What I wondered was, has a year of lockdown saved me any money?
I keep track of what I spend, so I have a list for the year immediately preceding 23rd March 2020 and also for the year immediately following. I split my outgoings into 10 categories and compared them before and after.
increased
unchanged
decreased
fallen to zero
stuff
rent bills supermarket
travel news
hospitality visits culture holidays
The only category I've spent more on over the last year is 'stuff', that's physical objects like socks, headphones, books, draught excluder and birthday cards. But I've only spent more because I had to replace a big ticket item, namely my phone, otherwise I'd have spent 90% less rather than 50% more. Ignoring replacement items, 'stuff' is actually a big fall.
Rent and bills are the things I spend the vast majority of my money on, and they've barely been affected. My supermarket tally is also almost identical this year compared to last. It turns out the basics are still costing me the same... all the falls are in the optional extras.
Travel costs are my biggest pandemic plummet. In the year before lockdown I spent well over £2000 on getting around, a goodly proportion of which was my annual Travelcard. In the year since lockdown I spent less than £100, most of it gushed on three trips to the seaside. Not travelling has significantly constrained my horizons but saved me two grand.
'Hospitality' means pubs, cafes and restaurants, where I've dropped from spending £400 in a year to nothing. 'Visits' is specifically admission prices to museums and the like, one year £150, the next year nothing. 'Culture' means cinemas, theatres and exhibitions where I've saved £100. And by not taking a holiday this last year, because I couldn't, that's several hundred more pounds unspent.
Overall I reckon I've spent about £4000 less since last March than I would have done had it been a normal year. I'm not sure I see this as a good thing. If nothing else it's all the more to spend over the next twelve months, hopefully, maybe.
