What everyday goods do you now consider a treat?

ecodude

I used to be carefree with money or so I thought but in reality it was careless, so now I’ve had my darkest hour and lived through it I’m careful.

I would never associate what I spent with what I had, be it a weeks shopping for two for £120 or a ‘cut and colour’ for a £90 snip…

The irony of it is I haven’t coloured my hair in 3 years and although its greyer (ash) than I remember my natural colour to be most people in work think I colour it now and love it…who’d a thunk it.

I felt I was on a rollercoaster to debt oblivion and it was pointless doing anything to cut back as I was beyond saving, but now having passed the worst and dealing with it on a moment by moment basis I’m so happy.

I know the best places for bargains now like the man on the docks who sells loo rolls out of a lorry to the little fruit and veg stall on the market who packs up around 3.45 to beat the traffic home and is only too pleased to let me ‘take stuff off his hands’ to save packing it away again.

My son is learning from my mistakes and bless him holds no ill will towards me for our dramatic change of life. He’s even been known to say poor peoples meals are really nice mum….

So thanks to all who share and bare their souls on here, its good to now I’m not alone..

kateweb

Soft fruit's definitely a treat - £3.50 and up for a small punnet of cherries, which I'm just not prepared to pay. My nearest big supermarket's next to a fruit and veg market, so I go with my list and if I've managed to save anything on my planned spend/have a bit of change in my purse, I'll use that to buy fruit. So much cheaper than in the supermarket, especially at the end of the day; I got three big boxes of cherries for £1 last week! Need to be eaten fairly quickly, but that's fine. I also buy plums when they're selling them off and stew them - lovely breakfast with some yoghurt.

ecodude

Just bought spreadable butter from Lidl Danpak for £ 1.79 for 500g to try, it tastes exactly like the other one that ends in PAK oh my what a saving:D

Living_proof

chirpychick wrote: »

Other things we can no longer afford which we took for granted

really struggling to buy deodorant! both hubby and i have very sensitive skin and use nivea as its the only thing that doesnt make us sore! if anyone has a cheaper alternative id be grateful!

.

Have you heard of the deodorant stones - a natural deodorant? I read about them on one of the ecology sites and I had already given up the Sure spray ones as making too much mess and waste, and the roll-on types took so long to dry that I thought I'd try one. I got it in Holland and Barrett and I think it was just over £4, and there is also a smaller travel version. That was in January and it's not even half gone yet and seems to work perfectly well. I haven't noticed any whiff on my clothes at all and I would thoroughly recommend you try it. It's called Salt of the Earth I think.

Skintstudent

Ben84 I bought a stainless steel thermos flask from TKMaxx for about £3-4, really good and keeps things v.hot! worth a look in the clearance household section.


I used to love perfume and could spend lots of money on this, have now been buying from Next, they do cheap (in comparison to brands) £8ish bottles that smell lovely and last a long time.

I also love make-up - switched to cheaper brands and buy when on offer.

Buy shampoo/conditioner from poundland as prices of shampoo such as herbal essences etc are ridiculous nowadays!!

Books are also a love of mine, i tend to buy from sale sections in charity shops, can often get them for 50p and then pass to my mum who passes to her friends etc.

fairymoneysaver

I went through a phase of buying liquid hand soap, I came to my senses after a couple of months and went to the local pound shop for some bars instead.

I miss buying pringles and I don't buy cakes anymore.

ALIBOBSY

spike7451 wrote: »

Yup,portion of fish & chips from my local chippy is nearly seven quid! Even chips on their own are nearly three quid! You can get a Indian or Chinese take out cheaper!

For me,I now consider chocolate bars a treat,when a while back a Snickers bar was around 35p,they're now nearly double that.bung in a bag of crisps & a tin of pop & you're talking near three quid!

My god what part of the country do you live!!!,we pay £1 for a large portion of chips mind you we are "ooop north".

I would say for us we think of things like having proper branded versions of stuff instead of a shops own, eg toilet rolls,heinz type products as a bit of a treat. Stuff like that we buy in bulk when on offer and have in our own "store".

Oddly we are better off than we were in the last few years-hubby got work at better pay than his previous work before after a period out of work plus our mortgage is lower. So if I'm honest apart from petrol and fuel we haven't felt the increases in the way many others and the media are talking about.

ali x

ecodude

I’ve had this thread thought on my mind now since I posted yesterday and I’ve been mulling over the words ‘everyday’ and ‘treat.’ Thought about a typical day ‘then’ when my life and spending was out of control, versus ‘now’ when through conscious thought and effort I’m regaining control.

Then= days spending would start with breakfast usually at one of those drive through windows oh how I love Mc scoffin, then on way into work I obviously needed another coffee to keep me going till lunch. Lunch could be anything from an expensive deli bought sandwich with trimmings to a sit down meal in a restaurant obviously in my sedentary job I needed a large lunch……and don’t forget the afternoon snack of chocolate for a ‘treat.’

There would of course be the wander round the shops in case we needed any extra’s heaven forbid I might run out of something so better make that two of everything.

Home for dinner and it could be a takeaway or nip out for meal or expensive steak etc bought on the way home, because there’s never as anything to eat in my overstocked bursting fridge, cupboards or two freezers…..

Evening’s usually rounded of with more snack-age and film bought either through T.V or new DVD I’d picked up for a ‘treat.’

Now= I actually laughed as I type this, pretty much the polar opposite of the above, I plan plan plan now. From shopping to meals to routes in the car how much fuel I have and the best use of it.

I never shop without a list which has been drawn up to accommodate stocks already in house and needs for the week.

What I perceived as ‘treat’ then and now has been redefined and I’m taking so much pleasure in regaining control of our lives money and future this is my new ‘treat’ and planning for real treats in our future changes my everyday.

Blimey please excuse the length of post but its been quiet shocking but cathartic at the same time. Cheers J
:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Well I've just bought my last lamb chop I went to the bank as i had to pay some bits in and on the way back passed the butchers .looking in the window I saw some lovely lean looking lamb chump chops and thought I really fancy one of those for dinner .two minutes later having bought one I came out £2.50 worse off !!! I have never paid £2.50 for a lamb chop in my life so it had better taste brilliant :):) Defintely a luxury now

Nimeth

I feel out of place, lol. I never really consider crisps and chocolate to be treats or everyday goods because I hardly ever eat them.:rotfl: Though I did buy 3 cans of Pringles the other day (3 for 2 offer) and shared them around with family because I wanted to get one of those speakers (already have one, works great too!)

Chocolate, I just don't really much care for, never have for some reason.:p

I suppose a treat for me is a nice big filet steak. I'm from America so I was used to eating beef a lot, but it's much too expensive for me now. Filets get saved for special occasions only.

Books are my other treat. That one is really hard for me, I love books.:cool: