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

Ring your fixed and mobile phone/broadband providers and renegotiate your contracts.

Those saying £920 is a lot it's really not... OP hasn't factored in the April increase of electric and gas by the sounds of it.. that's going to be at least £100 off that chunk a month maybe more!
Then food costs depending where you shop obviously that can easily be around £80-100 a week and of course those costs are rising... still.

I think if you cook with meat every day, going veggie a few days a week drastically cuts down food costs. I don’t eat meat but DH and kids do, I cook veggie most days and only occasionally buy meat, and I am shocked at the price!! I have no idea how a family can afford to eat meat/fish every day!
The only thing I would say is, it takes a bit of skill to be good at making veggie meals interesting, filling and tasty on a regular basis. So I would definitely invest in a couple of good cookbooks and look at threads on here/fb pages for inspiration!

Matchbetting. I made £8k in a year.

You're not exactly struggling financially if you're saving monthly.

@goingtotown

You're not exactly struggling financially if you're saving monthly.

I'm not saving money I was saying that's something I'd like to use the £920 for if possible.

@WhoAre

Eat the cats

As tempting as that is sometimes, I'd miss the little things

@camperqueen54

Matchbetting. I made £8k in a year.

I think I've seen that mentioned, did you learn to do it by yourself or did you follow a particular thread or something on YouTube?

@Marmm

How much do you spend on cat food?

I include it in our shop but I think biscuits are £14 which lasts 2-3 weeks and then I get the big whiskers fish pack but they do share as they can be a lot of waste

I find the forums on moneysavingexpert to be more supportive tbh.

Do a proper budget so you know exactly how much you need for petrol bills etc and how much you have left.
Don't wing it.
Once you know exactly where you are you can work out what you can afford for food etc and how to manage.

Work out how much you need to save for: haircuts, birthdays, Christmas, holidays, car insurance etc and save a portion of this every month into a separate account. That way you won't be caught out.

See what's left and work out how you can make that cover your monthly expenses.

You have 920 quid left each month after bills and you think that's hard?

Utterly tone deaf. You're not quite joining the queue at the food bank. What makes you think you've joined the ranks of those who struggle because it's 'less than you're used to'?

I second Money Saving Expert. Do the budget on there. Keep it written down and review regularly.

Also You Need A Budget (www.youneedabudget.com/) is a brilliant method of managing your money. Even if you don’t use the app, do read through the 4 principles and try to apply them. Primarily giving every pound a purpose - MSE also advocates this approach- having multiple bank accounts for various purposes I.e bills a/c; car expenses a/c; food a/c; etc. then allocate your income accordingly

@Thirkettle

You have 920 quid left each month after bills and you think that's hard?

Utterly tone deaf. You're not quite joining the queue at the food bank. What makes you think you've joined the ranks of those who struggle because it's 'less than you're used to'?

I'm not sure where I said that to be honest.

@frugalannie what do you estimate you spend on petrol and food atm? It's hard to know where to advise cost cutting without knowing if your food bill is £800 or £80 pm for example. Also where do you shop?

As well as selling on Vinted I also buy. Filter by new or very good and I've had some great bits for the kids and myself that look brand new. At this age (twins are 2) and given my lifestyle (sahm, school run, play groups) that works for us.

Look at your budgets for Xmas, birthdays, holidays etc. It's worth splitting money into pots if you're used to more disposable income. So set a set amount aside each month for Xmas, bdays, holidays etc.

[quote SleepingStandingUp]@frugalannie what do you estimate you spend on petrol and food atm? It's hard to know where to advise cost cutting without knowing if your food bill is £800 or £80 pm for example. Also where do you shop?

As well as selling on Vinted I also buy. Filter by new or very good and I've had some great bits for the kids and myself that look brand new. At this age (twins are 2) and given my lifestyle (sahm, school run, play groups) that works for us.

Look at your budgets for Xmas, birthdays, holidays etc. It's worth splitting money into pots if you're used to more disposable income. So set a set amount aside each month for Xmas, bdays, holidays etc.[/quote]
We shop at Aldi and occasionally Tesco so I'm thinking food and petrol maybe costs around £420-£450 a month (petrol might be slightly less now I'm not driving to work but I didn't go far, it's just it didn't have any public transport routes.)

