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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how you save money/survive on little

32 replies

Pinkbutton85 · 09/12/2017 07:27

We have just had a major change in sircumstances. Therefore our monthly incomings and outgoings leaves us with about £50 between us at the end of the month for 2 adults and 2 children.
(That's after every bill, including food, fuel etc)

We aren't entitled to any benefit other than child benefit.

I'm desperate to know how you save money, the best tips/tricks?!

OP posts:
LiveLifeWithPassion · 09/12/2017 07:29

Are all your gas, electricity, phone, broadband, tv bills on the best deals for you?

CheapSausagesAndSpam · 09/12/2017 07:30

To be honest that's more than many have.It's for luxuries yes? Days out and so on?

If you need clothes out of that then it's time to get used to charity shops...and sales. I never wear anything new unless it's heavily discounted.

Charity shops in "better areas" yeild better stuff.

Hair...dye it yourself if that's something you usually pay for.

Days out...there's a lot to do for free...take packed lunches etc.

Original poster
Pinkbutton85 · 09/12/2017 07:35

@cheapsausagesandspam

The £50 needs to covers anything the children need, any luxuries as things like alcohol etc aren't included in the food shop.

Days out are rare as we live very rurally and have to travel a fair bit to get anywhere. No bus service here.

I've checked the out goings and we have cut it down where we can Sad

OP posts:
mammymammyIRL · 09/12/2017 07:36

What are your outgoings?
Are they all essential? For instance we got rid of sky over a year ago, bought an android box & changed broadband providers has saved us about €1000 & then we recently subscribed to Netflix.
Do you subscribe to MSE's money saving expert emails? I'm not in uk but this is a great place to start.

Food - where do you shop, do you eat out or take lunches from home are there takeaways included in this, what age are your children?

Lots of helpful friendly advice on frugaleers thread

chocdog · 09/12/2017 07:39

I'm afraid your cheap value link does not work as well as the regular ones mammy.

gressingham · 09/12/2017 07:44

Giving actual details of your outgoings will garner more focused advice/options.

Raver84 · 09/12/2017 07:55

Make sure you ae on cheapest tariff for phone, broadband, gas and electricity.
Negotiate insurance at renewal time
Try and save a fiver a week on food, then put that 20 per month into savings?
Cook from scratch does work out cheaper in the long run. We have one night a week of something on toast like egg or beans which is a big saving rather than doing a whole meal.
Sell bits on ebay or boot fair in spring
Can you allocate a small amount of your 50 towards Xmas and birthdays and clothing say 10 per month for gifts and 10 for new clothes and school shoes? Over a year that will give you a pot of 120 which could stop you getting into debt.
Use basic cleaning products stuff from aldi is fine for house hold bits, washing powder is cheap there too
For shampoo and soap etc again use the cheaper stuff you can pick up sham poo jn aldi for 40p soap is very cheap and the deodrant is also good and around 60p

All these little things do add up. Hope things get better for you soon

mammymammyIRL · 09/12/2017 07:56

Thanks @chocdog I'll attempt to fix that!

Undercoverbanana · 09/12/2017 07:57

I regularly transfer my bank account. I've made over £600.00 in less than 2 years. It's about an hour's work each time. I've done it 3 times. I don't know what your hourly wage is, but mine is not £200.00 per/hr!!!!

If you have prescriptions, get the certificate - I have 2 scripts per month and the certificate saves me over £100.00 per year.

Sell stuff. You'll be surprised what people will buy and what they are prepared to pay for it! Disney DVDS sell brilliantly if your DCs are over Disney crap now? How many clothes do you really need? If you are skint, you won't be going out, so sell all those dresses - it's party season!! I once sold a Monsoon dress for more than I paid for it as I'd found it in a charity shop!

Gas/electric/broadband/insurances - see MSE.

Exchange services - babysit for your hairdresser in exchange for free haircuts, for example.

Car share to work - be imaginative with your travel plans to cut costs. Go food shopping with a friend to save costs. Aldo/Lidl - save a fortune and their customer service is fantastic.

I could go on ..... I am very good at this (being tight is my only skill.)

mammymammyIRL · 09/12/2017 07:58

Frugaleers hurtling through November... is it too early to mention the C word? All welcome for mo...Frugaleers thread

Undercoverbanana · 09/12/2017 08:00

Sorry - must add the obvious one - batch cook loads of simple, cheap, nutritious stews, soups, pasta bakes, curries, chillis etc. Get the involved - they love stirring massive pots of stuff!!

