What everyday goods do you now consider a treat?

scottishminnie

Nicoll wrote: »

Driving about is now a luxury. We often used to go out for a drive about the countryside on a weekend but now can't bear the thought of all that wasted fuel

On the upside at least I'm more environmentally friendly not wasting fuel

Me too - hubby used to like a Saturday evening drive around the area to see what the farmers and others are up to and who had the best cattle etc but I won't drive anywhere now unless I have to.Because we live in the country it's a neccessity but I make one trip for multiple reasons now rather than multiple trips.

There is an awful lot more planning going into everyday things now.

RuthnJasper

scottishminnie wrote: »

Butter is my big bugbear in the price increases. It's become a personal mission for me to search out butter below the £1 mark and I'm not having much success. Being a farm girl (and liking my food way to much) I just can't bring myself to use margarine but the price of butter is getting serious now.

Even Sainsbury's Basics butter is £1.10 now! It's mad! I tend to use Basics mayonnaise for spreading on bread - it's nice sometimes instead of bread and butter - and save the actual butter for melting on peas or a jacket spud.

I do make a lot of my own soup from in-season veg. (using a New Covent Garden Soup Co. recipe book - available for 1p from Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Covent-Garden-Food-Book-Soups/dp/075220503X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1306954142&sr=1-2). The most expensive one I've made over the past four years was Cream of Fennel at £2.86 for six portions. Portions can be bulked-up with beans, rice, other veg., couscous, cheese, bread, etc. for a more filling meal.

One of the best things I've found in going from having a life of near-luxury and celebrity to having almost nothing, is the amount of pleasure that can be found in simple things.

I know that I must sound almost sickly and twee (and I do apologise) - but the satisfaction of enjoying a tasty soup or other meal I've prepared, reading a good book, taking Jasper-dog for a nice walk, giving or receiving a smile, getting a positive comment on Jasper's blog - these are REAL treasures. For me, anyway.

rosalie-lavender

One thing I have cut right down on is catching the bus to the nearest town or the nearest shopping centre. I no longer go to have a general look round, I only go when I have a list of things to buy. It is now £5.80 return to our nearest town and £6 to the shopping centre. I wait until my DH is going in that direction in the car or avoid going altogether. A shopping trip with my daughter would cost £12 in bus fares now.

It is interesting to hear someone say it is too expensive to make your own clothes. I make most of mine and a lot of my daughters and save an absolute fortune. I have just made my daughter what she calls a playsuit (shorts with attached top) it cost me about £2 maximum and the cheapest in New look was £10 with most of them being over £20. The fabric for that came from a boot fair but I buy most of my material online which is far cheaper than buying it in the shops. My daughter sings and I make her strapless dresses and evening type dresses and rarely spend more than £20 on them if that. It does help though that she is small for her age.

I make my clothes as well and that saves me a lot of money too.

I learnt how to make the money go round from quite a young age watching my Mum struggling to keep 5 on very little money. No matter how hard up we were though, we have never been as poor as my grandfather was when he was growing up in the 1920's. He shared a pair of boots with his brother and his mum. The boys took it in turn to go to school, one going one day and the other the next. When child and boots got home from school, their mum wore the boots to go shopping.

RuthnJasper

rosalie-lavender wrote: »

One thing I have cut right down on is catching the bus to the nearest town or the nearest shopping centre. I no longer go to have a general look round, I only go when I have a list of things to buy. It is now £5.80 return to our nearest town and £6 to the shopping centre. I wait until my DH is going in that direction in the car or avoid going altogether. A shopping trip with my daughter would cost £12 in bus fares now.

It is interesting to hear someone say it is too expensive to make your own clothes. I make most of mine and a lot of my daughters and save an absolute fortune. I have just made my daughter what she calls a playsuit (shorts with attached top) it cost me about £2 maximum and the cheapest in New look was £10 with most of them being over £20. The fabric for that came from a boot fair but I buy most of my material online which is far cheaper than buying it in the shops. My daughter sings and I make her strapless dresses and evening type dresses and rarely spend more than £20 on them if that. It does help though that she is small for her age.

I make my clothes as well and that saves me a lot of money too.

I learnt how to make the money go round from quite a young age watching my Mum struggling to keep 5 on very little money. No matter how hard up we were though, we have never been as poor as my grandfather was when he was growing up in the 1920's. He shared a pair of boots with his brother and his mum. The boys took it in turn to go to schoo,l one going one day and the other the next. When child and boots got home from school, their mum wore the boots to go shopping.

Me too. My social life is also taking a MAJOR dive as I can't afford to go out. Ah well. One day, hopefully... and then look out lads, hehehe!:o

nettles77

copperboom wrote: »

Reading this thread with interest - I would say my biggest treats are toiletries and makeup. When I think about how often I used to buy them and how much I used to spend, I cringe. I make my own face wash out of olive oil and sugar, toner out of lemon juice and mask out of honey, cinnamon and nutmeg nowadays, and my skin has never been clearer.


:j Would you be able to tell me how you make these for your face please? Thanks very much.

Bambywamby

Apples - I love them and would normally have two or three a day. However five decent sized apples cost me £1.89 - my apple eating is now limited to just one a day.

RuthnJasper

Bambywamby wrote: »

Apples - I love them and would normally have two or three a day. However five decent sized apples cost me £1.89 - my apple eating is now limited to just one a day.

Just one keeps the doctor away Bamby! x Not good if you're married to a doctor though...

quintwins

Bambywamby wrote: »

Apples - I love them and would normally have two or three a day. However five decent sized apples cost me £1.89 - my apple eating is now limited to just one a day.

do you have a market or farm shop they can be alot cheaper, our local farmshop do 12 huge apples for £2.50, i acually cut them in 3 for the kids or tesco value apples are 60p

RuthnJasper wrote: »

Just one keeps the doctor away Bamby! x Not good if you're married to a doctor though...

:rotfl::rotfl:

freudianslip

I too use olive oil as my cleanser, super for eye make up remover too.

Make up is my luxury. It's got less and less over the years but still a daily routine with my staples.

Fruit prices worry me a lot. We too now avoid grapes and cherries and trying to grow more and more fruit in the garden.

Brand names are a no go now.

own brand (aldi) washing, cleaning products.

loaf of bread is now a luxury unless I buy 47p aldi loaf.

It's a crying shame that these food items are becoming a luxury and yeah I agree, the cost of apples isn't very good.

One thing though, the Norwegians seem to manage and quite successfully their high cost of living and food items. Any idea why?

pavlovs_dog

on the food front, grapes are only ever bought now when on offer. the value ones aren't especially nice and therefore end up being wasted. We buy more own brand rather than big brand names. Buy things like toothpaste and loo roll in bulk from costco when on offer to save money. Membership costs are shared with me mum, and we often go halves on things we buy as they are often too big for one small household alone but plenty big enough between 2 IYSWIM. We eat a lot less tinned tuna than we used to as this has become more expensive. Where products we like are on special offer we stock up as much as space and finances allow. we look for yellow stickered bargains to feed the freezer, particularly on meat. Meals are bulked out with veg and pulses where possible. I'm becoming much more cost aware about what finds it's way into the trolley.

Meals out have not disappeared, but we are much more selective about going to places where we have a voucher to use.

not a good so much, but going to the cinema used to be a cheap night out - not anymore :eek: visited the cheapest cinema in town on an orange wednesdays ticket today and it still cost over £6. When going out, where we used to think "to hell with the cost we'll but a coffee and a sandwich whilst we're there" we've now invested in a flask, travel mugs and cool bag so we can take our own.