What are you adjusting to save yourself money?

[flyingdream]

I'm hoping we don't eat go out to eat as much as we do or order food in. It's just a really bad habit. But we can never stick with it it. Paying 8.50 for a pizza (12 inch from local takeaway) is a large amount and I'm ashamed it's taken recent price increases to make us think.

Also hoping we don't turn on the radiators as much as we do.

@ForAFriend123

Have scrolled through thread...was it this one where someone suggested that if you're using the oven anyway then put a bowl of water in it? The hot water can then be used for washing up etc.

Genius!!

Was Me! Thanks! use A Pyrex bowl of course .. & you'll need oven loves to take it out

gloves!

Bravo Laska!!

@Nemorth

All those PP saying they will hand wash rather than use dishwasher. It all depends HOW you hand wash. You may be cheaper waiting till the dishwasher is full and then running it.

You certainly use less water.

Agree. I use less water with a dishwasher.

07:29CIaireFraser

We've got absolutely nothing we can cut down on. We have one takeaway a month which costs £15 and don't want to do away with it as it's our only treat, but if we have to we will.

We don't drive, I cut my own hair and DH's, DH is wfh so no fares, we've never been on holiday so no travel to give up, we only have the heating on for an hour a day if it's really cold (despite this our bill is estimated to go up by £510pa). I can't work because I'm disabled so we're living on DH's salary which is just under £25k.

Clare are you claiming any benefits ?
If you have paid national insurance you can claim ESA , as you're disabled you should apply for PIP. Even at the basic rate it is worth getting. I'm not up to date with Universal Credit or Child Tax credits but you can freephone benefits advisers for which ever area you are living in. Please do this as you have already cut down as much as you possibly can and inflation is only going to get worse.

Wear thermal vest (and long Johns if really cold)or long sleeved tee shirt under shirts and jumpers
Wear wool as more insulating than synthetics and needs less washing if aired between wearing. Wool socks are warmer too.
Hot water bottles in bed for 20 minutes before you get in make a big difference as does having a fleece blanket next to you and under the bottom sheet.
Heating at 17°, we have it for 2 hours morning and 3 hours evenings. I have had our old boiler replaced so we have the most eco friendly version possible, log burner being installed soon will reduce how much we use gas for heating. I realise for many that’s not possible because of costs but our old boiler was so inefficient.
Use microwave for cooking veg, or a steamer with two layers, slow cooker gets used here far more than my oven.
We’re retired, I have I’ll health and it’s horrible knowing things are going to get tougher, but I just think of Ukraine and think it could be infinitely worse.

When watching TV in the evening turn the lights off.
And sit with a fleecy blanket over me.

Every day I log onto my bank account and transfer over the odd amount eg £123.65 I put the 65p
into a savings account. Last year I saved just over £100 towards Christmas.

Less use of the tumble drier
Fewer takeaways
Changed broadband supplier to a cheaper fixed tariff
Considering switching gas/electricity to a smart meter
Canceled gym membership and cineworld card
Clubbing together with family to have shared netflix/prime/now TV accounts
Cancelled appliance cover on all my kitchen appliances
Killed the TV licence as we don't watch terrestrial TV anyways

Dishwashers don’t actually use that much electricity. Equivalent to a hairdryer for 10 mins apparently.

Apart from all the things listed by PP I don't know what we can do. Our house is all electric apart from water heating. There are 2 of us, we don't take baths. We shower but these are electric. I wash up every other day. Washing machine twice a week. Heating on for 2 hours, gas fire on low to maintain temperature, solar gain through front windows in am, curtains drawn when it gets dark. And yet our fuel supplier says our gas consumption will cost £2 A DAY.
To cap it all my electric oven has just died totally, so I am going to have to be creative with thee use of my combi microwave, till I can get a new one.

You can get a meekcats two for one cinema ticket for a year by buying any insurance through them, even if you don’t use it. The cheapest I bought was a days travel insurance for the uk at £1.75. Which I never needed but gave me half price cinema for a year which we use once a week. Works out at £5 each a trip. No snacks of course. The movies was the main thing I really missed in lockdown.

If you have too much salad leftover through homegrown or bought don’t throw it away. Make pesto. Blitz with pinenuts/almonds, balsamic, olive oil, zest, parmasan rind, garlic, sundries tomatoes, roasted peppers, etc. Any variation. Lots of recipes online that can be tweaked. We use it in toasted sandwiches, on top of fish with breadcrumbs, stuffed in chicken thigh fillets, it lasts for weeks in a jar in the fridge.

