to ask you lot for practical help with moneysaving?

[doricpatter]

For various reasons we need to live way more frugally than we have been, or we'll have to sell the house. And it has to be successful frugality because if we fail, and we decide to sell later at a lower price, we don't have enough equity to be comfortable.

I used to be an avid MSEer and we already live quite simply but I need to ramp it up a gear now. I am OK on the theory - mealplanning, budgeting etc.

I just can't get my head round where to start practically applying this. For example, I can work out a fab budget but then sticking to it is impossibly hard/complex. I can shop according to frugal principles but end up with a load of stuff that doesn't constitute a meal.

Please can anyone help me?!

Go back to MSE, Martin Lewis has loads of tips for helping people stick to their budgets.

I used to take out the money I needed to spend each week (beyond fixed expenses like mortgage, direct debits, etc.). I put it in a pot and each morning took out to place in my wallet only my daily budget. If I spent it all, then I had nothing left until the next day. I would take money out of my wallet and put it back in the pot for things I had to buy by card.

I soon learned to stick to a strict budget.

The 'old Style' board on MSE is pretty good for food, meal planning etc. - they like a challenge so if you have a load of random ingredients you can go there, post them up and someone will suggest a menu.

If sticking to your budget is hard, is that because you are not including things which then jump out and hit you in the wallet later? I assume it's not a motivation issue because you appear to have an excellent motive for sticking to it.

The underlying issue is either less money out or more money in - is there room to work on either or both of those?

Heheheh, I've already been back because I know how good they are! I posted here because I know there are a lot of frugal wise people here too and it never hurts to cast the net wide

Good plan re the cash pot thing - will have to twist DP's arm but like you say there's a good motive :)

Tips on meal-plans

• Check out your cupboard/fridge/freezer contents first and plan meals that will use up some of the things you already have
• Make a shopping list for the items you don't have and take it with you
• Be prepared to adapt your plan slightly if something is on special offer - otherwise, resist the temptation to stock up on things you don't actually need. There's always another offer around the corner
• Post your meal plan where everyone can see it.... and stick to it.
• Avoid going into shops 'for a pint of milk and a loaf' because they designed to make you spend more and you will end up spending £20 rather than £2. Consider using a milk-man to deliver a few daily staples instead.

Groceries make up a very big chunck of most people's outgoings. Once you've got meal-planning sussed, tackle another spending area.

If your having a tough time why do you not ask for a interest only mortgage for two or three years

DO most of my shopping online - not sure if that actually delivers the savings it ought to, tbh.

COFFEE, I am IO for now (on ML) but scared to ask for an extension on the agreed 9 months in case they view my financial woes dimly. Suspect they'll want to see my plans for repaying the capital - which won't be an issue long term because my earnings will go way back up once DC are in school (I will have partnership plans workwise), but not sure how sympathetic to that they will be.

Have you used the MySupermarket website yet? Esp useful if you get your main grocery shop delivered. It will import your favourite items, compares prices for the things you buy at all the major supermarkets in your area, suggests better value 'swops' and lists the weeks best offers.
And of course, if you get your groceries delivered you're less likely to impulse buy.

Meal plan for an entire month at once, and work out a cost for each meal before you do so. Set a limit per meal of what you're willing to spend. On the first shop of every month, buy all the meat for the month if you have room to freeze it - that way you can get the stuff on offer.
I've been doing this for 2 months now, and have managed to reduce my monthly spend on food from over 400 quid to nearer 250.
Also bake cheap, quick snacks (eg flapjacks) rather than buying them.
Bake your own bread if you can. It doesn't take much of your time to mix/knead etc. It's just a question of fitting in the proving. Tesco bread flour is 50p a bag at the min. I can get 2 good-sized loaves out of one bag.
Be very very strict with yourself when shopping online. Write a list based on your meal planner and stick to it.
Oh and buy anything you can from value ranges. Particularly stuff like loo roll.

All good advice, but it does all seem to be pretty grocery-costs-centric. Is that where your money is mainly going? You need to set out what you are spending money on before you can reduce outgoings. The fool.co.uk discussion boards are also good on this - especially the LBYM or Dealing with debt threads.

