I am in a position where I was already at almost breaking point so I dont have much room to make cut backs.
As a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 toddlers plus one cat) we already dont get professional haircuts - they are now all done by me in our kitchen. I only dye my hair for special occasions so maybe twice a year max. Our pet insurance is down to basic cover and we actually had to use the local PDSA hospital the other day to get treatment that was under our excess amount. I cant remember the last time we bought new clothes aside from essential things for the kids and we are lucky that a lot of our family buy the kids clothes randomly as gifts so that has helped. (it used to be a nice little extra outfit for them but now they are much more needed) We dont get our car washed anymore which used to get done every 3 or 4 months as we dont have means to do it ourselves (no drive) Our TV packages are all cancelled including NowTV etc. Gym memberships gone. Kids activities have been reduced to free classes or are paid for as birthday gifts by family (so paid out in blocks) I have have even superglued a few pairs of trainers lately as we cant afford to replace them just now. Our car barely moves now - and has gone from about 700 miles per month on average to below 400 miles. Ive started taking the bike and trailer if its just me and the children going anywhere, keeping my fingers crossed we dont need any repairs soon or we will be going no where. If our car wasnt on finance it would be getting sold to be honest.
We bring in about £2700 a month - and a year and half ago this was fine, we paid all the bills, debts,got the food, clothes and little treats, and still had money left over to save for a deposit. Now, we barely cover the bills and have to watch the food bill like a hawk and it a stress everytime - there is nothing left for savings or extra. The savings we did have are gone, eaten up by unexpected bills etc.
One thing we have been doing is using the ASDA app to great shopping lists - we make a shopping list of all the ingredients needed to make a certain meal so, for example, I have a shopping list for chicken curry, chicken and gravy, sausage and mash etc. I use the app to find the cheapest ingredients. The app then shows the lists as 'Chicken Curry' and the total price. The prices update in accordance with rises and deals so each week I can go onto the lists and pick the cheapest meals from what deals are on. I also have lists for essential cleaning products etc. I will then add everything to the online basket and remove things as needed to keep under our budget. Now, this is where I need to put effort in, I go into Aldi and/or Lidl and use the ASDA online basket as a list - if i find any items cheaper I buy them in store and once I am done I go to Asda and buy what remains in the online basket. Doing this allows me to not only stay on budget but under it as I know the maximum I will pay is what the ASDA online basket shows me, I then pick up as many items as possible in cheaper stores and only go to ASDA when needed. We budget £110 a week for food as we have dietary requirements in the house plus this includes nappies, wipes and toiletries. We absolutely can not go above this amount and will go without some weeks when we need to. When we are under budget I use this amount towards the debts we have that we are now struggling to pay because of the prices increases.
We use is Go Compare for local petrol prices, and also a family member has a COSTCO card so we use that petrol when we are in the area (its a few miles out from us)
We try to avoid branded anything - own labels are cheaper so kids clothes are supermarket or online, and ive even tried my hand at making some clothes out of old ones as I was gifted a sewing maching.
We cut family days out at theme parks etc for beach days, or garden game days, or have even found ourselves hopping on off peak public transport as the kids love just going on a bus, train, tram etc.
Weve cut back on mowing the lawn too, and it only gets done once a month which isnt great but its not too bad that the neighbors would raise eyebrows - our lawnmower is old and eats electricity.
We have cut the use of playstations and xboxes (big gamer house) to only at night, and only for a hour or so if we havent used too much electricity already that day. So if I've had to use the tumble dryer that day the PS most definitely isn't going on at night. We found the PS to be worse than the xbox for some reason.
All our lights and sockets are controlled by our smart hub so literally the whole house gets switched off when we leave or are in bed. Our electric stand by usage is less than 0.01p per hour and that is for the fridge and freezer.
Another thing - it isnt a cut but a good idea i found - is Ive started rotating the kids toys so a vast majority of them are stored in the attic and they have a few favourites down to play with. Once a month or so (whenever they start complaining 'im bored, theres nothing to do!') I will pack up the toys and they can pick from the toys in the attic to come down. At their ages its like getting new toys every month.
Im exhausted with it all. Every day is constant struggle to keep our heads above water, and its on my mind with everything we do.