Starting Out, low income

startingout2291

I am just starting out living on my own in a real flat (moving in shortly). I have been living independently for a while but in shared accommodation where the only things I have had to pay are rent, tv licence and food / cleaning supplies.

I'm glad I got the chance to start out with the easy ones first, it has given me the chance to find out the important things (like savers brand spaghetti hoops tasting exactly like heinz for a fifth of the price, and that it pays to look for yellow stickers in the supermarket )

I know though that my bills are about to literally double (I have calculated rent, council tax, water, electric, gas tv licence and so on and its pretty much double) so I'm hoping to stick around here and learn from some of the more experienced people on cutting living costs.

I'm on a low hour contract (like zero hours but guaranteed a few hours a week) and while I have yet to experience a month living on the wage from just contract hours I have it in the back of my mind that it could happen particularly with the new minimum wage bill coming in (I am 25, so just at the age where my employers need to pay me the extra) so if anybody else in the same sort of situation has any advice on how they manage a changeable income when it comes to bills it would be much appreciated.

Also this is the first time I have moved into somewhere where everything is not already set up and dealt with for me, so trying to make sure I have everybody I need to contact and notify on move in day on my list.

I honestly can't wait to move into my own flat without having to deal with housemates for the first time ever.

So not looking for answers to specific questions just yet, but wanted to introduce myself and if anybody has tips / solutions / thread they feel are a must read I would be really glad to hear of them. I'm really interested, now that I will have my own kitchen and not have to time it around housemates / find space in shared fridges and freezers, to learn about batch cooking so that I dedicate a day or two when I have time off work to creating some meals, it means that when I have a late finish then early start I can have some easy to heat food rather than purchasing a microwave meal as I leave which has to be healthier on the purse.

Tink_04

If you dontbalready have one invest in a slow cooker - great for cooking meals and then you can freeze the left overs for a quick micro meal.when you finish work.

HappyMJ

If you're on a variable income you need to have savings.

I'm a contractor myself and I try and keep my savings account at about £5,000. I add my income to that account and transfer £200 a week back into my current account so no matter how much I earn in any one week I know I have £200 a week to spend. I review the figure every few months and adjust it up or down. From that £200 I transfer £150 a week into another account to cover monthly expenses such as rent, council tax, gas and electricity. That account has a balance equal to one months expenses so the expenses will always be paid on time each month.

The remaining £50 a week goes towards variable weekly expenses such as groceries and other household expenses. If I'm left with anything the following week I transfer it to a savings account.

You'll need to adjust the figure to suit you....but what is essential is having savings to ride out the weeks in which you earn nothing and the weeks you earn twice what you expect.

startingout2291

Thank you for the replies and advice. A fair chunk of my savings has been used up with deposits, rent for two places in the same pay check ( they happened to overlap) but I still have some left. Some of it will need to go on appliances and furniture (I have most of it, but some is shared and will be left behind) but I plan on making use of freecycle and local selling pages so used should have a fair amount left. I have only been using one account so far but your method makes a lot of sense happyMJ, and I think I will adopt it to try and average out my earnings.

I don't yet have a slow cooker, but I have heard things about them, and think it's probably a worthwhile investment. Is it safe to leave them running when you are not around? I have heard a lot of people say they put them on in the morning and leave them to do their thing over day, but I'm not entirely convinced from a fire safety point of view about leaving a slow cooker unattended ? B

startingout2291

(Please excuse typos, strange word substitutes and additions, I am typing on a mobile and can't control auto correct very well)

HappyMJ

startingout2291 wrote: »

Thank you for the replies and advice. A fair chunk of my savings has been used up with deposits, rent for two places in the same pay check ( they happened to overlap) but I still have some left. Some of it will need to go on appliances and furniture (I have most of it, but some is shared and will be left behind) but I plan on making use of freecycle and local selling pages so used should have a fair amount left. I have only been using one account so far but your method makes a lot of sense happyMJ, and I think I will adopt it to try and average out my earnings.

