What can't you afford?

[Marleymerm]

Last week at work my colleague told me her recent eye test showed she needed glasses, but she couldn't afford them, she's known she's needed them for a couple of years but said she doesn't have the money. We both work full time in office jobs and neither of us have expensive hobbies or social lives, we're both pretty boring.
I realised this morning I haven't bought new shoes for months despite the ones I have coming apart, because I can't afford them. I've picked up pairs but put them back down when I've thought of what else I need instead.
When I asked this question to my friend about what she couldn't afford she told me her monthly prescription! She hasn't got it for 3 months.
It's a weird time we're living in so everyone's doing without something. But do you have any necessary things you need but can't afford?

Agreed. If glasses are required for your job, for example VDU use, your employer is legally obliged to provide help to fund these with an appropriate eye test also funded.

Can't afford dental work. Dental work should all be part of the NHS. It's appalling that it is not. Teeth problems can lead to other health problems.

Can't afford the opticians.

Just about managing ok with food, but we are vegan so our food bill is not as bad as meat-eaters', plus cooking is a bit faster in general.

Being poor is understandable if that's how it has to be. What I find frustrating, is that it does NOT need to be like this.

Tax the rich. Jail the tories.

Funny you should say that, I walked past a car sales place yesterday and 2018 Range rovers were selling for £15-£17k. Guess no one wants gas guzzlers these days.

It's still worth looking. I have a bed that comes apart theAs pieces. It would need a few people to carry it all but it could be carried on the bus. Maybe someone is selling a bed like this. Metal frame with wooden slats across the base.

@Sunshineandrainbow
I’m in Bath
Depending on where you are in the country
I have a double bed and mattress that I was going to throw out in around 2 weeks along with a small side cabinet

it’s my adult sons and he’s moving out as he’s bought a flat and is buying a bigger bed
Nothing wrong with it I think it came from IKEA mattress is in perfect condition

I can’t be assed to sell / advertise it on fB because their are two many idiots who wast your time so I was going to chop I up and take it to the tip
I only put stuff on FB / Gumtree if I can leave it outside and say whoever is first to collect can have it

if your in my area feel free to DM and I can send you some photos

Glasses are so expensive. I've just had an eye test and although my prescription had changed I decided to keep my existing glasses for as long as possible. Even with cheap Specsaver frames it's over £200 in total.

Food is my biggest expense, I work from home mainly and know when the local coo’p, Sainsburys and onestop do their mark downs. So I pop out to buy food then. I have also changed the type of meat I buy (unless discounted), so Sunday lunch is now sausages, aka toad in the hole with veg and potatoes and our fresh chicken now comes in the winged variety.

Havent had my haircut since March. Haven’t seen a dentist since pre covid, neither has my child.

I am making my own spreadable butter buying unsalted cheep supermarket value butter in the foul wrappers, then mixing in veg oil, and salt to taste with the hand whisk, because I tried to avoid the rising butter costs but I also don’t have the heating on so the butter is solid even if left out on the side in a butter dish.

also now eating a lot of ready meals, would normally cook from scratch, but I can’t make a beef stew and dumplings for less than £2.75 per portion. Which is what I ate all last week as Sainsburys had this ready meal on offer.

I earn enough to be a higher rate tax payer, haven’t even been able to afford even a weekend away this year, everything is 3-4 times more expensive. I have no idea how lower income families are surviving. It’s really fucking grim

My children are not in pain. I would obviously take them to the GP if they were. They have non urgent issues with their adult teeth that are coming through. We live in a rural area, there are barely any dentists within a 50 mile radius and none of them are taking on new patients and do not treat non patients even in emergencies (which my children do not have).
Thank you very much for putting the fear of social services into a parent who is already clearly struggling and feeling badly about it. I hope it has made you feel better to make someone who is already down feel even worse.

Free heating? Have never heard of that anywhere?

Thank you

All the people saying about glasses, I have an incredibly complicated prescription and get the nhs low income assistance thing, could afford glasses as it barely took anything off it, went to a different optician I was totally upfront with them and got free glasses no idea how they made it work.

Dental care, even a check up. Lord knows I've got a cavity that needs sorting and I can't remember a time my gums weren't bleeding when I brushed them. That issue isn't just financial though, I just can't find a dentist that will take me as an NHS patient any where!

I have needed new glasses since I got my last glasses 10 years ago because the prescription was wrong and they dropped to bits almost instantly.

Knickers. I don't know why, but when every one else needs underwear it's top of the list but I never prioritise buying my knickers. They're all Sunday knickers because they're so holey.

