what luxuries have you cut

GreyQueen · 6 March 2011 at 1:05PM

taj wrote: »

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.

That's my sig! Oooh, I'm all bashful now. I have managed to spend £5 at a bootfair 20 miles from home without even being there; call from Mum about something she's seen which was on my Wants List. So 5 of them excaped jail today :rotfl:Other than essential bills, only £60 escaped from the wallet in February. Howsomever, I can't rival my Dad in tightwadism; it's a true story and a running gag that confetti once fell out of his wallet several years after the marriage! Dad insists in self-defence it was his "best" wallet not his "everyday" wallet.

His sister is still using up her wedding present towels from 1964. If only we could get her online to share the dark secrets of Extreme Thrift........:rotfl:

thewifie · 8 March 2011 at 1:46PM

Due to a transplant of bone marrow last year, I am not yet allowed to eat takeaways (£20 for two of us). Got Madhur Jaffreys 100 essential curries book from the library, as well as Kris Dhillon's New Curry Secret.
All the spices I needed I bought from my sort of local Asian supermarket, for less than 1 takeaway. I bought a coffee grinder later in the process to grind whole spices, much cheaper than buying ground as they lose their flavour and need to be replaced much more often. This also cost less than a takeaway. The only other piece of kit I use is my cast iron skillet, whick I have owned for years, and is great for making chapathis, and a good cast aluminium pan for cooking rice. These are both used with my normal pans for everything else too.
My luxury? A brilliant spice chest, holding seven different spices under one airtight lid to make it much quicker to make the spice blends. This cost me £7.99 from Lakeland Plastics. The food is great, and often cooked in less time than waiting for a takeaway! The other bonus is that is costs about £5 for two if you push the boat out and do different side dishes as well.:j

BitterAndTwisted · 8 March 2011 at 2:13PM

I've had to cut out absolutely everything non-essential as I'm jobless and have been for altogether too long now, save for three week's work in November which bought me a second-hand washing-machine and paid all of the bills for several months.

Having that wage in the bank meant that I could actually turn the central-heating on for a couple of hours every day unlike last winter which was pretty brutal but I survived.

I miss not being able to go out to live gigs or buying recorded music terribly but I'm luckier than most as I have a friend who is a pretty high-earner who is happy to treat me a couple of times a month. This was the same friend who was happy to let me bring my laundry over when I was invited to visit at the weekends and to be taken out for a lovely meal. Some people are just saints, aren't they?

The only luxury I have absolutely refused to give up yet is ground coffee so I've cut down on the number of cups a day. I'd rather drink tea or water out of the tap than drink that instant muck. I saw that Approved Food were selling 60 gramme packs of ground coffee the other day which works out to £2 a kilo. That's half the price of any other coffee I can get anywhere else (at my nearest Pound Shop) and a third of the price at Lidl, so I bought about three month's-worth out of last week's JSA. Some Extreme Economies are going to have to be made fro a cuple of weeks in order not to fall into the dreaded Overdraft Territory.

Reverbe · 8 March 2011 at 3:34PM

have cut back on everything. only thing left now is food and the sad thing is this is becoming a luxury that i cannot cut down on any further without ceasing to consume

marmiterulesok · 8 March 2011 at 4:13PM

No more magazines or newspapers (apart from one subscription).I read the papers online.

Don't drink/smoke so not an issue.

Very rarely go out for a meal,maybe twice a year.

Don't stop in town for a coffee or snack.Either take something with me or wait til I get home.

Never really been one for takeaways,and avoid any kind of ready meal.

Haven't been to the cinema for ages,over a year at least.have lots of films on dvd,working my way through them.

Only buy new underwear/socks/very rarely shoes.Otherwise charity shop.Have a lot of clothes in good condition.

Don't buy cakes/yoghurt/bread/nut butters/jams/chutneys-make my own.

Take packed lunch,no longer use staff canteen.

No longer use store cards,too easy to spend without thinking,ditto for debit/Maestro cards.I do use my credit card carefully,as pay off fully every month,so need to be sensible.

JillS_2 · 8 March 2011 at 4:35PM

GreyQueen wrote: »

His sister is still using up her wedding present towels from 1964. If only we could get her online to share the dark secrets of Extreme Thrift........:rotfl:

I'm still using towels I got when I married in 1967 and they were secondhand then! (A friend's mum was replacing her towels with colour coordinates).

They're mostly only used nowadays for the beach, the dog and home hair dyes.

lovebargainshatewaste · 8 March 2011 at 10:36PM

I've cut out magasines - I used to buy 4 or 5 craft magasines and a couple of others a month. Now I look online or don't bother.

I make my own greeting cards, and buying kit was an obsession. I've got equipment, papers, cards, embellishments etc worth around £3K :eek: so I don't allow myself anything new now. I will do in the future, once stocks have been depleted.

I don't buy ready meals. Ever. I make my own in large batches and freeze them. I have a list of everything in the freezer and fridge on the fridge door, so I can look at the list for inspiration as to what to cook for dinner without keeping the door open and wasting electricity.

I'm away a fair bit with work, and I turn the heating off whenever I'm away. I also take shower gel, soap, toilet roll etc from hotel rooms I stay in.

I rarely buy new clothes and shoes. Rarely go out for meals. I do smoke, but I buy the ciggies duty free. Smoking is my only vice, so I don't feel too bad about it. I know I should, but that's another topic altogether.

I don't have a gym membership, but walk a lot, and I've got an excercise dvd a friend gave me. I go grociery shopping with a friend, so we keep an eye on each other, and we alternate the driving (walking or bus isn't an option). If the shops have special offers, we often share, so there's no waste. We often go to the shops around 8 pm, as there's less traffic (not wasting petrol queueing), and more whoopsies.

I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of any at the moment. A great many ideas on this thread! Well done everyone! :T

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