1. If you have any debt, shop around and move it to a place which will give you a interest holiday (moneysupermarket will have good recommendations)
2. Review all standing orders/ direct debits. Cancel any you have with energy providers (some of whom will deduct bills based on estimated readings, not actual), all of our actual readings have been much lower than estimated bills come through. I would imagine we are not the only ones.
3. Are there any indian shops near you? Stock up on monster size bags of staples; flour, rice and lentils. They are so much cheaper than buying from western supermarkets.
4. Get comfortable with using these ingrediants, they are so flexible and you can rustle up soups easily (using veg that are on clearance/ special offers). Using lentils to bulk up meals is a cheap and easy way to get protein in. Don't use meat as much in your cooking.
5. Stop using cards. Use cash, it will make you stick to a budget and think twice about spending what is in your purse. I had a friend once who was saving for a deposit and she tried to keep her notes in large denominations. She said that once a twenty was broken into it was much easier to fritter away whereas she thought twice about spending a twenty. Worked for her.

How is that for a start?

Most goes on bills. But any spare goes on the old trip to the shop for milk and come back with two bags of stuff scenario. DP spends around thirty quid a month on magazines and his online game sub. I've made a rule that if I want something on ebay I pay for it from my PayPal by selling stuff.

How much is your grocery shopping over a month (and for how many of you?)
What about your other costs - any odd insurances that you can revisit? Have you gone through all of your direct debits and checked that they're as low as possible? What about TV/phone package?
Have you thought about any costs that can just be cut completely? Eg sky/cleaner/whatever the luxuries are for you?
Have you considered whether you can increase your income - evening/weekend work, babysitting, ironing?

When we're trying to save money we cut out meat, or halve the amount of meat we eat. If I make a chilli I'll use a small amount of mince and bulk it out with something like carrots. Soup are so cheap and if you make something like minstrone with pasta and bacon in, it's like a proper meal!
Oh, and buy what's in season. At the moment it's all about the stews and soups.

Also, we save a lot of money on heating. We have it quite cool in the house and just get used to wearing layers. You're not allowed to complain about being cold if you're not wearing tights under trousers and a jumper and long sleeve top etc.

The main reason we have spare money though, is because we have a funny attitude about it. We always get permission from each other before buying something. It probably seems like a boring way to live, but then by not wasting money on little things we can afford a big treat now and again.

That also reminds me of something else we do. We never buy clothes for ourselves. But then at Christmas and then in summer we give ourselves a budget each and we go shopping for clothes. It's really fun to do it in one go.

Writing this down, I think we might be a bit odd...

Have you checked if you can save money on things like insurance policies? Cheaper gas or electricity providers?

THIRTY A MONTH ON GAMES AND MAGAZINES! Surely they are luxuries?

catzcream is spot on. Try Uswitch to compare current utilities provider with the rest of the market.

Have you used the MSE budget brain tool? I found it much better than the budgets I used to do myself because it makes it easy to put in big occasional costs like holidays, christmas, new sofas etc.

When shopping, go to Lidl or Aldi first, try and do all your shopping there. If you can't find your favourites, then go to your regular shop and you will find you have cut your shopping bill considerably. They are far cheaper for fruit, veg, tea etc.

Not sure about getting DP to wear tights, anticipate resistance. But needs must! Thanks for all these, think I'll write out a plan of attack. Oh and see my profile for breadmaking attempt!

£30 a month on magazines? Are you kidding me? That has to stop, now.

Also like the idea from ladymuck. Any evening work you can do?

When it was really cold my DH became a big fan of the old longjohns! Real passion killers though!

DP is a problem. Very resistant. £7 on a mag and £15 on a game sub. Then refuses to turn heating down or eat stripey beans. Need to get through to him somehow, don't I?

£7!? What magazines does he buy?

Something about computers. I know. It's probably all on their website anyway. He also has a thing about library books so has a bit of an amazon habit, which probably works out at another £8-10 a month.

I think you do have to start being brutal about what regular outgoings are essential and which are nice-to-haves. If you're seriously at risk of losing the roof over your head you can't afford to be anything but ruthless - and everyone has to buy into that concept. Every single non-essential purchase has to be justified on the lines of "Would we rather have XYZ or somewhere to live?"

If he buys a lot of books get him to set up an Amazon Marketplace account to sell them when he's read them. You won't get all your money back but there will be some.