I don't yet have a slow cooker, but I have heard things about them, and think it's probably a worthwhile investment. Is it safe to leave them running when you are not around? I have heard a lot of people say they put them on in the morning and leave them to do their thing over day, but I'm not entirely convinced from a fire safety point of view about leaving a slow cooker unattended ? B

Try and get your savings level back to 6 months expenses before you increase your weekly allowance by too much. You can have some interest free credit card debt which might help you get the savings you need. You could put the next 6 months of expenses on a credit card whilst saving the money you earn. Then you can play the stoozing game switching credit cards so you never pay interest. You need to be disciplined...much better having no debt at all but a variable income does require you to have savings so that if you had no income at all for a few months you can still survive without having to resort to payday loans which would be dreadful.

As long as you put the slow cooker on a fused plug and circuit and in the middle of the worktop just in case some water overflows and does happen to get into the electrical workings and cause a short you don't want the spark to catch a curtain alight before the fuse cuts it off. It's rare don't worry about it. It's the same risk as leaving the Sky box turned on all day. Both are rated at about 100W and have fuses to prevent a high current being drawn for long.

Tink_04

The slow cooker is designed to be on all day - if you concerned put it on firstly on a day that your home so you can keep an eye on it - check free cycle for one first as people often pass them on.

moneyistooshorttomention

Make sure you are well stocked-up with essentials. Having to buy something as an "emergency" (ie you are about to use a can of tomatoes right NOW and have started cooking your dinner - so you go and buy it from the corner shop) means paying over the odds for things. Voice of experience time - and annoyance at sometimes having paid twice the "proper" price for something because I hadnt made sure I'd got a "spare" in.

mumofthetwins

Also if you need any bits and bobs check out your local boot sales .. I get loads from them and my mam even got me a ramoska last year for £2 which I use all the time

Lisa x

Steerpike88

I would definitely look at investing some money in upgrading your skills. I know what it's like being low-skilled and when you hit that next wage bracket no one wants to hire you any more. You could try doing an evening/online accounts course or one in IT, or have a look at some temping agencies and ask them what skills people are looking for atm and if there's anywhere local you can go to train for them.

Anyway for tips:

• I really recommend the slow cooker. I think it's really safe to leave it all day, I definitely have. You just need to make sure you put in some extra water so it doesn't burn.
• Batch cooking and freezing food. I have some lovely spicy carrot soup and bean chilli sitting in the freezer that I can just pull out to defrost.
  
• cookingonabootstrap blog, lots of tasty cheap recipes.
  
• Doing surveys & or mystery shopping and stashing that money away for something.
• Never pay full price for anything. Buy it reduced, by it used, use vouchers.
• Get cashback! Not 100% guaranteed, but if I get any I shift the extra away into a VSP (virtual savings pot) and I can pay for Xmas or a holiday.
• Put away some money each payday for yearly expenses, like your insurance, and a little for emergency savings.
• If you need to go out for any occasion use Groupon!
  
• Cashback on Groupon.
• Ask on freecycle for any furniture and appliances you may need. You just need someone with acar to help you pick it up.
  

I found lots of small things saved me money. I get all freebies I can get my hands on. I grow my own salad & herbs on my windowsill, cause they're really expensive to buy. I meal plan around YS purchases. When it's a cold day I snuggle up in bed with my electric blanket on and watch Netflix. Netflix is cheaper than sky. Running a laptop/tablet is much cheaper than a computer. If you put the oven in to bake anything fill that puppy up, make some soda bread or a cake or some jacket potatoes. You can roast things in your microwave! I roast garlic in in for a home made hummus and garlic risotto. I batch buy cards from card factory, so I don't need to run out and buy an expensive one for a birthday or whatever. Same with presents for people, I buy little things on sale throughout the year. I save wrapping paper and ribbon.



Well, that ended up being long. You can just see how creative some people are on this website and that just give me inspiration.

luckofthe_irish

Subscribed !

I am also 25 and live independently! Am moving into a new, slightly more expensive flat, at the end of this month and already struggle a little financially so I am determined to get this under control! Will be reading and learning with interest!

I have a slow cooker but find it difficult to use it for meal planning - I always forget to put it on in the morning before work or fail to come up with ideas for what to put in it. I have a small freezer as well which doesn't help for meal planning. Seems like I need to get back into the swing of things!