Living below your means

luxor4t

JackieO wrote: »

isn't it strange that today two years later we are tightening our belts still.I definitely am, and still manageing to live within my means.Practice obviously makes perfect,;) how are the rest of you doing?

Nicely, thank goodness, but with the odd glitch to make life 'interesting'. Belts are still tightened, but they always were & suddenly that's fashionable :rolleyes:

I'm now able to work 80% of full time - so felt incredibly rich after last year's 60% salary. The extra money is being safely stashed away against the day when the arthritis stops me working.

'Christmas' is bought & paid for - presents, cards, etc etc plus a new shirt for OH and a new top for me for our one-and-only Xmas night out.

Short & longer term plans for 2010 are falling into place - including a foreign holiday 80% funded by Tesco vchrs (would have been 100% but they changed the scheme before I'd collected enough).

All in all, LBYM rocks

charlies-aunt

We do our best to be very frugal, me oh and dd living on one low wage...just over the threshold to claim any benefits and not doing too bad - but the latest news has really got me in a tizz...government forecast show that we are heading for further slump which will hit more people/businesses much harder that the current one.

Government agency recruitment went up drastically this year and they are busy recruiting again to deal with the predicted downturn....so its looking like we will have to tighten our belts another notch and hold on tight 'cos its going to be a bumpy ride in 2010.

I am stockpiling a store cupboard of essentials now while prices are low and there are lots of pre-Christmas bargains to be had...we haven't got our heating on yet - trying to hold back until it gets really cold.

Rarely buy clothes but tend to get them on sale as the clothes in my local charity shops in Sc*nthorpe are quite pricey - eg £3.99 for T-shirts...Matalan deals are cheaper and the clothes are new.

needtovent

I wouldn't say I live totally below my means...but I'm in a much better place than I was 3 1/2 years ago. I went BR and since then, my attitude to money has totally changed. Now I have 1 catalogue (still 1 catalogue too many but I'm working on it). My OH got behind with his mortgage and now I'm doing everything I can to clear the arrears and hopefully continue with overpayments to try and clear it early. I'm also trying to save-rainy day fund, I believe it should be about 3 months salary-so I have still got a long way to go with this, but I'm alot more positive that I can achieve my goals.
This site is very motivational and very helpful-the support is tremendous.

Olliebeak

Just about living within my means.

All bills paid by DD.
Shopping done monthly with a couple of top-ups during the month.
Make full use of whoopsies, downshifted as far as possible, cooking from scratch, batch baking/cooking/freezing.
Alternating meat/meat-free days when menu planning where possible.
2 week self-catering caravan holiday every year May or September to save money - and STILL shop for whoopsies while away .
Make my own clothes and knit/crochet for grandchildren.
Buy books from charity shops/amazon/bootsales.
Start buying for Christmas asap after Boxing Day!

And most importantly - look after everything. No point in allowing carelessness to cost you money.

k2tog

What an interesting thread! I confess to not having read all of it as I need to do homework supervision now. I'm fairly OS (though not as efficient as some of you - I'm thinking mainly in the flylady direction ) but I think the key to coping better is OS alongside other bits and bobs.
Jazzy have you looked to the free scratchcards threads to up your income? It's sort of effortless saving - takes a couple of minutes a day.
This is a really good starting point
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1487085
and there are other threads also. Don't be put off that you will need to go to the GIOL thread to see them .

jazzyjustlaw

k2tog wrote: »

What an interesting thread! I confess to not having read all of it as I need to do homework supervision now. I'm fairly OS (though not as efficient as some of you - I'm thinking mainly in the flylady direction ) but I think the key to coping better is OS alongside other bits and bobs.
Jazzy have you looked to the free scratchcards threads to up your income? It's sort of effortless saving - takes a couple of minutes a day.
This is a really good starting point
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1487085
and there are other threads also. Don't be put off that you will need to go to the GIOL thread to see them .

I have looked and it all seems too complicated to me. You have to deposit money verify who you are all for 10p sorry it seems a step too far for me.

Patchwork_Quilt

I do like the advice on taking care of things - thanks Ollie. We have tightened our belts recently due to job scares and we have saved money over the last two months - something we hadn't managed in years. However, we both know that there are things like shoes and coats that have lasted since we used to splurge but will need replacing soon. So, it is good to balance the books (we can live within our means -just - but not beneath them) and make things last that little bit longer but it looks like we might need to be extra careful over the next couple of months to replace some of the basics.

k2tog

I have never had to verify who i am (which is off-putting) but that may be to do with the method of deposit - I used my normal debit card.
I managed an extra £40 payment to a credit card doing this, so it does mount up. Also makes up for the fact that I haven't quite got myself in gear to do a car boot that I've been meaning to do for ages

Aril

I'm a natural sticky beak and always fascinated by the different ways people tackle things and problem solve [in all sorts of areas not just by budgeting]. If I'm stuck over something I've found by asking people they've often got great ideas which would never occur to me. One small example is last night I was chatting to my friend who's a vegetarian- she's given me some ideas of using up some mint sauce in veggie food. I'd never got beyond roast lamb but now I shall be using it to make a yogurt, pea and mint dip. I don't interrogate though:rotfl::rotfl: However, this approach aswell as blatently lifting ideas from this board at stunning regular intervals is always teaching me new ways of making my little bit of money go just that bit further.
Aril

pupsicola

I pay all my bills by direct debit and have cut up the cash point card I had for that account so I cant dib into it.

I have a seperate account for all other expenses and take a certain amount of cash out per week to cover what we need. Once it is gone it is gone.

I have a "for emergencies" savings account in case something unexpected crops up, like a problem with the car.

I walk my kids to nursery/school and only use the car when I cant walk to the place instead.

I buy unbranded products such as loo roll, bread, cereals etc. Its amazing how much less they cost but the quality isn't really affected.

I use save a flush bags in the toilets. Only fill the kettle for what I need. Have showers instead of baths.

Im a real saddo in that I turn off lights as I leave a room and turn off plugs when I am not using something.

Sometimes my money saving ways even get on my nerves but it is becoming more and more a part of my life and mostly I just do it automatically.