How has the cost of living affected your day-to-day life?

[IndigoIsMyFavouriteColour]

For us, we are noticing a real change in our diet. Now we have a number of 'cheap meals' a week and just one or two meals that involve meat or any expense over a couple of quid. We also haven't been able to afford a summer holiday last year or this year. Just wondering how it is impacting other families?

We live more frugally than we ever have before despite our earned income not drastically changing.

I used to get my hair highlighted and cut every 6-8 weeks, I haven’t had it done in nearly a year. We used to have a takeaway or eat out every weekend, we don’t anymore. My car is now not deemed ULEZ compliant so I don’t see family. We don’t eat as well anymore, I never buy alcohol. We don’t go on holiday anymore, mobile phone contracts not renewed, just bought SIM cards although even they have massively increased in price. We used to be a high earning family, but the pandemic wiped out our jobs and savings and we’re still trying to get back on track. Our mortgage has trebled, council tax is a killer, cost of food and energy is sky high, I no longer have the heating on but bills are still so high, can’t do home repairs, we can’t make any more cuts than we already have. Our quality of life is seems worse even though we’re working longer hours.

Despite my username I've cut down on coffee out loads , just one a week now with a friend rather than every day on school run!

Takeaways that were weekly are now 6-8 weekly.

My haircut only twice a year rather than 3 times a year.

DC haircut trying to stretch to 8 weeks rather than 6 weeks.

Far less heating and hot water. Still costing £200 a month DD though!

Our food bill is through the roof and always will be due to DC specialist diet.

All clothes except underwear come from vinted.

DH nights out are usually at a friend's house rather than the pub.

@CedarFence to keep warm while moving recommend a rechargeable heated gilet. My dad has one and says it’s magic. If you buy now it’ll be cheaper than when it gets cold again.

ps get one that warms your neck too…

Our bills are gone up £700 a month compared to this time last year. Our salaries haven't increased much either and we're on a joint salary of £60,000 with a child in full time childcare. Things are definitely tight. Can you imagine how much better our lives would be with an extra £700 a month be?

I've not had my hair done in a year, and I'm blonde with grey roots coming through. It's damaged from home bleaching and quite scruffy.

No longer wear make up unless for special occasions. Not too much of a bad thing but I'm used to luxury brands for makeup and skincare.

I mostly shop 2nd hand for myself and DD.

Massive weight gain & gained diabetes. Fresh fruit and veg just doesn't last as long anymore so we cant afford to buy and replace it. We've ended up relying on frozen goods and cheap biscuits/crisps we can buy in bulk and snack on.

Cut back on pet food, both in quantity and quality. The vets haven't picked up on any concerns with the diet changes but we may look at having to cancel pet insurance next to help with costs.

Plus lots of stress and arguments, working extra hours to find extra income and aiming for promotions/pay rises.

We are on 70k between us in the North West. While yes bills (and food!!) have increased and things are more expensive i wouldn’t say it’s massively affected us too much day to day but there are no kids. We weren’t huge spenders and extravagant anyway. Maybe less disposable income but not to the point of struggling.

Of course there are tweaks eg We probably don’t go out for food as often. We may get a chippy as a takeaway as that’s near and cheaper for example. Work on our house is more expensive so takes longer to save for but it’s not urgent more decorative. I second guess things like gigs which means i do go to less i suppose. But i don’t feel deprived or like we are struggling. Just aware of costs maybe..

We can still save, go on regular short holidays or breaks. Which tend to be cheaper than a big two weeker AI. As always we do city breaks, U.K. b&bs or cheap hotels. This hasn’t changed. We can still afford to go out if we wish. It’s times with us being mid forties and more homebodies since covid anyway.

We are very lucky we are still in a fix for another three years of our 2.65% mortgage. So no rise there YET.

Always shopped at Aldi/ lidl as was a single mum.
No new car ( ours are old and falling apart).
No foreign holiday for the next two years.
I sell lots on Cinted and now actively avoid shops.
No booze but tbh im happy with that.
Tbh i don't understand how some of my friends/ colleagues have so much ££££.
Im definately hoping for a payrise and will go for promotion when I can.