Undercoverbanana · 09/12/2017 08:01

DCs - get the DCs involved.

CrabappleCake · 09/12/2017 08:04

Money saving expert website is great, especially the old style forums where there’s some real hard core savers. Having a cheap tea or lucky dip tea a couple of nights a week is v good idea. Also trying to put a little bit away for emergencies.

Lobsterquadrille2 · 09/12/2017 08:11

Prepare a proper budget and work out where you might be able to save. These boards are full of advice on meal planning, eating on a tight budget etc. Batch cooking, bulking out meals with cheap end of the day marked down price goods, eating porridge for breakfast. That's the food bill. Gas an electricity as above - compare suppliers and ensure you're on the cheapest deal. I haven't put the heating on yet although DD is just home from university and complaining about the cold, so that will change now - and with smaller children it's different of course, but there have been excellent threads recently too about cutting heating bills.
Fuel - can you avoid using the car at all? Probably not if for work - just a thought.

Binkybix · 09/12/2017 08:40

If you have internet can you do surveys for payment/vouchers? You don’t get much but all adds up.

MumOfTwoMasterOfNone · 09/12/2017 09:09

Topcashback! Brilliant for insurances etc.
Recently things have been tight for us and then I've had around £100 back which has been well timed to help out at Christmas Grin
I'm not particularly good at budgeting and we are spending beyond our means at the minute, so I am following this with interest!

fourquenelles · 09/12/2017 09:17

Sign up for on line surveys. I do erewards and have accrued enough points for £40 M&S vouchers for Xmas in about 6 weeks whilst watching the telly in the evenings.

loveka · 09/12/2017 09:24

Lentils and beans to bulk out food. Tasty vegetarian recioes- Delia does some great ones.

Our biggest was home made wine! Beaverdale kits are excellent and work out at around £1.20 a bottle. You have to have a little initial outlay on tbe kit, but it is a massive money saver. We bought a cheap soda stream and fizzed some up to make 'champagne' at our most poverty striken Christmas. We don't even bottle it, we just cyphon it into a carafe. We have 2 vats on the go at once, one 'cooking' and one for cyphoning.

Make your own bread and biscuits, including pita, naan,pizza etc. I used Waitrose Essentials flour which is super cheap.

I just got into the habit of taking a flask and a packed lunch and a filled from the tap bottle of water everywhere. I didn't buy a coffee out for 4 years!

Everything I bought was on offer. Everything was home made. I used Topcashback.

See if you can find any market research focus group people. Ask around. It is all a bit 'under the radat' as they are supposed to recruit strangers, but if you find someone in your area you can earn £50 for a couple of hours, or more sometimes. Even 1 a month makes a difference.

JustMarriedAndLovingIt · 09/12/2017 10:35

I earn money as an internet psychic/tarot reader answering text messages. The service is frantically busy. No experience necessary. It's 30p a text Monday to Friday and 36p at the weekends. On a good week I can earn £90 and this is on top of regular job. On average I earn £30. I need to pay tax an NI on this but by writing on broadband/rent etc, I barely pay any tax. DH does is occasionally but his work pays better overtime whereas I can't do overtime with my job. Last year, I earn £2k after tax doing this.

JustMarriedAndLovingIt · 09/12/2017 10:36

Sorry for the spelling, I am better in the texts! Hope that made sense.

moreofaslummythanyummy · 09/12/2017 10:45

How much are you spending on food ?

When I was trying to cut down our costs it was the first thing that really saved us money.
By meal planning, shopping at Aldi/ Lidl and getting cleaning stuff and shampoo etc at Savers we now spend £50-£60 per week. Before it was well over £100.
Also no take always and that includes the odd coffee on the run etc. Saved us a fortune Grin

BitchQueen90 · 09/12/2017 11:39

JustMarried I'm interested in doing this, do I just search on the internet?

CheapSausagesAndSpam · 10/12/2017 03:31

JustMarried I'd also like a PM about that work please! :)

Haudyerwheesht · 10/12/2017 05:30

justmarried I'm confused. Isnt that just conning folk?