To ask who else just isn't spending AT ALL!?

[junebug21]

Just that really... is anyone else noticing their bank account numbers rising!!? Due to being home on full pay and not spending on childcare, petrol, kids clubs, coffees etc etc all my pay is stacking up and I'm mind blown by how much I normally would be spending!! We are very lucky to not have many bills (no mortgage) we literally only pay insurances (life, house etc), electricity, Netflix and phones! I feel like I have been wasting A LOT of money beforehand! (I am aware that there are many not in this position etc and we are v lucky) but I also feel like I'm missing something and I owe someone/something a lot of money!!?? Anyone else??

Ouch, reading this thread just made me mentally add up how much extra money this lockdown has cost me and it is so much!

Extra costs have included that my husband needed to take taxis to and from essential work meetings early on (I am shielding and it was no longer considered safe for him to go on the bus and he didn’t have time to walk), extra food costs, huge electricity bills, we had to buy a back support cushion, ergonomic keyboard and new monitor for working from home, extra cleaning materials and a bunch of other little things that all add up to so much.

I wasn't.... until I had to replace my old laptop because it died and my daughters needed it for school work. And now I have just ordered myself a tablet. So fewer purchases but they are big.

We're spending more!
We decided to carry on paying for clubs, music lessons etc.
The water bills gone up, electricity bill has gone up. We've added TV subscriptions and various subscriptions for the kids.
We're spending loads more on food as DH and DD are both home.
We've saved on coffees out but have used loads of coffee pods and have gone from a £30-£40 lunch out for DH and me to a £60-£80 a week take away for 6.

Yep, me. Saving on nursery fees, mostly. DS' nursery is expensive! No meals out also makes a difference, but we aren't really buying anything except food. My industry is likely to be very affected by Covid-19, so I'm trying not to be too pleased about it, as I know there are likely to be hard times ahead. But our bank balance had been steadily going down, so it's been nice to see it rising again.

I feel as though our food bill has tripled! The whole lot of us are like a swarm of locusts in that fridge!
Also Amazon, school supplies, art stuff, jigsaws, board games etcetc
We've been spending on Different things, but still spending.

I have been mostly wfh so petrol saving and usually I have to pay for after school club so I can work. I don't spend much on meals out etc anyway. If I have some spare I'll try to put into my savings and give a bit more in my standing order donations to cancer research and local hospice.

Some of its explicable. I'm not paying for a bus pass, childcare, kids activities.

Fine as long as you won't be needing any of those services in the future.

It must be lovely to be saving money while others are struggling to eat, well done you!

@cantata my point was if people only started threads that didn't upset anyone there would be hardly any threads!

We will have to agree to disagree, the op recognised her privilege, she didn't say she was loving the situation & I've seen way more offensive threads about covid imo. Just because people are saving money doesn't mean they don't have other problems.

It's not a competition. Don't confuse not struggling financially with not struggling at all.

For some people this is a mental health crises, others may enjoy the change.

Some may save money, some may lose money.

Some may be physically healthy, others may be at risk.

Some may get to be with loved ones, others may not know if or when they'll ever see them again.

Some may be with people, others may be totally isolated and not see or speak to another person for days.

For some people, being able to save a little more might be the sole positive thing they can cling on to for now. Don't come and tell them they should feel guilty for that.

Fine as long as you won't be needing any of those services in the future.

As it happened, I'd managed to rearrange my work hours to fit inside the school day so I was planning to take both kids out of childcare when the youngest started school in August.

I did try and pay my childminder over the lockdown period because she's lovely: but she wouldn't accept payment.

Some of the kids activities I probably wont bother with tbh as they were overpriced and DC's seem to be having as much fun without them.

I agree @Lockheart

@rhiannon13 how many people do you think are still paying for tubes, trains & buses they are not using as wfh/furloughed?

But yes...point taken.

Its good if people can pay a retainer to self employed service providers, keep them in business and use them again in future.

Spending a bit more, masks ( if I need them) and fabric paper towels, not stupid stuff

Definitely think that so many of the posters do not understand poverty!! Everyone bragging about how much they have saved when charities are desperate for donations. Well hopefully the money saved by posters might be donated to their favourite charity 😉

I find it really sad that people are not allowed to look for any positives in life anymore for fear of offence. I would have thought it would have been pretty apparent as to the nature of the thread from the op, if not the title, no one was obliged to keep reading.

OP, yes I am saving a fortune! We are being even more frugal than ever due to the possibility of redundancies in DHs work. We are both working as usual for now. I am a midwife so my job is secure, especially when we have the baby boom of lockdown babies!

Cantanta, I am sorry you are in such a dreadful situation. This thread has clearly triggered you but I think you are placing blame on the op when you say actually, you are already contemplating suicide many times a day. Clearly that is not ops fault and directing blame their way is not helping your problem, you desperately need to seek help. Have you called the Samaritans? Your life matters greatly, not just to your children but to everyone you know. Please seek help for your mental health.

I’m spending loads... I’ve developed an Amazon and Argos addiction!

Also, still paying £500 per month for kid’s activities (my biggest expense each month). The fees have to be paid to retain their places apparently.

I really didn't mean to upset anyone, sorry

I normally spend and order A LOT, but I haven’t really during lockdown because of the sheer uncertainty

Tempted to buy weights for a home gym but will I use them in a few months if lockdown has eased?

Tempted to buy new comfy clothes/gym wear but is it worth it, especially when no one will see me? Just feel like it’s a waste of money

Literally all I’ve bought so far are groceries & toiletries

@rhiannon13 how many people do you think are still paying for tubes, trains & buses they are not using as wfh/furloughed?

@dibble15, I was very obviously referring to the childcare and clubs part of that sentence. These are usually small local businesses who just won't survive if they're not supported by those who can afford to do so.

We’re spending just as much we are buying a take away from a local restaurant and giving the rest of our weekly spend pre COVID away to charity every week. We are lucky our business is still successful - we aware our good fortune.

If there's one thing this shows, is how unequal and unfair it all is.

Yes I agree. I mean, life has always been unfair hasn't it, but this is unfair.

DH and I are part of the "haves" - he's wfh on full salary - we're spending more on supermarket shopping (and booze) but making massive savings because he's not commuting (no more pricey season tickets), not buying lunches in London, and I'm not doing the school runs and running the kids around everywhere (so almost £zero on petrol & kids activities). I had no idea just how much we spent on these things.

I'm not sure DH will ever return to his former rat-run commute into London now - his company have been great and have recognised now that almost all their workers can work from home. So that's great for the environment/rush hour London/our family life too.

On the other hand, we have family members who are self-employed and own their own companies who cannot work. No money coming in at all. They both "may" get something from the govt, but we don't know yet. They have just cut outgoings to the barest minimum, and are hoping for the best. It's a difficult time, and yes, we will be there to help them out if needed.

Overall, we're losing money - mainly due to the stock market crashing which has meant a 20% drop in the value of our pensions, etc.

Still, being able to wfh means that we have jobs (private sector) for the time being...
Both our employers (US global corporates) have dwindling cash reserves so all employees are taking 20% paycuts from July onwards and these aren't temporary ones and neither of us are furlonghed. Still... better than no jobs at all!

I'm worried about redundancy in the next few months so I'm definitely not spending on non food luxuries but saving to survive a prolonged period of recession/income drop. The 2008 credit crunch affected us in that DH was made redundant and it took 9 mths before he started another job. This CV pandemic is already causing a recession which will be much worse...

@junebug21 you have done nothing wrong.