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!

Wouldn't nurseries be able to receive help via the various government schemes, so it's therefore not necessary/a bit cheeky to continue to charge full fees to people who aren't using the facility?

Even if they are open to look after key workers' children, they're probably way below capacity, so will have probably furloughed some of their staff.

I'm about £400 up in terms on not paying for wraparound childcare, no diesel costs for the past 3 weeks, vast reduction in takeaways and wine consumption which I am certain will be good for my health. Also not heading to Chessington next week as planned so £300 up from that. But my kids are hungry ALL the time - I have no idea if they used to eat this much at school but I've literally had to put them on rations (no bulk buying here though as I have a massive chest freezer that was full pre pandemic).

I am now however supporting my mum as her employer has furloughed her and cant pay her anything until the government money comes through so its a good job I've been able to make some economies.

The one thing it has taught me though is that I spend more than I need to normally on non essentials and I would like to think I will be more sensible when this is all over about not buying loads of stuff we don't actually need. The kids have survived perfectly well without daily treats!

We have saved
£60 on gym club
£45 on piano lessons
£50 on cleaner
£45 on petrol
£60 on family meal out

But have spent
£25 on office supplies
£40 on takeaway food
£70 on garden stuff
£28 on booze delivery

No childcare costs
No salary changes

We never spent much on discretionary spending so we're seeing the small amount we are saving there more than balanced out by the extra costs (electricity, water etc) of us all being at home all day. Oh and huge amounts on all the printing DD is doing for school :)

We've not spent out on general replacement items since lockdown e.g. we've bought no clothing or household items which we would normally have done, however this isn't a real saving as we will just buy these items as soon as we come out of lockdown.

None, food bill has gone up massively as no free school meals/subsidised work food

No ASC - £120
Less wine - £50
Less shopping (using pantry and freezer stuff) - £100
No new clothes or shoes - £200
No fuel for the car - £60
Our mortgage went down too, but minimally as it’s nearly paid off anyway.
We haven’t been to a restaurant in weeks. Normally happens once or twice a month - £70

Only amount saved is £20 a week travel fare to work. Which doesn't balance out against the loss of 20% income, increased food (food provided at work 5 days) increased fuel (gas/electric because we're here more and not at work/college) and the increased cost of food because of shortages and having to buy more expensive bread for instance because it's all there is.
Don't have takeaways, eat out regularly or go to the pub regularly anyway, maybe once every 2/3 months for a birthday or occasion, so nothing saved there.

We will have saved dune on childcare, although we still are paying. Spending more on food. No money spent on petrol. Had to buy extra stuff to get toddler entertained... So all in all, saved a bit but not as much.

I've saved money on food not only because I'm not eating out every day, we're not too stressed to cook, and because it's much easier to be controlled on my diet WFH. So portions are small and controlled.

I can't even imagine how worrying it must be for those who have lost income

I must admit, I have a friend who is driving me bonkers with her 'stress' - she's constantly living at the bloody limit, and very sanctimonious about people who buy on credit. But she got a maxed out 35 year mortgage because of her housezilla expectations (then remortgaged). Spent over 30k on her wedding. And even though she just went freelance, she had a month off planned to travel, now cancelled.

She had no sympathy whatsoever for people living hand to mouth, so I'm finding her sudden whining about her crash in income galling, given how recklessly she's spent money these past few years.

Well I have £175 more in the bank today then I did this time last week and I'm only 4 days into this pay, hoping to save a fair bit because even though our food shop has gone up we aren't eating out which we would do at least once week, I also filled up with petrol on Monday and that should last me the whole month considering I'm only going out in my car once a week to the supermarket. Have ordered some treats online in the past couple of days but won't order much else for the rest of the month.

MASSIVE food bills (I think 30% more expensive for food) plus 5 takeaways as we couldn't get food for nearly a week

90% reduction in salary for me

Loads! Which is lucky because our income has plummeted too!

In the 12 days we have saved:
£100 nursery fees
£80 ish petrol
£50 DH buying odd lunches at work
About £50 Leisure (not going on family days out, and DDs weekly activities, swimming etc)

Wow that’s £280!

I’ve been surprised that we’ve also managed to keep our food shopping at about the same cost as before. We had some essentials “prepped”, and we are eating a lot more frugally than before, batch cooking, being cleverer with ingredients etc. It’s refreshing!

We are a sociable family so have saved money by not going to the pub a couple of times a week, going out for coffee, getting takeaways with friends, kids going bowling/cinema, etc.

