How to cut corners when you already cut all of the corners?

[Moneysavvymam]

Me and DH have been eating into our savings recently. We have just moved so that comes with costs. Bought a few extra takeaways after being knackered from unpacking amd moving, bought a few new things we needed including furniture (all second hand though) so we initially thought that was part and parcel of the move. It costs money.

However now its been a while and the savings are still going down when they should be going back up.

We need to cut costs but we already do the following-
batch cook one pot meals mostly and freeze.
cycle or walk to cut travel costs (no car)
called Internet and got a better deal but they keep putting the price back up despite setting up an 18 month fixed price contract. eye roll.
-buy almost everything second hand
-we already shop at aldi and lidl
-we don't buy stuff for the sake of it anyway its all second hand
-stay in mostly, or local walks no days out for £££
-keep heating off and use electric blankets in winter and jumpers and extra socks

I don't know where else we can save. We were given a couple of hundred from family as a moving in present, it was supposed to go toward a new kitchen or flooring which is bare and unsafe but it just went on bills and now I'm too embarrassed to have people round because we are still living in a fixer upper when I budgeted and planned to have saved enough to have redecorated 80% of the place by now, but in reality I've put off buying a tin of paint because the money is just running away it seems.

oh and we just had a letter saying the gas and electricity is expected to rise in price. And I've noticed I'm spending more and more on food.
Is there anything I have forgotten? We are a family of 6 and I didn't even replace all of the uniform this year because I just couldn't afford it.
We still have about 2 months worth of expenses in savings but its dwindling.

I feel like we should be raking it in because we cut expenses to the bone but I'm struggling to think of where else we can cut. Any advice? I'm sure lots are in the same boat. Thank you for getting this far if you did, I know I'm a rambler when I worry.

First step is to keep a spending diary - spreadsheet may work best. You've got to figure out where your money is going, every last penny. Then you'll know where you need to find solutions. It may surprise you.

Try Googling recipes from A Girl Named Jack) Jack Monroe. Her recipes are all about being on tight budget. As shortages & food price hikes become the new norm, many of us will need to start getting more clever/creative about what we buy & cook. Do use the Olio app too. Very best of luck getting back on top.

@Limejuiceandrum

A family of 6 The mind boggles.

Why is your mind boggling? Plenty of people have 4 children.

Mix vegetable mince with real mince, better for you and goes along way. Rent out your drive. Make something to sell on ebay.

You may not like this idea or be able to do it but, when my kids were small, I waitressed 3 nights a week. With tips it paid for our weekly supermarket shop and the perks included bringing home desserts that hadn't been sold. The hospitality trade seems to be crying out for staff so you might find something that suits.

@Moneysavvymam

I understand the idea of changing the prices on the online selling. I will look at other sites too to improve the chances. I can't deliver though and I know that puts some people off.

Why can’t you deliver smaller things? eBay allows you to add in postage and then you just take to the post office to post ( or they collect for 75p extra) Put things on sale so that the auction end coincides and then you can do them in batches. Coming up to Christmas is a great time to sell any children’s toys your LO s have outgrown

Maybe one of the bigger supermarkets could offer better value . Sometimes delivery is a good option - pick the cheaper £1 slots - this means you don’t do any accidental shopping because you see something you like. Online can make you more focussed with the things you need. If you are a Clubcard holder at Tesco’s you also get substantial Clubcard offers each week off different items. Other supermarkets likely have similar.

@Hopeisnotastrategy

Have you come across the Olio app? Local volunteers pick up unwanted food from local supermarkets and then list it online for free. It's to stop food going into landfill, and is open to anyone who registers. I've known of people who get loads of free food that way. If it's not available locally, you could become that volunteer.

I second the MSE suggestion, lots of people who will help you on the forums on there. Good luck. 😊

See if there's somewhere in your town that does this. Ours has a big fridge & some shelving in a community centre & supermarket stuff goes there & anyone can take what they need. They also cook meals & deliver food where it's needed. I've donated to therm for both cooking & straight deliveries.

One thing you could do is see if you can transfer some of your tax free allowance to your husband, it's called the marriage allowance. That will give you a little more income in your pocket instead of the tax man's.
Also vegetarian meals a couple of times a week. You can easily do a big batch of lentil and vegetable curry, lentil Bolognese, things like that.

Also get on Too Good To Go, it's like olio but places like Morrisons are also on there and you can get a carrier bag of fruit and veg for £3.
Otherwise go to the supermarkets in the evenings (after 5.30pm normally) and get their reduced stock. You'll be surprised at what you can get and most of it can be frozen or batch cooked over the next day or two.
Hope that all helps!!!

Foodbanks?

Why is your mind boggling? Plenty of people have 4 children.

Off topic, but this comment had me wondering so I looked up the stats. ONS estimated figures for 2020 show that of the 8m families in the UK who have dependent children, only 15% (1.2m) have three or more children. I imagine quite a lot of those are families with three children though as everyone on MN seems to have three children. Interesting that the ONS doesn't split it out further.

Definitely don't have any more children though OP!

Have you thought of taking a lodger, if you can spare a bedroom? Maybe a student.

I came on to recommend doing th YNAB one month free trial. Our school PTA does a second hand uniform sale regularly of good quality uniform ranging from pennies to a pound for the badged stuff and the book bags and fleeces. Likewise there's a community larder around here which is basically like a club to reduce food waste: the local supermarkets donate and members pay a minimal fee and get to pick up lots of nice food! We eat mostly vegetarian - family of six here as well - you've got this!

Check Freecycle and FB Freebay (or whatever it's called) as people often offer leftover paint/ flooring/ carpets etc - you may still be able to do some decorating with freebies. And also ASK for what you need - it's amazing how people remember they have a roll of lino in the garage when you prompt them!

