It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

HockeyDuo8083

Hello to all!
I am new to the Forum but not to magnificent MSE site, Martin Leiwis and the team rock! Not to mention all you awesome chums on the various threads.
Anyway I have found that I am completely unprepared for these times. I am 25 so am lucky enough to not remeber when things really hit hard. I grew up on a farm and can't remember ever feeling hungry or cold. This was despite the fact we had a very old cold drafty house and (I have now learned) that D&M didn't have much money.

I don't have any 'scary' debts like a mortgage, loans etc. I do have one credit card which is used for emergencies (which I always pay off in full at end of month). I rent with my OH and pay all my bills by DD as soon as salary comes in so I always know how much is left. We split all the bills 50/50 so it's fair. He earns a LOT more than I do (works offshore) and is very generous with his money and most importantly money is never an issue in our relationship. I am trying to convert him MSE; even though he is well off he could do with being a little more frugal!!

I have enough to live on but have started to look at the horrific possibilty of redundancy. I work in the construction industry as the company administrator. Although the company is large and profitable there is always that niggling thought in the back of my mind - What would I do if I lost my job?
Now I'm not taking a turn into Negative Town but I know that my current lifestyle could not be maintained so I have started to take on the tips on this site -

Batch cooking (didn't even know what this was before!)
Need Vs Want when buying items
Ebaying (thanks to my little sis showing me how!)
Coupons/Discount/Offers
Heating on low or off
Wearing jumpers, hats and slippers in the flat
Keeping curtains closed when it gets dark at night
Washing clothes at 30deg at night then drying through day
Switching everything off at plug
Discovered Quidco - This is genius and would never have known about this if it had not been for MSE.

So after a big ramble I would love to say THANK YOU to everyone. You are teaching the 'Throw Away Generation' to GET A GRIP!lol:rotfl:

If I can think of anything to save money etc I will remember to post!

little_miss_thrifty

Hi all and thanks for the renewed thread - i always seem to catch the end of a thread!

I had my light bulb moment 3 years ago but have been learning every day thanks to all the guys on here. I must admit OS is my favourite!

I have always tried to hold the reins in when it comes to money and at first it was a struggle with DH, as he grew up with more money and i suppose wasn't taught to manage it. Anyway, now he has converted (albeit very slowly!)...all our spare change goes in a tin; we then count it up when it is full and pay it into a spare bank account to chip away at the mortgage - we have paid off £3000 in 3 years so far:T

also...

• turn off lights and power we are not using
• have the heating on for a minimal amount of time in the morning and evening-in a terrace house we seem to 'borrow' the neighbours heat too!
• we have another side account which a portion of our money goes into for bills etc - i always seem to have a surplus now!!
• graciously accept second hand clothes for both children - i am now stock piled until they reach 8/9 (one is 6, other is 3!)
• i have prepared our small garden ready for growing loads more veg next year.
• we have gotten rid of sky and only have freeview now.
• shop online for food, presents etc and even locusts and crickets for our pet dragon! (going through Quidco first)
• cook from scratch as much as possible
• look after the items we have got - our dishwasher is 10 years old and we have just replaced our old washing machine after 13 years. I have my second iron, after my first broke after 12 years. Our dvd player broke recently but the children havent complained - we just watch old video tapes in a machine my dad gave us.

Plan to - meal plan more, cutting down on meat meals
it is hard to cut down on car usage in a rural place but i try to do as much as i can in one trip out.
persuade my boss to let me work at home more

Thanks to everyone for all the tips over the years - it really has made our home a better place x

bellaquidsin

Great new thread, thanks kittie.

Well, I've really always been OS. It enabled me to be a SAHM and later to help our elderly parents in their declining years.

In recent years times have been easier for us and I was able to relax my frugality a little. However, about a year ago I realised that we would need to do some belt tightening if we were to survive when DH retires next year.

I have found OS tips invaluable for getting me motivated to do this and I have seriously reduced our spending so that it will be in line with our income in retirement. Any money saved now is being stashed away into a rainy day fund.

What has helped me more than anything is the camaraderie in threads like this one which has made me realise that I am not alone in this journey.

Thanks to OSers one and all.:T With your encouragement I will cope.

Bella

juliapenguin

Thank you for this lovely thread.

We're doing fine, in spite of me earning very little. Because I changed my wasteful ways with the help of MSE I have been able to give up a soul-destroying job and return to university to do an MA in teaching English. I'm also working at a private language school in Manchester two mornings a week, which is a long way from where I live (and it's expensive to get there on the train) but is giving me fantastic experience. The more careful I am, the better we eat, the more contented I feel.

