Next steps; grip-relaxing bimbling, and avoiding the temptations

Watty1

I love the beekeeping diary 😊

My food spends usually out of control but impressively low last month due to freezer stash.

rtandon27

Looking back to 10 years ago, our food spends are routinely 20% more than what we spent then. We were both working full time and did not shop for bargains as a matter of course. We also had a seperate date night budget for one meal out during the week and coffee/cake on the weekend, which is now reduced by 75%. Compared to pandemic, we are a good 30% lower for groceries than what we spent during lockdown & wfh days (we were on one salary but no travel expenses) - which for us was about 1.5 years. What we do now is consiously hunt out bargains, and choose budget eating as a matter of course, so on one salary and one pension we don't feel deprived, and eating out feels like a real treat as it is so infrequent. What we have noticed is that eating out has more than tripled since 10 years ago, so we don't get much for our money or end up feeling like we have overspent!

foxgloves

Agree on eating out, @rtandon27 - A recent example here was 2 cappuccinos & a single shared cinnamon bun at over £11. That just feels like a lot, doesn't it?

Watty1

Agree on eating out, one slice of cake, a cup of tea and a coffee and the bill was £12. I was shocked! I usually just have a pot of tea when out at a cafe!

foxgloves

Yes, rising prices in coffee shops are really very noticeable now, aren't they? We like to support our local indies but we are not the very frequent customers we once were.

rtandon27

We make use of our Garden Center monthly coffees and my health care plan free coffee to keep spends low! 2 coffees and two sweet treats in our neck of the woods can be 20 to 22 pounds! YIKES - for work I now use coffee capsules - at 25p to 30p each - use my own favorite mug and the aluminum gets taken back to the shop for recycling so no waste!

Merlin's_Beard

Impressed by the lack of increase in food budgets - mine has doubled since 2019 when, in addition to pre-pandemic times, I was saving hard for a house.

Suffolk_lass

A coffee, a pot of tea and a fruit scone and butter was £10.25 when I met a friend for coffee on Wednesday (at a nice Farm cafe mid-way between us).

I could do more, but we are both enjoying no longer being in gainful employment (I choose my words carefully as we are both so busy). Back later - a busy day in prospect (bees!)

thriftmonster

I'm going to the cinema at lunchtime to see the Sheep Detectives. I don't see the need to eat in the cinema apart from maybe a boiled sweet but the offers on food to go with the ticket ranged from £9 to £18.75 !!

peb

I saw it at the local independent. Ticket (adult) with a drink (hot or can) , popcorn and either a chocolate bar or a bag of crisps totalled £10. I try to support them - I wouldn't usually buy anything other than a ticket