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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To refuse to pay current prices?

397 replies

Blusteryskies · 16/10/2025 17:37

I'm probably unreasonable for asking such a question, but has anyone else reached the point where they just won't buy things anymore even though they can afford to? I no longer see the point of buying things. Clothes, meals out, house items etc. Everything seems so overpriced and quality no longer correlates with price. I've decided I literally don't need to buy anything. I have enough clothes to last me years, furniture, homewares etc. Unless something dies, I won't be replacing it. Why do we need new clothes because someone has decided style has shifted massively in the past few years? Interiors likewise. I'm stating the bleeding obvious, but it all just feels like a con to fleece us out of our money and now brands are ever increasing their prices and their profit margins. I'm just fed up of it, and no longer feel like it's worth participating in mass consumerism. It's a never ending cycle of pointless, unfullfilling consumption.

OP posts:
Yokopops · 17/10/2025 09:42

prelovedusername · 17/10/2025 08:20

We’ve peaked with dental charges. We have no NHS dentists in our area, it’s a county-wide problem. My DH recently had treatment (filling, not cosmetic) in Spain for a fraction of what the UK dentist was charging, seriously, hundreds of pounds saved. Highly recommended local practice. DH says it’s the most positive dental experience he’s ever had, and has vowed never to go back to a UK dentist.

Are you able to share where you went please? I’ll be in Spain this winter.

GrannyWeatherwaxsBroomstick · 17/10/2025 09:51

The first thing my DGM taught me about buying clothes was to feel the fabric to see if it was good quality. For the past 15 years at least I haven't found any good quality fabric in t shirts or any basics. It really puts you off buying things when you know it's going to wear out very quickly. DH has t shirts from the 90s, not designer but good quality fabric and they are still in great shape.
Even DS doesn't like to eat out much because he says he gets better food at home.
It's very dispiriting, but probably good for the planet.
I prefer to buy good quality clothes every now and then rather than loads of rubbish that I don't enjoy wearing.

DancingLions · 17/10/2025 09:54

I disagree with most, in that I think it's "experiences" that are now an extortionate cost and not worth the money.

DD (adult) and I went to an immersive art thing. £70 for 2 tickets. Travel and a coffee/cake at a cafe. £100 gone. The "experience" lasted a couple of hours and was just ok. Nothing that I will look back on and feel so happy that I went.

Whenever I see anything now I might like to attend it's usually minimum £30 a ticket. For something that lasts about an hour. I would far rather buy myself a nice jumper or something for the house, or some craft items (hobby). At least I have something to show for the money and will last a lot longer than an hour or two.

My Amazon Christmas list is all books and hobby stuff. Because I know I will get the use out of them and they will bring me pleasure. I do still spend on holidays because I feel I get my moneys worth but most other experiences aren't worth it to me.

ElleintheWoods · 17/10/2025 10:00

nocoolnamesleft · 16/10/2025 19:09

I don't buy new clothes because fashion has changed, I buy them because the old ones have worn out. I don't buy a new car because my old one doesn't look sexy, I buy a new car when the old one is getting unreliable. I don't buy new furniture because it's not on trend, I keep using it because it's still in reasonable condition. I don't buy a new TV because I want a bigger screen, I do it when the old one stops working. What I do spend on is good books, good food, and good holidays. Each to their own.

Love this 😍😍😍

prelovedusername · 17/10/2025 10:06

Yokopops · 17/10/2025 09:42

Are you able to share where you went please? I’ll be in Spain this winter.

I can, but it might not be local to where you’re going. I joined a local Facebook group (English) for the town and searched for recommendations, and there were plenty.

MyHeartyCoralSnail · 17/10/2025 10:15

Clothes-I live largely in band t shirts and jeans -a hoody if cold. The t shirts get more desirable as they get older. Occasionally but a new one for a new tour of if I love it.

Have couple of timeless going out tops and dresses - good quality lasted for years. Nothing “on trend”. Replace jeans as the fall apart (until that point they’re “naturally distressed”).

House furnished, put up decorations at Christmas which are years old otherwise none of this changing decor for seasons.

don’t need to buy anything, apart from shoes and clothes for my son as he out grows them.

We used to eat out once or twice a week , takeaway once a week. Now maybe takeaway once a month, “war food” the rest of the time. Packed lunches half the week instead of school dinners/meal deals.

