Too much month at the end of the money, radical ideas needed!

fermi

glassy2010 wrote: »

try this guys http://freepostcodelottery.com/?ref=**** this is totaly 100% free with no junk mails ive been doing it since november they give £20 away every day and it can rollover too

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[Deleted User]

megxan wrote: »

Do you think it may be worth investing in a slow cooker?

If you like stews, curries etc., then yes.

I have one, and leave it running with a stew in it, all day.

It's perfectly cooked when I arrive home from work, about 18 hours later.

katsu

Can you reclaim the professional membership fees from HMRC against your income tax? Lots of institutions are permitted. You can call your tax office or Google for the relevant HMRC lists.

Hope this helps

Twiggy_34

Some great suggestions have been made already which left me struggling to come up with any but, with regard to your grocery bill, have you tried the downshift challenge yet (where you drop from branded products down to supermarkets own, or supermarkets own down to their value brand)? Also, is it practical to split your shop across a few different supermarkets? Just as a 'for example', I noticed relatively recently I noticed that my fave supermarket charges £1 for their saver brand chocolate mouses, but in a competitor they only charge 18p for their saver brand chocolate mousses. Also, if you haven't done any grocery shops online there are a lot of great introductory offers on cashback sites which might be worth giving a go for each of the supermarkets (the cashback usually far outweighs the cost of delivery).

For petrol costs, I believe http://www.petrolprices.com/ is an MSE recommendation so you can get regular updates for local petrol prices in your area. I usually fill up at Morrisons so I can earn miles points. I drive a peugeot 107 (which is essentially the same as an Aygo). My driving is largely rural which will make a difference, and I only have a 25 mile a day round trip to do for work, but I checked my MPG the other day and got it up to 58.5 which I was really pleased with.

Re the pension thing, which really isn't my strong subject, but just a small word of caution. Don't forget that any money which you cease contributing to your pension scheme will become eligible for tax & NI, so will you actually be very much better off? Just thought it was worth mentioning so you can weigh out those pro's & con's too.

Lastly, is it worth having a de-cluttering exercise at home? Might you have some bits that you can sell either locally or online to rake in a bit of extra cash to put toward some grocery shops until you can implement some of the other changes?

pinkneonmartini

Is there any way your employer would consider helping to fund your car? pay you mileage???

ellesbellesxxx

@Monkeyballs


Hehe! Great minds

Stef_83

Monkeyballs wrote: »

... I spotted this today and thought you might find it useful...

Thanks MB for the link, £5 off 40 is a good discount

Stef_83

Fmess wrote: »

Hi

I would definitely swap to Aldi. My OH and I did this about 6 months ago and now spend on average £40 a week on food/toiletries/household products (used to be £60-£70)...

Thanks Fmess for your thoughts. You got a really big saving shopping at Aldi, I'm impressed! :A

I've had a look and there's an Aldi right near my office so will pop in next week for my weekly shop and see how I get on. Just checked their prices on mysupermarket (yes Aldi have been added to mysupermarket, how good is that!!) and their prices on cheese, tomatoes & yogurt seems quite cheap. I think I might end up getting some things from there and some from ASDA which is just nearby. I'm going to estimate a £15 saving for that :j

Stef_83

Fmess wrote: »

Can you get breakdown cover with your car insurance? Mine is £35 a year through Direct Line and with Green Flag.

Thanks, hadn't thought of that. Can't believe how cheap yours is, I seem to be overpaying big time!!

fannyadams

does this help?
http://www.cheap-family-recipes.org.uk/