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?

About the same. We all had packed lunch/lunch at home anyway. We only ate out on special occasions. Don’t go to coffee shops etc. Walked where I could anyway. Toddler groups only cost a couple of pounds so not much saved there. Didn’t have big days out anyway...

Tbh I wish I had a more exciting ‘normal’ life!

I think less. No childcare costs. Less fuel as partner not going work or school runs to do. Less travel overall- non essential.

Our tax credits have stopped as I have had to report no childcare costs though.

I’m still working but only 3 or 4 days whereas it would have been 5/6 before.

Food actually we’ve looked through what we had first few weeks and didn’t really shop. Now though picking up a few more treats! We have had some takeaways too as I’m just so knackered from work.

Kids not pestering us for stuff and rediscovering toys and working through craft sets.

Saving a fortune here

Saving a lot more. No fuel costs, no forking out for children clubs and activities which, for us, is saving a small fortune. I seem to have a little bundle saved and I keep worrying I've forgotten to pay important bills.

Goodness no, I’ve had to order things I didn’t know I needed. A rug for the child to lounge on the laminate floor which wasn’t on the list for example. Extra bedding. PS4 games. Stationary, books, I’m
Going bankrupt

Buying a lot less.

No clothes this month which is unheard of for me. I think other than household bills and mortgage I've spent less than £100 all month and that includes my dh birthday

Very true. I’missing certain things I would buy, but I realise I don’t need to keep buying rubbish on Amazon the way I was blush.

Amazon is my lifeline during these times - particularly given the rarity of supermarket etc online deliveries

Not a boast. We've got more money than we've ever had, kids independent and dh has just been paid a good bonus. He's just got his season ticket refund, £2k. We've nothing to spend it on.
I appreciate this is not the case for many, but the people in our position will be ready to kick start the economy again. First on our list is a decorator for our hall.

For convenience and as a treat as I'm working long, hard days I'm ordering Gousto and getting a Laithwaites order. Our spending has probably dropped but I'm still buying the odd Costa and 'treating' myself to Costa every now and then. Plus we're feeing our daughter which is a ridiculous amount

I'm trying to save money in case of redundancies at my company.

I am only spending money on food and alcohol! But this is slightly higher than normal as having to shop at different shops and unable to get a lot of the cheaper brands and paying for delivery. No longer paying for karate each month, termly Brownies, Scouts, no petrol as not using cars, no weekly treat of cake and tea out. I am using this time to save, save save

I am spending a lot more on food and no doubt the utility bills will be higher as my 4 dds are home from university, but overall we are spending a lot less and are actually able to save.

We've saved over £400 this month without trying. No fares, top up shops, lunches/coffee etc out, no picking up bitty bits here and there, no bars... Our food shopping bill has halved, mainly because when you've only got one supermarket to go to (a relatively small one at that) there isn't the temptation to buy loads.

However. I've just spent £500 on a new guitar so that's that down the drain!

Much less on some things. Much more on jigsaw puzzles. Much, much more.

No petrol, parking at work, lunches, pub visits, less on clothes, toiletries etc. but way more on food and I expect utilities. Overall I’m spending less though.

I'm spending more on food 1) because I normally shop in Aldi but I dont feel safe going there as I do in Tesco 2) all 4 kids i dont pay for lunch normally.

Less on petrol ( £0 so far opposed to around £240) also I have bought less clothes. It's harder to get hold of and seems pointless when I only need tshirt and leggings.

It's going to be balanced out by possibly loosing 6k on a family holiday that in theory I am insured for and have ATOL etc. I'm worried I'm going to get fobbed off with no ATOL voucher refunds and then loose everything if TUI goes bust.

Or it's all fine, I get my refund and we have another 6k.

I'm using anything g i save today off debts and improve my house and garden. Never been so important to be happy at home as now

We are not even spending money on alcohol as DH and I have given it up for lockdown after the 1st week of guzzling far too much

I am spending more on food shopping, because we are not buying lunches or eating out, but this is more than offset by the fact that we are spending much, much less on everything else. This ranges from cups of coffee to haircuts to days out all the way to a planned holiday which isn’t going to happen.

More on food shopping, less on eating out, school dinners, lunch at work.
Less on petrol, more on alcohol as never driving to collect kids.