how bad can it get

[chilitony]

With all the cut backs , the vat rise and anything else that might get thrown at me, what can i do to reduce my outgoing.
I halved my car insurance by changing company, so they must have ripping off, so much for loyalty.
The other thing i can do is to increase my production from lots of excotic produce to more staples.
still need to grow some excotics, variety beeing the spice of life.

[Thomzo]

It's difficult to know how to reduce your outgoings without knowing what you already spend your money on. It can really help if you list out everything you've spent over the last few months. It's not all that easy, if you use cash all the time, but you can list all the big items. Then see what you can cut by, say, 10%.

Zoe

[Green Aura]

We try not to get political on here, but I have to confess that I'm finding it very, very, very difficult at the moment.

So, between gritted teeth, Thomzo's right. The only way you can start to tighten your belt is to know what is outgoing each month and then work out what is essential and what you can do without.

On a more practical level you can bulk meals out with pulses. Sprout seeds and pulses for quick growing salads - growing your own staples won't start til next year but you can start now with salad leaves and quick growing greens like pak choi.

Compare prices carefully when shopping. Only buy what you really need and plan menus and stick to them. Use a slow cooker or pressure cooker (there was another thread on this recently) and cut down on using the oven, unless you can fill it.

I suppose it's never too soon to start - if the worst doesn't happen and we all sale through this, having learned to live a little more frugally won't have done any harm will it?

I'm getting cross again now so I'll stop - but there have been loads of threads on here relating to redundancy - different situation obviously but the advice is pretty much the same.

I think a few of us might be re-reading them!

[oldjerry]

I'm with GA here, far too angry to make a make a constructive suggestion to save you money,but I can tell you what I do when the situation gets unbearable,Learn a new skill.The more obscure the better.I know there's very little time left after work,the kids need constant attention etc.etc,but some times it helps (me at least) to learn something new that has no real use (though it could,eg knitting,carmechanics etc.) but the purpose of which is just to achieve some thing other than the (admittedly huge ) goal of getting yourself and anyone dependant upon you through all this crap.

[Rosendula]

I'm another in favour of list-keeping. I did a big list for grocery shopping back when I was going through the switch-over from consumerism to ishyism, and kept it for a year. I was amazed at how much my shopping bill was reduced by making things for myself. The biggest savers for us were wine and bread. But take a look at everything you spend - and then have a look to see if there is a cheaper option. If you have any other sorts of insurance, it's worth shopping around for those in particular. I think you have learned a valuable lesson here - never be loyal to any company who wants you to give them money.

[boboff]

Insurance is a nightmare.
Take our house insurance, it was in my wifes name, and we had a renewal which was I think £500 ish, I asked for a quote in my name as a new customer, on the same house, and it came back at £235 fixed for 3 years??? How does that work??? (I know how it works, its about market share and targets and making profit from the majority who are to lazy to switch)

As for the cuts, I am 100% in favor of them, I can't see why they didn't do more.

We forget how lucky we all are in this country with Welfare, Schooling and Health.

We should run the country on "ish" type principals of reduce re-use recycle, local economy, small government, big society. So much waste from Labours years was squandered on Quangos, Consultants and so called "professionals"

I understand that money is tight though, but what we should be trying to achieve is happiness and contentment, and money has very little impact on that what so ever.

I keep a microsoft money program going, and have tracked for the last ten years all income and expenditure, it lets you produce graphs and reports showing variances and exceptions, produces a personal balance sheet etc etc ( Can you tell that I trained as an accountant?) This is invaluable for me as it lets me see that I am meeting my financial objetives for a period.(This might be that I am "saving" or I am spending a certain amount of "savings") It also allows you to monthly do an exact bank reconciliation etc, which means you are challenged to check your statements and you bills and DD's etc

It was £30 for the program, so thats £3 a year, pretty good for long term financial planning etc.

[bonniethomas06]

The problem we are having in our household is that we have already done a 'spending review' about 18 months ago, so there really is nothing left to shave off!

Plus my boyf was overpaid a bonus back in April (which was used to pay off debts and buy the pigs/pig arc etc) and his work are taking £350 a month out of his earnings until April.

So it will be a buttock-tightening winter and Christmas/Yule (although we do have a turkey in the garden and christmas ham/sausages from our pigs in the freezer!). Thank goodness we bought a logburner with the bonus, this has been a lifesaver as the fuel is practically free.

My only hope is that work give me a payrise!

Sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a personal tale of woe, but just to illustrate the point that like many, it will be hard to make savings when you have already made all of the cuts you can possibly make - as most people did when the recession first hit.

Although as was discussed in the poverty thread, we sleep in a warm bed at night, get drunk on a friday night (at home) and are both overweight, so things could be much, much worse!

[zaxdog]

Food wise I have cut my bills right down just by pavement pounding! I recommend the dried herbs/spices from Aldi at around 50p a jar, lots of curries, stews etc can be bulked out with pulses, tatties or onions! I'd also recommend things like black pud and haggis with root veg as they are so cheap! We also use our washing machine in the evening only for the cheaper rate. You also still have time to get the last brambles, haws, sloes and rowans etc for jams, jellies and wine! We also live on a small island so fish and seafood we can get for free! Unfortunately the things we can't cut down on are our rent and council tax............................................

[crowsashes]

not overly ish but if you really want to cut your food bill do what i do, every night on the way home from college i pop in to the supermarket and ONLY buy dinner from the reduced pile of food, last night i had tomato soup and Mediterranean loaf ( bread with tomato in it lol! ) for mere 50p! that was 2 pots of fresh soup at 20p each and bread for 10p!! which also fed little one for lunch the following day. it takes a while to learn which shops provide the best pickings . i brought 2 massive brocolli heads for 25peach yesterday both chopped and put in freezer for tomorrows casserole and sundays lunch!


i have to admit im getting frustrated with all these cuts, im spending so much time at the mo winter proofing the house (again) as i doubt i can afford the suspected home energy price rises in the new year.

[ina]

I'm getting used to not heating. While I've got no money coming in, the heater doesn't come on... It's been below 10degree C for a few days now. I'm wearing three jumpers (even in bed) - they all have holes, but at least not in the same places!

I also write down every penny I spend, to the extent that my little bit of paper in the wallet tells me exactly how much I have in there at the moment. And I have a very strict budget - I know I have a little less than £7 left for this month, so that's what I'll be spending. Don't bother with insurance, except for the car; I have nothing worth replacing anyway, if it gets stolen or goes up in flames...

[zaxdog]

Thankfully we got a freecycle car that had failed it's MOT as the island is MOT exempt and I have also requested a bike for nice days lol! We gather as much wood as possible on dry days from common land and try to eke out our coal that way. We don't have a back boiler but I'm keeping my eye open for a cast iron pot/kettle for the hearth for tea/washing water/heating soup etc! Lots of jumpers and I crochet blankets which helps to keep my knees and fingers warm!

[Thurston Garden]

ONLY buy dinner from the reduced pile

I did this for months a few years back. The Co-op seemed to be the best for me, plus their tills deducted the saving if they were part of a 3 for 2 offer or similar. One night I bought about 24 blocks of cheese and they nearly had to pay me!

Money Saving Expert has some good tips on beating down costs on regular expenses.

[zaxdog]

Hi All!

I'm based on the Isle of Lismore just off the West coast of Scotland (45 minutes from Oban)! Great for fishing and we got a beach combed lobster/crab pot! We have also been doing foraging and have managed to gather: haws, brambles, sloes, hazelnuts and such!

[bonniethomas06]

[quote="zaxdog"] We also use our washing machine in the evening only for the cheaper rate. quote]

But Zaxdog, isn't it the case that only the appliances on the 'economy 7' circuit use electricity at the cheap rate? I used to do the same, until the MIL pointed out that there are two circuits in the house, one for normal leccy and one for the cheap stuff, each with their own meter (which makes sense 'cos we have two meter readings on our electricity statements) and therefore, if the washing machine is plugged into the general circuit (as opposed to hardwired into the cheap one) it still uses pricey electricity, even during the night?

This would seem to be the case in our house anyway, because there are two switches for the boiler, one for the expensive circuit, and one for the night storage cheapo circuit.

Hmmm, not sure.

[ina]

This would seem to be the case in our house anyway, because there are two switches for the boiler, one for the expensive circuit, and one for the night storage cheapo circuit.

Hmmm, not sure.

Same here. But I seem to remember that everything was cheaper at night at my brother's house ages ago (in Germany). That would make life so much better - you could do extensive baking etc at night, too; dishwasher as well, if you have one. It greatly annoys me that there is no indication as to when exactly the cheap circuit is on, too - I don't really need it on all night for my small needs, but since I don't know when it'll come on, I have to basically leave it on all the time if I want hot water! Well, I generally only have it on a couple of nights per week...