What I do:
- I turn odd bits of leftovers into interesting new meals!
- I collect lots of cheap recipes from the forums and try one or two each week
- I make a careful shopping list and send my DH who isn't tempted by yummy food like I am
- I walk as much as possible rather than going by car
- I reserve all the books I want to read from Manchester Libraries - they don't charge for reservations, unlike Cheshire
- I've promised myself not to buy any new clothes until I have truly worn out the ones I've aready got
- when I do need clothes I'm going to shop at our amazing charity shops which are full of brand new or hardly worn fashionable clothes (there's some very un-frugal people in Cheshire!!!)
- I don't bring anything into the house that takes up permanent space unless it's absolutely essential
- we don't exchange Christmas or birthday presents but do something special instead, often something that costs very little but but is really special to us
- we've put the house up for sale (no chance of a buyer just yet, I think!) and will downsize to somewhere small and cozy as soon as we can. We don't need all the space we've got here
- I make the most of being in Manchester three days a week with the lovely free art gallery and museums, plus cheap student cinema tickets for the independent cinema

Julia xx

Jorgan_2

Its been an interesting two years for us. OH had to give up work for health reasons, loosing an income of over £30k per year should have been tough, but it wasn't too bad. Just shows how much was wasted on the things. The only debt we have is the mortgage, we were both brought up to live within our means. We do have Sky, but its the basic package, the dvd broke two years ago and has never been replaced.

Trying to be as OS as possible, but could do better, if I'm honest. We batch cook from time to time, bake a lot more than we ever have and are trying to sort the meal plans out.

Living in a semi-rural area means cars are essential, expensive, but essential. The neighbours take the mickey out of me for my car cleaning hobby, had the last laugh when my last service cost me £0. I struck a deal with the garage owner, I got a free service and he ended up with two of the cleanest courtesy cars around, he was so impressed they also serviced the air con, which wasn't part of the initial deal.

I also started using e-bay this year, selling mainly. I have so many old car magazines its a joke. I used to buy 6 or 7 different ones a month. Now I list them on e-bay, slowly but surely they are going and my account is looking better & better. I should be able to pay for most of the Christmas presents this year thanks to e-bay.

My mobile contract expired earlier this year, as normal I got a free upgrade and a new contract, the difference being I now pay £10 per month instead of £35 and I sold the phone for £40 on e-bay.

The house is on the market, looking for something smaller, but with a bigger garden so we can have a greenhouse and start growing our own veg.

OddjobKIA

We use the tinterweb to shop around for pretty much everything...

IE DD1's birthday today she got

1. Mobile phone Brand new total cost £5.00..(and found out today when it arrived it came with £5.oo credit on it)..

2. A 1 GIG MP3 Player...total cost £3.99

3.. 5mgp digital camera total cost £19.00 after tesco vouchers and Mrs OJ staff discount card he he he


All my clothes come from the local Sally army shop...(voulnteer there fri mornings so get discount on already stupidly cheap stuff and get to put stuff on to one side)..

We do lots around the house to cut down on costs same as others...

but just shopping around from a nice warm room in front of puter with cup of coffe has saved us so much

[Deleted User]

Thanks for starting a new thread!

The beginning of this year was the 'proper' turning point for me (have never been REALLY bad with money) just now I'm alot better

Me & DH have for the last year been trying to live on as little money as possible (have had a few treats too tho)

-meal plan, use leftovers
-charity shops and ebay (and stop going clothes shopping with MIL - easier to learn quickly that you're never 'keep-up' with her spending and she only calls you tight if you dont buy anything!!)
-Dont use car for unecessary trips
-Grow more veg in garden

And loads of other things I have learnt from you lovely people.... Some things you do so automatically now I dont really think about them.

I'm having our first baby in March and am determined that we can cope of maternity pay and prove to DH that we can cope with me going back to work PART-time afterwards. The other thing I think its easier when you realise that there is no point trying to keep up with everyone else, having expensive holidays, cars etc.... I would rather live a healthy, happy, very frugal life than have 'everything' but be working all the hours and have loads of debt to show for all my 'stuff'.

Waffle over x

OddjobKIA

LameWolf wrote: »

We got rid of our two elderly rather large cars, and bought one smaller one (but big enough to haul my wheelchair easily) and I now have a mobility scooter so that I can get around locally if need be.

This made so much more sense the second time i read it....

first time I read it as two elderly large CATS....:o

lilac_lady

This thread is great for encouraging us all to keep on doing what we've been trying to do - have a good lifestyle without paying too much in money or stress for it.

Although I have always had MSE tendencies I have made a big effort to stick to the following ways of watching the pennies.

Use cash instead of debit card.
Make portions of the same meal and freeze them.
Think before you buy ANYTHING.
Check bank accounts on line, daily if possible.
Use the car, heating and lighting sparingly.
Shop in Lidls first, then supermarket for offers.
Budget, tweak your budget, then budget some more.

I've managed a fairly frugal lifestyle this year but hope to do better in 2009.

Good luck to everyone - we can all keep doing this.

2cats1kid

I'll chip in. We are quite fortunate in that we are comfortable and have paid off the mortgage. However, I was pretty much raised an OSer as my dad grew all our fruit and veg, kept ducks and raised rabbits. He also made all his own wine and mum jammed, jellied and preserved everything that stayed still long enough.

This past few months I've put raised beds into the garden - fruit in the front and veg in the back, and production will ramp up next year, hopefully. I've also started making the jams and jellies, and bottling gluts of fruit and veg, and have 5 gallons of wine maturing in demijohns. So although prices have gone up, our food bills haven't (apart from this week, as I had a bottle of Baileys and a bottle of whisky in the basket for Christmas pressies!).

One thing I know I need to sort is my family are useless at pulling the curtains to keep the heat in, so I really need to make more of a fuss at them about that.