How can I save

bbbunny

At the moment my husband and I are decorating our new home which is obviously taking up a lot of our time and money but we are nearing the end of it now so I would like to know if any of you have any ideas on how we can now start to rebuild our savings.

I do not work at the moment but I am looking at getting back into work around about the start of next year. My husband works full time but his wages vary wildly from week to week and can be anywhere between £300 and £600 after tax.

Our basic outgoings per month are as follows

Mortgage £600
Council tax £100
Gas and electric £80
Food £150 - £200
Insurances inc car etc £150 (approx)
Petrol £80
Mobile phone £40 (only 1 month left on contract)
Sky/internet/sky talk £26
Phone line rental £11
We have just had a water meter installed so I am not sure what that will do to our bill at the moment

I also have a catalouge bill which is about £200 and I pay between £10 and £20 per month on that

Other than that we do not owe any other money and do not have a credit card.

Also would just say that our food bill probably seems high but we have got 2 dogs and a cat and they need food, cat litter etc.

We also have an ISA which is empty at the moment as we used the money for our moving costs etc.

I would appreciate any advice thanks.

tealady

Hi If you hop over to the old style board there are loads of cheap meal ideas there. Also as your mobile contract is ending us a cash back website to search for a better one. I would alos check to se if you are with the cheapest suppliers for gas and lec. I think of saving as a bill to be paid like everything else so I have a direct debit taken from my bank account. Its not much but as Mr T says "every little helps"

bbbunny

Thank you for your reply

We are hopefully just going to cancel the contract or go onto a really cheap basic one. The energy company that we are with is affiliated to the firm that my husband works for so we get a percentage discount off our bills so I have changed over to them for both gas and electric.

I will check out the forums for cheap recipies and I have also changed to a much cheaper supermarket for our main shop. I am hoping to get a chest freezer soon that I can fill with frozen foods as this shop has a lot of good offers that I can stock up on for when we have bad money weeks.

I have also gone onto a free evening and weekend calls package with my phone provider.

One other thing that I have done this week to save money is to buy a pet clipping set as both my dogs have to be groomed at least 5 times a year at a cost of £30 a time each. Which works out to £300 per year :eek: so I have invested in some clippers and had a go myself and the result was quite good. I know that may seem silly but like you said every little helps:D

piglet6

Hi bbbunny!:hello:

Another vote here for popping over to the Old Style board to cut down your food bill - even with 2 dogs and a cat, I bet they can trim your outgoings in that area!!

Also, I just wanted to say well done on buying the pet clipping set - it doen't seem at all silly to me...and every time you do it, I'm sure it will get easier and look better - practice makes perfect! :rolleyes: :rotfl:

Piglet