What are you no longer doing or buying?

[Whattosay81]

Because of COL?
I’m opting for more park trips rather than days out over the summer hols.

I ordered Indian tonight, set meal for 2 but will feed 4 of us. Including delivery was £26. 2 curries, 2 pakora, 2 rice and 1 naan

Clothes! Other than underwear/socks etc I havent bought new for ages. I use charity shops or vinted. With the exception of the youngest dc as he's only 2 & growing. Being that he's a boy there's very little choice in charity shops for him.

New clothes, this year Ive bought some great outfits on Vinted

Stopped getting my nails done

We’ve stoped eating out - like some others, not because we can’t afford it but because the price has increased so much it’s just not worth it

re takeaways, I find those M&S boxes great and you get enough for about £15 for two of you. We also had the Asda Indian box recently which was good though their Thai box was rubbish

Magazines, I used to buy four a month, but they are £6 each now.

Eating out, holidays, days out to places with an entrance fee.
and we don’t go out for coffee anymore.
Lots of own brand food.
Stopped using gas and electric without thinking about the cost.
Stopped feeling positive about the future :-(

Just on the subject of eating out, I've been going out for meals when we have to and letting the kids have kids meals and then just having a starter. No wine either, just tap water.
But I don't scrimp on tips!

If you miss them you can get most of them free on the Libby app through your library. They have every magazine you could think of and many you would never ever think of.

We only buy own or budget brand stuff like beans, spaghetti, soups etc now. They can easily be made more tasty, if need be, by adding spices and/or herbs.

I love my glossy magazines so have bought subscriptions when the offer is good enough. I noticed one of them is priced at £5.99 now and was gobsmacked. When these subscriptions end, I'll cancel and look for another offer.

As someone that works in hospitality, I would say honestly don't worry about tips! Obviously always appreciated but never expected, and tbh most people don't leave tips!

I’ve started buying Asda Gold ground coffee instead of Nescafé Gold Blend. It’s perfectly fine and less than half the price. I already bought a lot of own brand food anyway but I now prefer Asda ketchup to Heinz and their chocolate spread to Nutella. DH insists on Hellmans mayo though.
We are doing fewer trips/drives out for the sake of it. We used to drive 20 mins to the nice ice cream place for example but now we have ice cream or lollies at home instead. We’ve also cut down on takeaways and rarely eat out, although that has a lot to do with dd2 who won’t sit down!

Skincare - I've been doing soap and water for years now. No creams, lotions or potions! Sun cream if needed. And I have sensitive skin that I thought had problems... Not I think I was just putting too much shit on it.
Loads of cleaning products - it's just not needed. I refill a bottle with washing up liq and water and that does 99%. No polish, dmap cloth is fine. Only other cleaning product I have is bleach for toilets.
Bar soap and no shower gels and hand washes etc.

Similar to this, I eat out at average places a lot less now because it’s actually cheaper to go somewhere high end and get a set lunch menu. So not really to do with COL, but I just think most restaurants are not worth it anymore.

I used to buy very few branded bbq sauce was always hp.
takesways are smaller - mostly don’t bother .

trying various toilets rolls struggling to find one as good as Andrex.

I have been buying no branded wash liquid but did get 50 - non bio persil pods on Amazon today for £7

No more pub, no more eating out, no more beauty salon, switched to Aldi skincare, rarely use the car as petrol is not budgeted for, subscriptions cancelled, never buy new clothes, haven't had a haircut all year.

We have started doing something similar. We went to our local Italian restaurant, 2 kids 2 adults, we shared two pizza's between the 4 of us, 2 side salads and we had water and kids juice. That was £30 for 4 people (in London) plus tipS If you added on 2 kid's pizzas, drinks for the adults and starters you are looking at twice that price. We all agreed we were full enough too!!

No haircuts for me, I cut my own hair. Wash the car myself.
We have stopped eating out at chains but do still eat out at small independents. So £15 each for a gorgeous Eritrean home made meal.

If they are Weetabix shape they can only be made in the Weetabix factory….

Own brand Aldi for nearly everything. I only have myself to look after and could well afford branded but I cannot taste the difference, it is all good to me.

I often wonder if those with fussy brand loyalty people in their home ever tried decanting own brand into branded boxes/jars as an experiment. Buy one set of branded foods, refill with unbranded and re use the branded containers again and again in sight of the fussies of course! Who could argue with that kind of evidence lol.

If anyone complained then that food item would be off the menu. They can buy own brand if they have the money themselves.

I haven't had my hair cut for ages. I cut my fringe yesterday and it did not turn out well. May need to make an appointment 😭

I saw a taste tested poll thing recently and Asda beans came out top. I like Branston myself - I think they came 2nd- Heinz were well down the list. I am going to get some Asda ones to try next shopping trip.

The key to cutting your own hair is decent sharp scissors. You can't do it with kitchen scissors