Can I save any more money?!

Sarahsaver

I have cut down food shopping to about 25 a week, am positively miserly with the central heating, do the credit card tart thing so they are actually getting paid off instead of just paying interest. I am switching my phone and internet provider which will save me at least a tenner a month. My mobile has an o2 payg sim which costs very little. I dont have a car. The mortgage is £467 a month and the endowment policy £144.50
I have been to see a lone parent advisor and i would actually be WORSE off working, or else just the same as now, barely breaking even. I have tried doing a clearout of stuff on ebay but no-one bought the last lot:( maybe i should have sold it as separate items instead of a 'house clearance' LOL
I would not be better with a water meter bcos of having 3 kids, and my son needs more washing than the average kid. (health reasons)
I walk to town, shop online using vouchers.
I was ok til the CSA payments stopped (ex gave up job). They were about £270 pcm
I have posted about this b4 but to be honest i wanted a new thread! It was a while ago. There is a possible shortfall of £50 quid a week even with my dusk til dawn cruisade to save money.my kids have free school meals, i get milk tokens because I have an under 5.
Any more ideas? Maybe someone outside this situation will be able to see something I have missed ???
I have to keep the mortgage as it is, i have no option to change that at present.

Spendless

Hi
SarahSaver

I p[osted this to you on another thread don't know if you've seen it (oldstyle somewhere - i think).
The training pants your boys are in on a night. Have you tried Huggies Convertibles? They are like a cross between a nappy and pull-ups. You can pull them on like a trainer pant but you can also fasten/unfasten them at the side if you wish (you don';t have to ).

Though i don';t have prices i'm sure they were similar in price to a bag of nappies rather than the price of pull-ups.

aussielle

Have you compared electricity/gas suppliers to see if you could get them cheaper?

How about advertising your unwanted items in the post office/papershop windows? Failing that, a car boot sale with a car owning friend?

Always look in the reduced section at the supermarket for things that can be frozen. Try swapping to supermarkets own branded products instead of the big names, or even value or smart price items, depending on where you shop.

System

Sarah a few thoughts,

are you collecting the o2 sim chips? I have put mine for sale in my local rag and have profitted by £60 this week. I intend to go through the kids wardrobes soon, to bag up a load of unwanted items to also put in the classifieds.

Now, i dont have any babies, and my family washing doesnt get too grimey, but i posted awhile back about the benefits of washing my family clothes in a cold wash. I do a longer wash yet using cold water (you need to find out how you can turn your heater off though).

Angela

Sarah

Have you tried using vouchers at Tescos for your shopping?

I spend £10 a week and actually get £35 worth of shopping for it.

Alot depends on how many your local store will take but it can be very profitable.

PM me if you want more tips on this.

Judi
How much do you sell your sims for?
Thanks

Spendless

Sarah

I have benefitted from many of your tips (thanks) so I am racking my brain for ideas for you.

I know you buy your fruit and veg at the market. Are you able to grow any veg in your garden? or put your name down for an allotment? though i donm't know how much that would cost.

I know from your posts how low your shopping bill is and that you make most of your own stuff.

If you need to have things like pizza/fish-fingers etc in, try looking in Iceland. They often do £5 meal deals on this sort of thing especially in school holidays.

Would any job affect what you already receive, or could you do something like an Avon round? Also did i read a post that said you used to be a teacher? If so could you do relief teaching or extra tuition, or would this affect your money?

Sofa_Sogood

Hi Sarahsaver

Can't help at all I don't think but have you thought of joining Gingerbread for some extra support?

http://www.gingerbread.org.uk/

hth

aussielle

Spendless wrote:

Would any job affect what you already receive, or could you do something like an Avon round? Also did i read a post that said you used to be a teacher? If so could you do relief teaching or extra tuition, or would this affect your money?

You'd have to check this out on the benefit board with Ted, but I thought you could earn up to £15 a week, without it affecting benefit, can't remember which benefit it was though..possibly income support

Lillibet_2

I can only think of things that will save pennies rather than pounds but here goes :

Do you switch off electrical appliances at the mains when not in use? Standby uses a lot of power!

Do you cook things in batches or when you're already using the cooker so that you only need to re-heat them when required rather than heat up the whole cooker for longer again?

Do you use a multi-saucepan or steamer so that you cook veggies etc only using one ring on the hob instead of 3? If you don't have one of these you can achieve the same result by counter-sinking a small oven proof bowl in the boiling water with a seperate item & additional water as necessary.

Do you serve too much food? Does it get wasted or are your portion sizes big? Could you cut down? Could you get away with only serving pudding every other night or even only at weekends?

Do you use your local library for free/cheap entertainment? Do local book stores offer free afternoon book reading for the children? Do the children attend expensive clubs etc? Are they young enough/could you get away with a trip to feed the ducks instead of to the local swimming pool for example?

Are you registed with Rpoints? If not register & build up points for free by checking a few websites via them everyday. You don't need to make purchases. When you have enough points (takes approx. 6-8 weeks) you can cash them in for cash or amazon vouchers.

Does your ex/family have the children to stay for weekends? If you can bear to be parted from them then you will save on their upkeep for that day or 2 (Seems a harsh way of looking at it I know but as long as they are with someone you trust they will surely benefit from the change & you get the occasional night off too!)

Could you offer babysitting/child minding services locally or would this affect yoru benefits etc? Even if you can only do a couple of hours here & there it would be a little extra cash.

Have you researched doing internet surveys etc in exchange for lunchon vouchers? I am with pinecone rsearch who send out occasional & irrregular online surveys which are always paid with £4 lunchon vouchers which can be spent in Tesco/Boots etc. It cannot be relied on but it helps (I save mine up & use for Xmas pressies etc)

Are you a memeber of every shop loyalty scheme you can find? Boots, Sainsburys, Tesco etc.

Stuff which hasn't been sold on ebay might sell at a car boot sale. Could you team up with a car owning friend for a sping sunday morning? Books, DVDs, CD's & videos can also be listed for sale on Amazon marketplace.

Hope some of this helps and good luck

Sarahsaver

Thanks for all your replies
dont get JSA or INC SUP because i receive a pension although 'just' aged 34 i am retired having had a stroke in 2001
i will do the switching off at the wall thing
son needs loads of washing bcos of eczema, greasy creams and excess skin flakes really need a hot wash for those
i am in rpoints, pinecone, greasypalm...done mystery shopping
shop online couldnt manage the trek to the tesco but mayb its worth it with the vouchers factored in...
They rarely go swimming maybe 3 times a year cos its expensive and they are a handful all together!
No family nearby (couple of hundred miles away) and social services would have something to say if they stayed with their father.
I don't serve too much food and I keep leftovers - made soup with an old baked potato with the skin still on!
I may try doing things in bigger batches. I already do so in the slow cooker but that seems a sure fire way of it all getting gobbled up, no matter how much i make!
I will, as ever, keep my thinking hat on, and thanks again for all your replies;)

Caz2_2

Hi it sounds like u are doing all the right things, but your mortgage payments are very high would it be possible to ring your lender and extend the period of repayment because a shortfall of £50 a week will have you in debt very quickly. Also if your child support has stopped Im wondering if your benefit should go up, have you contacted benefits agency, citizens advice will tell you what you are entitled to and ginger bread was a good idea. I think you are doing all you can as far as saving on everything goes but you sound up against it with such large payments each month.