To refuse to pay current prices?

[Blusteryskies]

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.

Completely agree.
I haven't a notion of replacing large ticket items unless necessary and friends are verbalising the same.

I was at a friends bring a dish last week for 8, her husband was away so she suggested it.
Food was incredible, everyone brought a bottle of wine.
Super night, great company and my husband collected me.
We all agreed we will do it again.

I've been like that forever.

I'm totally with you OP. I used to often stop into Sainsburys and buy a small chocolate bar on my way home from work as a little treat. Around 12-18 months ago this bar cost 90p or £1, now suddenly it's gone up to £1.35. No way am I paying that. It's not that I don't have the money, but I'm refusing to believe that it's a reasonably price to pay for quite a small bar of chocolate.

Same with takeaway coffees, what used to cost £2.40 in Caffe Nero around two years ago now suddenly costs £3.90. It's an insane price leap in such a short space of time.

And all the major coffee shops seem to have reduced their staffing to skeleton numbers - so any time I do want to pay an extortionate price for a coffee, I end up having to queue for ages because the store has just put one person working behind the counter.

I’ve mainly cut back as hoping to move and it’s easier to do so with less clutter.

i will still buy the odd thing though.

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

I've stopped eating out is the main one. And generally just have social gatherings at home rather than our a pubs and bars.

I don't buy stuff I want really, just stuff I need. I don't want to much to be honest, it's quite freeing.

This is a brilliant book.

It's full of shocking information about waste e.g. a third of the clothes made are never sold and go straight to waste! A huge percentage of our wardrobes are never worn and year on year since the 1970s the standard of the things we buy has gone down.

A dress that cost a weeks wages in the 1970s now costs the same as a coffee.

We now own about 10 times more clothes than we did in the 1970s.

The interesting thing is that surveys of happiness levels show that we're no happier now than we were then.

Buying lots of poor quality things we don't need doesn't make us happy.

Indeed. My DDs know that I don't want any more things. They buy me concert tickets as presents.

I've all but stopped eating out and take aways. The food is never enjoyable enough to justify the cost. I wouldnt mind the cost so much if the food was nice but it rarely is now.

I get new clothes because my old clothes wear out and start to look crumpled and misshapen or rip or get a stain. Or stop fitting. Nobody is making you buy stuff because ‘trends’ and nobody ever has. It’s always been a personal decision and choosing not to isn’t particularly revolutionary.

I am still spending the same, but I’m going to the theatre every month (sometimes to an amateur production). Cinema on my own.
Buying my coffee from my favourite local owned cafe.
We go to a local tasting menu every 6 weeks or so. Sunday lunch out with my adult children. Every month. We save a bit of money by having dessert at home.
So I’m trying to be more mindful. I am halfway through ‘Less’ . I see he has a collection with Seasalt. Well made clothes.

I refuse to buy chocolate anymore. Particularly malteasers. Which are now outrageously priced.

D'you wanna do whatever common people do?

I wish I could just spend money. I earn a lot but my costs are extortionate. Mortgage, private school for my SEN child, afterschool club for their siblings, council tax, train commute and utilities come to £6,500 a month.

One child will age out of afterschool club next summer so we will be slightly better off. Im just so sick of us both working hard in high pressure jobs and not being able to buy a coffee without worrying.

I don’t think I’m alone in being in this position though am I? Rich on paper, skint in reality. I went to Booths when I was on holiday in the summer. There were so many pensioners there compared to my usual Asda. Is it only those retired on generous final salary pension that have the money to spend loads on nice food?

Agree!!

I COULD afford a lot of things I see but honestly i get so angry at how over priced things re I just refuse to.

Its absolutely fucking bonkers. Food is through the roof, clothes are absolutely fucking mental and dont get me started on eating out. £17 for a small portion of some cheap pasta and a bit of sauce in a chain restaurant!

We have just moved house and honestly some houses we saw were crazy. 2 bed posed as a 3 bed (2 bedrooms and a box) for mental prices. We managed to find a lovely reasonably priced house but some we were shocked at.

A trip to the farm is getting on £50+ and ive got 1 kid!!!

We are fortunate and COULD afford a meal or 2 out a week, a few day trips at the weekend but honestly ive fucking had enough of the extortion.

My clothes fit fine, I can probably make better dinner at home and DS is still young enough that a walk and some splashing of puddles is just as fun.

Sorry... long rant! Long story short im with you!

Jesus, £6,500 p/m?! That's like being a millionaire to me who only earns £13 p/hour before tax!! I literally would die on the spot of shock if I ever had that amount to spend every month!

Don't be obtuse. If that's what you're gleaning from OP's post then you have a very narrow world view.

The money coming in is more obvs. I haven’t included the never ending:

food
holidays
presents
petrol
insurances
tv licence
upkeep of house
parking permits
school / scout camps
swimming lessons

money just slips through our fingers. We try to give our kids everything and the private school for the SEN child has been life changing, but it’s a financial slog.

Eating out used to be a fun, glittery experience. Cosy pubs, lovely restaurants with decent service, food that was more interesting and better than that you had a home. Now it just feels like a money making conveyor belt.

And yet last Saturday morning I tried to book a table for dinner in my local town that evening. Not that fussy - any time between 7:30 and 9:00. None of the chains (The Ivy, Côte, Brasserie Blanc, Giggling Squid, Picolinos, Zizi, Pizza Express) had a table, and the non chain ones equally unavailable - Indian, Japanese, Thai and ‘modern British’. Was that because they were full, or because of staff availability I don’t know. Got a a table in a pub in a village just outside, at 8:15. Busy but not full. 2 courses plus a couple of glasses of wine, a bottle of water and some soft drinks £120. Good quality and excellent service. Cheaper than a chain, but not by much I’d guess. So there’s clearly still money being spent, cost of living crisis or not!

i was in the countryside with friends and it’s quite hard to find pubs which don’t just do fish and chips, pie and chips, lasagna and chips, sausage and mash, scampi and chips, all for £20-ish. As someone who likes to eat healthily all of the above just don’t appeal. I’d willingly buy food if they managed to prepare something not chips.

DOES it actually NEED decorating though, as you say? Is there wallpaper peeling off the wall, cracks in the plaster, dirty marks and scratches all over painted walls? Or has it maybe just not been painted for 5 years and you'd prefer a more "up to date" paint colour?

My next door neighbour who is mid 80s has influenced my way of thinking somewhat. His home is dated in terms of decor but well-maintained enough to be habitable. It isn't scruffy. Just not terribly modern. But really, what is wrong with that? Tiktok and Instagram would be gutting that house. And then redecorating again 3 years later.

But really,what on earth is the point of it? If your house is clean, tidy and habitable, and maintained so that everything works, HOW have we become so obsessed about having our homes so perfect and with up-to-the-minute decor? How has the idea of having second hand furniture as the norm for your first property disappeared?

I agree with you about clothes and chocolate bars! The buzz of buying them rapidly disappears when you feel like you've been ripped offf.

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.

We stopped take aways and eating out in general. A trip to McDonald's doesn't even feel like a cheap meal anymore and we'd quite often eat lunch out on a weekend... that lunch went from being about £25 to nearer £40!

It's actually been eye opening how much we were spending, we've actually got "spare" cash to spend on actual days out!.... but we take a packed lunch!!

I've found this too. Ploughmans have gone. Proper lunch menus have all but gone. No more "soup and a roll" lunches. It's full meals only and even then it's things that are easy to warm up or easy to fry and shove onto a plate.