Are you spending more or less under lockdown?

[Dave2002]

We are spending more on food under the current conditions, but less on other activities such as travel, going to concerts etc.
Some other people report that they are spending less on food.

We hardly spend anything on petrol now.

How has the lockdown under coronavirus affected your spending?

[Ein Heldenleben]

We are spending more on food under the current conditions, but less on other activities such as travel, going to concerts etc.
Some other people report that they are spending less on food.

We hardly spend anything on petrol now.

How has the lockdown under coronavirus affected your spending?

Dave - going to London 8 or so times a year to the Royal Opera from the South West by rail - staying in a hotel and taking London based children out for a meal I'm spending many thousands of a year less . And that is the problem - during a recession it isn't just income that goes down but also spending - a vicious spiral. I've also lost a substantial second freelance income but I am better off than so many freelance friends - some of whom have slipped through the net (e.g. PAYE freelancers , LTD co's ) and have no income other than benefits.Things are very tough for them. Hopefully things will pick up - unlike the 30's globally govts. are intervening on a massive scale ....

[Petrushka]

I noticed very early on into the lockdown that I was definitely spending less and as, in a normal year, my Proms tickets would now have been paid for, I am making a considerable saving. This is my first year of retirement and, while it's not been the one I expected it to be, the savings made will hopefully contribute to a better year in 2021. Either that or I will have enough of a cushion to see myself through the economic storm + Brexit that is to come.

I don't anticipate spending on concerts for quite some time so it's a case of batten down the hatches for now.

[vinteuil]

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... it'll be a cheaper year, with no restaurants or foreign holidays. But any investments we may have may have all gone haywire, so in the short term our overall situation will be a bit of a roller-coaster.


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[DracoM]

FAR, far less.

[Stanfordian]

FAR, far less.

Far, far less!

[Serial_Apologist]

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... it'll be a cheaper year, with no restaurants or foreign holidays. But any investments we may have may have all gone haywire, so in the short term our overall situation will be a bit of a roller-coaster.


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We're all at the mercy of this system we were effectively forced to buy into.

[vinteuil]

We're all at the mercy of this system we were effectively forced to buy into.

... o, I'm not complaining, serial. Perhaps sadly, I don't see any of the Ruskinian/Wm: Morrisian/Marxist/Saint-Simonian/Fourierist systems proposed as the way forward having any chance of success. I don't share your underlying belief that we would all be co-operative non-competitive happy bunnies 'if only things were different'.



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[Count Boso]

Perhaps it depends on one's usual level of day-to-day personal frugality or lavishness? I'm stingy (hell, am I stingy!) and am paying more now (organic veg delivered, deli deliveries, regular charity donations to salve conscience for same and so on), which I can well afford, but it would go against nature to go on a spending spree for anything now. Because I'm stingy.

[antongould]

... o, I'm not complaining, serial. Perhaps sadly, I don't see any of the Ruskinian/Wm: Morrisian/Marxist/Saint-Simonian systems proposed as the way forward having any chance of success. I don't share your underlying belief that we would all be co-operative non-competitive happy bunnies 'if only things were different'.



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Tend to agree vints .... we are spending a lot less and surprisingly Lady Gould hasn’t headed for Fenwicks today ..... one things most people will be spending more on is energy ..... but probably not to a level that significantly reduces the lockdown savings .....

[Serial_Apologist]

... o, I'm not complaining, serial. Perhaps sadly, I don't see any of the Ruskinian/Wm: Morrisian/Marxist/Saint-Simonian/Fourierist systems proposed as the way forward having any chance of success. I don't share your underlying belief that we would all be co-operative non-competitive happy bunnies 'if only things were different'.



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You never read Aldous Huxley's "Island" then, vints?

[vinteuil]

You never read Aldous Huxley's "Island" then, vints?

... I haven't - but from what I can make out, his utopia sounds pretty repellent

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_(Huxley_novel)

Afterthought - is there any utopia that isn't in some way repellent?


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[Serial_Apologist]

... I haven't - but from what I can make out, his utopia sounds pretty repellent

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_(Huxley_novel)

It probably would, to a diehard Panglossian. I think if ones view of "human nature" is jaundiced, then 'tis better not to meddle, but to hope matters can progress evolutionarily, which would be my position (minus the ultimate pesimism) knowing where violent social and political change historically leads.

Afterthought - is there any utopia that isn't in some way repellent?


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If there were any way of changing things for the better all around without challenging existing power relations - which involves dealing with crunches at each and every stage and a lot of life and attitude-modifying experiences - then this would have already happened, back in the 1960s at the time when more privileged youth were starting to question the wisdom and sustainability of the consumerist models seen as epitomising freedom and promoting opportunity.

[vinteuil]

It probably would, to a diehard Panglossian.

... Panglossian, moi?

Far from it. You wd find it hard to meet someone less so - I'm much more of a Bayleian sceptical 'pessimist' (read: 'realist') who recoils from romantic Enthusiasm...

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[gradus]

Spent less to begin with but its gradually increasing.