What little things have you been priced out of?

DS4215

flutterby_lil wrote: »

Yeah ave to agree that the 500ml bottles are silly money. I bought a can the other ay and it was £1.20. What a joke.

Poundland is your friend on a day out - £1 for 2x 500ml of most popular brands of fizzy beverage.

The thing I miss the most is just jumping in the car and going to the coast for the day. Used to do this 6-7 times a year and now its a couple of years since I've been.

Saturnalia

Newspapers. I read them online instead (and that means less paper wastage too).

Takeaway coffee is an utter rip-off, even if I could afford it I'd balk at paying nearly £3 for vaguely coffee-flavoured water. At that price I'd expect it to keep me up for 2 days straight!


Fizzy drinks - I get a big bottle of Pepsi from the 99p store and decant it into a 500ml to take to work. 4 bottles for 99p vs. buying 4 individual bottles at £1.20 each.

fluffnutter

To everyone who's given up small luxuries, has it actually made much difference to your level of wealth/debt? Has giving up these treats enabled you to pay off a debt? To feel that you're less precarious in general?

If so, then that's great. But my suspicion is that it doesn't really make much difference. People continue to spend on the larger things - holidays, clothes, eating out, mortgage, car etc. but cut out the little treats, e.g. a cup of coffee on the way to work, a magazine once a week.

If you want to make a real difference to your life, economise on the bigger things. Don't go on holiday, walk instead of drive, try to re-mortgage, cut out the Sky subscription, don't buy the latest gadgets, stop buying clothes. But continue to buy the little things - treating yourself with low cost items is very good for your mood and makes little difference to your overall expenditure.

Hermia

Magazines - I love craft mags, but they prices are just getting silly. I was looking at a few the other day and the cheapest was £4.50 and the most expensive was £5.99. Bearing in mind that you can often buy the latest hardback craft books on Amazon for under £10 the prices just seem ridiculous.

Cinema - I am a cinephile, but haven't been to the cinema in ages. The last time I went the cheapest ticket was £9 for a midweek daytime showing (and no it wasn't in central London) plus the cost of getting there. I have an online DVD rental subscription which is cheaper than one trip to the cinema, but my TV is quite small so it's not the same.

Hermia

fluffnutter wrote: »

To everyone who's given up small luxuries, has it actually made much difference to your level of wealth/debt? Has giving up these treats enabled you to pay off a debt? To feel that you're less precarious in general?

If so, then that's great. But my suspicion is that it doesn't really make much difference. People continue to spend on the larger things - holidays, clothes, eating out, mortgage, car etc. but cut out the little treats, e.g. a cup of coffee on the way to work, a magazine once a week.

If you want to make a real difference to your life, economise on the bigger things. Don't go on holiday, walk instead of drive, try to re-mortgage, cut out the Sky subscription, don't buy the latest gadgets, stop buying clothes. But continue to buy the little things - treating yourself with low cost items is very good for your mood and makes little difference to your overall expenditure.

I'm not sure I'd agree, but then the people I know (me included) have cut down on the bigger things too. I don't know anyone who has cut out their daily coffee, but is still spending a fortune on restaurants and holidays.

I do also think the little things can really add up. Buying a coffee in Starbucks every day or a magazine a couple of times a week really does add up to a lot over the course of a month.

Gloomendoom

I can't say I that I have been priced out of anything really. I went through a tight patch a few years ago and all the 'luxuries' like magazine subscriptions and bought lunches went out the window back then. I've never bothered with them since.

Luckily, I never got caught up in the current fad for carrying huge takeaway coffee cups around the streets so a few bob saved there.

quintwins

For us it would have to be trips to ikea, ikea is a good 60miles away but i love noseying round even if i don't buy anything, or just a few bits and peices that don't cost much, but given how muc it costs to drive there and back we now only go if we REALLY need something.

I never really bought expensive thinsg anyway, t.v/laptops's ect doubled up and xmas and birthday pressies alot of the time bought on offer or going halves with the inlaws, but the wee things really do add up, like a bag of sweets for the kids and a chippy lunch, before you know it your spending £10 a week which is over £500 over the year.

whiteguineapig

Lobsta wrote: »

Going for a mooch around the shops. I live 10 miles from town and can't afford the petrol. I used to just pop in for a wander and to get out the house, now I only go when I absolutely have to and have a 'when I go to town' list of things I need to get.

what lobsta said!
i am trying to keep my main shopping trip to once a week as the main town i live near is 8 miles away
it means it is such hard work tho,
last week i went to tesco, pets at home and homebase and it all seemed to take forever and felt like hard work
i only put so much each week in the car and making it last is quite difficult ( i don't like walking much!!)

Buttonmoons

So a magazine at 98p is too much compared to when it's 50p. You could just buy 1 mag and not 2?

I actually haven't given up anything, but then I don't own a house, and I don't own a car, haven't been abroad since I was 13 (although my Dad has paid for me and the little one to go in June)

I could do with decorating the flat but holiday spends need to be saved 1st.

lemonade_lifestyle

My nearest town for food shopping is 16 miles away so now tend to do online shopping, cheaper then driving and not tempted to buy cd's, dvd's etc.
Also my friends and I often took a trip to Meadowhall for a day out, we live on the lincolnshire coast so its a good 2 hr trip. Dont actually remember last time we went
For me its driving and not going somewhere unless I can justify why, price of fuel in rural areas (where we have very few buses and no trains) is 145.9p for unleaded!!!:eek:
Really pleased me and OH stopped smoking 3 years ago