what luxuries have you cut 25 February 2011 at 3:22PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Old Style MoneySaving 127 replies 32.2K views

taj

Given up much the same as the above posters, including not so many nights out with the girls and paying for expensive rounds of drinks.

FatVonD

JenniO wrote: »

I don't buy magazines anymore - they are costly and found them so superficial anyway. With so many of us saying this it's amazing more mags haven't gone bust!

They are all struggling and culling staff left, right and centre which has been a Godsend for me as it's allowed me to get out of the commuting rat race and follow my dream!

I've not read a magazine for years, it's just the same old stuff on rotation with a different headline.

I've cut right back on takeaways and no longer stump up for an Indian takeaway, if I'm buying it'll be fish and chips or kebab. I'm not fussed about the pitta in kebab so when we have one I buy a mixed kofte/doner one between my son and myself and scoop my bit out.

We've upgraded on supermarket curries and now buy the Sainsburys King Prawn Masala which is about a pound more expensive than some of the other supermarkets but it's worth the extra as it's almost as good as a takeaway so we don't feel hard done by. Again I share one with my DS so it costs us about £7 for 3 of us instead of about £27!

I'm making a real effort to eat *before* we go out at the weekend so we don't end up eating lunch out. I did have a big stash of McDonalds vouchers from the Metro but we've used those up now but we'd get the offer food and then DH and myself would share a drink (I can never finish them anyway.)

I've not bought a shop cake for weeks now since rediscovering bread and butter pudding. I've bought a few tins of fruit to experiment with different versions (my son hates sultanas), nothing beats sliced banana so far!

We refuse to pay the extortionate prices to go to see big name bands any more so if we go out it's to see a local band in a pub somewhere. I'm not fussed about drinking so I'll always drive so there's no cab home to pay for.

eadieb

we have cut back on lots of the essential spending costs but the more luxury stuff that is a distant memory was:

• organic food
• salmon
• other exotic nice foods like expensive cereals
• Buying children all new birthday and xmas presents and spending £200 a time and spending £20/£30 on others presents. We cut birthday and xmas spending to £60 per child (x4) and £5 for all other relatives. try to aim for half the kids pressies off ebay or if new then only buy toys that retain their value for future ebay resale.
• a weekly box of wine
• expensive birthday cards and wrapping paper
• cafe lunch's 2 or 3 times a week with kids (I had 3 kids under the age of 5 and found life was so much easier eating out)
• using the dryer for the washing
• giving up the second car. this has been very hard as both my partner and I work but live in a rural village with very limited transport and kids that need to be driven to school each day. We swapped our days about so that person with car is responsible for driving kids about and the other person has to cycle to work. We live in south devon which is a rollercoaster of vast hills. I think it takes twice as long to cycle anywhere here as opposed to somewhere flat. My partner has a 30 mile round trip cycle to work and back.
• we have given up using as much paid for child care as we can practically. We changed working hours and now have complex childcare rotas, so as to avoid school holiday child care costs, which for us would amount to £90 a day.

I do miss our more carefree spending life. If we had a higher income, it would save me so much time, and with 4 young kids, having more time would improve our quality of life. I spend so much time trawling round charity shops or on ebay for clothes or birthday/xmas presents, or on other money saving exploits. it would be so nice to pop out shopping for a day and buy some needed clothing and have it sorted. 2 cars made our lives so much easier and my current working hours are much harder.

the luxuries we have not got rid of yet are - fitted kids shoes, kids swimming lessons, kids guitar lessons, kids trampoline lessons, kids birthday parties, some kids school dinners, and the cats...:D

Losinmoney

Luxuries I have cut out
buying books - I've added them to birthday wish list instead, and am reserving at the local library at 50p a time (or waiting for them to appear on the shelves!)
buying daily newspaper. Just buy a Saturday one now
scone, toast, croissant or kitkat when I have a morning coffee out - I just have the coffee
driving to town and parking. Convenient, but the bus is much cheaper, and fun - I bump into more people and it's more friendly
driving to our village and parking - I walk

hoogervaaner

I have made several cuts to spending after our household income halved:
I have joined the no magazines tribe, I was spending at least £10 a week to read the same old boring nonsense.
No buying booze just for the sake of it.
No holidays for two years. (I love to travel but a sunny day with DH playing croquet/boules in the garden is bliss and free ).
Shop once a week for groceries using a list and eat what we have bought. Sounds simple but previously I am ashamed to say we were in the nightly trip to the local shop trap and our weekly bill was usually £100-£150 (inc booze, mags, rubbish etc). We now spend less than £50 every week and this is slowly dropping as my common sense develops ( household of 2 adults).
Joined the library.
Discount vouchers for the odd meal out.
Using the vast quantity of cosmetics/bath products I have accumulated rather than buying more stuff just because it is pretty/promises the world.
Understanding that whilst I do value my good quality clothes (vintage/ebay/tk maxx) and they were selected to be long lasting/trend proof I really don't need any more of them.
Thinking before buying and using cash to make me understand exactly what I am spending!