The only thing I’m not giving up on is gigs, But they keep me alive so. A god investment but even then I’m a bit more savvy - eg, sometimes cheaper to catch one in Europe rather than London for me and you get a weekend break thrown in.

prelovedusername · 17/10/2025 10:37

Yokopops · 17/10/2025 09:42

Are you able to share where you went please? I’ll be in Spain this winter.

Have PM’d you.

suburburban · 17/10/2025 10:48

RedRiverShore5 · 17/10/2025 05:53

The good thing about having bought clothes from places like Seasalt is that the styles never change, they just bring out a slightly different colour each year so you wouldn't know if a Janelle coat was 10 years old or last years. I have never been fashionable though.

Yes very true

most of their stuff is good quality and I like it

chaosmaker · 17/10/2025 10:52

@Blusteryskies have you only just realised what capitalism is?

ERthree · 17/10/2025 11:00

intrepidpanda · 16/10/2025 20:48

Yes, everytime you ho on social media you are being sold something you don't need.
Overpriced deodorant, toothpaste, soap, cleaning products. Facial serums that are miracles, protein this, magnesium that, supplements they are trying to convince you will make you sleep better, move better, make you 21 again.
Its relentless and many are soooo taken in by it.

It may not be revolutionary to buy what you need but these adverts really do a job making people truly believe they need.

I dread to think how much is spent in this country on "miracle" products every year. There is no magic face cream, never has been, yet so many part with so much money. I know one woman that uses 4 different cleansers,serums cream and god only knows what else every night, she looks her age yet she still pays hundreds every year on skin care. Sheer madness.

ERthree · 17/10/2025 11:03

YourPeppyAmberTraybake · 17/10/2025 08:18

Maybe in a few boxes in their garage, loft or cupboard near their Christmas decorations/ garden cushions/summer/winter clothes.

Or they chuck them out and buy new next year.

NikkiPotnick · 17/10/2025 11:16

Dsis does seasonal decorations and it all goes in her loft.

ElleintheWoods · 17/10/2025 12:06

KimberleyClark · 16/10/2025 19:49

Charity shops will go out of business if everyone stops replacing things for the sake of it.

There is so much stuff on the planet and so much being produced every minute, that if we just stopped tomorrow, there would still be enough clothes etc for 6 generations.

Do you see how much stuff is listed on Vinted? All of that is stuff that's surplus to someone.

The idea with clothes, furniture etc in my head is that they should last 20+ years. I wear a lot of clothes made pre-2010, and not to blow my own trumpet, but people ask me daily what I'm wearing and where they can buy it.

My mum has furniture in her house from the 1960s.

I actively source 1980s and 1990s clothing to wear as it's high quality and made to last, and unique.

We have produced enough stuff over the last 70 years or so.

It's quite natural for us to want to refresh our look now and again. If I was world queen for a day, all stuff would just be sold in second hand shops, and once someone is done with an item, they sell it back to a 2nd hand/ charity shop.

That´s what I personally do anyway, to be fair.

On a deeper point, think about why charity shops exist. Is there a more efficient way to recycle items, and fundraise?

Personally I'm very pro charity shops and shop in them regularly, as do many of my friends, but they're not in danger of not receiving donations anytime soon, there is so much stuff in the world...

SushiForMe · 17/10/2025 12:09

VickyEadieofThigh · 17/10/2025 08:28

I have a phrase I deploy regularly: I can afford it - I'm just not willing to pay that for it.

Exactly!

And to the PP mentioning joyless, personally I find joy in consciously choosing where my money is spent. The £4-5 daily coffees from Starbucks were not bring me joy, neither were the random clothes bought just because I was in a shop. Nowadays I’m enjoying choosing to spend my money on things that I value, and I have more cash available to do so because of stopping other things.
A very good example is to stop eating out at random chain restaurants, as you never exit thinking « that was especially good / it had a great time / we should do that more often » but instead « I can’t believe the bill was so high! ». I’d rather buy a Gousto box and enjoy 4 really good meals (just a random example).

I guess if you need to be frugal out of necessity and not choice then yes, it can become joyless.

prelovedusername · 17/10/2025 12:18

I can’t think of anything more joyless than debt. There is nothing I need so badly that I would go into debt to have it.

NotEnoughKnittingTime · 17/10/2025 12:28

ThisOldThang · 16/10/2025 23:06

If you look at early photographs of children it is common to see boys wearing dresses. According to by elderly father this was because younger siblings wore whatever has been bought for the eldest child - even in very wealthy families.

