Thank you for this. I haven’t heard of this before (which is weird as my dad is an account and is usually all over this stuff for us!) and I feel it could be really beneficial for us as my husband is self employed.If you are under 40 and don't need access to the money you have saved, it might be worth opening a LISA. I think they still do them?
I opened one as I don't have a very good private pension.
You can pay in £4,000 each tax year and the Gov put in 25% for what you put in, so if you put in the full £4,000, they put in £1,000.
You can't touch the money without penalty until you are 60. You can pay in till you are 50 then it earns interest only between 50 and 6p and then you can either take it as a lump sum or withdraw as and when while it gains interest or you can continue to pay into it.
Spending wise, as with others our shopping bill is way up. But other than a few bits for the kids (more card, some stickers) I haven’t bought anything except food. Haven’t filled my car up in over a month because we obviously don’t go anywhere except my weekly to the supermarket.
My husband usually buys his lunch out, and is now eating at home or taking it with him, so I think we’ve saved money on that (although I suppose balances out in the food shop).
We don’t pay any childcare or anything, and my daughter is still doing piano lessons via FaceTime so nothing saved/lost with the kids really. We are pretty dull