the same amount on snacks and Chinese as ever thanks to night shift.

Food bill is double it seems

A bit saved on kids activities, I'm gutted that these are unlikely to stay afloat
Loads on holidays not booked or cancelled
Thousands on building works paused, but that hopefully is not indefinitely
Paying cleaner half
No trips or meals out, babysitting etc
Childcare still being charged, but expect a reduction next month

Salaries thankfully same, dh NHS and me local government type role

Saved on petrol as I'm not commuting.
Have had to spend more on food bill as we are boredom eating here. More on gas as it's been chilly on several days so have had to heat the home. I had to buy a desk and chair so I could work from home and I've also spent money on games and books to keep us occupied throughout isolation. I've definitely spent more, currently.

I also got a bonus this month and I've been buying lots of bits and pieces for our impending arrival, which I won't count as extras for these purposes as it's essentials that would have to be bought for a baby's arrival, not general spending, but it has boosted my outgoings a lot from last month too!

I'm saving about £600 on nursery fees and £80 on a dog walker

At least £100 a week, breaks down as follows...
£70 from not going to the pub.
£30 from not getting visits from my cleaner who is self-isolating due to her compromised immune system. She is properly self employed so receives replacement income from the State.

We saved loads on childcare, petrol, lunches at work, coffees at work, going out for meals, DH has stopped his hobby

We are probably spending more on utilities and I'm probably spending more on food as I'm getting deliveries from the butchers etc instead of going to Lidl but still a saving with no takeaways or meal out.

Not added it up but we are definitely in front which is good as DH is self-employed and we don't know how long he will have an income coming in so what we are saving will provide a bit of a buffer for a while.

£60 a week bus fares for 3 of us
£2 Woodcraft Folk
about £70 eating other than at home
£23 swimming lesson
£+++ car repair as the part hadn't arrived by lockdown

Balanced against neither of us working - husband's contract ended at the end of March and no one interviewing (commissioning side of the NHS). He is very vulnerable due to severe asthma and we don't have sufficient space for him to adequately shield so have to be very careful - which limits my ability to go and find work.

@cottonsock - any reason you're not paying the cleaner full amount as your salary hasn't dropped?

The biggest notice here is petrol, usually use about £70 a week minimum and have used maybe a fiver to go to the supermarket and to our horses a few miles away.

£60 a week saved in riding lessons but dponys and dds are missing these greatly.

Food bill has gone up to about 200 a week for 6 of us (3 adults, 3 kids who eat like adults)

£100 a week saved on lunches whenever DPs days off fall on a weekday we go out for lunch on those days.

£50 a month saved by not having my nails and eyebrows done though they need doing!

£100 saved in music fees for this term.

I am a SAHM and DP has been furloughed on 80% pay but think the savings have outweighed the loss.

Also... we were going to pay someone to decorate upstairs as we never have time to do it but DP has been doing it this week so probably saved a fair bit there.

Heating, water and electric bills up but not madly as obviously i am usually here during the day anyway

However despite the savings we would rather life was back to normal. We have a disabled DS who is bored and confused and suffering for not having his sensory therapies. Dponies goins semi feral from not being ridden, worried about kids falling behind as homeschooling is hard to do with a small autistic child who appesrs to want to kill themselves constantly

I realise I am very fortunate as we are WFH on full salaries but we are saving a huge amount of money here. No commuting costs or petrol, school clubs or music lessons. School fees are being discounted by 20% as it's all being done online. We can't go on our Easter holiday, which would have been £1500, and saving on drama camp over Easter too. No random money needed for kids' activities or school. Also no swimming or cinema, plus no impulse buying of clothes etc. We are spending lots more on food and I assume the utility bills will be increased but that's it.

A fortune in casual cash handouts to my teens. A bit on fares to meetings and dinners out. But income has dropped steeply (self-employed) and food bills are up as DTs are at home all day. And I keep buying Kindle books. I've lost far more in dropped income than I'll save.