Rubbish Xmas - Hubby lost job. Need to cut back!

dandm1

Ah thank you all so much for your replies. Has totally made my morning so much nicer!!

First day back at work today after the xmas break so mixed feelings of being glad I still have a job, and struggling to get back into the swing of things! Hubby is already out leafleting our local shops with his CV so hopefully we'll be sorted soon. I hope everyone else is having a good one?!

We've got the number for Jobseekers so will be giving them a call today now they are open again to find out what we may be entitled to. I only earn £1,000 per month so I guess we should get something, but having had a look on the entitledto website (thanks for the link), it seems not... we shall see.

Thanks for the tip off about the other supermarkets, its a bit difficult as Tesco really has the majority where we live (perhaps 9 stores!), but there is an Iceland and a new Morrisons has just opened so we'll have a look. We're sorted for this month now, but will definately shop around next month. We have already gone down to the basics range on pretty much everything but that was at Tescos, so maybe switching to Sainsburys/ Asda will make a difference.

Good idea about the handyman - he is pretty practical. Do you think leaflet dropping would work? And how would this work with regards to tax and NI? How do you go about declaring this stuff? Its all so confusing!!!

Thanks for coming back and clarifying Greyhoundangel, I'll have a look and put one together this evening and see if anyone can come up with some suggestions. I don't think there is much that could be changed except the telephone bill though.

I am definately going to be looking at how to stretch food, we tend to eat a lot of meat, but have figured if we eat less meat and have extra potatoes/ veg to fill up it will work out cheaper. And I'm looking into recipes that are a bit more filling but can be bulked out - like caserole and whatnot. Good idea about the soup for starters as well. What do you do with the stock to make the soup though? Sorry - only just getting into all of this!

Hubby is being more than compliant, I think he's feeling a bit useless at the moment so he's up for doing everything we can. He's just rubbish with money unfortunately, so I'll be keeping a strict eye on him!

Thanks again for all your help, and kind wishes. I really do appreciate it! xx

Hardup_Hester

Hi dandm1
I hope your hubby finds work soon, you may well not be entitled to much, I take home under £900 a month & we get no help at all you should be able to claim job seekers allowance, my hubby can't even claim that as his last job didn't last long enough. As I said we live on under £900 a month, so feel free to ask if I can help with anything.
Hugs Hester

dandm1

Thanks for your post Hester, I had the feeling that would be the case.
I would be really grateful for any tips you have on how to manage it, our rent is £700 a month on its own so we're really going to struggle on just £1,000. I guess you prove its possible tho!! xx

foxgloves

A tip from me is to use your freezer LOADS. Most cook from scratch meals can be stretched to feed four so divide between 2 dishes (things like lasagne, cottage pie, pasta bakes, etc) and freeze one for later in the month. My husband has a colossal appeitite so I also find the previous suggestion about making a soup to serve first is a real help. On Monday when I'm usually cutting up a chicken or joint that we cooked for Sunday lunch, I get a stockpot going and often make a big jug of soup that can sit in the fridge for a few days and be heated up when we want it. Husband takes it to work too in the winter. As I type this, there's chicken stock bubbling away on the hob downstairs. I will use the stock tonight to make chicken stew (one batch to eat for tea tonight and one to freeze) and as we seem to have about a million carrots left over from Christmas, I shall also use some of the stock to make carrot & coriander soup for this week's 'soup in the fridge'. I have quite a bit of veg to go into the stew so there'll be enough chicken to make couscous salad boxes for tomorrow's lunch too. Even the bones that come out of the stockpot go into our greencone in the garden so end up feeding our plants and the chicken skin & fat have been chopped up to feed our birds who were very grateful for it this morning with the garden still frozn white.....(plus it saved on a serving of bird seed!) I'm sure there are people who would howl with laughter at my chicken-stretching skills but you know what? We are nearly our of debt and living within our means after a lifetime of overspending so I'm determined we'll have last laugh!! Best of luck with your economies & the jobhunting of course x

Farway

Another tip, have a look in the "bashed bin" when it the supermarket, tins or packets that are dented or torn, but do check the dates as my Morrison's has habit of putting the "reduced" sticker over the expiry date, which is often soon

Not that expiry date on a tin is much to worry about, but no need to add to your anxieties

lilian1977

dandm1 wrote: »

I am definately going to be looking at how to stretch food, we tend to eat a lot of meat, but have figured if we eat less meat and have extra potatoes/ veg to fill up it will work out cheaper. And I'm looking into recipes that are a bit more filling but can be bulked out - like caserole and whatnot.

A great tip with meat is instead of serving a chicken breast, 2 sausages etc, to chop them up and serve - looks like more even though it's not. I made a casserole yesterday with 4 veggie sausages, parsnips, carrots etc and where I would originally have put in 4 whole sausages then dished up 2 each, I chopped them up and served it out, we have a serving left now that we probably wouldn't have done originally

There's a fantastic lentil soup recipe here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=28382313&postcount=47 - I made it last night for lunches this week and it's easily 5 large portions (a portion almost filled one of those big cereal bowls) and it was really filling.

Hardup_Hester

Hi dandm1
I've pm'd you.
Hugs Hester