Help me save as much money as possible

[dottymac]

Without going into too much detail, my husband may be out of a job in 3 months. He is the sole earner and we have a large eye watering mortgage. I can potentially get a job in September but will be restricted to school hours. No family help at all. I'm wracking my brain on how to raise/save as much as possible in the next 3 months but I'd appreciate any and all ideas. 🙏

Would be much easier to advise if we knew your current outgoings, but yes heartily recommend money saving expert for lots of tips and advice

Absolutely yes! The first thing you need to do is sit and write/type out what is called a statement of affairs -

A list of ALL (be honest! Include all the costas etc - they’re bloody expensive for what they are!) income and outgoings with each item calculated per calendar month (not trying to teach you to suck eggs but I needed help with this initially - do you need guidance on how to do this?) so you have an honest overview.

So eg based on mine:

Income

Esa
Housing benefit
Pip

Outgoings

Regular

Rent (ALWAYS prioritise rent/mortgage and council tax above everything else)
Council tax (this is my water bill as I’m in Scotland)
Gas/electric
Groceries
Phone/broadband
Mobile
Insurances
Transport (when not housebound)

As needed

Clothes and shoes - set a budget for this even if nothing needed that month, set the money aside for the months you DO need this budget item, eg school uniforms, winter boots

Household items - replacing furnishings or appliances - again even if you don’t spend that month set it aside

Celebrations

People often forget to budget for birthdays and Christmas - but they’re a known event so plan for them! When dd was little I used to set a sum aside each month, what I saved jan - jun was for summer holidays extra expenditure (even little things like ice creams from the van soon add up) and jun-Dec was for Christmas and dds birthday - which is just a little after Christmas. Also good to bulk buy birthday cards for through the year and if dc are at an age they’re attending classmates and friends parties then grab potential gifts when you see them on sale - jan sales are great for this kind of thing, toiletry sets, colouring sets etc

Luxuries

Streaming services

Off the top of my head as someone who's lived on a tight budget most of the time as a parent:

1 review all bills and suppliers -

A - Cut out the luxuries (streaming and gaming services, paid for hobbies etc)

B - check contract end dates where applicable, research and prepare for haggling/switching supplier - this applies to most bills, gas, electric, water if in England or Wales, broadband, phones... eg I'm with Plusnet for phone and broadband less than £20 a month

C - mobile phones in particular as soon as you're out of device contract switch to sim only with cheapest option that provides good coverage to you locally. I'm with Tesco mobile the cheapest sim only £7.50 a month

2 - review transport options - do you currently have a car or cars? If 2 cars cut back to one, if a lease when does the contract end? When it ends switch to a cheaper option, you could do away with cars altogether and use public transport and get groceries delivered. Even with public transport there are savings to be had with savvy use of discounts, vouchers and season passes etc my local bus company has weekly, 4 weekly and 12 weekly options the more weeks you can buy at once the cheaper per journey, trains have various discount options that differ locally eg I can get a disabled persons railcard, when dd was younger family tickets made travel cheaper especially when travelling off peak even my local taxi service has a loyalty scheme

3 - review grocery shop -

A - Food - are you currently buying more "exotic" items rather than standard in season fruit and veg? Change to the more basic items eg potatoes and carrots, apples and bananas, are you buying branded products? One of the tips on the mse site is to try stepping down a brand level, so switch name brands to supermarket own, switch supermarket own to budget level. It's easier to move one brand at a time. After you've moved one brand level down try going down one more and keep doing this till you reach "it's not worth it" limit. Eg I like supermarket own brand cereal but budget is a step too far for me, but budget jam I actually prefer to more expensive versions - you get the idea!

B - toiletries and cleaning products - I'm housebound at the moment so limited, but when I'm not I've found non supermarket places are generally much cheaper for these items now. Try places like Wilko (good for paper products especially like loo roll and tissues), b&m, home bargains and similar

Pound shops CAN have bargains but what they stock varies week to week and its best to know how much things are in other stores to compare (I used to keep a list on my phone for comparison), a £1 may seem cheap but when you know the same item is 75p elsewhere you think twice, also check pack sizes as an item may seem cheaper but pack size 25% smaller

4 - other shopping - shop around, get vouchers online or elsewhere (coupon clipping - always grab free shop magazines they often have vouchers in, also check backs of receipts and bus/train tickets as there's often vouchers on those too) also get a loyalty card for every shop you use that has one. Even if you're not in there often and use them. Learn the tips and tricks to get the most out of them - eg I use my Clubcard points to pay for my delivery pass (free deliveries) and for money off my mobile phone contract - this means I'm doubling/tripling the face value of the points

Big spreadsheet with absolutely everything you spend including expenses that are yearly. (MSE has a good template for this).

