To ask you for your 'living well for less' tips

[meatbawls]

Maybe this philosophy has a name that I don't know, but I've been doing some thinking recently about how not to fall for all the tricks of the modern world and how to live a good, even luxury, even slightly flash(!) in certain ways life. I wfh in a good job, we have plenty of money so it's not about that, we have kids. It's not about austerity measures (not a boast, just clarifying so you don't ask to see my outgoings and help me budget).

What I'm trying to achieve is I guess a watered down version of FIRE (financial independence retire early) except I don't mind working for now, I just want to actually have something to show for it at the end and not just a load of crap I bought or conveniences I paid for.

My personal list is as follows, i'm interested to know what other people's look like! I am not looking for judgement particulary on the below, these are the things that for me represent value for money, or don't and any money that would have been spent on it should be put directly into savings instead.

IN:

healthy cheap food, lentils, beans, etc to promote health and long life
home workouts, mix of free and streamed
biking / cargo bike commute to school
second hand toys and clothes for all
antique jewellery which might hold value not decrease the minute I buy it.
proper coffee but not takeaway and no pods
very occasional facial for a treat.
highlights and haircuts, but only 2 times a year.
botox, because it actually works
effective cheap skin products (for me tret, sunscreen, moisturiser and not much else)
occasional file and polish pedicures
nice holidays
nice meals out on occasion
good wine, delicious cocktails!

OUT:

takeway coffee/lunch
pretty much any beauty products that are not listed above
eyebrow threading - they always take too much and I've bought a magnifying mirror for fraction of cost.
gel manicures/pedicures that require upkeep
pretty much any salon treatment that can't be seen on my face
clothes in general. certainly new clothes not on sale - i've been shopping my wardrobe and the rest on vinted
new furniture, as above
meat when eating alone
taxis unless strictly necessary
new phone or any other tech upgrade until current one is either broken or stolen
new glasses until frames actually break (I only use them for work and don't see people in person often)
new gym wear - see above re exercise mostly at home.

My OUT list feels too short. What can you add that are just a con of the modern world and don't need to be purchased either because they are completely unnecessary or because you can easily DIY it.

@Enrichetta that's inspiring, thanks for sharing! My parents and in laws have also lived in this way, although to be frank I use the latter for guidance on how not to take it too far. I think the key as you say is not to feel deprived, if you have a choice in the matter. It helps that my husband is a meal planning and shopping ninja so I am not let loose on the supermarket often.

Great thread. IN
Dupe perfumes e.g. from Lidl rather than actual Coco mademoiselle. Same but a fraction of cost. Also recommend Milton Lloyd for scents.
Cheap shampoo and toiletries including toothpaste - invariably the same ingredients but simpler packaging without the hype. (Yes I know this from actual manufacturing experience).
Lots of purchases from Facebook marketplace. My new kitchen was £350 for cabinets for the whole thing. Yes it still needs fitting, worktops appliances etc but vastly cheaper. My Beko washing machine does same job as a meil, but is a quarter of the price. :-)
OUT Lots of unwanted presents, e.g. we do a small family gift each at Christmas or even one year forewent the gifts and met up for a fantastic meal out with cocktails at IVY Asia. Experience instead of tat.
Take away coffees and cakes. I take a flask and sit in park with friends.

I'm quite lucky that some of my costs are covered by my employer; mobile phone, home broadband, car and ev charging, health cash plan that pays for £200pa for glasses and dentist etc.

I spend on my beauty treatments as they are important to me but happy to cheap out on clothes, shoes and bags.

I'll spend on my gym membership and with the health benefits, I convince myself I'm saving a fortune by showering and washing my hair there.

I'll spend on good quality meat from a butchers wholesaler instead of eating out. I'll spend on lavazza coffee beans and make delicious coffee every morning at home.

I'm time rich so happy to shop around for good deals. Also don't mind reselling stuff we no longer use.

We're spending on cheap camping holidays (despite shelling out on expensive gear) to increase our savings for the future.

What do we think on decent candles? I’m a waiverer on this. Sometimes think it’s a waste of money and then capitulate and buy a decent candle and then I think they are a definite, non negotiable ‘in’

Really? I didn’t know this. Thanks for the tip!

