AIBU to not understand how people are saving money during this pandemic?

[squishedblueberry]

I know commuting costs have cut and buying lunch and dinner out etc but we seem to be spending more and more.
I appreciate we are lucky to be able to do this before anyone jumps on me but am baffled as to how people are saying they are so much better off.

Signed up to Disney Plus and Netflix to keep ourselves sane. Spending more on takeaway because eating is one of the few things we can still do that feels like a treat.

I’ve ended up having to buy equipment so I can work from home as has DH. Bought countless entertainment for DS as he’s getting so bored so toys, books, games etc that we can play together, crafts and things. We had to replace the deck as it was unusable and we are spending so much time at home we wanted to make the most of it (didn’t have to I know, but it was dangerous so DS couldn’t go out on it).

We’ve also ended up having to do some jobs to the house because things have finally given up due to us being in it loads.

And that’s before the books and things we’ve ordered for ourselves to try and keep ourselves sane, supplies for hobbies, having to buy more expensive clothes from DS as can’t nip to Primark and pick up vests etc cheaply and he’s growing like a weed.

I know this is all very privileged and we are lucky to be able to afford it but it amazes me when people say they are so much better off. We’ve also lost money on a couple of auks holidays so that adds to it and I’ve lost work so am down on income to what we usually have.

A few years ago my commute and child care was circa £2100 a month. So i would be saving that if still in that situation.

Saving on petrol - circa £150 a month.
First lock down our school fees were reduced 25% to take into account remote learning, so saved about £3500 for the two children.
savings on going out- we went out alot - so £120 a month.
Savings on two holidays (sob) so saved £3500 for one and £1700 for the other.

Our alcohol costs have gone up though.

Spending has gone through the roof. My food bill has quadrupled because DH not buying lunch at work, children home all day so eating far more, no one has any meals away from home.
Activities on zoom all seem to involve me shelling out for bits and bobs each week - things that would be provided if they were attending in person.
Far more casual clothes/shoes needed for children, while their school uniform languishes in wardrobe, probably outgrown by the time they need it again.
Buying more toys/books/printer ink/paper etc to keep children entertained at home.
Add to that a massive drop in income for both me and DH and we have far less money than before.

Our joint commuting costs are nearly 12k a year, so we are definitely saving! Even with increased household bills it doesn't touch it.

Most months we'd go out to the pub a couple of times a week (£50 x 2), have weekends away (£300 every couple of months), gym memberships (£15 x 3), petrol (£50 x 2) buy new clothes, shoes, etc.

So totalling that up, I'd say we're saving around between £800-1000 a month.

Except we're not because we're having a takeaway every weekend (£60), drinking & eating much more at home and buying 'essentials' like gym equipment & new bedding!

We're still better off but God, I'd much rather have my life back and have less savings

We are saving loads but I did get quite a £5k pay increase two weeks prior to lockdown and my husbands business has really taken off.

It totally depends on how you used to live doesn't it? We're saving £120 on bus and train passes for me and two teenagers. Also saving on dd's lunches - maybe £40 a month? But spending more on food during the week, so maybe it evens itself out? Dd is still doing her singing lessons, but I'm not paying for ju jitsu and football for ds.

During the first lockdown we saved a lot of money as we didn't pay out for 4 camps over Easter and summer for the children which we'd planned for - probably near enough £1k - and we had a small fee rebate from dd's school (she's at a state school now). It's looking likely the camps won't go ahead this summer either, but to be honest I'd much rather they could go (ditto the football/ju jitsu) and have less money. Ds was really fed up about the prospect of another year without camp yesterday.

to be fair though you seem to have done lots of home improvements which are costly at anytime but I don't think you need so many things for "entertainment" you could make do with fewer. Also stop buying expensive clothes for a growing kid, where are you shopping? most supermarkets have reasonably priced kids clothes that don't cost the earth.

My dh usually drives several hundred miles a week visiting clients. He now does business with them by zoom, so fuel cost massively reduced.

We also used to spend a small fortune on holidays, cinema tickets, theatre tickets and meals out. Again, substantial savings now.

Covid really has decimated some people financially whereas others have saved money. I have a lot of empathy for people who have lost their livelihoods

We haven't had a holiday since last February. No pubs/restaurants/shopping trips. No haircuts. No gym membership.

No commuting- DH working at home, only go out to supermarket/GP etc so barely need to get fuel.

More food, extra TV channels though.

Spending has gone through the roof. My food bill has quadrupled because DH not buying lunch at work, children home all day so eating far more, no one has any meals away from home

Several people saying this...but it doesn't make sense. Sure, your grocery bill goes up, but buying meals out is far more expensive than groceries to eat at home, so its got to be a net saving.

I'm saving lots. No meals out, no non browsing shopping, no socialising.

Those saying food has increased as they have teenagers at home fulltime, is it that your teenagers are eating more or something else? Because free school meals excepted, surely you're always responsible for their food costs whether at home or out the house?

Our supermarket food costs have increased slightly, but our overall food spend is less.

I don't understand your bafflement OP.

Some families are spending less than pre covid because their income has reduced (eg loss of work).
Some families are spending less than pre covid because their expenses have reduced (eg commuting costs).
Some families are spending less than pre covid because they are not paying for as many treats and optional extras (eg dinners out).
Some families are spending more than pre covid because their expenses have increased (eg heating costs)
Some families are spending more than pre covid because they are treating themselves more (eg takeaways)

Some families don't have any choice in how their budget has run over covid. Other families have chosen to spend on extras.

We're all different.

