Are you buying less since this all happened?

[ElonsMusk]

I have found in the past few weeks I am buying much less. No more coffees and lunches out are obvious ones, but just less crap I didn’t need in general! I thought this was happening generally, until I spoke to my sister who has been spending quite a bit on diy projects around the house.

Are you buying more or less?

Like you, OP, I am spending so much less. I check my bank balance and it is the same as the day before. Usually I buy travel/lunch/treaty thing in Boots but I have zero urge to spend.

I put stuff in online baskets but don’t bother to check it out. Now I am at home all day I am surrounded by stuff - I feel I don’t need more.

I'm buying less "stuff" but I'm buying a LOT more food and alcohol!

No I'm probably buying more!

Work isn't near any shops so take packed lunch normally anyway. Normally buy everything online anyway so that's not changed, except prices are all higher. Heavily pregnant so have been stockpiling baby essentials. Definitely saving money on fuel though!

Where are you all buying this stuff from? I thought there were only 'essential' shops still trading

Spending much less, not able to buy coffee or food on the go as I normally would £20pw, no Childminder £10pw, not topped up petrol since early march full tank £36 per fortnight. So roughly saving £42 a week, there is probably more that I can't think of atm. No haircut £35 saved this time.

When we first went into lock down I bought stuff online, foot measures and shoes for dc but they would have been bought regardless. Same for a new tyre for car.

We're buying more
More food because there's double the amount of people at home in the day
Saving a lot on petrol, days out, nursery fees (DS was going to start now), stuff for school, playgroup soft play etc.
But that money we have put towards getting bits for the house that we wanted but couldn't afford before, plus treats and things to keep the kids entertained

Have spent about the same but mainly because I had a big solicitors bill which under normal circumstances would have cleared me out, but because I haven't bought petrol or extra bits or days out with the kids since lockdown it has meant it is about the same. My solicitor said it was the final bill, but I believe that when I know for sure everything is completed.

We're definitely saving money. No petrol, we're spending less on food as we're only shopping once a week. No additional trips to the shops, no buying extras on the way home from work etc. I'm terrible for ordering crap online...haven't done that in weeks now.

As oil is so cheap, we even managed to get a second oil tank from a neighbour who was selling one. We've put it in beside the other one, had it filled and have enough heating oil to do us until the end of 2021 for less than half what we normally pay.

I'm buying less because we aren't really buying non-essential items and we aren't going on days out, to the chemist, etc. I'm certainly buying more food shopping as feeding a lot more meals at home. But I usually buy one meal out a day on a work day (I work long hours with a long commute, so eat breakfast, lunch and dinner out of the house - and one of those meals I usually buy because I just can't manage to prepare and pack 3 meals a day from scratch at home at like 9pm when I get home). So spending less on meals out. Probably spending excessively more on alcohol though. Ordering it by the case at this point.

The same, except obviously more food, because I have to buy lunch for 3 of us instead of just me.

Food shop gone up slightly but buying a few things to keep dcs occupied whilst they are at home like workbooks to homeschool plus a few card/board games/puzzle books for entertainment

Spending more on food and drink but buggar all on anything else.
Looking forward to some semblance of normality, hopefully in a few months.

Less?

I'm not earning so literally only buying food, I'd kind of assumed everyone was buying less with the shops being shut and only leaving the house once a day but I see that's not the case.

Where are you all buying this stuff from? I thought there were only 'essential' shops still trading

Online. Lots from Argos, Wilko, Superdrug, shoe shop, Weird Fish, etc. All being delivered.

Food bill is through the roof .
Wine and gin club still the same .
I've not bought anything else during lockdown.
Dd2 on the other hand seems to be keeping ASOS and JD sports in business, judging by the amount of deliveries she is receiving

@redskyatnight dh works 5 days and gets a proper cooked lunch and dessert at work for free so just has some toast or something come evening time. Hence the saving. Also we snack more at home.

More food - DD is in KS1, so gets free lunches normally; work provide some (free) meals for me and DH.

More on educational resources, especially as libraries are closed, and it would be good if DD keeps reading. We've bought a couple of experimental kits too, so we can have fun doing science together at home - school isn't sending home any science work at the moment.

Less on fuel, days out, and activities for DD (difficult to continue swimming just now).

The only 'extra' things we get as treats are games for the PC when on sale. But this is through Steam so no physical purchase of things to deliver or go out to get.

But we budget everything with a detailed spreadsheet and have made savings everywhere possible, we have friends who comment on our frugality!

I was buying less in general, although more food. But have just been on a bit of a spree in the last few days - bought Lego before Easter for DD to keep her entertained.

I also bought veg seeds (last week) and plants (this week) for spring planting. I tend to grow veg anyway, so it's something I budget for every spring.

I do have more money in my bank account than normal though, even with those extra spends. I obviously spend more on coffees and meals out than I thought....

Probably more as bought a lot of stuff for the house and garden and rather than shop around it’s been much more limited where we can get stuff from and there aren’t any bargains now.

Food is more expensive as no offers there Either

Not spending anything really other than food and I would say we are spending much less in that area too. Have been taking advantage of delivered veg boxes and keeping meals simple. No top up shops and no takeaways.

We've got a load of DIY stuff in the garage to get on and start/finish projects so using what we have available there to keep busy rather than order stuff.

I ordered a pair of canvas pumps but only because last years pair have a huge hole in and I need something to walk the dog in rather than winter boots.

More on craft kits. Probably a bit more on food (and alcohol).

Less on coffees out, childrens activities, fuel for the car....

We've never really spent our money on 'stuff' except maybe toys we're bullied into buying by our 3yr old but we do spend £800 on going out every month (joint spends for whole family Inc pub, meals out, playgroups, days out) so we've not spent a penny of that. Our shopping spend has been the same but we have /had quite a lot of food in so we've spent less on proper food and more on snacks and alcohol

I'm saving around £50 a week not having to go into the office.

I'm spending it on other stuff like clothes though 😂

We're spending less, no petrol from dh's commute, no work lunches for him (his team eat out regularly), no lunches with my friends for me and dd, plus we'd usually do at least one softplay a fortnight, go out at the weekends and then I did around five activities with dd which were pay as you go and a couple with ds. Plus ds liked to going to the shop after preschool for a magazine/sweet. We also would normally have done one weekend away and had a week's holiday in the time we've been lockdown so a definite saving.

However I'm still paying our National Trust subscription, our Historic Scotland one and our zoo membership. Ds's french classes are on zoom and dd's tiny talk classes are virtual too but the price has reduced.

Dh is doing the shopping so our shopping bills are down as he can avoid buying random stuff. But my favourite toy shop has always had an online component and my favourite book shop owner is a friend and will drop off boxes of books.

I'm planning on painting our front hall next weekend so will need paint. Buying it from a local store though. I think I'm spending a lot more locally than I would have previously. We might have a takeout next week too.