I reckon that looking at the above savings plus no petrol, new clothes not to mention no weekends away or forthcoming holidays... we're saving around £500 a month, I haven't worked it out but know that we hadn't touched any of our savings by the end of last month.

Our food bill has definitely gone up as will the gas/electric but we have to eat and there's no way I'm sitting around WFH getting cold!

We've saved loads- it's actually embarrassing how much money we spend as a family on absolute shite. Looking back at my bank statements has been a bit of an eye opener. We haven't bought anything other than food for the past 2 weeks and we intend to do that until the end of lock down as far as possible.

We've saved over £150 a week from work and school lunches, bus fare, petrol, DC2s tutor

We spend about £150 a month on hair and beauty treatments

We've just cancelled our summer holiday which has saved us a lot of money. Apart from this not eating out, the pub and going clothes shopping has probably been our biggest savings.

We will definitely save over a £1000 a month plus the holiday money. It will definitely change my spending habits without a doubt.

Thanks everyone. It's odd that I've always known should suit over gene hats and been aware it's money down the drain (or my lungs!). But every time I thought of quitting I'd smoke more in a panic
Bought a pack of lozengers and just went from there. I'm way down below the recommended amount which shows the nicotine's wasn't the whole reason! Definitely just a habit. I've not craved the nicotine. Sometimes I've craved the 5 minutes peace and quiet
But yes, a killer virus trying to destroy the populations lungs will tend to focus the mind a little more!

Well, we're down DP's wage for weeks now, and I've had to draw on savings, which I'm trying not to think about as it brings me out in a cold sweat. Hopefully we can replace it later.

I'm still working so I'm still paying for petrol, but its a lot less, only needed half a tank!

Food hasn't really gone up because the DC had packed lunches, we live too in too rural a place for takeaways and McDs was a rare treat.

I'd earmarked future money for trips in the Easter holiday, birthday outings, IL visiting on the other side of the country etc. So that's probably a grand not spent looking forward.

Where I'm directly saving money is on all the extra treaty bits. I think I was spending about £50 a week on just 'stuff', I honestly couldn't even say what it was! Just crap really.

I mentally split money into pots, like food, electric, pension and extras. That extras pot is looking shockingly healthy!

I’ve spent loads more, no free school meals, no free school snacks, additional learning resources purchased, etc, etc....

I think I'm about £250 up without the fares and the nonsense food purchasing I do when at work. I feel like I've spent more though, too much concentrated focusing in the supermarket.

Washing is up because you need to be washing more right now. The virus can be aerosolised so it's in the air. When you come in you strip off and wash everything. After a shower the towels go in the wash. Jackets/coats need washed more frequently too. As well as shoes. Hell all the hand washing makes for a lot more towels to wash as they need changed daily!

Also kids wear 2 trousers and 2 jumpers a week or 5 shirts. At home they wear pjs or shorts/joggers for a couple hours a day before bed. Now they are in a fresh set of clothes every day and my husband wears a boiler suit over his clothes so other than a new polo shirt he wears 2-3 pairs of joggers a week under it.

If your washing hasn't increase then either you were washing loads before, you aren't paying attention to the advise or you are not leaving the house and living in one set of clothes for most of the week!

I saw this coming and bought homeschooling stuff including a laser printer and outdoor toys in February. Since the schools closed I haven't spent any disposable income at all, but I basically spent all this months' allocation on that stuff so haven't yet made a saving.

Nothing. Saved a bit on fares but balanced by having both DDs home from uni and spending a lot more on food (and booze). Also had to fork out for a computer monitor and new work table, so down a couple of hundred at least in the last 3 weeks.

We've probably saved about £50 in petrol. Husband has been having cheap sandwiches at home rather than buying lunch at work.
Plus I have definitely saved money on things I would usually buy during the week

• entry to toddler groups, play cafes etc with 3yo
• random drinks, snacks, lunch treats during the week
• takeaways

£20 gym membership
£166 travel
£50~ lunch at work
£60-80 dinners out

Which is all well and good until you see how much stuff I'm buying on Amazon

None so far.

Food bill has more than doubled - no pasta, more expensive veg, fish, options, etc

Bought a laptop and a shed load of learning resources for dc to homeschool semi-independently whilst I wth.

If lockdown is extended and food basics come back into stock then from next month I should save over three hundred pounds in travel and childcare!

@cookiemonster5

What are you basing that on? Sounds a bit over the top to be honest.