What do you not buy anymore to save money?

[heartbroken22]

What's the alternative?

New clothes, I've far too many and can find what I want on vinted. Make up. I had make up lesson a few years ago and just use what she recommended.

Newspapers and work lunches have gone too.

If you are talking McVities biscuits it's because they closed the Glasgow factory where they had been produced for over a century and move production to Turkey.

I've been working on buying less but better with clothes so I've got some pieces from Vinted. I don't think I'll go back to high street easily now. I have stopped buying lunch on office days.
I wear my hair long and pretty natural now so only see my hairdresser every 3-4 months rather than every 8 weeks.
Takeaways have become a rare treat, as has going out for drinks. We would bring wine to someone's house instead (that might also be an age thing).

Hair gets cut once every few years and usually with my kitchen scissors. Kids hair the same. Don’t do any kind of beauty treatments, don’t dye anything. Don’t paint my nails, don’t pay more than Rimmel prices for make up. Buy bulk for shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and keep it in the cellar, decant into small bottles to keep in the bathroom. Don’t buy dishwasher tablets just wash by hand. Laundry eggs.

Most insurances have gone. I price compare everything and use cash back sites.

Previously, things to go have been childcare, heating, repairs, hot water. I’m grateful to have all these things now and will fight to keep them.

We no longer get takeaways, we no longer eat out, no more theatre trips, hardly buy clothes, I used to get my hair highlighted every 6-8 weeks haven't had it done in way over a year, just can't justify the increase in price anymore. I no longer buy olive oil, very rarely buy fabric conditioner anymore, I desperately need new glasses but have been putting it off.

Organic fruit and Veg 😔

I never eat out. When we go for days out I always bring lunch boxes.

I have also stopped getting my nails done and having my hair coloured in the hair dressers.

I'm sad about the last two as they were things I used to love to do for myself, especially getting my nails done! But I guess it just is what it is.

eating out , take away , rip off hairdressers
anything ready meal wise
oh and not having heating

Swap fabric conditioner for vinegar, a pp said all clothing is from supermarkets and Vinted, for me it's eBay.

I have cancelled all my news and magazine subscriptions and have got a library card instead. I know that they there is a library apps but I will have to see if I can view magazines. That would be amazing. I do miss them a bit.
I also bring lunch & coffee to work from home. I enjoy my lunches much more and I am saving almost £10 a day.

Subscriptions - just cut our home internet/tv / phone provider from £82 per month to £25, and also my mobile provider from £10 to £5. Did an audit of our subs and we were paying all sorts, disney +, music premiums, etc. saved £2k per year in total. We never buy insurance on items (preferring to self-insure) but my brother was up to £50 a month on these things, never claimed. I do not buy flowers any more, I do not buy "branded" perfume any more. I wear charity shop or Vinted clothes and jewelry (I always have, but 9 times out of 10 I am surprised and delighted about how much someone else's choice suits me, for a couple of pounds). Just so it is not all hair shirt wearing, I have an expensive gym membership, which I won't be cashing in any time soon, despite hardly going, and when I do go out, I don't wince at paying bar prices. x

I’ve pared down all my insurance, be it home or car down to the best deals I can find. Still have sky and though not a big amount, I find it hard on my sky to find when my renewal is due to get a better deal (must be a tactic as they never inform you either!) Will have to get better.
Like above I no longer buy the odd bunch of flowers. I do go swimming once a month but cheaper to PAYG than a monthly subscription with little niece.
Again have chucked the branded perfumes as they’ve gone up to silly prices.
Re food which is the biggest expenditure we have after housing, I shop for reduced (but only if I know I’ll use it) and use Aldi , Lidl for all laundry, cleaning, bit of B&M for mops etc
If your mum never taught you to cook the basics, then that is hard. Mine did so can do soup, mince, stew and a roast and everything basically spins from there as mince can be bolognaise, chilli, stew can be changed to Thai, slow cook, quick cook Chinese, or slow Indian.
A wee build up of spices and herbs over time helps too.
Library or YouTube have loads of tips.

cocaine. saved a small fortune and stopped talking bollocks for hours on end. gets coat.

I use the app Libby to view a wide variety of magazines from my local library.

We rarely have takeaway. Less than once a month.

If we eat out at all it's McDonalds. Unless we are on holiday - then we might dine out a couple of times.

Rarely go for coffee/soft drinks again a cafe or pub unless we are on holiday. (Don't drink alcohol anyway, and DD is too young to).

Always bought most of our clothes from charity shops, but it's even rarer to buy anything new now. And in fact, I have even started knowing which charity shops are the cheaper ones, and shopping there.

Get the majority of our larger items (furniture, kitchen electricals, hamster cage etc) of free sites or Facebook market place for cheap or free......

Ask for cinema vouchers for Christmas and birthdays rather than paying myself. (Cinema is still one thing we love doing).

If we want sweets, biscuits, crisps, iced coffees etc (and we don't have these all that often) we go to Poundland or similar....

Meal plan more carefully than we used to to avoid waste. And a lot of out fruit and veg is frozen, as I find that works out much better value than fresh, and waste can be more easily avoided.....

All clothes come from charity shop. We no longer get take out and get supermarket "take-out". They have pretty good pizza or Chinese deals. Is it as good? No. But it does satisfy the need to stuff your face with greasy food for 1/3 of the price (literally, our dominoes pizza order was £32 without delivery and our Asda pizza meal deal is £10).

We rarely go out for dinner and instead will cook a "special" meal if we fancy it. On food, we buy all own-brand, not labels. I bought expensive make up in January or Black Friday sales and ask for things like perfume for Christmas. We set a Christmas budget for each member of the family.

Oh, one HUGE saving is that we get something called Pawsquad through our pet insurance. It's a video-call vet. It's excellent for when the dog is acting funny or has funny symptoms and we're not sure whether it's worth the £60 visit to the vet (without meds!) . 9/10 it's nothing and they can diagnose or reassure over the phone and can be easily sorted. It's saved us hundreds. And free with our insurance!!!

Hair dresser. This time last year I paid £100 for colour and cut. I haven’t been to the hairdresser since.

Heating, all radiators up stairs are switched off.

Manicures and pedicures

I cut everyone's hair myself including the dog. I colour my own hair.

Your library if like mine has free access to online magazines via Libby also books and audio books.

I don't heat my house unless it's ten degrees. And I only eat soup. I have a water meter so short showers only

We’ve cut down on takeaways from once a week to one or two a month. Buy lunch out less on days out, we take picnics more often. It’s hard to justify another £50 for lunch out when ticket prices are so high.

hardly drink alcohol

Hairdresser (curly hair which I've learned to cut/style myself)
Mostly second hand clothes
Smaller gifts (but still thoughtful)
Wash car myself
Cheaper forms of exercise
Use Airfryer/SC more
Stopped as many top up shops (because just buy 💩 when in there)
Less cafe/coffee shop trips
Walk when I can

Never bought make up/got nails/eyebrows done
Haven't really drank for a while