What Would You Cancel If Finances Were Tight?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65622403
I'm not skint but if I was I'd rather cancel Sky TV et al than broadband. Broadband to me has become a vital utility.

[youngmafbog]

Cancelled my tv licence years ago Lankeela.

[New Judge]

//Unfortunately (in a large part due to more than a decade of Tory government incompetence and corruption) many people are having to resort to the use of food banks to get by,…//

So I wonder what caused a similar situation in Germany:

https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2017/09/world/germany-food-bank-cnnphotos/

Or France:

https://www.mediapart.fr/en/journal/france/281121/seven-million-people-france-rely-food-banks-reports-leading-charity?_locale=en&onglet=full

Or Italy:

https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/world/covid-italy-milan-poverty-food-banks-b1766281.html

Or in the rest of Europe:

https://www.eurofoodbank.org/

It may have something to do with the incredible fact that if free food is laid on, many people will take it – before they cancel their broadband.

Your post also shows a lack of proper prioritisation. You started by saying that some people need food banks to get by and followed it up by saying that they have now even had to cancel their broadband as well. Surely if they had no money for food, broadband should have been give the elbow first, shouldn’t it? Or is it a case of “well, somebody will give me free food, so I’ll carry on with the broadband”?

[barry1010]

The USA and Canada have been using foodbanks for over a decade, Japan and Scandi countries have them too

[naomi24]

//Unfortunately (in a large part due to more than a decade of Tory government incompetence and corruption) many people are having to resort to the use of food banks to get by,…//

Wonder why they resorted to food banks when Labour was in power?

[pastafreak]

// It may have something to do with the incredible fact that if free food is laid on, many people will take it – before they cancel their broadband. //

You can't just walk into a food bank and get what you want. References are needed...questions asked. It's usually enough basics to cover 3-5 days, and there is a limit as to how many times the food bank can be used.

[youngmafbog]

Irrelevant Pasta, if its there people will find a way of using it.

[sp1814]

1. Personal trainer
2. Gym membership - sign up to PureGym (cheaper than Nuffield Health)
3. Amazon Prime - so-so channel, and I wouldn't need next day delivery as I'd have no money to shop at Amazon.
4. Netflix.
5. Car washes

[barry1010]

It is far easier to cut expenditure if you're not living on the breadline.

[Hopkirk]

I wish I smoked.

I could give up and save a fortune.

[pastafreak]

14:45...it's not irrevelant. I've no doubt *some* may milk the system...there will always be some, but not the numbers some on here want to believe.

[sp1814]

Hopkirk

Indeed.

I almost sympathise with those who aren't able to give up something substantial like cigarettes, which have no positive value. I gave up when I realised that the money I spent on Marlboro Lights could be used to buy an Apple Watch, MacBook Air, iPhone and desktop iMac *every year*.

(I don't do this by the way).

[barry1010]

Hopkirk, every time the cost of cigarettes go up in the budget I calculate how much I'm saving now that I've packed up. It's still a novelty to me - I only stopped smoking in 1994

[douglas9401]

Band jam?

Marmalade covers?

[Zacs-Master]

Doogie, I asked my wife about Marmalade. She said 'Baby, make it soon'.

[rowanwitch]

Very little left to cancel, but I agree broadband is now a utility, it's almost a impossible to function in the modern world without it.

[rowanwitch]

All I could give up is my sewing groups that cost about twenty five pounds a month for weekly subs and refreshments.

[jourdain2]

We don't have anything like Sky TV, etc.. Just Freesat.
Broadband has become essential, living in the country as we do, also a car. Everything would go before the car. Mobile phone costs are minimal as we each just have a tiny phone which makes and receives calls & texts in an emergency, so we put £20 on a couple of times a year at the most. The printer has also become essential - the tumble-dryer would go first - it's only used when essential anyway.

[Hopkirk]

For some people Deliveroo is an essential. You can't really be expected to fetch your own take away, can you?

[DTCwordfan]

my sex subscriptions - just joking.....

no, my dishwasher hardly gets used, my drier is out of action.....no TV subs here other than Amazon Prime and that could go.

It would come down to drive less and care over how I use the oven - and then no DT subscription.

[pastafreak]

Broadband/ internet is my lifeline...so it's not going anywhere.
I cook with a slow cooker, airfyer or halogen...occasionally use the hob. My dryer gave up the ghost before this cost of living crisis...id already decided it wasn't a necessity.
I never order in or get takeaways, nor do I go out for meals/coffee/drinks...can count on one hand how often. I rely on my daughter and her partner to take me out when they visit. One glass of wine a night.
Except for my houseplants addiction there is nothing to cut out...my plants help me keep my sanity.