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.

your house will take time

Are you using tax free childcare if paying for any nursery/out of school care?

If you and DH work,can you switch to salary sacrifice pension payments which will save on your tax and NI (especially with the upcoming rise) but without reducing contributions.

Check your bank account for any subscriptions you'd forgot about or don't make the most of.

Check your cupboards before going to the shops...so many people already have multiple cleaning products/stashes of bin bags/tins of beans but keep buying weekly anyway. As well as reducing meat, I also bulk out meaty meals with veg or lentils where possible. So for a chilli or spag bol, a smaller mince with green or black lentils in and you don't really notice texture or taste wise but healthier and cheaper. No microwave packet rice, just buy the real stuff in bulk.

If you're willing to babysit on a Saturday night, while your DH minds the kids at home, you could easily make £120 a month. More in London.

I know this because babysitting is one of the things draining my money away.

If you eat meat with every meal that’s huge expense to save.

When I needed to be on a very strict budget for six months, I would have all My food shopping planned out to the penny. I stuck to lidls mostly and learned the cost of mostly everything I bought (keep receipts) and I planned based on what was on special offer that week before going shopping. I planned the meals and snacks and lunches for the week depending on what offers they had and worked out exactly what it would cost before I went shopping. I tried to link the meals and lunches to each other and buy large packs of meat/vegetables to cut costs.
Fruit and snacks for the kids was the hardest esp for school snacks but if you can make your own popcorn (cheapest easier snack ever!) muffins, pancakes or flapjacks etc you can save a lot of money.
I managed to pay of a pretty massive debt in six months just obsessing over every penny spent. I think it would be hard to live like that all the time but it’s a good way to get some savings. Places like Chinese supermarkets and Indian shops can be brilliant for cheap noodles/rice/sauces/spices. You can buy a big bag of cumin/coriander etc for the same prices as a tiddly jar from Tesco’s.
I buy my kids clothes second hand wherever I can as well, you can get some great bargains on shoes and coats etc from eBay or Facebook marketplace. Also if you can buy in the sale for the next year (ie winter coats in April, shorts in October) you can save loads.
Our school has a school uniform swap every year where you drop off old uniform and collect anything you can find for next year. The children are all encouraged to think of this as saving the planet rather than anything embarrassing. We have book swaps and toy swaps at school too. Maybe chat to your school and see if they are doing this. They should be thinking about ways to help parents already as part of their cost of the school day policy (unless that’s a Scottish thing)
Days out, look for free open days to places, save sun vouchers for big theme park days out etc etc. Get one membership to somewhere each year (national trust, zoo, play area, farm etc.) and use it loads. Then next year get somewhere else.

Don’t buy any takeaways. They are never that good really, and give you a bad stomach half the time 😀. Plan treat nights where you cook a fancy meal/get nice movie snacks etc.

Don’t have takeaway at all. For a family if 6 it’s going to be very expensive, so no takeaways for a fixed period of time…until Christmas to start off with.

Yes to veggie eating.

Do you have a couple of bank accounts? Can you open a new one and switch out an old one? There are switching bonuses of over £100 available at the moment. That’s just a one-off boost but it helps.

I would also suggest that you do look at another job for one of you. Needs to be when the other is around so no child costs, so likely to be evening or weeeknd or night shifts. It’s not fun, but needs-must. You’d be amazed at how many hours some families work between them to make ends meet. You have to be determined and creative to find the jobs where this can happen….often cleaning jobs can be done 24/7 or at least anytime outside office hours….so you might be able to find a few hours. The question becomes how much you are really prepared to do whatever it takes to boost your income, which will involve sacrifices. It’s hard if you previously scraped by by working normal hours, but now more are needed.

Sounds like you're doing well.
I would suggest you really track ALL your spending by keeping every receipt, or writing every purchase down in a little book, excel sheet.. whatever way works for you. In that way you know where your money REALLY goes, and you can see what you could do without. Do you buy snacks for example when out and about, do you smoke, drink, play lottery? These things can seem like small sums but they add up.

And like some posters have said, try find some extra income around your DH's work hours. There must be something you could do to bring in that little bit of extra money to help out.

Oh and forget doing up the house.

That’s an optional ‘nice to have’ compared to the essentials. Loads of people live for years in a doer-upper.

So it’s about adjusting your expectations. That means, expecting the house to take longer than you hoped, not expecting new uniform for the kids but getting into a passing down mindset, and particularly about expecting to work more hours between you and DP. Unfortunately, life is hard and getting harder and working longer and finding ways to fit those hours in when one adult is at home so childcare not needed, is what larger families need to do.

porridge for breakfast

porridge to make flap jacks

porridge/oats to make crumble with windfall apples/pick blackberries.

I just downloaded the Emma budgeting app and it's a terrifying eye opener! I cannot believe how much I spend.

I've only got the free version. But it links with your bank and tells you everything you spend. Everything.

Have you done a budget?

Are you a single or double income family?
How old are the children?

Round my way, there's loads of seasonal jobs & wfh admin jobs advertised. Can you take on a remote wfh admin job as a second income?

