SOA Living adjustment

Murphymycat

You say you are spending £120 on Sky but are paying £18 PCM for Internet. Why isn't this included with the Sky package?

£62 a month water rates seems high. There are two adults in my house and we paid £26 PCM after averaging it out and using a water meter.

We are in the South West which has the highest water charges in the country

ellesbellesxxx

The Book People is great for presents, plus you get a little quidco cash too! For little ones, you can get a set of Julia Donaldson 10 books for £10 - I stockpiled some sets when they had a spend over £40 get so much off, then split up the sets for bdays christmas - even 3 books looks like a lovely pres and only costs £3!! For older children, again box sets like Michael Morpurgo - absolutely beautiful stories - have about 3 years worth for my friends' children!

*zippy*

We found homemade gifts went down a storm at Christmas, they are still talking about them, we never had that with a bought gift. Another relation also wanted to cut back so last Christmas their family put on a £5 limit per person and you have to get as many gifts as you can for the £5, they said it was really good fun.

KiKi

mummyofboys wrote: »

I doubt I could it for £300 per year... I have 16 people just with mums/dads brothers and sisters. Plus birthdays for my sons too... I think that is really unrealistic?

I buy for 16 at Christmas for £300:

Parents = 50
Sister & hub = 50
Sister = 25
Nephews x 2 = 45
Niece, partner & child = 50
Aunt = 10
Best mates = 20
Goddaughters x 2 = 20
Friends x 3 = 30


Rather than saying "I can't", you have to say "How can I...?" You might not get it down to £300, but you can certainly try.

You can also learn how to shop!! You can get AMAZING deals at The Body Shop when they have glitches on their website, or find fantastic deals in charity shops, or Amazon. People would much rather have something small which means something, rather than a fancy present.

Get the kids to make things. Instead of spending £20 going out one week, go to the park and find pine cones. Spray them silver, put glitter on, attach string, and you have some lovely decorations as gifts to friends from your kids. Buy some large cheap mugs from the pound shop. Buy a batch of chocolate bars and drinking chocolate sachets and marshmallows, and fill the mugs up. Wrap in sellophane with cheap ribbon - lovely pressie for a few quid.

You will have to change your mindset if you want to get those costs down.

Your Sky is way too high, as is your elec and gas and phones. You justify the Sky through not going out, but then spend another £80 on entertainment. That's £200 a month on stuff that no-one needs to live. It's nice to have, of course, but try and modify it so that you're making some savings.

HTH
KiKi