It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Guineapigsqueaks

We both work full time, but had to save for several years and go without some things to put away the money we would need to pay our children's rent while they were at Uni. Just made son's last rent payment as his 3 years ends this summer, just in time for me to start paying my daughter's rent when she hopefully starts Uni in September. I reckon £20k per child in total. I don't begrudge it, what else am I going to spend it on that's more important, although I suppose I would have preferred to give it them each as a deposit for their first home really.
Guineapigsqueaks x

linz

Hi all, does anyone here have one of those 14 in 1 multi cooker things ? I'm considering spending some Argos vouchers on one as itd mean I can get rid of my steamer, slow cooker, breadmaker and would probably hardly use the hob or oven etc. The reviews seem really good in that theres so much you can do in them but I wondered about the electricity cost. Am guessing they're on par with a slow cooker? Does anyone who has one recommend them?

Many thanks !

joedenise

Haven't got one but the Ninja 14 in 1 is 1760w so a lot more than a slow cooker.  I'd say it's similar to my halogen oven which I know is under 2Kw.

sammy_kaye18

My sister had a 14 in 1 cooker @linz but I think she has gotten rid of it now in favour of an air fryer. 

I spent most of yesterday waiting for wind to die down so I could relocate the greenhouse. It was getting hammered where it was so I have now tucked it into a little alcove where it is protected on 3 sides and I have ordered some velcro to fix the door with. 
We did have a few pots blow over but I have managed to scoop the seeds up and back into a tub so lord only knows what will be growing in those tubs and if they are all mixed up but I guess it will be a fun game come the summer when things are growing and we can play guess the vegetable for days on end so I will be planting those small seedling tubs into their own tubs and just winging it. 
I managed to get some radish seems yesterday though so I will be planting them with little person later. 

I have also today noticed that my benefits are going down - only by £5 - but husbands last day of work in current job is tomorrow - and then I will have the dreaded task of trying to get through to Tax Credits to tell them although I dont know new details of work yet and husband doesn't start until Tuesday so I may have to wait until his first payslip to change details over when I have his tax code etc.

We are up a creek a little bit with finances this month as we had to pay a bit to catch up with our rent and today I also noticed that an early bill has come out so its basically left me with £45 to cover Electric, Gas and food until the 26th. Thankfully the kids are both off school college. My son returns on the 25th and my daughter returns on the 26th so I just have to keep them fed and watered at home and don't need to pay for school dinners / packed lunches etc or buses for college (we earn to much to qualify for free transport but son does have the 16 - 18 bus pass).
So today I checked my gas and I have 69p and my electric is on 81p but I still have £5 emergency on there so I will top up in a little while and I spent some of this morning going through our chest freezer and fridge freezer / cupboards and the other cupboard to see what we have in stock. 
I took a whole chicken out last night so will be cooking that up later to strip the meat off of to make a few meals with and then Ill use the bones to make some chicken stock and probably a soup of some description or broth. I have plenty of frozen veg as well and son has just brought sugar and butter back from the shop and I have a supply of eggs and flour so I will do some baking later as well for nibbly bits to keep them happy. 

How's everyone else fairing? Me and husband were talking yesterday about improving our water intake as well and I said I think with the amount of tea I drink I will try and cut it down to twice a day. Once in the morning to warm me up and wake me up, and a warm drink before bed. That way then I can leave the kettle unplugged most the day and let s be fair - drinking more water doesn't do anyone any harm does it! 

Right off to type up my cupboard and food inventory list, look for some meal ideas and get back out in the garden with little miss :-) 

London_1

I did my freezer inventory and was surpised at how much food was still in there I have at least 4-5 weeks of dinners and plenty of veg and bagels. So very little shopping to get for the rest of this month, and not a great deal for next month either thank goodness.

This afternoon I shall do a tinned cupboard inventory and see whats in there, quite a bit by a quick look at it

Auntycaz

@Sammy-Kaye18 I would rather go without food than my cup of tea. I think I'm addicted.

ZolaBuddy

My partner and I are both in full time employment and we don't have a mortgage to worry about. Therefore we're not being hit too hard by rising prices. 

That said, we're still cutting back on a few things. We cancelled Netflix and Sky, and also the local gym membership among a few other things. We also use the slow cooker for batch cooking, use the microwave more than the oven, and rely on supermarket home deliveries rather than visiting the shop, primarily because we always end up spending far too much than originally intended.

We're also putting £200 a month away to be ringfenced for when our current gas tariff ends in July. We're expecting a shock when were offered a new tariff, but at least having almost £1500 saved up will soften the blow just a bit.

Don't think we'll be jetting off on holiday this year. Just keep it local I guess.

We're also trying to put any spare cash into an ISA for what its worth. It will be used as a contingency just in case either of us are made redundant. We like to think our jobs are secure, but given the current climate one can never tell.

Floss

To give some context to coming off a fix, my energy co. sent me an email today, my payment will go up by 95% from £53 to £103. I'm a single person household in a 14 y.o. wwll insulated home, wfh 3/5 days. 

Frugalfaffing

Floss said:

To give some context to coming off a fix, my energy co. sent me an email today, my payment will go up by 95% from £53 to £103. I'm a single person household in a 14 y.o. wwll insulated home, wfh 3/5 days. 

We don't come off our fix until end of May,  but when I submitted our readings yesterday I check the new tariff on offer , we pay £130 a month now for gas & electricity,  the cheapest new tariff is £354. I'm not quite sure where we will find the extra £220 yet ! Need to redo my budgets - again . 

joedenise

Frugalfaffing said:

Floss said:

To give some context to coming off a fix, my energy co. sent me an email today, my payment will go up by 95% from £53 to £103. I'm a single person household in a 14 y.o. wwll insulated home, wfh 3/5 days. 

We don't come off our fix until end of May,  but when I submitted our readings yesterday I check the new tariff on offer , we pay £130 a month now for gas & electricity,  the cheapest new tariff is £354. I'm not quite sure where we will find the extra £220 yet ! Need to redo my budgets - again . 

You'd be better off sticking to the variable tariff until things settle down.  There aren't any Fixed Tariffs which are worth signing up to.