Great 'Recession Survival Tips' Hunt

jackiealing

Ask your very oldest family member how they managed with shopping and feeding a family - my family always said that gran could make £5 last a week Mum 3 days and the children 30 minutes - and join up with friends and take an allotment. They are ridiculously cheap (about £20 a year) you can usually do much what you wish (within the law) keep chickens etc, grow veg, fruit trees prize dahlias whatever then lay part to lawn for the kids to play on and you to relax on when work is done, bar b que's are not unusual on a nice day either and you SAVE, SAVE,SAVE

wildmanmk3

hi there all new to this forum part of the web site but i have read all on this thread and i thought i would ad my tips ...

when you go to the supermarket to do your weekly /montly shopping make sure you go on a full stomach , ie .have a meal first . that way you will buy far less nic nacks like crisps and chocs bars as you wont fancy them there and then so you wont buy them .....

the other little tip which we do all the time and has saved us lots ..
when cooking your meal at night always make a little extra and take it to work the next day for your lunch .. as it may cost a little more to make , but saves you on buying or making cobs for lunch ..

hope this helps you all out there .. one way or another ..

Ebenezer_Screwj

Stop going out for meals and having takeaways immediately ! Do not buy convenience food, cook everything from fresh. Buy staples such as rice, pasta, lentils and potatoes in bulk.

blue_angel

happyinflorida wrote: »

Everyone seems to think they cannot manage without a car nowadays - if you add up the monthly cost of a car you will be shocked - the fuel, insurance, car tax & servicing/MOT/tyres/repairs - not to mention if the car's on hire purchase! It's far too much. People need to think about reducing their outgoings as much as possible.

I have to say that I couldn't manage without my car - I wouldn't be able to get to work.... don't think giving up my job would help the family finances... I get cross when people who are lucky enough to be able to use a good public transport system assume that those who drive do so out of choice... that isn't always the case!

BobbinAlong

Have regular "fridge nights" when you make a meal out of what is in the fridge. Great for using up leftovers. Just had one portion of liver and bacon casserole between 2 over microwaved jacket spud with loads of veg and it was great!

And no we couldn't manage without our cars - the buses are so rare around her and start after I go to work and stop before I get home - and I'm only 10 mins away - just too far to safely walk or cycle on horrid narrow hilly main road !

Also as someone said cuddle up together frequently - love combats the recession blues. I'm the only earner in my house of 3 adults - son can't find job and OH is self employed builder - worst hit industry of all and depressed about it. We keep each other sane. Thankfully my only debt is a small mortgage so we'll cope but we've always been thrifty.

SmilingHaggler

rocketman1975 wrote: »

Use Martin's budget planner tool to identify all of your major costs, and then think about when they will need to be paid. How many times has an insurance renewal crept up on you and you've had to seriously cut back?:mad:

I use internet savings accounts to save 1/12 of the expected total costs of big items such as house insurance, car insurance, christmas, annual holiday etc every month. I also estimate how much I will spend on car servicing n a year (MOT and tax) and save for that each month.

That way, when the bill comes through, I have the money in the bank, and i dont (usually) have 'short' months. The name of the game is to smoothe out the lumps and bumps of big expenditure by saving for it in advance. This will leave you with a clear idea of what money really is available to spend on a friday night :beer:

It's a hard discipline to get into for the first 6 months but now I have it up and running - I rarely have to worry about a big bill.

I totally agree-we put money aside every month for bills like car insurance, mot etc and I must admit 99% of the time we have it all covered. Peace of mind is priceless. Hope I've written this in the correct place, am just getting used to the forum.

Primrose

My OH sat down this morning and produced a spreadsheet from Quicken (Microsoft money management programme no longer available sadly), broken down by month, of all our household expenditure and income since January, split down by just about every category you can think of. It's going to be very helpful in seeing where economies will need to be made when things get more difficult.

afterglow_2

always check in your local 99p store first! I did speculatively today as passing and bought enough toiletries to last 2 months for £8. same items i normally buy and pay up to 3 times the price for in sainsburys or superdrug!

grow your own herbs, then whatever cheap/leftover/bargain Iceland meal can be livened up and taste fresh and interesting!!

Charis

Primrose wrote: »

My OH sat down this morning and produced a spreadsheet from Quicken (Microsoft money management programme no longer available sadly), broken down by month, of all our household expenditure and income since January, split down by just about every category you can think of. It's going to be very helpful in seeing where economies will need to be made when things get more difficult.

Thanks for mentioning this. I use an old copy of MS Money but hadn't realised they no longer issue the program. I'm surprised Quicken are back. At one time they pulled out of the British market. They still sold their programs elsewhere, my neighbours cousin works for them in Canada. I wonder why MS pulled out? I'll have to shop around [STRIKE]if[/STRIKE] when I upgrade this old steam driven PC.

steerpike

Reduce
Repair
Recycle

In my neck of the woods (S!!!!horpe) its often cheaper to buy new tshirts from Matalan rather than from charity shops - pays to shop around.