Living below your means

Austin_Allegro

moanymoany wrote: »

Back when I was a nipper - 50/60's many people were very hard up, but they had to live with their means. The debts people had were mainly catalogues and the tally man.

There is a myth that 'back then' everything was cheap and food was excellent quality. It was not like that as far as I can remember. My grandmother lived on £4.50 a week. Her rent was £1.50, no housing benefit then. A jumper bought from the local market was about £1.25, nearly half of her disposable income. What she and many others did was to knit their own and buy the wool week by week.

She never borrowed or bought on credit. She simply didn't buy anything that was not ABSOLUTELY essential. She was an excellent manager. Most of her meals were based around potatoes and bread. She preserved eggs in the summer and made jam, chutneys and pickles, essential to help all that stodge go down!

What has happened to us is that what were undreamed of luxuries have become essentials. Phones of any kind, cars when people would have had a bike, meat every day, holidays - most people I was at school with had a day at the seaside, televisions, fridges and washing machines.

I would hate to have to go back to those times, but I think I could. It certainly made you think about how often you changed your clothes when they were washed with a dolly tub and a ponch! Most people didn't change their underwear every day. All clothes and household items were mended to within an inch of their lives.

It was all very different - but it was very cheap!

I noticed your grandmother's rent was one third of her income.

The rent on my tiny London flat is over half my income, and I earn quite a good salary.

I do most of the other stuff like eat simple meals, buy second hand etc, but for me, and most other people, what has changed is that the cost of rent (and more so, mortgages) has risen hugely, thanks to property speculation and loose lending (thanks, Gordon and the bankers :mad:).

So although we appear wealthier nowadays, it's all a bit of an 'off balance sheet' fiddle....in many ways your granny had it easy because her major fixed cost (rent) was proportionally lower than most people today have to pay.

bunny_too

What agreat thread.

I've been living on benifits for a few years due to ill health. I just about manage to live within my means. I get great hints and tips on mse. My main things for making my money stretch are.

1. Try not to use washing machine on hot wash. my machine takes 2 hrs and 15 mins to wash at 40. So i steep my clothes in hot water in the sink for about an hour and then put into machine on a 30min. cycle. Works a treat and save me leccy.

2. Sold td. All clothes line dried and then on airers.

3. Cook and bake from scratch. Found out by trial and error what i could freeze well etc. Now have a very well stocked freezer of home made food. Can't believe that i use to spend £20 on carry out pizza etc.

4. Only use half the recommened amount of shampoo, toothpaste,washing powder etc. thinhs last twice as long, more pennies saved. Also cut open all tubs bottles etc. to get the last out of them.

5. Cut and dye my own hair, use 1 box of hairdye twice. Go to hairdressers about twice a year. Nice and easy i buy when i see it in offer, have 6 boxes at the moment.

6. Work at having a well stocked store cupboard, and buy when things are on offer. Go to chinese supermarkets for herbs and spices, rice,cooking oil etc. much cheaper to buy in bulk. Split some large packets with a friend, both getting the saving.Big on line shop every 8 weeks.Stops impluse buying.

7. Turn all plugs off at the wall, leave nothing on stanby. TV and bt box costs 3.75 per week to leave on full time. Have an elec meter to check prices.

8. Bought a Remosky. Can't believe the difference this piece of kit has made to my leccy bill. I bake every day, and now i don't use main oven at all. Best thing ever.

9. Wear layers before putting the heating on. My pre mse days i sat about the house in a t shirt complaining i was cold, this would be in Dec. I now wear fleece, sheepskin celtic house boots, and only put heating on if i'm still cold after that.

10. Put old duvet under my fitted bottom sheet, heavy tog duvet and take hottie to bed.

11. Fleese throws on each sofa for snuggling to watch tv., burn a few tealights on hearth to give a bit of a glow at night. Makes you feel nice and warm when heating has gone off.

12.Always look for ys when in supermarket. Try to have a few veggie meals a week to cut down on butchery costs.

13. Meal plan. I try to have a pastry night, pizza evening, curry night, pasta night, fish night , roast night, chop night, soup toastie and dessert night.etc etc. This saves so much money, i found it amazing when i first tried it.

14. Carry a book with you and recorded every purchase, pre mse days i spent a whopping £12.00 per week on mags alone. Never mind the lattes.

15. Take snacks and flask out with me when shopping, find a nice spot to have coffee and a home made goodie. Type of car picnic.

16. Make pack lunch for son for school, he prefers this to his school canteen.It tends to be frozen pizza and chicken nuggets. You get used to home cooked foood and can taste the chemicals in ready meals, so you tend to prefere hm. iykwim.

17. Make good use of charity shops, i haven't bought anything new for over ayear. Except undies. Buy xmas and birthday pressies all year in sales and put in to my pressie cupboard. Cards too in Jan sales.

18. Hand make as many gifts as possible. Have tags printed in local office supply shop for pennies.

Thats about it for now, please keep all the great ideas coming, everytime i log on here i learn something new. xx:A

misscousinitt

We have been saving extra money for our Wedding next year and I have added to this considerably by reducing our grocery spend and trying to be vigilant about turning lights off etc...Been meal planning since June and have saved at least £300 - our fuel bill DD halved earlier in the year (though I do expect it to go up again shortly - just waiting for the bill now) and that has saved us another £300. Thats the dress paid for!!!!!