Categorise your outgoings as essential, not essential but important and discretionary.

Essential spends are rent/mortgage, council tax, utilities, food. Look to see if you can reduce these e.g. by switching utility companies
Not essential but important (maybe your child's swimming lessons for example) - take a long hard look at these and see if they really are important. e.g. Can your child do 2 clubs rather than 3, maybe?
Discretionary - minimise as much as possible.

It sounds obvious but the way I save money is simply not by spending it. If I go shopping, I go with a list and don't deviate unless what I'm buying would be used anyway and is good value. If I'm not planning to spend money I go without my purse (emergency tenner in inside compartment of my pocket) so I physically can't. That stops the impulse buys.
And yes, cut out random charity shop purchases and Costas! Meet friends for a walk instead or go to each others' houses.

5 - clothes shopping - get basics out of season in the sales. Fashions don't change that much tbh across a year or so. Little kids don't really care about fashion, gets a bit harder when they hit high school stage. When dd was little/primary age I always bought her good winter coat in the previous Easter sale never paid more than a fiver. Tights, shoes (seasonally affected types like sandals and boots), t shirts, thick sweaters - basically any kind of clothing that people tend to only wear in certain seasons much cheaper bought out of season

6 - days out/things to do with dc

There are lots of free/cheap options in most places if you seek them out. Google "free cheap things to do in [your local town/county]"

Do trips to park/beach and take a home made picnic

Check when more pricey places have offers on or seek out vouchers

Get creative and organise your own scavenger hunt type ideas

7 things for kids to do at home -

Exercise is free - have the kids design a routine with jumping jacks etc

save items that can be used for crafting materials - old tights, ends of kitchen foil, kitchen roll and foil/clingfilm tubes, bubble wrap, old toothbrushes, old hair bands, cereal boxes, old envelopes, magazines (Free from shops as mentioned before) you get the idea. Once for dds Xmas I got her a cheap set of plastic drawers like these :

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7223811?clickSR=slp:term:plastic%20drawers:1:1359:1

And filled it with:

A ream of cheap printer paper
A pack of coloured craft paper
Colouring pens, pencils and paints
Pipe cleaners
Stickers
Glue sticks
A large role of kitchen foil all to herself

Again you get the idea, I completely filled it.

Such a daft, cheap, simple idea and yet now at 20 she still refers to it as one of her favourite gifts!

Simple baking/cooking days can be cheap

Carpet picnics

Movie night -they get to choose the films (within reason of course), get fresh popcorn to make at home (kids love this), dim the lights, even have rules like "no talking till intermission" "assigned seats only" (you can make little seat numbers with post its) - make a show of it.

Get the kids to put on a show! - my siblings and I and then dd and friends used to LOVE this! They write a script, cast it, dress up and rehearse then "sell" tickets to the rest of the family and friends and stage the performance,

Disco night - you can get coloured/strobe light apps on phones and tablets, set them up, stick some music on and let rip with your best "mum dancing" - dd and I once had a very fun night one of her birthday sleepovers where we did this and I ended up teaching her and her mates how to do the cheesy dances to black lace tracks (agadoo, superman etc) and time warp and Saturday night (Whigfield) etc - again still referred to warmly by dd and friends. One called me rather...tipsy on his 18th birthday and asked for the songs. Apparently he ended up teaching them to his crowd that night 😂

Trying to think where else you can save money hope that's enough to be going on with

The simplest way is to stop spending.

Be ruthless. Alcohol, luxury food, trips out, coffees, amazon shite.

If there's no income you won't be able to buy these, so prepare for that.

Do you get child benefit? If so, put it in an instant access savings account. 2 kids = £140 pcm. Start squirrelling away any spare money into the same account.

If you spend say £150 a week on groceries, get that to £100 and put the fifty quid in there, every week. If you'd normally buy a couple of bottles of wine a week, stop and put that £15 a week in the account. There's virtually £500 a month being saved.

