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

poppy811

ladyholly said:no public transport here at all

Onebrokelady said:

I don't have a car so rely on a terrible public transport system which costs  me £52 a month, this is done through work so is taken from my pay before I get paid then I pay slightly less tax 

I dont know if it applies to you but if you cannot drive for medical reaasons you can get a bus pass like the one for pensioners.. No good before 9am (depending where you live) but useful for other times and weekends.

No public transport here at all.  Because I have cancer have to rely on home deliveries which are great but miss out on special offers yellow stickers etc.

Onebrokelady

ladyholly said:

Onebrokelady said:

I don't have a car so rely on a terrible public transport system which costs  me £52 a month, this is done through work so is taken from my pay before I get paid then I pay slightly less tax 

I dont know if it applies to you but if you cannot drive for medical reaasons you can get a bus pass like the one for pensioners.. No good before 9am (depending where you live) but useful for other times and weekends.

Hi no I can't drive because I never learned how but thanks for the info 😊

wondercollie

There is no way I could take public transport to work, it doesn't start early enough to get me to work for 0600!

My health service just raised the staff parking fees, they did that so that the public doesn't have to have a fee increase.   

My raise was 1%, parking went up by 3%.   My next paycheque should be interesting.

[Deleted User]

A gentle reminder to analyse your live TV and iplayer use to see if the (increasingly high) cost of your TV licence is worth it. A crude analysis 18 months ago showed we needed a licence maximum of twice per month, meaning each viewing cost around £6. We got rid of it and genuinely don’t miss it at all.

I do pay for Netflix, at £6.99 PCM, but we use the on demand services for ITV, channel 4 and 5. Don’t miss the Beeb at all. Just something to think about for those on very limited budgets xx

Broomstick

Deleted_User said:

A gentle reminder to analyse your live TV and iplayer use to see if the (increasingly high) cost of your TV licence is worth it. A crude analysis 18 months ago showed we needed a licence maximum of twice per month, meaning each viewing cost around £6. We got rid of it and genuinely don’t miss it at all.

I do pay for Netflix, at £6.99 PCM, but we use the on demand services for ITV, channel 4 and 5. Don’t miss the Beeb at all. Just something to think about for those on very limited budgets xx

The other thing to do with the TV licence (legally) is to cancel it and stop watching but make note of the programmes you'd like to watch on iplayer and how long they are around for.  Then, maybe in the winter when it's nice to have a treat for the long evenings, start your licence up again using the 3 month direct debit option and do a massive catch up during that quarter. You can cancel the renewal when the 3 months is due to be up and, assuming you stop watching, don't have to pay upfront for any more of the year unlike the other payment choices.  I'm planning to restart my licence in the winter and catch up on things like Sewing Bee then.

Bluegreen143

On a similar note, because things like Netflix don’t have a minimum contract, I have friends who will rotate which subscription they have - Netflix for two month and binge watch shows of interest, then cancel it and get another service etc. They also get the free trials for services, check out in advance which show they are most interested in and binge watch that for a week then cancel.

pelirocco

Deleted_User said:

I maintain a budget of £3,800 per annum for absolutely everything, excluding mortgage and council tax. 

If I could fit a car into the budget I would, as it would really improve things for us in many ways, but I can’t so we don’t have one.

I went to Lidl today (lift from a friend who was gong there anyway, in exchange for a HM cake), and spent £45. This will see us through for around 3 weeks, and included some treats (huge watermelon 🍉for £3.50, and a bottle of wine at £3.39).

Our life is very moderate on many levels, but we’re happy. Rural life, I think, gives more room for a different currency too. My eggs are traded for HM sourdough and we were given half a pig, already jointed, for our help in lambing time xx

£316 per month for food ,fuel ,clothes,house repairs cleaning products ,and food for your chickens?

Spendless

People would consider my DH's salary very good because on paper it looks it. It ignores that he is heavily taxed, he has a company car (which is certainly a help but does impact on his net wage) if he gets a bonus he is taxed at 40% on it, that we have had our children in Higher education with an overlapping year and at least another 4 years to go who receive the min maintenance loan so we have helped out with rent, that when my workplace closed down DD's MH meant it was better for me to be at home for a while. That when she started signs of recovery I got another job only to lose it in the first week of lockdown1 and so on. We have less than a year left on our mortgage and quite frankly it can't come quick enough, I am looking forward to the money freeing up towards something else.  

euronorris

We still use standard TV channels regularly, and oh how I love the Great British Sewing Bee 😍 we have netflix, but that's it. I had Prime for cheap delivery of stuff, but realised I typically use it less than once month Jan through Nov, so have cancelled and may restart for Xmas only, then cancel again. But have also been making an effort to buy from anywhere other than amazon if I can.

The TV licence is being abolished isn't it? But it will be a few years before its removed.

luvchocolate

linz said:

Well i'm just back from my weekly wander to the co-op with my soft plastics for recycling. Quite a few good YS bargains came back with me, all in freezer;

Port crackling shoulder joint - £2.99. Going to do a nice meal with this on Friday.
Pack of beef mince - £1.55
Pack of diced chicken breasts - £1.15
2 salmon fillets - 85p. 
Seeded loaf - 38p
Pack of ready to eat carrots/broccolli/baby corn - 34p

Went to B&M this morning for some tomato feed. Have got about 5 tomato plants on the go. Nowhere near ready yet but i hope to get a decent harvest this year It's the first time i've used the car in about a week and a half so still got about a third of a tank. I'm dreading filling up. I don't use it for work as I work in a city centre with no parking. Thankfully I have a railcard which cuts the train cost by a third. Have thought about giving up the car on and off, i've never used one as little as I do at the moment and i'm thinking more and more about the costs that come with owning one. I will give it some thought over the next few months..

I moved home a few years ago close to town centre...after the first year I'd used my car 600 miles...simply not worth it. 
Bus station is 3 minutes walk..railway station 5 minutes...bus pass and senior railway cards in hand ✋