To ask you for your best money saving tips and advice as I'm not returning to work from mat leave

[bippitybopityboo]

We don't have rent or a mortgage to pay. Our monthly bills come to £500 and our monthly income will be around £1500 yet I'm panicking that we won't manage on that and that I'll need to return to work in march when my leave ends but I desperately want to be a sahm untill my son is around 2.

What do you do to bring the cost of living down any little tips or advice I'm worried we will struggle and don't want my son to miss out because we can't affOrd things but at the same time the things, milestones and memories I will miss when working 12 hour shifts are things you can't buy back!

[mygorgeousmilo]

Sorry was just asking because as a family of five, and we have fun and all of that, our main bills don't come to £500. Gas/electric/water is £100 council tax £120 and phones are £50, sky and broadband £40. I'm wondering if just as a start, you look to changing providers or haggling for a better deal on these things. I would say finding stuff on eBay has been an absolute godsend, I just wouldn't be able to buy beautiful stuff at the rate I do at full price. I try to buy stuff out of season too to get it cheaper, and we all look fairly decent I hope! I look for sellers with perfect feedback that have described the clothes as immaculate or perfect, as you get sanctioned and/or bad feedback if you say that and it's not true, which means if someone with perfect feedback says something is in pristine condition then you can usually believe them. Most of my kids petit bateau velour sleepsuits, rain jackets etc have come from eBay at 99p or thereabouts. We are all in love with our grub in this house but have cut back on eating out and subsequently got funkier with the meal ideas, I do an online organic ASDA shop and think about what we'll be having across the week. You can freeze pretty much ANYTHING so cut down on food waste. I think £250 a week left is good, you can eat a beautiful diet and save for holidays and stuff with that, you certainly won't be in dire poverty - but you do have to keep an eye on buying crap. Sell stuff on eBay or gumtree too if you don't need it, some stuff that I buy from there such as cots etc I've kept in great condition and then just resold, sometimes for either what I paid for it or more, so your money circulates back to you for each next thing that the baby needs.

[OhSuckItUpDucky]

If you eat meat get it from your local butcher
It's better quality but they usually have offers on

[toomuchtooold]

eBay clothing bundles for your son - it works out especially cheap because the bulk buying saves on postage costs. I lifted my two out for about 40 quid a season until they got to 3 and started getting fussy and wanting to pick all their own clothes.

[toomuchtooold]

Lifted? Kitted!