Go through all of your outgoings and switch to cheaper suppliers.

Stop the takeaways, it's cheaper going to Iceland and buying a family sized cottage pie. Start meal planning.

Do a car booty and sell old toys, household bits etc. Easier to sell several items in one go.

With money earmarked for redecorating buy B&Q vouchers with it so it doesn't get spent on takeaways.

Check on free cycle, gum tree & recycling centres for DIY materials. People often sell or giveaway their leftover materials from refurbishment jobs.

To save money you are going to have to go back to old school living. modern standards of cleanliness means stuff is hardly worn and then washed. Back to spot cleaning those school uniforms and no showers every day.

It’s rubbish but you will literally have to cut out anything unnecessary so no alcohol, no takeaways and you only replace something if for instance your shoes fall apart. I can hear my Mother saying you have one pair of feet that can have one pair of shoes on them, it’s enough. You buy nothing at all and you need to source free stuff. I had a childhood like this, I’m one of six dc. We used to go blackberrying, cockling, fishing and collecting driftwood off the beach for fuel. You learn to go without and it’s a really hard lesson. The only positive is it made all of us very determined to get out of poverty.

I would suggest seeing if your local community centers are running any initiatives. One local to us has a grocery section - for £5 you get meat from the freezer (x2 but enough to feed the size of you family) and then x8 from the store cupboard (which includes fruit and veg). Best of luck.

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.

Millions of people live in fixer-uppers for years.

Don't let MN threads about perfect houses painted annually with Farrow and Ball impact your expectations too much. Most peoples' homes have work that needs doing to them - be that a re-plaster, a new kitchen, new carpets, painting etc.

It's nothing to be embarrassed about, honestly. Our bathroom and kitchen both need re-doing but it's expensive and time-consuming and we just haven't got around it.

what icedCoffees said
we've lived in a do-er upper for over a decade. We've done some bits, left others, and from what I see locally this is entirely normal outside of MN and Instagram. I'll doubt we'll ever have a renovated house, as by the time everything has been done the first stuff done years ago may well need some work.

Hi OP, is the issue that you don't have enough income, or is the money going somewhere else that you've not realised? For example, is your mortgage too high or are you spending on clothes or alcohol or something? Where in your opinion could you cut down / back?

Could you also do some of the cashback offers e.g. switch bank (£100), often there are incentives for getting a bit more cash e.g. www.reddit.com/r/beermoneyuk

Also you could get a "work from home" part time job e.g. online admin or something for a few hours a week (would negate need for childcare) - something self employed.

It’s really difficult to say unless you list your salaries, mortgage, bills, childcare, any loan payments etc.

It seems quite chaotic, how can you not know how you’re not saving any money?

Have you tried putting everything into an excel?

Vegetarian diet. Saves you literally ££££’s. Meat is expensive. Don’t buy takeaways. They’re a rip-off. There’s your weekly food budget blown in one sitting surely???

Don’t go places where there’s an entrance fee. Go walking, or to the parks, into the countryside.

Don’t buy alcohol. Don’t smoke (if you do.) You’ll save loads.

Get a job that pays more

Don’t need to buy new uniforms for the kids if the existing stuff is ok.

If you're tired and skint, don't be afraid to serve egg-and-chips or jacket potatoes and beans rather than a takeaway. Toast (using the 40p value sliced bread) and toast is an excellent snack for kids and way cheaper than crisps or biscuits.

Agree with cutting back on laundry and showers...small kids don't need a daily shower (teens are a different matter...). Bedding can easily go 2 weeks between washes and changing out of school/work clothes into PJ's means uniform will last the week.

Have you actually sat down and gone through all your spending and worked out a budget?

@M4J4

It’s really difficult to say unless you list your salaries, mortgage, bills, childcare, any loan payments etc.

It seems quite chaotic, how can you not know how you’re not saving any money?

Have you tried putting everything into an excel?

This. Without any detail, it's impossible to say whether they're genuinely short of money due to low income, or just have unrealistic expectations about what are basic essentials and what are luxuries.

There was a similar thread a few days ago and the OP came back and said that her previous assertion that they didn't have any luxuries because she'd worked out they were spending an alarmingly large amount of money on groceries - obviously if you're spending twice the national average for your family size, by definition that includes a significant amount of luxury spending and there's scope to cut back if necessary.

@Sisiwawa

Can you rent out a spare room, a space on your drive, or loft/garage space for storage? Is there a part time job you could do from home to save on childcare?

This will effect your housing insurance and it will increase. If you're renting you need permission from the owner. If you have a mortgage on the house you will need permission from the lender.

So basically you can only do this if you own your home outright and then the house insurance will increase.

if your dh 'can't live without meat' think of it as flavouring.
lardons give a lit of flavour, no need for a lot.

Look out for the Lidl boxes, I think they’re about £1.50 for they’re left over veg/fruit.

Check the reduced sections in the supermarket, especially in the evenings. If you can, of course. You could always buy reduced meat and freeze it.

Meal plan.

*their