AIBU to wonder how we spent so much doing nothing?

[coulditbeme2323]

We were all exhausted this weekend, and literally didn't move further than 1 mile from our house.

How is it possible to spend so much money going nowhere and doing nothing?

Which is a treat? You are not even paying for good coffee in itself. Most of what you are paying for us:

• vat
• the coffee company's interest on business loans
• business rates
• the coffee company's profit
• the coffee company's tax on its profits
• coffee shop rent & overheads
• barista wages/training/uniform etc
• if its a chain, a load of branding, decor, marketing etc.

If you are this well off do you really not own a coffee machine? Coffee isn't complicated. Most shops in the UK don't even use particularly good beans, you can easily make a good cup at home with a £400 machine. Buying 2 £4 cups a day the machine pays for itself in just a few weeks.

I agree with he chains, but we have an Italian guy who sells it out of a VW Campervan 6 days a week and it is exceptional!

Always a big queue.

Sounds like a treat then!!

But honestly just buy a good machine and decent beans! The vast majority of what you spend on coffee out isn't the cup of coffee.

If hes selling it from a campervan etc you are probably just paying him more profit.

Your choice.

There’s so much really obvious unnecessary spending there!

Don’t get takeaway coffees when you’re out - take a flask or drink your coffee at home.

Don’t go out for brunch - that would be a rare treat for me and a noteworthy “done something” not put down as a weekend where I’ve done nothing.

Don’t get a takeaway. Cook something simple like a stir fry. Again, a takeaway is a rare treat for me.

I earn well £86k per year (I think that’s a lot!) and these are all things I don’t do or would be a noteworthy treat.

I actually gave up coffee entirely due to the cost of a “nice” coffee a few years back - don’t miss it at all. Tea is fine and is always the same so easier to take from home or buy at eg Greggs if you want one away from home.

Edit - oh and I never see myself as at all frugal!

Of course, but that goes for for most places.

Profit isn't a dirty word.

Good luck to him. He is a one man band and is providing a service locals love.

The MN flask, up there with the MN chicken!

But then you do need to recognise what you are buying is a treat, its not just a cheap coffee in Greggs, its a premium experience

🤣🤣🤣

You say you didn't do a lot OP but you've packed in a lot of what most people would consider treats there. Coffees out both days, eating out/takeaways both days. I would expect a weekend like that to cost some money.

On weekends where I don't do much (or expect to spend much) I'd usually eat at home and go for walks/ bike rides which don't cost anything.

I actually find these are the types of weekends when you do spend a lot of money. Most days and weekends are busy with work, extra curriculars etc and I find it's easy to have a routine that limits spending on these days. Even when we are away on days out etc ive probably already thought about what we will spend and how we can avoid some of it by packing snacks etc.

But the random weekend with a bit of mooching around time, time for a random coffee, no planned dinner. Picking up a few bits can be so expensive. We live in such a capitalist world that there are endless opportunities to spend money and these are the weekends when you actually have the time to do some spending.

Yes ,but OP did do stuff. Went out for brunch, out for coffees, had a takeaway etc.

Food isn't free if you buy it online or buy it a mile from home. Food. You spent a fair bit of money on food.

If you don't see these things as "treats" or nice things to do, do you class the VW coffee an essential? Or the mooch around tk maxx picking up nice chopping boards as a need ?

Yes I needed a chopping board.

I mean it's a chopping board to chop veg, not a new Birkin!

You can get chopping boards for 2 quid,

anyway i realise you are being defensive because you don't think your weekend was specia, l you have money to spend on these things but stop kidding yourself that eating out all weekend and buying expensive butcher meat isn't a nice lifestyle, you spent 00s of £ over 2 days because you were tired and thought you and your family deserved a treat.

I am not being defensive, but if I say those things are not a treat for us - you can't tell us we are wrong.

If they're not a treat for you then you already know how much they cost, so why are you pretending to be surprised at the fact they cost money?

I don't get the point of this thread

I feel I have explained it.

Havent you ever got to the till and when presented with the total, think ‘ blimey, how did that happen?! ‘
Life has gotten crazy expensive, that’s the point.

Yeah of course, but I don't then think I did nothing and have nothing to show for it - I went shopping and I have my shopping to show for it 😆

But on a different thread, OP said they were having a treat and you told her she was wrong because it didn't meet your definition of a treat.

So yes, people on here can tell you that you're wrong about what constitutes a treat, because it doesn't match with their idea of what one is.

Aside from the fact you're clearly very spoilt if you can't see how spending 100s on food out/coffee/takeaways without having to consider the cost before doing it is a treat.

I said salmon in the fridge wasn't "plans" and is no reason to be turning children away from home.

You said it wasn't something special (a treat) despite many other people saying they'd consider it as such.

I stand by the spoilt comment.