If things get tougher?

[Deleted User]

I think if I tighten my belt much more I shall snap in two ! :eek: I have to have heat, or my joints stiffen up. I guess I'll end up sitting in the library to keep warm as it's always boiling hot in there. No wonder the council taxes are so high. The books are kept warmer than the readers Good job I'm a jolly little person and can see the funny side of all of this.:rotfl:
Thing is though if we all cut down on our usage of gas and electricity they will only put it up even more to compensate for the lower bills ?????????:eek:

Bob_Terveuren

stumpjumper wrote:

The first thing we'd do if things get really tight is unplug the aerial and detune our TV's so we don't have to pay the TV tax anymore. We mostly use the computers and watch DVD's anyway.

We've often thought about this given that we maybe watch a total of 5 or 6 hours TV a week - I was without a TV for a while a few years back and, to be honest, I never missed it - I did have a lot of hassle from the TV Licensing people until I eventually moved house - they seem to find it unbeliveable that you'd not want to have a TV these days.

But I digress..... moneysaving?

I heard Martin on Radio 2 about 18 months ago and, whilst not in debt, his mutterings appealed to my Scottish nature (did you hear how copper wire was invented? Two Scotsmen fighting over a penny) and our lifestyle - we both work part time and, collectively, earn around the equivalent of the national average wage.

Currrently we've pretty much curbed all the excesses so there's not a lot we can do to make big savings although every little does help (the penny jar is a great laugh at emptying time) so I guess it's more of a list of what we have done:

Cars We live in the countryside so a car is a necessity, if one of us were to succesfully start working from home then we could ditch one car and save at least £1,000 a year.
Use Martin's insurance tips and also checkout Rpoints, Quidco & Greasypalm for their offers - we got £60 cashback from Llyods TSB last year on my wife's insurance - and the original bill was only £180 to start with. Compare TPF&T with Fully Comp as well - Fully Comp was an extra £8 for the year.
Get your hands dirty - even if you are not a whizz with the spanners you can probably manage your own minor servicing. Avoid Halfords - go to your local Paartco or other motor factors for parts and source oil from anywhere you can (around here the farmer's merchants are by far the cheapest).
Look into the benefits of a smaller engine tax bracket - around £5 a month cheaper.
If you are brave buy at a car auction - my current car cost £400 but has, admittedly, cost about the same again to get through an MoT. Previous car cost me £280 and lasted almost three years with minimal expense - sold it for £80 through the auctions.
Petrol - you probably know the cheapest local source but it is also worth learning to drive in a more economical fashion - check out the internet for tips - harsh acceleration and braking are the worst - learn to anticipate more.

Heating We're fortunate to own a new house, it's in the country so no mains gas - heating is by oil. We clubbed together and got a group discount from a local supplier that beat Boilerjuice. The house is well insulated so we only have the central heating on in the coldest weather, we dont't heat unused rooms & leave their doors shut. I think we will be able to stretch a full tank of oil for twelve months so that's going to be around £30 a month.
We could save a bit on that by using less hot water.

Housekeeping Mega savings here! Stopped using Sainsburies/Tescos for all but the 'luxuries' (e.g. Gold Blend instant coffee) and hit Lidls instead. Nearly all meals are made from scratch but I'll put me hands up to a frozen quiche in the freezer for emergencies! I do have a Macro card but we have found that you have to be very careful in there as a lot of their stuff is not that cheap. (although HUGE tubs or Marmite are sometimes available)

Scour the boards here for tips and tricks - it's amazing just how much you can save without really compromising your lifestyle

Especially checkout the landline deals from the likes of 1899 and 18866 - our phone calls for the last three months came to just over £3.

Lifestyle Here's the one that a lot of people cannot see past - just ask yourself 'do I/we really need a new ***?' Frequently the answer is 'no'. I'd include expensive holidays in this - me, t'missus and the two teenagers that lurk around the place could probably get through a couple of grand if we went on the average package deal for a week or a fortnight in the summer. Stop and think - a couple of grand is probably all of our disposable income for the entire year - gone in two weeks?
So no fancy holidays and I don't think we're any the worse for it!

None of the latest gadgets - wait a few years and they'll be much cheaper! No Sky (I used to work for a cable company and it was amazing how many people would sign up for something that, over a year, was going to cost in excess of £400 - add your TV Licence to it and there you are - £500 a year to watch The Simpsons!).

Finances Another biggy. We're on an offset mortgage and, for a time, I was 'stoozing' using interest free credit cards (as taught by Martin) - monthly savings of up to around £50 which was all ploughed back into the mortgage, we're overpaying by about £15 a month since the drop in interest rates last September too
[Watch The Woolwich like a hawk though - as you offset/overpay through the year your end date for the mortgage decreases - however they will reset your repayments annually and aim back at the original end date. This maximises their profit - so make sure that you continue to pay as much as you can afford]
If you are worried that paying the cash off your mortgage leaves nothing for a 'rainy day' then you can pay it into one of your offset accounts and it'll be there if you need it - but you must be disciplined. This is a long term financial aim but, if we are hoping to take at least eight years off our mortgage term.

Use Martin's advice on insurance and other household bills - we switch electricity suppliers annually and make use of cashback/Rpoints/Quidco offers too. Life insurance too - we almost doubled the cover for the same premium.

I guess that's maybe getting off the original topic!

So where are we financially with fuel? If we reckon that all fuel (incl petrol) is going to go up 25% then that roughs out to maybe £50 - £75 a month for us (most of that is petrol). Call that £12 - £20 a week.

