General cost cutting

Glee_Fan

Hi all,

I posted this on the families thread but was advised to come over here...

My husband is having to take a pay cut of about £300 a month (better to take a pay decrease than lose his job altogether we thought!)

I already food shop carefully, swap utilities around, take advantage of special offers, have no loans but use a Tesco credit card to pay for everything and pay off each month to benefit from clubcard vouchers. I'm really not sure where else I can cost cut.

I work part time, and my place of work have no more hours to give me, but I am limited as I have 2 small children and my husband's job involves shifts, so I cannot commit to doing something the same day each week if that makes sense.

Any suggesions would be gratefully received as to how we can make this work.

Many thanks!

La_escocesa

Hi Glee Fan,

Welcome to the DFW board!!

It's hard to know what you can cut without seeing your full statement of affairs with everything split out but to save £300 a month I'd say:

- cancel any sky tv packages?
- check your mobile phone tariff/cancel it?
- pay council tax over 12 months
- cancel any subscriptions to magazine/love film etc
- sell stuff - car booting/e bay/amazon - do you have loads of stuff from when the kids were younger?
- wait longer between hair cuts/colour it at home etc
- don't always use the car for short journeys

Let's see what other ideas other people can come up with!

Monkeyballs

Howdy Glee Fan,

Ok, here's my suggestions.
- You mention you shop carefully, but have you tried any 'own brand' or 'Economy' goods/foods? Sainsburys economy choccie biccies are ace, Morrisons own baked beans are great (with a splash of pepper)...
- Do you have a timer on your washing machine? Set it to go off in the wee small hours when the electric is cheaper.
- If you're already looking after your own two kids, could you manage another? Advertise as a babysitter... A few hours a week will rake in another £20 or so...
- Shop later in the day when things get reduced, cakes and so on.

I also agree with the other suggestions above too! Car booting is good fun :-)

Good luck!

Ellabelle

Hello

Re: Monkey Balls post - Only thing is if you are looking after a child who is not yours, in your own home, for cash i'm pretty sure you need to register as a childminder or you would be breaking the law.

Glee_Fan

Many thanks Monkeyballs (sorry can't stop giggling at that username! :rotfl:) and La E for that really helpful info.

Ellabelle - I am aware of the legislation surrounding childminding etc as a friend of mine does this, but others may not be, so many thanks to you too.

I have started to look at the things mentioned and also am planning on a car boot at the weekend (weather depending!), and have sorted some bits for ebay too.

We will get there! Am still interested to see what anyone else can suggest though...

Debtfreein2011

Buy an electricity monitor to check usage and cut down.
Put a brick in the toilet cistern if you're on a water meter.
Use bath water for watering plants.
Use ebay/freecycle for as much as possible - invariably tends to be cheapest place for lots of things (although not always so beware).
Sell as much as possible on eBay.
make sure you are reciving all Childcare vouchers/CTC/WTC that you are entitled to.
Use the 'envelope system' to cut money spent right down - that is, label envelopes with cash in each month and when the money is gone, it's gone.
Switch to 0% cards if applicable.
Take lunches into work if not already doing so.

HTH

tealady

Hi
Batch cook and freeze
Eat a hot meal at work and just have a cold one at home whenever possible
Be ruthless about switching things off.
Use caskback websites when buying insurances.
Agree with friends and rellies on a "no presents, cards only rule"
HTH