What do you do without which other people think are essential?

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My other thread got me thinking about budgeting and what cut backs I can make. I wondered if there's anything mumsnet-ers do without which lots of other people view as a necessity. Mine for example are:
Professional hair care (cuts, colour)
Manicures/pedicures
Fabric conditioner
New clothes for myself and dp

Not RTFT yet.

Switch to own brand products.
No meals out or takeaways unless a special occasion.
No shop bought snacks, lunches or drinks.
Trim your own hair - long hair is less high maintenance.
File your own nails.
Only wear minimal makeup.
Use multipurpose cleaning products - white vinegar, washing up liquid, bleach etc are all ok and cheap.
Shop on foot so you'll only buy what you can carry.
No magazines. Join the library instead of buying books.
Use less bogroll - too bulky to carry home from shops.
Use soap - you can live without shower gel and handwash.
Use cloths (made from old clothes) instead of kitchen towels.
Grow your own veg.
Cook from scratch.

Crikey - so many things

TV License/Sky
Hair treatments
Beauty treatments
A car (walk everywhere I need to get to)
Broadband (We live next to a wifi hotspot, so don't need it)
A dishwasher
A bath (A shower only at ours)
Meals out/takeaways - once in a blue, blue moon
Holidays abroad
Ready meals
Ironing! (abandoned with glee)

TV license is essential if you watch live tv. You can watch catch up TV without but not anything on BBC.

Meat. Restricted to maybe once a week.

Alcohol. Occasional 6 pack of Aldi's own beer.

NEW 4 year old ds clothes, charity shop only. He has tracky bottoms, dark colour, wash & dry quickly, do not show up stains/marks, 5 pairs, t shirts and long sleeve t shirts, a pair of wellies, pair of crocks and sandals. That's his wardrobe. All he needs.

I am very frugal anyway so manage to not do without a great deal to get by.

• Smart phone
• DH doesn't even have a mobile at all
• A car
• Cable/Sky TV
• Take away coffees
• Shop-bought lunches
• Take aways (we have 2 or 3 a year now)
• Alcohol (we stopped drinking as part of diet 9 weeks ago and have never felt better plus we're noticing the financial benefits
• Meals out (again, we put a stop to this as part of a diet and have noticed the health and financial benefits)
• 'Big' chocolate bars (on the diet we switched from chocolate bars that are about 230 calories to ones which are no more than 130- same chocolate bar just a different size- and can't notice the difference)
• Bottled water
• Foundation (I used cheap tinted moisturiser)
• Manicures
• Perfume (I find a £1 Impulse from the £1 shop is just as effective)

However, I get a professional hair cut every six weeks and use expensive hair care products to maintain my colour

I also can't drink regular tea, it has to be earl grey

Joy

Hair cuts (we do our own) and beauty treatments
We eat very cheap
Keep our heating bills very low (50% of what friends spend)
DH needs car for work, but we walk if we can at weekends to save petrol
Smart phone (I've got some PAYG model which must be 10 years old)
Buying new stuff for the home unless essential

This thread is interesting not just because it says what you do without, but it reveals what you think that other people think.

I don't enjoy having people do things to me, so I spend as little time as possible in the hairdresser and don't find manicures or pedicures enjoyable. I don't consider giving them up to be a budgeting choice, but a preference.

Basically you CAN do without anything pretty much, question is if you WANT TO.

I don't want to go without holidays, getting a blow dry twice a week, my car, nails, nice meals out etc. Especially holidays. I want to see the world before I'm 40. If I couldn't afford it anymore I wouldn't do it and that's it.

I really couldn't do without my car though as I travel for work...

Basically you CAN do without anything pretty much, question is if you WANT TO.

Of course, and that's what makes this thread interesting, what one person sees as 'essential' another sees as totally 'frivolous'. And different people choose to 'budget' in different ways.