Pub's gone - been there once since October and saved a lot. Did some home brew but found it too easy to drink too much of it!
Cut back on vino from the supermarket.
T'missus is going to checkout an organic vegetable place today on her way back from work - it looks to be slightly more expensive than Lidls but if the taste/quality is better?
Cut down on uneccesary car journeys.
We're nearly vegetarian in any case so less meat will not be a problem!

Recently we've been out for a meal or two (Christmas parties and the like) and we've found that our taste for 'caterfood' has paled due to better cooking at home (we both cook and our store cupboard is full of spices, herbs and really tasty things to cook with). So we've not eaten out or had a takeaway in ages.

I make a few quid a month on Ebay (but usually spend as much there too) by selling odds and ends - keep your eyes open locally for what you can pick up (e.g. we have a publishing company near here and I can sometimes pick up a title there and sell it for double on Ebay/Amazon) but research the Ebay market thoroughly before you commit - however even a 50p profit is a profit (but don't forget to factor in packaging, petrol to the Post Office and Ebay/PayPal fees)

Crikey - quite a ramble!

Bye bye

Cosychicken

Batch cook and freeze, don't buy take aways or convenience foods.

katieowl_2

Cutting back - What a thoroughly depressing thought!!!

Don't think there is much left to cut back on!!! We are intending to leave London for somewhere cheaper the MOMENT my DS finishes at his decent state school (four years to go) and that is also two years before we clear our mortgage. We have been making a small overpayment on that which seems to whittle it down impressively for the almost unnoticed cost.

We don't have central heating anyway, but I do have an AGA in the kitchen (which does some hot water too) so pretty much live in the kitchen in the winter. Have seen the bill for the gas alone rise at least £10 a month, pretty scary as that is the only gas appliance (now costing £40 month to run) We burn offcuts of hardwood from DH's workshop (He won't burn softwood because he says it makes tar up the chimney and can cause fires), which we have to pay to put in a skip otherwise, supplimented by some coal. I have a open fires in our bedroom, and sitting room, and am waiting to get one fixed in the Girls room. Other than that I have an electric oil filled rad in the hall, which helps dry the washing too (overhead airer). We wear extra layers, use hot water bottles and have fleece blankets to wrap up in

I cook frugal food, we do eat meat, but I think it is sometimes cheaper than veggie options. I BOGOF, buy reduced price items, use vouchers and keep the freezer stocked with any bargains I find - so no savings there. We have allotments for vegtables (I am site secretary too - I currently have only one person on my waiting list BTW if anyone is looking in SE London?)

I suppose we could give up the two bottles of wine a week (Sigh)
I suppose I could stop buying the occassional secondhand book on Amazon (Sigh) but TV could go in a flash....I never watch it but there might be some protestation from other family members.

What I will not give up is the Internet, and currently we have broadband. Where else will I get all my information on moneysaving from?

Which only leaves insurance, as DH says to me me all time - you can only have the insurance you can afford. I have to cover the flat upstairs and reclaim half as I am Freeholder, so no box tickers scheme for me.
And I will not give up my Dog's pet nsurance - I'd see the contents insurance on the house go first.

But most certainly....when the gas goes up again, I will need to look for a saving/ or increased earning from somewhere.

Regards

Kate

HOLsale

Mrs_A. wrote:

please tell me more about these bags!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you can get them from lakeland as well

HOLsale

alec_eiffel wrote:

They were availalable at Netto last week! In many lovely colourways so warm and elegant, can't go wrong. :cool:

shame we don't have any netto's up here... i'd have liked to get one for myself and my daughter

HOLsale

rubytuesday wrote:

Alfietinker wrote:

Come to think of it - boiling a pan of water for pasta can take 10 minutes + cooking time. I can cook pasta in the microwave in 10 minutes total! Mmmm.
QUOTE]
Do you have an electric kettle I always boil the water in that for pasta.

a good tip for pasta is to just bring the water to the boil (pasta already in it) then put a lid on, turn off the heat and let the heat of the water finish off the pasta... you can get it al dente every time this way and save electricity (or gas)

HOLsale

stumpjumper wrote:

Hmm there's not much left for us to cut down on other than days out to theme parks and camping trips. The first thing we'd do if things get really tight is unplug the aerial and detune our TV's so we don't have to pay the TV tax anymore. We mostly use the computers and watch DVD's anyway.

I really need to get a job nearer home (not easy!) to reduce my massive car and petrol bills.

you CAN still watch your dvd's on your telly if you detune your tv and remove the aerial...

the tv license people really try to make you believe otherwise but their own wording on their website says otherwise

after me contacting them voluntarily them saying it was ok then them hounding me repeatedly i finally invited them to my house to see that i am not receiving any telly

took them 6 months but two men finally showed up. i was in my housecoat, ill with a raging cold and bad laryngitis and the house was a mess (due to me being ill, falls to pieces if i don't clean it :eek: ) but i took them in, showed them the rather inaccessible aerial, took them into the bedroom (where the tv is) and showed them how it is detuned, the fact that there is no aerial attached and the 400+ videos we have and they said no problems, no one will be bothering you again

and they haven't

Bargain_Rzl

katieowl wrote:

We have allotments for vegtables (I am site secretary too - I currently have only one person on my waiting list BTW if anyone is looking in SE London?)

Whereabouts in SE London, Katie?

I'm not personally looking but I know there are Old Stylers in Charlton, Deptford/Greenwich, Welling (me and another!), Bexleyheath, Crayford and undoubtedly elsewhere too!

Justamum

Judi wrote:

Ive decided that the household security lighting will have to go too. The house is lit up like a christmas tree when a cat comes into our garden.:rolleyes:

I've never understood household security lighting. If it comes on when someone comes into your garden, it just makes it easier for them to see what they are doing when they break in!