Honestly nothing. I have always been sensible with money. I just save a lot less now.
Single 50s with adult DC all at home. They do go out less I think. And fewer take aways.

Everything is different and we weren't exactly spendy with much spare cash before. The increase in interest rates was very bad for us. We didn't go out for coffee before! We are ridiculously stingy through necessity and I can't imagine living differently.

I suppose this knowledge will keep the government warm at night, not that they need any help what with their heating allowances still in place for them.

Takeaways are a thing of the past! Had a rare takeaway birthday treat for a family member recently and I was aghast... couple of starters, 3 mains, rice...came to £65. Probably cheaper to go out to eat on a groupon deal.

We save less than we’d like to and don’t get a weekly takeaway anymore, it’s more like once a month as they were starting to cost £40 a time so seemed a waste of money.

We've completely stopped going out for meals. It's sad and I miss it so much, I used to love going out for a pub lunch or a restaurant dinner as a family. We simply can't afford to now.
I've stopped buying myself new clothes and shoes because the cost of clothes, shoes, trainers and coats has risen so high for DC.
I've stopped having regular massages and this is hard for me because I have fibromyalgia and regular massages helped the pain enormously. Now I'm in pain 24/7.
I need a haircut but can't afford it because my 2 children need their hair cut and I can't afford for all 3 of us to go to the hairdressers, so I'm not getting mine done.
I've stopped expensive days out with DC, now its only places that are free to go like walks, woods, beach, parks.
We are skimming down our holudays which were only UK staycarions anyway.
I've had to stop all the clubs my DC went to - acting, dancing, swimming. They simply can't go anymore due to cost and I think that makes me most depressed of all because those clubs helped their self confidence and self esteem since they both struggle at school.
The reasons for the above is that our food shopping bill is eye wateringly expensive now and I'm in a state of shock every time I go shopping and pay almost double for the same things I was buying a couple of years ago. Our mortgage interest rate went sky high last year which is crippling us. Energy prices have rocketed. We try to be as frugal as can be with gas and electricity. Petrol prices are way higher than 2 or 3 years ago.
Meanwhile our salaries have remained the same over the past few years.
So we are much, much worse off now than we were a few years ago.
DH and I are both university educated, both with professional careers that we work really, really hard in.

We are managing pretty fine thankfully...but, as the cost of food is so high, I have far less disposable income than I used to....so I therefore spend less on clothes, make up, going out etc. I won't pretend I'm in a terrible situation, I'm not. But, you also have to think about what other areas of the economy are suffering by people like me who have less to spend on non essentials.

I don't go out for meals without a deal now, managed to get some decent ones on groupon eg 3 courses plus an alcoholic drink for £23pp. I like to know what the cost will be, just need to avoid extras/ supplements

Not in this country thank goodness but my mind was blown on a recent trip to America. Basic groceries are sky high, at least double what we pay and often more. Shops known for being 'cheap' cost the same as eg Marks and Spencers. Deodorant is locked up behind perspex to deter theft.

God knows how people on ordinary incomes are feeding their families.

Food shopping is basic. Stopped eating meat, never buy alcohol.
I don’t go to the hairdressers, or buy clothes or do anything beauty related. The only people who have new things in the house are the DC.
We don’t buy birthday or Christmas presents for adults (including ourselves), again we just buy for our DC.
We don’t go out for big day trips anymore.
We never go out for meals or have takeaways.
We try not to put the heating on and sit under blankets instead.
Life is pretty basic and so far removed from how we lived when our joint income was LESS. We had a life of luxury compared to this back then.

American salaries are generally much higher than UK ones. I keep seeing these videos on social media where they ask Americans what their job and salary is.... they'll say oh I'm a payroll assistant and I make 100k...it's mind-blowing

Yes. It's not the cost of things in this country which are the problem, it's wage stagnation. Even wage depreciation. I'm out of work and roles in my field that were paying 45k when I was looking a couple of years ago I now see for a similar spec paying around 40k. I was on 37k in 2019, so a real terms pay cut given that everything costs double .