happy35

I have cut out the buying of magazines and have found that I dont really miss them

I have downgraded my skincare and to be honest cant say that my skin has suffered at all, although I do still buy my oil for my face at £32 but lasts 6 months but get one for my birthday so only actually have to pay for one

We have one or two takeaways a month now, usually as a treat at the weekend but I cook from scratch the rest of the time and this as saved me about £40 a week. I also shop around between Sainsburys, Morrisons, Iceland and Lidl to get the offers and am going to start buying my fruit and veg from a wholesalers to save some more money

I try not to be economical with the heating, and only use the tumble dryer when I have to and have used it over the winter only to dry bedding this year

We haven't cut down on the two cars as we both commute around 20 miles each way to work in the opposite directions, we can drive there in about 30 minutes in the heavy traffic but would take 2 hours or more on public transport

I have also kept my fortnight abroad in the summer as I love chilling out in the sun and visiting new places, I have managed to cur the cost of this by about £1500 buy booking flights and accommodation separately and only eating out overy other night while away.

teameffort

We used to go out for meals approx 3 times a week and a take away once a week. We had really stressful jobs at the time and just wanted to relax after the long hours. plus we shared a house so, when we wanted 'us time' we'd go out.

Now we work less and have more quality time with the dog on long 'walkies' , we go out maybe once or twice a month.

i think we've saved about £120 a week, god that's really made me think about all that wasted money. (hanging my head in shame)

:eek:

flikkerty

If we have a take away we get a fish and large chips between us. I stick some peas on whilst he goes and gets them. It's about £5 then.We do this about once every six weeks. I go to a cheaper hairdressers. I walk more. I don't even walk round the shops having a look a clothes any more. Cinema for kids for a pound at the weekend.

shjo558

I want to get my mortgage paid off quickly, hopefully no longer than 6-7 years so I've cut down on the following:-

1. No longer buy magazines as there is so much to read online.
2. No more buying toiletries as I have literally hundreds. Finally got round to figuring out that there is almost always an 'amazing deal' at the Body Shop so it's all just a con to extract money from me.
3. No more buying up products on offer unless I actually need it. I remember about 13 years ago, Safeway reduced Cornflakes to 30p a box. I must have bought about 10 boxes, my DS was 4 at the time and he still won't eat Cornflakes now as I've put him off for life:o
4. But, make the most of offers on products that I do buy, for example Nescafe Gold Blend occassionally gets reduced in Tesco so I buy a few jars to keep me going.
5. No more buying books, DH bought me a Kindle as an early Christmas presents and I've hardly bought any books for it as there are so many free books that I can download.
6. We usually had a take away each weekend but I tend to cook something special instead. DH cooks 'quick meals' like macaroni cheese through the week and I cook more 'faffy' stuff at the weekend.
7. I have cut down on having a coffee when out and about as it's getting really expensive and usually end up with a cake or scone too.
8. We hardly ever eat out now, in fact I can't remember the last time we had an evening meal out. Sometimes have lunch out if we are away somewhere.
9. I try to buy value ranges for a lot of things although somethings I won't change like fairy liquid.
10. I always use price comarison websites, Quidco and voucher codes for shopping.
11. I have set a maximum price for our summer holiday and might end up staying at home as nothing fits into my price range!
12. DH is a meat lover and I can't do anything about that so I have the same as him without the meat. I.E Steak, homemade wedges and veg without the steak, must save £4 a time as DH insists on using the most expensive butcher in the town.

taj

Due to breaking up from my ex 4 yrs ago and receiving a reasonable settlement on the house I have wasted thousands on setting up new flat, clothes, shoes, expensive skincare and general spending just for the sake of it.
I recently retired, And the light finally went on luckily...then I discovered MSE. Now with a reduced income I've seen the error of my ways, made a budget and have gave up the above lux lol I will only buy value items or whoopsies in the supermarket now and cook from scratch as I always was used too doing years ago, instead of meeting up with friends to go to the latest trendy eating place, I eat before I go and I meet them later. Hopefully, because I've become more thrifty I will be able to keep my car on the road and stop me from becoming isolated, although it may have to go eventually. I take great pleasure recording a NSD in my diary and try not to go to the high street as much so that I'm not tempted to waste any money and I remember what one of the ladies on here says "every pounds a prisoner" !!! What a great crowd of people on this website I'm learning from you all.