Redundancy looming - must cut back!

Tillymynt

'im indoors is going to be made redundant in March. He will get a settlement, the majority of which we're hoping to pay off against the mortgage, which will bring it down to around 30k.

At the moment, he earns a relatively good salary for a factory job in the North West. He has a business degree, but has never really had a chance to formally use it.

He's applying for Management type jobs in preparation for his redundancy, but has so far had no luck. Even so, the jobs he's applying for will only earn him around half what he's on now..

Which is where the rub comes.

We've already gone from earning two good salaries, to just one (I only work part time since having Mini Mint), and we've really cut back our expenditure. No more 'extras' like meals out, gigs, weekends away etc. Though if I'm honest, I know that I could spend less on Mini Mint - he doesn't NEED a treat every week, it's really more for my benefit - I know I need to adjust my mind set, so that's one area I can work on. We do already do 'free' things together, playgroups/mums and tots etc.

But, we're aware we're going to seriously have to cut back now.

Bearing in mind that we don't have a freezer (we really just don't have the room - the washing machine is outside in a little shed already), so are unable to buy lots of bargain food, or to batch cook - what top tips do you have for cutting back and budgeting? I can spend around £100 a week on shopping at the moment (on a week when I have to get the cleaning stuff in etc), which is, quite frankly - bloody ridiculous, and quite shameful.

We're in the middle of toilet training Mint Mint at the moment, so will hopefully be dropping nappies from our shopping list.

All ideas welcome.


p.s. - have also posted this over on the family board, so apologies if you see it twice.

belfastgirl23

Hey tilly...

It might be a bit radical but would you consider going back to work FT and letting mrmynt stay at home with minimint for a while? Depending of course on whether that's an option for you...

Otherwise I think it might be worth posting a Statement of Affairs (SOA) on the debt free wannabe board and seeing where people can help you cut down. And of course joining us on the grocery challenge will help you bring your grocery bill down - sounds like you have a good bit you can cut there

Good luck

lilac_lady

Could you put a freezer somewhere else in the house such as your hall? A tabletop one could be in any room, even your bedroom. It will help you to take advantage of BOGOFs etc so that your shopping bill will be much smaller. George at Asda and Primark have lovely childrens' clothes, ofter cheaper than charity shop ones so minimint will still be well turned out.

kethry

I don't know where in the NW you are but if you're in Manchester, Liverpool or one of the big cities, then you can probably find an asian food shop.. if you're lucky you can find lots of them to shop around! They're good for things like pulses, specific fresh herbs (you get more for the same price as the supermarket) and they're quite often good greengrocers as well. a lot of them are pile em high and sell em cheap, so they ain't pretty like the supermarkets, and there are certain things i wouldn't buy from certain places (like meat.. *shudders*) but for either packet dry goods or fruit and veg.. they're wonderful. One has just (about 3 months ago) opened near me in East Manchester and its absolutely invaluable: i get my pulses there, herbs, spices, fruit and veg.. i would be seriously struggling without it. and best of all, you can buy as much or as little (in terms of fruit and veg) as you need.

keth
xx

Tillymynt

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

Hey tilly...

It might be a bit radical but would you consider going back to work FT and letting mrmynt stay at home with minimint for a while? Depending of course on whether that's an option for you...

Otherwise I think it might be worth posting a Statement of Affairs (SOA) on the debt free wannabe board and seeing where people can help you cut down. And of course joining us on the grocery challenge will help you bring your grocery bill down - sounds like you have a good bit you can cut there

Good luck

Thanks Belfast Girl - you'll have to help me out though, what's an SOA, how do I go about writing one? And, do you have a link to the board in question?

Tilly

Tillymynt

kethry wrote: »

I don't know where in the NW you are but if you're in Manchester, Liverpool or one of the big cities, then you can probably find an asian food shop.. if you're lucky you can find lots of them to shop around! They're good for things like pulses, specific fresh herbs (you get more for the same price as the supermarket) and they're quite often good greengrocers as well. a lot of them are pile em high and sell em cheap, so they ain't pretty like the supermarkets, and there are certain things i wouldn't buy from certain places (like meat.. *shudders*) but for either packet dry goods or fruit and veg.. they're wonderful. One has just (about 3 months ago) opened near me in East Manchester and its absolutely invaluable: i get my pulses there, herbs, spices, fruit and veg.. i would be seriously struggling without it. and best of all, you can buy as much or as little (in terms of fruit and veg) as you need.

keth
xx

We're in a small industrial town -we don't have anything as 'fancy' as an asian store. I'd have to travel 30 miles to get to one. On the odd occaision that we do go to Liverpool, I do drop into 'Mattas' - an asian store on Bold Street and stock up on curry spices, but I guess the next time we go I can have a look at the pulses etc too. We don't even have a greengrocers in Tilly Town, so we have to get our fruit and veg from the Supermarket, which is a pain in the bum.

We literally do not have room for a freezer anywhere. Our hall is so narrow, you can just about fit one person in it at a time. The only 'space' we have is in Mini Mint's room, and I'm not going to put a freezer in there!

Tillymynt

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

Hey tilly...

It might be a bit radical but would you consider going back to work FT and letting mrmynt stay at home with minimint for a while? Depending of course on whether that's an option for you...



Good luck

If 'im indoors can't find a job at all, then that's what we'll have to do - but even when I was working full time, I wasn't earning anything like what 'im indoors can earn, I'm not even sure I could cover our existing bills.