Thought it was to do with toilet training?

suburburban · 17/10/2025 12:30

ElleintheWoods · 17/10/2025 12:06

There is so much stuff on the planet and so much being produced every minute, that if we just stopped tomorrow, there would still be enough clothes etc for 6 generations.

Do you see how much stuff is listed on Vinted? All of that is stuff that's surplus to someone.

The idea with clothes, furniture etc in my head is that they should last 20+ years. I wear a lot of clothes made pre-2010, and not to blow my own trumpet, but people ask me daily what I'm wearing and where they can buy it.

My mum has furniture in her house from the 1960s.

I actively source 1980s and 1990s clothing to wear as it's high quality and made to last, and unique.

We have produced enough stuff over the last 70 years or so.

It's quite natural for us to want to refresh our look now and again. If I was world queen for a day, all stuff would just be sold in second hand shops, and once someone is done with an item, they sell it back to a 2nd hand/ charity shop.

That´s what I personally do anyway, to be fair.

On a deeper point, think about why charity shops exist. Is there a more efficient way to recycle items, and fundraise?

Personally I'm very pro charity shops and shop in them regularly, as do many of my friends, but they're not in danger of not receiving donations anytime soon, there is so much stuff in the world...

Yes my furniture is from the 99s and things bought in Ebay

Hope to keep it at next home

sofa may be replaced as it is worn out

Yokopops · 17/10/2025 12:31

prelovedusername · 17/10/2025 10:06

I can, but it might not be local to where you’re going. I joined a local Facebook group (English) for the town and searched for recommendations, and there were plenty.

I’ll be all over the place - Madrid, Valencia, Malaga, Nerja, Seville and Cadiz and some other places . Not on Facebook but if you can share the name of just the town even would be enough!

Badbadbunny · 17/10/2025 12:36

Fully agree. We are completely disillusioned with virtually everything. Not necessarily prices but crap customer service generally more than anything - but being grossly overcharged just makes the poor quality and poor service even worse.

We have 2/3 UK holidays per year and have taken to cooking our own meals for most of the time because eating out isn't enjoyable anymore and stupidly expensive for poor quality. Grumpy/surly staff, poor service, crap food quality, just not worth it. We even struggle to buy decent food - so many times pieces of meat which look OK turn out to be gristly or fatty or shrink to a fraction of their size in the counter - that's not just supermarkets, it's butcher shops too. "Fresh" fruit and veg that's gone off the day after purchase. It's awful.

Same with clothes shopping. High Street stores have bugger all in stock, so direct you to order online. Then when it comes, the quality is poor, thin material, poorly stitched, inconsistent sizing, crazy patterns i.e. short sleeves on thermal winter pyjamas, body length too long/too short, necks too tight or too gaping, etc. I finally found a pair of jeans that fitted (normal size 12!) from M&S so ordered the exact same one in a different colour (same range) in the same size, but when it arrived, leg length was 3 cm longer, thigh width was 3 cm narrower - M&S can't even manage to quality control the same size in the same range!

Customer service has gone down the toilet in the past decade or two. Firms/organisations are taking on useless staff, not training them, not supervising/managing them.

DH is still wearing work clothes that he bought in the mid 1990s before we got married as he can't find anything anywhere near the same quality in the High Street stores today. These aren't high class suits/trousers/shirts - they're all bought from the likes of Debenhams, M&S, C&S, Littlewoods, etc. - still going strong despite almost weekly wear for nearly 30 years.

I'm still wearing blouses/skirts/dresses from the same era for the same reasons.

Companies are missing a trick. We could literally spend hundreds/thousands of pounds but we don't because we don't like the quality/range of products currently available.

Same with our house, We've a list of jobs we want doing, i.e. new roof, replacement bathroom, but we go cold at the thought of having to deal with tradesmen after a series of poor experiences, so again, probably about £25k of work we've got the money for, but just can't face spending because we don't want to risk crap tradesmen so will wait until it becomes a necessity. Same with a replacement lounge gas fire that's now end of life - if we knew we could get a decent tradesmen to fit it without making an unholy mess and damaging the decoration, we'd do it tomorrow - that's another couple of thousand of spending that's not happening any time soon.