Ffs. £400

I can't imagine facing this situation and still thinking my priority needed to be a flexible school hours only job. Sorry but the most sensible thing will be for you to make sure that your family is no longer largely reliant on one income.

Maybe look at places like local govt /civil service where you might get flexible hours though

Make sure all contracts like electricity on a good deal
Cook from scratch and shop with a list
Check mortgage on a good deal/ switched to interest only
Sell unwanted items
Cut spending to essentials
start job hunting yourself/getting cv upto date

Why are you assuming that your husband won’t be able to get a job over the next three months? Surely that’s the first focus? And what sort of redundancy package will he get? That could give you a longer period in which he can find another role. Presumably he’s earning well if you have a very large mortgage, so has sought after or specialised skills he can utilise in another company or organisation. I’m a bit confused as to why you seem to have discounted the possibility of his getting another job in this time.

Why are you assuming that your husband won’t be able to get a job over the next three months?

Having been in the situation myself, I think it is wise to work off the assumption that he won't. Particularly in the current environment. Then it will be a bonus if he does. Getting a handle on outgoings and why can be stopped / reduced can make a huge difference to stress levels as well as your financial situation while he's still unemployed. And for the OP, sounds like this will be a good exercise to have a better idea about the outgoings than she does currently.

It's a 3 pronged attack.

1.Maximise income
2.Reduce outgoings

1. Manage debt (whether that be affordable or unaffordable eg arrears).

So maximising income:
•Are you getting all your benefit entitlements?
•Can you spread council tax over 12 months?
•Consider a water meter if you're not already on one or ask your water company for water saving devices if you already are metered.
•can you do night shift work? Hospitality is crying out for employees.
•are you eligible for marriage allowance on your tax?
•can you rent out a room or your driveway?

Identify the difference between WANT and NEED. Do everything that PP's have mentioned

Speak to everyone you have loans or credit cards with. Look at payment holidays and refinancing at lower rates.

The classic MN response is to do some ironing for the neighbours.

@DonLewis

The simplest way is to stop spending.

Be ruthless. Alcohol, luxury food, trips out, coffees, amazon shite.

If there's no income you won't be able to buy these, so prepare for that.

Do you get child benefit? If so, put it in an instant access savings account. 2 kids = £140 pcm. Start squirrelling away any spare money into the same account.

If you spend say £150 a week on groceries, get that to £100 and put the fifty quid in there, every week. If you'd normally buy a couple of bottles of wine a week, stop and put that £15 a week in the account. There's virtually £500 a month being saved.

This.

Do you have any savings now and will there be any redundancy pay? Does your DH have any sort of unemployment insurance? Is this covid-19 related or unconnected? Will you be entitled to benefits if he does lose his job.

Look at mse budgeting advice and do budgets for different scenarios, to try and predict how long your money will last.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/

See what you can sell, also spend as little as possible, if you're spending freely now, you might save a lot by cutting back hard.

Good luck.

@Blankspace101

The classic MN response is to do some ironing for the neighbours.

FGS. The OP is potentially facing a significant financial upheaval and the stupid piss takers still can't help themselves .

Your and your husband both need to act now.

If your outgoings are as eye watering as you say they are, the best bet overall is for him to start looking for a new job NOW.

Also review your finances.

Also start part time work yourself.

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.

You need to get a full time job.

Plenty of people manage this without family helping them with childcare. It is what wrap around care, annual leave and childminders are for.

Start a cleaning business. Few overheads and little training required. Good, reliable cleaners are always in demand. Perfectly manageable around school hours.

Get yours and your husband's CVs in order. You both need to be ready to apply for jobs.
What did you do before? What kind of work do you want? Care work is in high demand. Hard and not well paid but if you have a big gap because of caring responsibilities then you can demonstrate some relevant experience.
Night shifts are often more profitable and could work around other things.
Do you need to be really radical and consider getting your house on market so you are ready to sell if required

Cleaning is a good option if you have no other skills. Another would be hospitality/evening work You could both do that and work round each other.
Could you start working now in the evenings to save a bit? Or on weekends? No need to wait until his job is gone.
Even casual babysitting jobs in the evening and put the money away.

Great posts @Graphista!!

How eyewatering are we talking in terms of mortgage Op?
Have you over payed it over the years? Could you draw down on this for a mortgage break?