Have you heard of FATFIRE OP? Basically aiming for FIRE but in a rather more luxurious way. Live in nice area, go on holidays etc. (Whereas lots of FIRErs are extreme frugaleers).

OUT - Books. Get a library card and the Libby app, work out how to reserve books from a linked library as well, and you’re sorted.

OUT - Subscriptions. At least be very cautious with them. For example we don’t have Prime because I don’t mind waiting 5 days for the odd amazon item and I can live without their TV offering. Our only subscriptions are Netflix, Spotify (since having tweens) and a specific kids’ magazine.

IN - online food shopping. Much easier to be disciplined I find and meal plan or at least have a vague idea of meals. In a supermarket I impulse buy, and forget stuff.

OUT - AI holidays. Not my cup of tea anyway, but also poor value if you’re not a big drinker/eater as you’re subsidising those who are.

IN - public transport.

OUT - Takeaways. I never enjoy them as much as I expected anyway. Batch cook instead and defrost something on lazy nights, pimped up with a few bought sides.

IN - specific clothes shopping. I keep a list of things that would actually make my wardrobe work better (eg summer handbag, waist belt) and I’m only allowed to shop for those.

OUT - throwaway or temporary items. I don’t do seasonal decorations except the same box of Christmas decs and wreath that comes out every year. Halloween costumes come used from ebay.

I unfortunately learned the hard way, but hiring 'professionals', even with good reviews, doesn't always pay off. In the past, I have:

• Hired a company to jetwash, they ruined my paving and decking
• Hired a cleaner - they have ruined some carpets and furniture
• Hired a PT for assistance with diet / motivation

(This is why we can't have nice things!) So now I have:

• Bought a pressure washer so I can gently do it myself
• Take the time to clean myself, but found a reasonable, trusty ironing service instead for the non-delicates! (I can't do it all, and admire those who do).
• Use ChatGPT for meal plans, and hike with friends so that exercise becomes a fun catch-up, or hike with the DC to magical lands (in the forest) where we fight off invisible monsters that only the DC can point out

This is such a great thread, thanks OP! I agree with you about books. In our house we have a mixture of kids books and adult books on the shelves (adult books usually bought from the charity shop) and then, since I'm the person who reads the most, I have a Kindle. But what I do is keep a long wishlist on Amazon of all the books I want to read and then each month I filter it from low to high price and see which ones are 99p. Then I can buy any which I want that month (not all of them, it would be too many!) but it means I rarely pay more than 99p for an ebook. I read once that authors/publishers still get the full royalties etc because the discount is provided from Amazon so that's great too.

Thinking about hair cuts, I've now switched to just a dry cut as over the years I've realised I actually hate having my hair touched and pulled, I've never enjoyed a blow dry and my scalp is always sore after they use their products. I'm so much happier now plus it takes 15 mins and its half the price!

Buy a Clarks foot measure, and buy your kids shoes and school shoes online at half the price

OUT - shower gel - soap works so much better less packaging
IN making an extra meal or two bulking out and freezing - saves cooking one night

DH and I retired aged 45. The biggest thing for us was we never tried to keep up with the Jones', compared ourselves to others or were envious of other people. We decided to rent out our house so now have 3 income streams and we sail around the world. It's really rather lovely!

And YY to bar soap

You can probably guess what I'm going to say from my user name.

Vintage markets are a brilliant place to buy presents, jewellery, household linens, furniture, art, clothes, china, pottery often at absolute bargain prices. I've furnished my home entirely from them from bed linen to lampshades. More original than anything you can buy in the shops and usually made at a time when quality and longevity were the norm.

Other tips -
Keep a note of EVERYTHING you spend for one whole month. If you look at it at the end of the month you can see exactly where money is just drifting out of your hands with nothing to show for it. It really shows up those things you buy to cheer you up that you don't really need or even really appreciate any more. Repeat the process often.

Discuss present buying with family and friends. So much money is wasted on unwanted presents. Now with all of my friends we have experiences e.g. picnics in the park, nights out at the local cinema and cocktails at one of our houses, day trips to lovely houses instead. We save a fortune over a year and the memories are worth more than any old presents.