Badbadbunny · 17/10/2025 12:41

Americasfavouritefightingfrenchman · 17/10/2025 08:32

Yep. We used to go a lot to the chain type places if we were out and about in town for a quick, easy lunch with the kids but as it’s got more and more expensive we’ve switched to grabbing something we can picnic on and having a stop in one of the city parks for lunch if it’s nice weather or popping into Greggs or having late breakfast/early lunch at Wetherspoons and getting a meal deal if we just want something quick & easy. Keeps it to around £25 for the four of us and while it’s far from amazing food I don’t really think the chain pizza and pasta places are that much better for being significantly more expensive. I don’t resent £15-25 for the convenience but I do resent £70-100.

We were the same. But now for lunches we just seek out a Greggs or M&S and get a meal deal sandwich, crisps and drink. Even given up on places like Burger King and McDonalds for lunch on the move as the quality has gone down (cold fries etc) whilst the costs have rocketed. Sometimes, we've gone back to what we did decades ago and take our own packed lunches with a flask of coffee!

We have the money to pay, but simply don't want to pay for over-priced crap.

blobby10 · 17/10/2025 12:45

The only price increase I am delighted about is Cadbury chocolate - when they were £1 each I scoffed far too many of the grab bags of Twirl bites, giant buttons etc but now they are £2 I don't enjoy eating it enough! Ditto individual bars of chocolate especially Freddo who has got incredibly skinny and tasteless.
I try not to buy any new clothes preferring to scout around my local Air Ambulance or BHF shops as the quality of new clothes doesn't match the price tag any more.

LillyPJ · 17/10/2025 13:09

Badbadbunny · 17/10/2025 12:41

We were the same. But now for lunches we just seek out a Greggs or M&S and get a meal deal sandwich, crisps and drink. Even given up on places like Burger King and McDonalds for lunch on the move as the quality has gone down (cold fries etc) whilst the costs have rocketed. Sometimes, we've gone back to what we did decades ago and take our own packed lunches with a flask of coffee!

We have the money to pay, but simply don't want to pay for over-priced crap.

I always take my own packed lunch. That way, I'm guaranteed healthy ingredients, variety and a good balance. There's too much fat (often mayonnaise) and sugar in a lot of bought food.

prelovedusername · 17/10/2025 13:20

Yokopops · 17/10/2025 12:31

I’ll be all over the place - Madrid, Valencia, Malaga, Nerja, Seville and Cadiz and some other places . Not on Facebook but if you can share the name of just the town even would be enough!

Can you access your PMs? I’ve sent a link.

Lavenderandbrown · 17/10/2025 14:25

I thought it was just me (and my dsis😉) op. I thought well that’s it I have finally bought everything I could ever want. And I’m getting old(er)
im so like my mum now….run my hands over clothes in the store and think…that’s “polyester” the bane of my mums life
walk into a petrol superstation(Buc-ee’s in the USA) and think to myself…what a bunch of crap….oversees factories are burying us in stuff
my house is very solidly built and I have “lovingly curated my decor” for many years as a hobby. But now I think 🤷🏼‍♀️don’t love it don’t need it. Even antique stores are downgrading as the home decor plastic/ mass produced live laugh love stuff is now filtering into the messy dusty stores which were always my favorite to hunt in.
and I really enjoyed stopping cooking after dc left the nest. I was so tired of the….what’s for dinner…every single day. But I too find meals so very overpriced and disappointing I’m thinking it’s time to get back into it…brush up my skills and eat at home. My DH would
live this altho he doesn’t complain.

Netcurtainnelly · 17/10/2025 14:29

Blusteryskies · 16/10/2025 17:37

I'm probably unreasonable for asking such a question, but has anyone else reached the point where they just won't buy things anymore even though they can afford to? I no longer see the point of buying things. Clothes, meals out, house items etc. Everything seems so overpriced and quality no longer correlates with price. I've decided I literally don't need to buy anything. I have enough clothes to last me years, furniture, homewares etc. Unless something dies, I won't be replacing it. Why do we need new clothes because someone has decided style has shifted massively in the past few years? Interiors likewise. I'm stating the bleeding obvious, but it all just feels like a con to fleece us out of our money and now brands are ever increasing their prices and their profit margins. I'm just fed up of it, and no longer feel like it's worth participating in mass consumerism. It's a never ending cycle of pointless, unfullfilling consumption.

The same should be extended to buying people a load of Christmas presents, they don't need.
People have brainwashed into spending money they don't need to be spending on gifts.