I easily spend around£10 a week on a specific ground coffee I like, but the thought of spending £10 on a paperback, where I could just as easily order the same book from the library, just wouldn't occur to me.

Someone up thread out a 'job'

-Haircuts.. only had one in 10 years! I really want one though I want to wear it straight again and my shabby cutting means I need to wear it wavy
-A car- I walk or bus it everywhere, if I worked I would want a car!
-Meals out.. too much hassle with small kids anyway.
-Nights out.. used to blow so much money on those.
-New clothes.. I have got so many clothes ranging from size 10 to 18.. need to wear all these first.

However I spend money on make-up, tv subscriptions, days out with the kids and have a macbook pro, ipad, iphones etc. Different priorities!

Tumble dryer
New car

take aways/eating out
tumble dryer
cleaning products (washing powder does the job)

• a car
• tumble dryer
• dishwasher
• regular haircuts (MN haircut anyone??)
• manicures/pedicures

I read the thread title and thought to myself, I don't really go without anything. Then I read the thread. I hadn't realised there were so many things that "other people think are essential".

Getting my nails done
Meals out
Alcohol
Holidays
A cleaner

gym membership
lots of pizzas and takeaways
buying books
I phone

Anything that is not a bill that affects you actually staying alive is a luxury or non-essential. I couldn't believe how much money a month I wasted. Try the household bills chapter in "help I'm a single mum" by Lanie mills. I was wasting hundreds of pounds on nothing! Now I am saving - first time ever!

I spend a lot of money on books and beauty, although I do try to economise by buying from Amazon, going to student salons, choosing budget rather than premium serums, etc. I'm OK with the amount of money I spend on these things: I like the saying, 'If you have two loaves, sell one and buy roses.'

In other ways I'm very frugal. I don't have...

• a car
• taxis/uber
• foreign holidays
• a TV/TV license
• wifi
• a cleaner
• childcare/babysitters
• expensive days out for DD
• gym membership
• a garden
• pets
• a dishwasher
• meals out apart from special occasions
• takeaways
• ready meals
• alcohol
• expensive jewellery, perfume or handbags
• lots of clothes (I'm trying to manage with a 33 item capsule wardrobe)

I waste loads of money buying food and coffees when I'm out. Need to change that.

A cleaner

A second car - we often talk about it but in the 10 years we've been together we've only ever had one parking space. There was a time we had 2 cars but they were both old bangers and we traded them in for ours. We've maybe each needed a car at the same time for different things 4 times in the last 6 years.
A cleaner
Sky - ditched it for now tv occasionally and Netflix all the time
Branded shampoos and conditioners - I've recently switched to boots own 75p apple stuff.
Foreign holidays every year
I've started only buying new clothes when I need them. Or when I've saved up.

That said I do have an expensive hobby (horse riding - although don't own my own) so my "play money" goes towards that.

Cleaner
Gardener
Takeaways
Designer bags and clothes
Holidays
Private school!
Eating out for no reason
Takeaway coffee

Television
an i-anything (don't have anything Apple)

Some others:

• Expensive hair straighteners. Obviously unnecessary anyway, but they are useful (straightening my hair helps me look more polished and professional for my job). But I struggle to see what a £100 pair of GHDs can do for most people that my £15 Remington can't. It's basically a hot stick.

• Same goes for expensive versions of most electrical products. Does everyone really need a £400 Dyson? Or a £80 iron? Or a £900 laptop? Most people don't use most products to their full functionality anyway.

• 'Treats'. When did everyone become so obsessed? Sorry to sound old but it seems like everyone feels they deserve a treat every few days for managing to exist. A small proportion of people do live in very difficult situations, and if a weekly hot chocolate helps you to cope mentally, then go for it. But most people I know are not in those situations and yet still seem to see 'treating themselves' as an essential expense.

• Owning everything and never having to borrow. If you don't use something often, don't buy it - borrow from friends/relatives. Just make sure that you also lend things that you do own, so it goes both ways.