Just got rid of gym membership and Apple TV.
Have turned heating down to 17, from 19, to see if anyone notices.
Trying to stretch grocery shopping by a few days, rather than doing a fortnightly shop out of habit.
I’m veggie, the dc and dh aren’t, but doing more meat free family meals.

Invested in proper hiking thermal base layers/ wrist and neck warmers when they were on sale. Makes a huge difference, hardly have the heating on at all, though look like I am about to hike up a mountain
Batch cooking and bulk cooking (freezing extra portions) check youtube, there are loads of budget recipes ideas and challenges (just use budget recipes as the search term)
Washing outer layers less,
Drying washing on a ceiling pulley maiden will be going outside once weather permits.
Heated throw
Growing herbs. The pots you buy from supermarkets are designed to die because they are over planted. just split them up and plant separately, I,ve dotted them around the garden in gaps.
veg scraps and bones, throw in a plastic tub in freezer, use for stock for the base of stews.
Slow cooker used more often, oven not used until it can be filled with batch cooked food.
Turn off gas under food before the cooking time is up. cover with lid/foil it will continue to cook.
Only boil kettle with enough for drink I am making.
Stopped ironing.
Takeaways rarely.
Share Netflix and amazon prime account with my mum.
Switched broadband provider for lower cost fixed deal and got rid of cable package
Will switch phone once contract is up.
Nothing left on standby

I tend to find if you grocery shop online you spend less as you only buy what you need, not picking up extras because they look nice. Meal planning is essential and checking cupboards to see what’s run out or you don’t need. If you can click and collect you don’t even have high delivery charges. I go with my friend to save on petrol too.

kettle costs

Had a conversation with someone about electricity costs earlier and he said how little a kettle costs to boil. This article says 2.5p per boil or 4p for a larger quantity. Therefore, putting water in a flask literally only saves pennies.

Therefore, if a cup of tea is your tipple, don’t be afraid to boil a kettle. It doesn’t cost a lot of money.

(Obviously I know everyone is trying to save money, but helpfully people finding out a kettle doesn’t cost much money will make help some people worry slightly less about making a cuppa).

Bloody hell this is just so depressing. I don’t really buy takeaways but the idea of having to tighten a belt. Then tighten it. Then tighten it some more. And then go without heating. What the hell is going on in the world??? ‘High earners’ are now having to take second jobs…it’s all so sad!

... and actually so unnecessary @MrsPetty

I bet there's no worrying about how much to fill a kettle, or turning the thermostat down, at No 10.

My washing machine broke and it was terminal, so we got a new one yesterday. Its energy rating said that it will only use 1/3 of the electricity the old one did, so that is good (though it will obviously take a while to make up the cost of the machine!)

We also got a new gas boiler in December and without trying have apparently used 15% less gas. But again, it will take rather a long time to make up the cost of the boiler.

@BIWI I don’t imagine it’s even occurred to them the scrimping and saving the people they represent are having to do. Even if it did they wouldn’t care! I feel for the disabled and the children living so far below the poverty line. The have/have not divide is sadly getting wider by the day

I’m all for saving money and helping the environment bu cutting down on heating bills, but it’s a sad state of affairs when uk citizens have to decide whether to heat their homes or pay for medical attention like dentists and prescription. What does that say about the state of the county 🤬

EliyanahM
Surely you can still get FREE dental care when pregnant or with a young baby. Don’t neglect your teeth.

Huh, try & find an NHS dentist. :-(

Did you also all see that free flu jabs won't be available to as wide a section of the public too? We are going BACKWARDS as a nation.

Reducing car journeys, I’d going to see friends/family then making less frequent longer visits
shorter showers and smaller baths,
switching off anything not in use,
turning down heating as soon as house comfortably warm,
only using oven for main family meals, minimal cost days out,
fewer meals out,
reducing food wastage,
making own sandwiches for work,
buying less for kids, just being more imaginative, make more use of what they’ve got
Watch a film on Netflix rather than go to the cinema
Just generally looking if cheaper way to do things, repairing things rather than buying new, getting cheaper quotes for repairs etc

We’re lucky we can afford the increase in bills but doing this allows us to have that little bit for special days out, birthdays and a little local inexpensive holiday once a year