At the time of year also look for people giving away excess fruit and veg for free. Sometimes allotment owners advertise when they have an excess to give away.

If your dh works Monday to Friday can you work Saturday and Sunday?

This isn't the reality of the rest of your life. It feels overwhelming but your DC will grow up, will become more independent and you will have more time/ energy/ ability to focus on generating extra income.

With shopping do you go through your receipts? I used to once a month, looking for creep - branded DC yogurts/ drinks/ biscuits being key culprits. I also like to look at cost per meal as I found some meals I'd thought were not that expensive when I added up all the bits I'd get in for them were near takeaway prices. If you take out everything not essential how much do you save, then choose a percentage of the not essential as choice items in the knowledge those are choices. Then they feel more like treats.

I used to trapse round lots of supermarkets, rotating the one I shopped in each week, knowing the price in all of them to get the cheapest pasta/ pasata/ beans/ coffee. To an extent I still do. I download vouchers - farmfoods newsletter comes with vouchers and I think its £2 of £25 or £5 off a £50 spend - with butter at £1, milk 2 x 4ltr for £1.60 and squash was just on offer at 39p, 3 kg of pasta a couple of pounds. Its easy to do a bulk shop to get that £5 off and fill the shop with things cheaper that you could get elsewhere.

With earning potential, you do have lots of skills- you just haven't yet monetised them :-)

You juggle 4 DC and a house project whilst you have a DP who is working all hours - that is quite some skill.

I was technically below the poverty line when my eldest two were little and went through a phase of selling everything not bolted down. I got good at buying branded good condition items second hand for the DC at bottom market price, they had use of them then for the majority of items managed to sell for the same or more when the DC outgrew/ lost interest. So things became more of a neutral expense and they had nicer things rather than buying cheapest and disposing when done.

Have you checked the full benefits situation and if you can get any help with childcare should you want to go that way now or with wrap around in the future or potentially even just general living expenses now?

Do you think this money tightness is primarily tied to children being tiny if you can go interest only on the mortgage until they're school age?

I have this philosophy that when you're in tough times, not every pound is equal. When I remarried, DH's wage just about covered bills and a frugal lifestyle but any money I could bring in made life that bit nicer to live. So rather than putting the unrealistic expectation on myself to have a wage - I'd set myself a challenge for a thing we wanted/ needed. No pressure just like a mental image in my head of a thermometer for a fundraising campaign and each little bit I managed to generate worked towards that target. I tried all sorts of things from local pickup selling like facebook selling, etsy, eBay (which I have now evolved to do as a decent profitable business).

So you mention your flooring. Do you have something in mind you'd like to have? Have you costed it?

Have you looked on selling sites like eBay (who are actively promoting personalised items at present) and Etsy to see if potentially there could be a bit of earnings potential for some of your items? Its fairly low risk and low cost to give it a try.

I really feel for you as we were a family of 7, all AC now. Could you decide on a weekly budget for food and each week make it last an extra day. Start Monday and make food last till the following Tuesday. On that day make one week's food budget last until the following Wednesday and so on. After 7 weeks you would have a whole weeks food money left over which you could put to one side for something important like children's shoes or something you really NEED, not treats.
I am quite good at switching banks every year and have more than one bank account which I swap money out of to fulfil the criteria of having salary paid in...IYSWIM.
Aldi is good for replacing electricals as they mostly come with a 3 year guarantee.
I'd like to help (no strings, just because I'm comfortable financially now) esp with flooring and school stuff, duvets etc especially as winter is on its way but don't know if we can put email addresses on here.
Let me know if we can as I have known what it's like to struggle.
Best wishes 💐

Uh-oh. Not a lodger. Never ever. The OP has children. Noooo.

Haven’t RTFT so others might have said this, but there are lots of ways to make a bit of extra money from home. Try the £10 a day threads on here. I’m a teacher and made £8-15 per day in the holidays doing a combination of paid surveys through Prolific and other sites and also paid transcription work for a company called Rev. Other people swear by Appen.

It makes me laugh when people suggest doing ‘opposite’ shifts to a partner, fine if they do 9-5 Mon-Fri, unfortunately in the real world people tend to work shifts, 10 or 12 hour rotating shifts at that, there is no way of fitting around that with small kids, even a weekend job is out of the question if you have no help from GPs etc.

Hang in there OP. Some great tips on here. We’re a family of 5 and until recently I ran a business around my growing family. Now my youngest has just started in reception and I have a full time job wfh, Mr Lies, also wfh and I run my business at the weekend. Admittedly spare time is short but we are now on a much stronger financial footing. Guess what I’m trying to say is that if you can implement all the tips given and hang in there for a while it will get a lot financially easier once you can get back into work.

And yes, someone with 4 kids will really be able to take in a lodger 🙄

It's not much, but things like Prolific.com pay small amounts for completed surveys (mostly university/economic groups asking for research PhD, MA type stuff). First come first served on applying to take part, and it tells you payment vs time so you can fit things in. Usually a few pennies to a couple of pounds but the time taken should reflect the difference.

Not worth doing as a 'job' but worth popping into if you're on the internet (MNetting) anyway.

You are a family of 6, do any pay board?
Work more hours?
Don’t have any takeaways?

If you have fibre broadband would an ADSL line be sufficient? If you are all constantly online WFH etc I guess not but ADSL is much cheaper. I got mine via a switching site and received a £75 MasterCard from Plusnet. No buffering, costs £18.99pm and my SIM card is £5pm with Plusnet also with 6gb data, unlimited texts and minutes on rolling 1 month contract. Many places sell refurbished mobiles which are sold with warranties.

@wewereliars

Shamsnaharr Anyone inflcting that on kids over About 4 is guilty of child abuse.

We have running water in this country FGS

It’s actually a really good way to have a wash.