To ask your best money saving tips?

[frugalannie]

Hi all,

I've recently come out of work due to disability and I'm waiting for my full benefits to be sorted and I was wondering if you could share your best money saving tips after priority bills come out we have £920 a month left for food, petrol, savings and anything else for a family of 3 (2 adults, 1 year old) and five cats. It's a lot less than I'm used to and was wondering if anyone could help as I feel quite safe asking on here.

Also if you want to if you want to add any money making ideas, I've sold a few clothes on vinted and made a £100 so any other ideas are welcome.

I already buy second hand clothes for the little one as he grows so quickly.

Thank you

If you do some searching, there are regularly threads on here asking how to save money.

Also worth looking on moneysupermarket where there is a whole section where people are competitively frugal.

I have to say that doesn't sound like a small amount by any means, depending on how many of your bills are included.

You need to start by looking at all your standing orders and direct debits - has anything you don't use been left running (magazine subscription, gym membership, etc) that you don't use?
Then do price comparisons to see if you can get better deals on broadband or your mobiles and (when they are due for renewal) insurances. Utilities normally, but the advice is to leave as they are at the moment.

Then look at what you spend in "cash" (or contactless payments) over the last fortnight...... where is the money going ? Once you know that, then you can look at how you can cut back, or replace those expenses (eg not buying a takeaway coffee on way in to work but making one when you get there - if your partner is still working).

Until you know how you are or have been spending your money, it is difficult to know how to help you cut back.

Thank you so much, I didn't know you could search I thought what you saw on the front page was it which now I realise is stupid - I've found the little spy glass thingy and will have a look. I'll check money supermarket out now.

I didn't mean to sound tone deaf with the amount left over, it's just for food, petrol and everything else. It's just less than I'm used to and I'm upset due to having to come out of work I think so I'm panicking a little bit.

Thank you for taking the time to reply to me.

Get jack monroe’s book “cooking on a bootstrap”
Recipes for really cheap meals in there

Keep your radiators set to 50 and hot water set to 55 on your boiler. You will save a fortune long term.
Turn down your heating by 1 degree, mines set to 16 and costs me £1.90 a day sometimes less.
Cats don't always need meat, you can cut down on meat and give biscuits as a meal saving you money or look on Amazon/online for a bulk deal of cat food.
For food if you have Facebook there's a group called feed yourself for £1 a day and there's some good but cheap family meals on there and meal plans.

If your not working, you can cut down on car usage get a free bus instead (you'll be able to get a bus pass if you get PIP).

I get pip and I can’t get a free bus pass?

Thats a lot of money left over.

Look at all your standing orders and direct debits

If you have more than 5/6 then look to see what you can stop

Rent/mortgage
Council tax - you can request 12 payments instead of 10
Utilities - water electric gas
Phone & WiFi

Pay savings into your savings account each time you receive money, pay it like a bill and do it on standing order

Set a weekly amount for supermarket shopping to cover groceries- try to stick to this limit to reduce food shopping costs - it’s only a week to wait until you go again. Do this by putting the exact money into your current account each week, all other money should be in savings or bills account

Any money left over at the end of the week is a bonus and you get to keep

I get pip and I can’t get a free bus pass?

You have to have over a certain amount of points on pip to get a bus pass, not everyone on pip qualifies

Is this actually real?? That is a massive amount of money left over to pay food and petrol. Two adults and a baby.

@OwlNoises101

Is this actually real?? That is a massive amount of money left over to pay food and petrol. Two adults and a baby.

It's not just for food and petrol, it's for everything that isn't a fixed bill and I apologised for being a bit tone deaf it's just a less than I'm used to.

A slow cooker would be a worthwhile investment as would an air fryer, as both use less energy than an oven.

Look at what you spend on food and drink out of the house, plus takeaways. Much more expensive than home made food, so a big chance to save if that's what you spend money on.

What do your cats eat? Dry food is probably the cheapest to feed them if they'll eat it. Also order in bulk from Zooplus or Bitiba (I think they're the same company). Cheaper than supermarkets and you can get better quality food that costs about the same per 100 g as Whiskas, Felix etc but they eat less so costs less overall. Plus be mindful about how much they eat and look to reduce waste.

If I give sachets to ours (we have 4 of our own and foster so feed an average of 8-10 cats) they don't get a full one each, as a bit gets wasted so we have 2 that share one (one is elderly and doesn't eat much, the other also eats dry food to top up) and 3 that share 2 sachets between them and that sort of thing, so less gets wasted or hoovered up by fat greedy boy cat who will eat whether he's hungry or not. Anyway, the best value good quality canned food from Zooplus is probably Carny, Bozita and Smilla. We also get Smilla dry food in sacks, costs less than Whiskas dry, but much better quality. Also look out for offers on other brands.

No one has to apologise for earning what they do. OP never claimed extreme poverty. Everyone is entitled to be frugal.

You’ll be fine OP. We’re a family of 5 people, 2 dogs and 2 cats and have a really nice life on much less “leftover” (food petrol fun etc) money.

It’s a shock when I come drops no matter what you earn. I get it OP. X

Income drops

Unsubscribe from emails so you don't get tempted by "offers" on things.

£920 a month 'spare' isn't necessarily a lot if, as well as covering food and transport, it needs to cover any annual and irregular expenses like insurance, prescriptions (get an annual pre-payment card if you need medication and don't qualify for free prescriptions), dental costs, hair cuts, car repairs, servicing and MOT, clothes, school uniforms, shoes, vets bills, replacement of white goods, Christmas, and then anything nice like days out, holidays etc.

Make Moneysaving Expert your friend. Start with the money makeover to refine your budget and signpost to cut costs, then get the weekly email for ongoing tips to make or save money. Can have a significant positive effect on your disposable income over time.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

I get 970 a month to pay everything.

920 left after priority bills is a massive amount of money. More than millions of people.

How much do you spend on cat food?

Write down every single penny you spend in a month and you should see where you can
trim the fat and where you’re spending more than you realised when you add it all up.

Try to have a budget for everything, stick to it and any excess left over from the budget gets swept into a rainy day fund.

@frugalannie
Ignore the posters saying that's loads because they don't know your partners commuting costs etc and when you add up birthdays Xmas car bills etc etc it can go quickly so although your starting with a decent amount it does dwindle.

I look at all our fixed bills first to see what can be changed etc and then I set a realistic food budget which has just gone up.

I try to put some away of what's left into a oh bugger account monthly so we have a bak up if anything needs replacing like electrical appliance or tyres etc.

Then I divide the food budget into weeks and leave that in a seperate account.

What's left I have an allocated amount (at the moment zero)for any extras like coffee out or a nice steak tea one night (definitely not happening this month) and leave it to build up

Is there any type of work you can do? PIP isn't means tested so if possible in your shoes I would work too.

Our fuel and food is around £730 so that's less than £200 a month left for anything else

I've just had a mot and tyres bill of £550 so that's left me short on next months left over already.

It only takes one thing and then your playing catch up all the time.

Some months my food budget can be less but not by much

@Inspectorslack

I get pip and I can’t get a free bus pass?

Maybe depends on the council then. Mine is if you get the mobility part of pip you get a bus pass for free and a blue badge.