Never just renew insurance. You can always get a better deal, usually from your existing supplier if they think you're going to leave and go elsewhere.

I retired at 50 by being what I've just learned is called FATFIRE. People think I must be rolling in money to have done that, but I just taught myself how to live how I want on very little.

I don't know if anyone has said this so far, but get in early for Christmas and ask people if they'd like to agree you won't buy for adults any more, or will put a limit on what you buy, buy from charity or whatever. I have done this for most friends' birthdays now - we meet up and chat, I buy them lunch or a cake but we don't buy presents any more.

Out.Three figure face creams
In. Lidl £3.50 ones
Out. Take aways
In. Occasional steak or Waitrose deli counter for treats.
Out. Jo Malone everything
In. Aldi fake ones
Out. New gift bags.
In. Recycled ones.
Out. New electric appliances for home.
In. Charity PAP tested ones.
Out.New clothes.
In. Loose weight and look better in old ones.
Out. Dinner out in exp restaurants
In. Brunch in cafe.
Out. Joining posh sports clubs.
In. Membership of local Council gym all inclusive classes.
Out. Unnecessary unwanted gifts.
In. thoughtful ones which may be a day out to National Trust property with lunch. Ie your time is given.
Out. Sugary crap.
In. Fruits and herbal teas.
Out. Sky cinema.
In. Amazon prime and joint account Netflix.

When something you like is on discount - shampoo, face cream, pants etc - buy three and put them in your bottom drawer.

I was very sorry to find out that the Jo Malone candle I'd coveted and was finally bought as a special treat, was very disappointing. The smell was so subtle I could barely smell it. Certainly I couldn't smell it at all once it had gone out.
If posh candles float your boat, you can get them for under a tenner in TK Maxx. I'm almost embarrassed to say I like the Aldi ones; if you like the particular scents, some of them are great.

For the first 5 years I lived independently I never paid for loo roll. I’d just steal it from restaurants and pubs, anywhere I’d go to the loo really. Worked out how to open the loo roll dispensers in the uni library 😭.

Now we do buy loo roll, and we don’t really need to live poor anymore, but I still eat a lot of beans, lentils, stews and curry. Also one of the perks of working at home is I can get down to Lidl for when they do the yellow stickers, they often have a whole chicken there for like £2.50. I do it for the love of the game these days but DH is always in awe of my ability to penny pinch and keep that food bill low.

Oh agree about ditching adult presents! Also frees up so much time!

Something edible or flowers is nice, anything more is liable to be wrong anyway…

I'm loving the recent replies, some quite hilarious comments as well as good tips!

There are some great things on this thread!

shopping cupboards and checking before purchasing is something I am terrible at.

In: only replacing when skincare and health and beauty products are finished or close to
out: skin+me - can’t see the difference

in: really good quality meat for treat dinner on a Saturday
out: takeaways more than once a month

in: cancelling subscriptions and magazines that aren’t being read
out: letting things go through laziness

in: libraries and borrowing books
out: impulse purchasing on Amazon.

in: overpaying mortgage and pension
out: minimum payments.

i really want a peloton bike, I used to spin quite regularly but time and availability of the classes I like stopped that. I do use YouTube and other free sources for at home Pilates and walking or cycling are our go to (aside from martial arts and swimming for the kids and husband).

oh and impulse purchasing seeds, that I then lose or forget to sow or sow and they don’t germinate. I need to plan and be much more conscious about my gardening endeavours. I’ve got hollyhock seeds to chuck in the front garden, but the front garden is full of plants I hate…

My DH and I are retiring at the end of the year, so this is a topic that is very much on my mind.

The one thing I am going to stop buying into is blog/instagram posts, which are basically just adverts and are so addictive.
I also seem to be sucked into the excitement of Mumsnet threads like Christmas beauty calendars ( have so many tiny, never to be used beauty products) and Nigel Slater’s Christmas chronicles (nobody needs a £100 candle!). Must resist…

The one thing I won’t be giving up is foreign holidays.

seed save OP, you will save a fortune.

If it is not delicious or highly nutritious just DO NOT EAT IT.
I've lost a stone and saved so much money on shite processed food out and about. I took a pack lunch/tea to a festival at the weekend and saved over £60 compared to everyone else!