What small, mundane things have you stopped buying because you just can't afford them anymore?

[LydiaDeets]

I was just reading threadbandbthinking about shower gel and bath soaks.

I used to buy a couple of shower gels a week, £2ish ones and now I just buy bars of soap and will occasionally buy aldis own.

I also used to buy the rigid toothpaste tubes that have the push down button so the DC had a one push portion.
I just get the normal squeeze tubes now.

I used to get midrange shampoos and conditioners. Now it's Alberto Balsalm apple shampoo.

I don't buy bubble bath at all

I just little things but I miss having a nice bubbly soak and using a nice shampoo.

I haven't bought any moisturiser in a while either. I still have some soap and glody ones left but after that I will probably go without.

It's just surprising how in such a short space of time I've gone from buying these things as standard, without a thought, to cutting back on them even though they're quite basic things. Not fancy at all. 😩

Refilling "nice" soap bottles with cheap Aldi copies

Using Aldi own brand: Mayo, beans, coffee, diet lemonade (Vive) (we actually prefer these to brand now), washing powder, skincare and make-up (good enough)

Home Bargains Nicky supreme toilet paper (purple pack) - as good as Andrex

Only shopping in Aldi/Lidl for main food shopping so no need to look for special deals

Only getting toiletries, cleaning stuff etc from Home Bargains

Getting Disney+ via free deals (always seems to be free with something, but need to keep logging out and back in)

Not being lazy and going out of my way to charge my EV for free, rather than at home.

Only using washing machine for a full load.

Start using a basin to wash dishes (or use dishwasher if full load)

Making much more of an effort to turn off lights, appliances

Bulk buying certain "luxury" items when on special, so never need to buy full price

Switching to much more frozen food

Making sure we have enough frozen "junk" food in so we aren't tempted to get a take-away

Not at the stage of cutting out cleaner, window cleaner, charities or hair dresser but if I need to, I will (in that order of preference)

@Noonoo88
I didn't know I could!
Can you steer me towards somewhere I could learn how? Websites etc

I have very much found that I have had to give up not just any thing remotely luxurious or convenient, but also any sort of choice. Just for once, I would like to say ‘but I want that THAT one’ and buy it. For no other reason that that’s my preference.

I don’t use the library because it’s a car journey and parking fees. I tried online, but they don’t work with my kindle, they don’t have what I was looking for and sitting at the PC reading just didn’t appeal as time to relax. I borrow books from family and friends, get free ones from book swaps and there is a little less autonomy and joy in it. Just have to take what I can get.

haven't rtft so sorry if this has already been mentioned - there's a company called Odd Coffee that sells nespresso compatible pods. They sell pods that are slightly dented so apparently can't be sold for full price even though they work perfectly. I got my nespresso machine for free and very reluctant to give up using it entirely so I've bought 100 odd pods for £25 and planning to try to make them last a year

ugh sorry that was supposed to be quoting the poster who mentioned not wanting to give up nespresso pods!!

@moneynotsofunny

Tbh I learnt everything on YouTube and Skillshare (that was an indulgence I can no longer afford I can tell you!). If you have a search on YouTube for homemade body butter you'll find a plethora of tutorials. Basically if you have Shea butter/cocoa butter/mango butter, whatever fragrance oil and colourants you'd like, and some vitamin E oil then you have everything you need, you just need to work out the quantities etc. For cold process soap you need sodium hydroxide, whatever oils you would like to use, plus your colours/fragrances if you're adding any. Oh and something to pour it into, I use silicone moulds for easy removal. The curing time is long though, minimum 4 weeks so it's not a thing you can use instantly

@Eeksteek I love your post. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for the NESPRESSO POD & WHITENING alternatives!

I've stopped buying cut flowers, think a lot of other people have done the same as the display is half the size it was.

Eeksteek you have made me very emotional: you're working so hard to make sure your DD has a loving, fun childhood. She'll remember those creative weekends you've planned far, far more than paid for, fleeting activities. You're doing an amazing job.

A little story to prove that kids love time best, not money. My friend was wealthy- holidays to exotic places constantly in 5 star hotels. Her girls were used to this lifestyle. We all went on a really, really cheap caravan holiday one Easter (I'm talking £100 per family) - 4 mammies and 11 kids. It was a glorious week of weather, laughter and just running around on beaches for free. Her girls, 8 years later, still talk about that holiday as their best ever. My beautiful friend is sadly no longer with us, my favourite photo is the 4 of us on that holiday.

Sorry, should have said- we only went as that's all I could afford at the time and my lovely friends said 'Okay, we'll all go there then'.

