What do you not buy anymore to save money?

[heartbroken22]

What's the alternative?

Yes, of course. Buying second hand clothing like on Vinted or on eBay is only really helpful if you know your sizing in that brand and are confident it’ll fit. Otherwise buying second hand can work against you. I absolutely love certain brands but rather than buy full price, I’ll always check auction sites to see if someone is selling it. I do this with most items actually. Even make up and skincare - but only if they’re sealed.

Magazines
Christmas cards - the postage is extortionate now....
New clothes - most of my clothes come off Vinted now.

Bottled water

Milk to go in coffee at home.

Coffees out.

Anything hair / beauty related (get my OH to cut the ends occasionally).

Buying gifts for friends or extended family.

Low carb diet food - very effective, but unaffordable when pasta is £1 for a bag.

"Proper" meat - breaded fish and chicken are much cheaper, and you can just serve them with frozen chips and peas ad infinitum, without having to buy ingredients for sauces / other bits in a recipe.

The gym.

New clothes, stuff to decorate, stuff for the house, obviously.

I don't fry much I've got an airfryer but I'd imagine just use less oil or shake the basket for chips

Make our own yoghurt now as husband likes it for his overnight oats. One 65pence can of own brand evaporated milk plus the same again of water. Plus an initial starter spoonful of Benecol or sumilar. Just warm it and put it in a large thermos flask for 24 hours. Nearly a litre of yoghurt. And you save a spoonful for the next batch.
Use ecoballs for clothes washing.

Bullshit brands, that have fiddled with their products so much it is barely food! We now make as much as possible from scratch and reading the Ultra Processed Food book recently really opened my eyes to how brands charge premium prices and fill their products with addictive chemicals. I've avoided low sugar options for years for the same reasons and we find that we really enjoy eatting less now, experimenting with cooking and producing better food and all within the same budget!

Stopped buying coffee near to work (Starbucks etc) about 10 years ago. I guess 2 cups per day for 200+ days per year means I am saving over £1000 p.a.

holidays abroad
Takeaway coffee
Netflix/subscription services
Clothes
Pet insurance

Takeaway coffee
takeaways (will occasionally have a Thai box from M&S which is much better and about a quarter of the price)
Clothes (though buy for the kids)
Disney+ as wasn’t using it
New books - borrow from library or go to charity shop
Meals out (overpriced and find cook better at home).

I still buy everything I want food wise but mainly spend on the kids

God it's all so depressing non?

Eyebrow tattoo top ups. No more Lurpack.

Are you not concerned by your nutrition / health / fitness though?! Some of these things are just poor health decisions surely…

I am concerned, yes. If you don't have the money though, you don't have it 🤷‍♀️

Sim only in mobile phone has saved a lot
No eating out
Packed lunches for work
Never buy bottled water on principle
Cut DHs hair with clippers
Grow own herbs
Second hand furniture
Less meat and fish
Books and clothes usually charity shops
Recycle as much as I can eg wash and reuse plastic bags.
Lots of soups and stews in slow cooker
Buy and sell on FB marketplace.

You’d still need kitchen roll to absorb excess oil - microfibres cloths would get greasy after one use. True, we managed without it years ago, but it’s one thing I’m not prepared to go without!

Newspapers! Used to love a daily national paper and the local one. Stopped buying them when covid hit and never went back to them. Probably saving £80 a month

I've stopped buying juice cartons and we just drink water.

I'll only be buying the fruit that my family like eating and not the ones that no one touches.

We need to cut down on snacks, biscuits etc I will have to write a meal plan and grocery list this week.

Yes it is.

My DCs are hopeless with fruit. So I have started blending frozen berries and tinned fruit into cakes and breakfast muffins. At least they eat it and I don't get rotten uneaten fresh fruit in my fridge.

I think I am going to move to just drinking water though as well. I have drastically cut down on alcohol but tbh spending money on expensive sugary drinks that literally goes down the loo has started to seem nonsensical to me.

bananas are annoying
buy 3 they are all eaten
buy 5 they all go bad and dont get eaten

cannot win

I just went to go and get chicken thighs for my son's GCSE food tech. £12.80 for the organic ones.

I'm vegetarian so won't eat this but care about animal welfare.

I dropped down to the high welfare ones but I was just staggered at the price of meat - and it's mostly bones anyway 😞

Everything has just gone crazy. And there was an article today saying food prices rising fast again.

We’ve stopped buying booze and also Diet Coke