I can't afford any hobbies. My family comment that I'm glued to my phone, but let's be honest, if I did anything else, it would cost money. I've done netflix and Disney and Amazon to death and that's on accounts I've sponged off other people.

I feel like my identity has become my work, and being a mum. And it's not because I'm fanatical about either it's because I can't afford to be or do anything else.

I'm honestly so boring. My life is full, and whenever there's money in the kitty I feel utter guilt for even thinking about spending it on myself, so I don't. I don't know how to break the cycle of guilt. I feel like we can't afford to have fun and when we do have money, others deserve more than me.

it’s been a lean three months for us. It will get better hopefully so we are lucky. But right now:
I can’t afford to get ill. I don’t get sick pay.
I can’t afford to fix my car
i can’t afford to fix the tumble drier
i can’t afford the heating either so i have no way to dry clothes
i can’t afford glasses on my new prescription
I can’t afford my hobbies anymore, which is horrid as I’ve always worked to live before
i can’t afford the clothes I need for work.
I can’t afford the dentist
I have the money for dd’s dancing lessons, they aren’t expensive as she has a sort of scholarship, and I would rather go without clothes and hobbies as long as she has some opportunities.

Apologies if I am being unfair to @Idratherbepaddleboarding but I don't think there is any need to be unkind to @shoplifteroftheworld simply for recognising how lucky they have been in some areas, while how hard life still is in others, just because not everyone has that.

As I say, I am sorry if they were intending to be supportive and simply celebrating the areas where some people are more fortunate.

The frames are cheap but if it isn't for reading only then the prescription is where the cost lies. I also need new glasses but am putting it off for that reason. Varifocals are even dearer. Contact lenses not an option due to continuous paying out for solutions etc.
Hairdressers are what I'm not paying out for. Can't justify the cost. Next one will probably be in 6 months time.

Just so you know all of the free stuff you get? It's not free. It's funded by taxpayers, some of whom can't afford to heat their own homes or have their own teeth fixed.

Dentist , highlights eyebrow wax

Had a rather unpleasant surprise tonight as I went to go and try to find some curtains for the lounge. Moved house over the summer, and I'd been putting off buying them, but now it's noticeably colder when you sit by the patio doors and I'd seen the thermal lined ones which look useful.

I thought they'd cost me about £100.

Turns out they're larger than most ready made curtains are (310cm wide and 260cm drop) and the quotes are coming in at £500+, even at Dunelm!

Rather first world problems, but home ownership does seem to come with a never-ending shopping list.

I work for the NHS...I got a payment towards an eye test

Bras, because I'm an H cup and always pay £40-£50 a bra, and can't have anything flimsy as have a physical job with lots of bending and lifting.
Got excited Primark recently introduced bigger sizes.. but found only ONE in my size out of several hundred.. tried on at home and it instantly ripped! I need quality, proper stitching and scaffolding to support The Girls..

Being off sick.. I have to go in, or I won't get paid, and my work actually punishes for sickness. I went in last week with full on flu..which. they knew I had. It was hell..as I say, it's a physical job..on feet all day

Dentist ..not been for about 9 or 10 yrs

Private endocrinologist.. I need to see him but last time he charged £250 for 35 minutes on Facetime.
I'm in a minimum wage job and part time due to health issues (also my company doesn't offer many full time positions)
Holidays.. having worked through three lockdowns/ entire pandemic , it would be lovely to afford even a few days somewhere in England. There has to be some perks to working, surely?! Beyond basic survival. But I'm alone, no one to share costs with and using a food bank ...

Gosh I get nothing towards my -11 prescription! Other than a crappy £14 complex lens voucher, but then I've never paid £500 for glasses either!

As a man, this thread is a real eye opener on the bra front!!!

£40-£50???

Try John Lewis express and do 1.5 widths rather than double ?

Or Laura Ashley on eBay

I'm afraid the John Lewis quote, in their cheapest fabric but made to measure, came in at £609!

I might have to investigate how much I can get away with in terms of reducing the width of the things while making sure they still close in the middle.

For the first time ever in my life, I'm starting to regret that I was so crap at textiles in school, and never mastered the use of a sewing machine.

🤣🤣🤣🤣 this post is fucking hilarious....what planet do you live on????...I work in childrens safeguarding.....none of the children on child protection plans on my caseload currently have a dentist....its impossible in our area.....we can get then for children in care but that it....if a referral came in to social services as neglect due to having no dentist or checks up ...it would be ' no further actioned '..... the majority of children born since covid in my area have never seen a dentist and could be years if ever that they do..... why are you posting shit like this when you know fuck all???.... you are just pissing people off or making them feel like bad parents....fuck off back to your ivory tower