We used to get a takeaway every Saturday night around £25 a time. Now it's once every 6-8 weeks and we actually enjoy it alot more a something to really look forward to and countdown to. It's our friends who run the takeaway so don't want to stop completely if we can help it!

We've buy almost all clothes second hand anyway but am now switching to Preloved shoes aswell.

Coffee out is rare now I used to buy a takeaway coffee (£3) 3 times a week. Now I only buy one if I'm sitting in a cafe eg working or meeting a friend.

That's a lovely post @Eeksteek
I know you are finding things tough but I bet your DD will have lovely memories of her childhood 💕

That's a beautiful story @Puffalicious , it's made me a bit emotional. I'm so sorry you lost your friend and her girls lost their mother. What a lovely memory to look back on.

Thank you. It's actually made me a bit emotional thinking back. We miss her terribly - 2 years now- but we all look after her girls, they're doing really well. We all smile about that holiday- more innocent times on zero budget.💜

We could absorb the increases by cutting down on savings/investments plus our pay rises. But we want to use this as an opportunity to cut down on waste and be more sustainable. The biggest thing for me was trading in my gas guzzler for something more practical, it has nearly halved our petrol bill but isn't as much fun for a car nerd.

As we are trying to be more sustainable we have solar panels and a battery on order so will hopefully be generating a lot of our own power soon. The hope is the cost of the solar panels divided by 5 years will equal what we were spending on electric now, shielding us as prices rise but also be sustainable 🤞🏻. Looking to get the adaptor thing for the hot water tank which will also be heated mainly off solar especially over the summer. A electric car isn't really practical for us right now so may invest in another battery for the system if we find we are exporting power.

The hot tub will be getting turned down over winter and we will refill it with hot water on a weekend if we wish to use it.

I don't think we will be using the heating as much this year. Will be sitting under blankets etc and only heating the main rooms. Got teddy bear bedding ready for the winter.

Food wise we eat mainly veggie/plant based anyway. I find us looking at say the price of a decent quality chicken and thinking we will give that a miss. I do worry that this means we aren't supporting local farmers etc now as we also don't pick up the nice cakes etc.

It's the little things like we had some parcels to collect today, normally we would have gone to the cafe first for breakfast/coffee today we just got what we needed and came home. I'm going to miss popping into next over the Christmas period.....that next Christmas smell 😍. We are also doing things like if we go out for a walk we will take snacks/drinks instead of stopping for coffee. I now take my coffee in the car on a morning instead of going through the drive through.

Our hairdresser has recently on mobile so she is coming to ours to do my hair, I'm going for a low maintenance colour instead of highlights and it's half the price of the salon. I know someone on our estate who has a home nail salon so will be trying her for our holiday vs the very nice salon in town.

Something I have noticed is we've been having work done on the house and were previously trades wanted bank transfer they are now after cash so I wonder if the overall tax revenues will fall from people avoiding paying it.

As much as we are trying to look at it as an opportunity to live a more sustainable lifestyle it is so sad as we know the small businesses are going to suffer and close.

Honey! I mentioned to my mom that I no longer bought honey as it was too expensive and that I really missed having a spoonful in my coffee at night and on my morning porridge. Since then she regularly buys me honey and I love her for it.

Dye my hair at home with a box dye rather than hairdresser.

Get it cut short and grow it out a bit so go less often (simple one length bob)

Drive an old banger ( have contacts in the trade who can do repairs at reduced rates)

Given up going out drinking expensive wine in expensive bars which could easily see me get through £60 to £70 a time with nibbles, transport etc

Tights.

Crisps - had a barbecue and was going to buy crisps to eat whist cooking the food, but decided new didn’t need them.

Boots no 7 hot cloth cleanser, not as cheap as Aldi but cheaper than elemis.

Prices at the supermarket (even Aldi) have crept up to the extent that I no longer throw things in the trolley because I fancy them. I'm much stricter about sticking to the meal plan and only getting what it on the list

I'm down to just one ski-ing holiday per year - that's £5K saved straight off the bat!!

My OH used to work for a famous women's beauty/fashion magazine. Cosmetic companies would send in 100s of products to the staff in the hope of features and free advertising. I was told nothing worked, including face creams charging £100s. When a magazine votes a product "the best" all it means is that product company spent the most in advertising that month.

Cosmetics ARE A CON. You're not doing without anything giving these up.

I buy for the environment, no animal testing and what works. Get a 800g tub of Biona Raw Coconut oil. It's 100% natural and a fantastic makeup remover, face/body lotion and good for hair too. Mines lasted 2 years so far for £15.