We've saved a lot on:

No holidays
No commuting costs (season tickets)
No work wear (and so no dry cleaning either) including tights
Family and friends' birthdays and Christmas celebrations didn't involve eating out or entertainment
Haven't been to cinema, theatre, sports events etc in forever (this is quite significant for us and sometimes it involves travel or an overnight stay)
Staying close to home so much reduced fuel costs

We have hoerver spent on other things:

Two new desks, two new printers (DH and I WFH, DS home schooling), one monitor, a load of printer ink and paper
Loungewear (my new essential)
An inordinate amount of home improvements, admittedly long overdue, but accelerated as I couldn't bear looking at it all 24/7

The DC are playing with some toys and doing crafts that they previously didn't bother with, so we haven't spent a huge amount on extras like this. But have bought a second games console so that they can play at the same time with no arguments

@alienspiderbee

Those saying food has increased as they have teenagers at home fulltime, is it that your teenagers are eating more or something else? Because free school meals excepted, surely you're always responsible for their food costs whether at home or out the house?

Our supermarket food costs have increased slightly, but our overall food spend is less.

I buy all organic meat and fruit and veg

Doubt the school does!

My grocery bill has increased because I spend a lot on very high quality. So if you increase the quantity... the costs soar

No kids activities. No holidays .No meals out. Hardly any commuting. No days out other than walks. No cafe stops. No constant need to buy more school uniform and other school bits.

Yes more money spent on food and netflix and heating etc but overall spending is definitely down so saving is up. Which I'm grateful for because DH is being made redundant next month.

I am a key worker and walked to work pre covid, as I do now. OH worked from home pre covid so no real changes to heating bills there. We already had netflix.

I have worked a lot more overtime than normal, we have spent much less on impulse purchases/eating out and the takeaways we have had don't come anywhere close to costing as much as we've saved.

I am conscious of the privileged position we're in and we do try to spend money locally on takeaway or fancy ingredients (cheese mostly!) etc, but there is a limit particularly when I'm trying to lose weight. We will deliberately try and put money back into the local economy when things open up again. I don't want to be sitting pretty on a fortune in savings while the city centre and local businesses die.

The divide between income levels is noticeable I think. For those of who who were spending a lot of money on travel, eating our, kids sports and hobbies and other entertainment these costs have of course gone done. The costs of being at home have risen however - needing the right equipment for work or study or play and also buying a lot more food shopping (three meals a day for the family every day) and utility bills increasing etc. If you were spending more out than at home you’re doing well. If you were already spending more at home on bills and food then you’re going to be struggling more.

Saving money on fares
Not going out so less money on meals out/alcohol/taxis/cinema
less money on make up
Less money spent mooching round the shops
No casual coffees and snacks or nipping into the pub for one

I don't have kids, my sister who does is saving on after school care.

While I understand why people are financially worse off, I can also see why people are better off!

No holidays
No commuting
Very little need for new clothes
Three wedding invites have been postponed
No celebrations - birthday dinners for friends, baby showers, christenings, Christmas party's
No new make up as no big nights out
No salon trips - nails / waxing / eyebrows : blow dry
Many months of no cleaner
No day trips
We are very fortunate as income hasn't decreased- but we are saving a significant amount of money

Parking, commuting, all childcare, extracurriculars (if they're closed), monthly birthday party gifts, dinner/drinks/outings, work/evening clothes, holidays etc etc.

It all adds up.

@SushiSoozie

Spending has gone through the roof. My food bill has quadrupled because DH not buying lunch at work, children home all day so eating far more, no one has any meals away from home

Several people saying this...but it doesn't make sense. Sure, your grocery bill goes up, but buying meals out is far more expensive than groceries to eat at home, so its got to be a net saving.

I wonder if the issue is how money is divided?

So DH buys lunch for work from his spends but lunch at home comes out the DWs pot as she pays for shopping? DC might eat at Granny's or use their pocket money to eat out / limited to what they can spend at school on food but are now home for 4 meals a day and snacks and are boredom eating. Again all dining directly from DWs food budget.

Our 'big shop' has increased in price but that's because we're not doing top-up shops which are never just a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk despite that being what you went in for so overall our food costs have only risen slightly.
We don't go anywhere so don't have petrol costs, I think I've filled the car 3 times in a year. My husband doesn't have his commuting costs so that's saved nearly £1000.
I cancelled my gym membership and neither of us swim anymore.
We haven't gone away so no holiday costs or trips to friends.
We're using more electricity to wfh daily but less in other aspects eg we're wearing clothes for longer because we're not leaving the house and don't shower every day.
Neither of us have bought many clothes this year.
I already wfh full time and my husband had a good wfh set up so we've had no outgoings there.
I can't go to my favourite art supply shops so don't do any spontaneous spending there.
My husband isn't buying lunches any more and I'm not having coffee shop coffees which wasn't a huge outgoing but over 12 months has added up.
We also haven't had any theatre, comedy or other evenings out.
I'm doing up our house almost single-handedly so we've had material costs but the areas where I need a proper expert aren't being done so we've not spent anything there but obviously that will go up once we feel comfortable with someone in the house again.
We have had disney+ which I'm not sure we'd have in normal circumstances and have bought some games eg ring fit to help us work out and I've got more books. We also definitely drank more at the beginning of the first lockdown. So in all some of our costs have gone up but the majority have gone down. If you actually want to save money OP I'm sure you could budget and manage it effectively.

YABU if you can't understand that everyone's circumstances are different

No cleaner - £150 per month
No after school care to pay for - £175 per month
Dd can’t go horse riding - £100 per month
Dtds can’t do gymnastics - £62 per month