So expensive - everything these days

i bought me and DS sleeping bag "suits" that we wear around the house rather than put the heating on. It's like a padded trouser suit and keeps us super toasty. Not needed to put heating on at all yet. Hoping will make a big dent in our gas bill at least.

Use tumble dryer a lot less as well.

Generally don't really eat or drink out often at all any more.

Stuff like that!

We have stopped eating out - pre 2020 we would eat out x3 a month and have a takeaway every month. That has now stopped saving £300-400 a month.
We have stopped drinking alcohol.
We have stopped going out for coffees or grabbing a take away coffee.
We have changed our shopping list to include a veggie, a pasta and a rice dish once a week. Before, would have meat or fish daily.
No more Sunday papers and magazines.
No more 'recreational' shopping trips unless something needs replacing.

We no longer eat out on a whim of a weekend.

We also have stopped popping into cafes for coffee and lunch on weekends because this was costing a lot over a couple of days.

We still get a nice take out coffee from our local independent coffee wagon as it's a treat but only on a weekend

We went from marks and Spencer's to sainsburys and now we go to sainsburys for gluten free,Aldi and Iceland. Takes longer and we hate it but it's cheaper

We don't really have take aways anyway,maybe once every couple of months but don't have them at all now. I'm always disappointed and then annoyed I've spent what I have for crap food

My car fully died in August so I had to buy a new one. So have finance for that hence why I'm cutting bak in other areas

I don't scrimp on heating if it needs to be on it goes on and same with tumble dryer.

We are financially well paid between us and we aren't massively affected however I want to get as much paid into pensions now and build back up my emergency funds so tightening the belt

I also buy and sell on Vinted and so do my teens. It's a great way to recycle clothes and get new stuff.

My dogs have complete dry now every day and have cooked chicken or beef mince on weekends rather than every day
now

Xmas sacks and gifting is going to be less this year as nobody needs so much stuff

I buy practical for the sacks,their main gift that they ask for and then a few for under the tree and I'm sticking to it again this year.

Me and dh have a budget of £100 on each other and no sacks or stockings this year as again it's not needed.

I've down graded my skin care from the balance me range to aldis range which I love. I can get four Aldi moisturisers to one of the other brand.

I also buy the Aldi rose skin oil
Now at £7 instead of £35 for the one I used to use.

If anyone knows the best dupe for Charlotte tilbury foundation I would love to hear what it is.

I've swapped my make up brand down to revolution but I can't get a dupe for Charlotte tilbury

There is a website called Findation that will match your CT to other brands @dothehokeycokey

Slow cookers cook well

Being disabled by Parkinson’s is hard, life is more expensive, newer cat more fussy, he’s a joy 18 months in, at 9, my cuddle feline knight.
i try to be careful, the only plus side is I don’t feel the cold as I did!
less takeaways, less new clothes, and less extras

I retired last year but still work one day a week. Our household income is over double what it was as a result. Some of it is financing DS at uni. The rest covers our lifestyle and some.
We have never over stretched ourselves so as a result the cost of living crisis didn’t really affect us.
We had new double glazing last year which reduced our heating bill by 25% and reduced the monthly direct debit.
Now DS has disappeared to uni my water bill will halve and he no longer uses the second car, so running costs are much lower.
even after one month I can see the difference in the food shop. DH and I eat two meals a day and I cook from scratch. We rarely have take away so my food bill has halved.
I also discovered that you can still get a senior take card at 60. So have saved a lot of money by travelling by train rather than car.
I travelled by rail from Cornwall to the West Midlands last week for less than £30. It would have cost me at least £40 in diesel and took less time than in the car.
I’m busy planning a few days out for DH and I.
I used my Tescos Clubcard to buy the railcard.
I have a reward account with the bank which I save up and buy stuff I wouldn’t normally justify buying.

💐 Hopefully in a year the mortgage rate will come down. Inflation is now down to 2%