Once the wedding is done and dusted - the extra cash will be going towards over paying on the mortgage. I know I perhaps don't do a much MSE as I should, but its certainly helped take the stress out of saving for our big day.

I pick up little tips and tricks all the time off these boards which I add to my regime - time will tell have much money this will ultimately save us.

Great thread by the way...

Austin_Allegro

Good point. The thermal underwear is an excellent idea. It really keeps you warm without you noticing. I am convinced one of the reasons people crank the heat up is because they wear jeans all the time so half their body loses heat. In the old days pre central heating, men wore long underwear and flannel trousers, not cotton, and women wore woolen tights etc. In old pics you always see men, even when relaxing at home, wearing pullovers and tweed jackets and women wearing heavy dresses and cardies. Nowadays people expect to walk around the house in shorts and tee shirts in winter!

missychrissy

I've got my thermals on right now. Longleeved vest with a jumper and also a fleece as well as knicks, thermal longjohns and trousers. It seems silly to me not to wrap up first. I can cope so long as my house temp is over 15 degrees C.

charlies-aunt

moanymoany wrote: »

Back when I was a nipper - 50/60's many people were very hard up, but they had to live with their means. The debts people had were mainly catalogues and the tally man.

There is a myth that 'back then' everything was cheap and food was excellent quality. It was not like that as far as I can remember. My grandmother lived on £4.50 a week. Her rent was £1.50, no housing benefit then. A jumper bought from the local market was about £1.25, nearly half of her disposable income. What she and many others did was to knit their own and buy the wool week by week.

She never borrowed or bought on credit. She simply didn't buy anything that was not ABSOLUTELY essential. She was an excellent manager. Most of her meals were based around potatoes and bread. She preserved eggs in the summer and made jam, chutneys and pickles, essential to help all that stodge go down!

What has happened to us is that what were undreamed of luxuries have become essentials. Phones of any kind, cars when people would have had a bike, meat every day, holidays - most people I was at school with had a day at the seaside, televisions, fridges and washing machines.

I would hate to have to go back to those times, but I think I could. It certainly made you think about how often you changed your clothes when they were washed with a dolly tub and a ponch! Most people didn't change their underwear every day. All clothes and household items were mended to within an inch of their lives.

It was all very different - but it was very cheap!

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading this post Moanymoany :rolleyes:

Certainly brings back a lot of memories - and made me appreciate what we have nowadays

deefer53

Nip over to your local supermarket (ours is the old 'bum slapping store'!) at 7.30pm, they have bread/rolls etc reduced to 10p (sometimes even 5p) an item, and it's still fresh - buy loads and pop it in the freezer!! A colleague of mine at work stated that he's now started planning a weeks meals in advance, and only buying ingredients for the meals - he's saved over £30 per week (2 adults and 2 kids) as he no longer 'impulse' buys.
Never go shopping when you're hungry - eat first! That way you'll only buy what you need, and not the bag of doughnuts which are calling to you coz you are pekkish!

Make a list and STICK TO IT! Don't be swayed by the 'offers', sometimes they are not the bargain they appear to be.
Check prices on line first, you'll be surprised at the offers which are not necessarily apparent in store - sometimes they don't have time to change the SEL (shelf end labels), duracel batteries for example, last Saturday they were £3.49 for a pack of 4 according to the SEL, but what it didn't tell you was - you could buy 2 packs for 3 quid!!:rotfl:This secret information was only available when checking on-line prices!!

Hope this is helpful!

blueberrypie

Austin_Allegro wrote: »

I noticed your grandmother's rent was one third of her income.

The rent on my tiny London flat is over half my income, and I earn quite a good salary.

I do most of the other stuff like eat simple meals, buy second hand etc, but for me, and most other people, what has changed is that the cost of rent (and more so, mortgages) has risen hugely, thanks to property speculation and loose lending (thanks, Gordon and the bankers :mad:).

So although we appear wealthier nowadays, it's all a bit of an 'off balance sheet' fiddle....in many ways your granny had it easy because her major fixed cost (rent) was proportionally lower than most people today have to pay.

I'm not convinced. London is the UK's most expensive place to live - according to this, from June 2008, the average rental cost of a flat in London was more than three times the average rental cost of a flat outside the South-East. Renting a flat similar to yours in another part of the UK would therefore cost you well under that one-third-of-income that moanymoany's grandmother was paying.

A quick google suggests that across the UK as a whole, rents are now typically between 30% and 40% of income.

Souk08

My rent/council tax/bills are a HUGE chunk of my income but I still manage to have a fab social life through meal planning, online shopping and strict weekly budgeting so that I have 'fun money' left each week.

luxor4t

deefer53 wrote: »

Nip over to your local supermarket (ours is the old 'bum slapping store'!) at 7.30pm, they have bread/rolls etc reduced to 10p (sometimes even 5p) an item, and it's still fresh - buy loads and pop it in the freezer!! ....snipped....

Round here the reductions are much later & it's not your bum that gets slapped, you get trampled by the scrum. I suppose it is because things have been hard here a while longer than most places.