Which leaves roughly £470-£500 for everything else, I do have a monzo account so I'll use the pots on there! That's a good idea because then it's kind of out of sight out of mind.

I just want to add I know I'm not in extreme poverty and sadly there is people with a lot less and is really struggling and I don't want to take away from that but I'm used to £2000 ( I was really lucky) for the same things and now I've had to come out of work when I really didn't want to due to disability, it is hard to suddenly have to worry.

Planning is key.

Plan what meals you are going to eat this week and make a list for food whopping. Stick to it.

Look out for yellow labels in the reduced cabinet, but only buy them if they are actually cheap - some knock 20p off very expensive things. If they are cheap buy several and freeze them.

Batch cook and freeze meas so that you have food in for the end of the month when money might be tighter.

Shop in Lidl and Farmfood and look out for money off vouchers.

Stop buying new clothes. I think I spent £100 on new clothes over the last 12 months. I have wardrobes full of stuff I never wear. I went through my wardrobes and drawers and found lots of perfectly good stuff in there that I forgot I had.

Takeaways are expensive. Don't have the. So is a nice coffee or a cake when you are out and about. I take a flask and sandwiches out with me now.

@Thirkettle

You have 920 quid left each month after bills and you think that's hard?

Utterly tone deaf. You're not quite joining the queue at the food bank. What makes you think you've joined the ranks of those who struggle because it's 'less than you're used to'?

The only tone deaf person here is you. And rude. And nasty.

At no point has the OP said they are in poverty or that their income is particularly low. It is low in comparison to what they were getting and are understandably concerned about this. Everyone in this forum has different circumstances and it does not warrant mocking or shaming when they come on here asking for help. Back off or bugger off.

OP you are being very sensible to approach this now and be forearmed for your change in circumstances. Your change in circumstance is also emotionally difficult so do share with your friends, family and support network whilst you transition. My DH struggled massively leaving the workplace due to disability and ran up some debt as a result. Shame, embarrassment and anxiety were the reason and prevented him from talking about the effect it had on him.

Good luck and best wishes OP.

I get you OP. Do not worry about the people who are trying to make you feel bad and do not apologise just ignore. You do not need to be on the breadline or the food bank queues to ask for money advise here. Make a budget and allow for an emergency pot. Even if small. Plan meals and do not buy what you do not need. We have saved quite a lot by doing this.

Does your partner work? If so, before doing a budget, work out the effect of the NI increase on his wage. No point working it all out now and then in two months his salary goes down.
Same for energy bills - are you currently fixed and when will that end? If soon, factor a rise for that into your budget because that will reduce your £920.

What exactly does the £920 need to cover? Food, petrol, and other ad hoc expenses? So your phone contracts, broadband etc is all already covered? Do you pay a monthly DD for things like insurance, so is that already covered in your calculations, or will you have a large yearly payment that you’ll need to save from the £920 to cover?
We are two adults and a toddler (but no cats) and we spend about £250 a month on groceries at sainsburys so I think you could bring down your food bill with planning (unless your cats are very expensive, I have no idea).
You need to write down everything you spend, (including fixed monthly costs because bringing them down could bring up your £920) and see where you could save.

Don’t buy any more cats.

If you're likely to be spending more time at home and are going to be less mobile, bear in mind that you could suffer a double whammy of higher electricity and/or gas use, plus the price increases.

Of course, that would then reduce the £920 'spare' which should placate the people who think you're going to be spending all day rolling on a bed of £20 notes .

Is there anything you can do to improve the energy efficiency of your home. Look for grants, discounted insulation, that sort of thing.

Also heated throws, oodies or other ways of keeping warm without using too much extra heating.

If you like cats(!) could you do some cat sitting for extra income?

Some people are just utterly nasty in here.

You may get used to people asking these questions I get lots of people get by on lower incomes or on benefits but at the minute the middle earners are being squeezed and the current hike in everything from energy to food prices effects every one.

Middle earners will have higher outgoings due to mortgages or rents that they committed to when their income stretched further - it’s not their fault that rises and inflation etc out strip pay rises. Also bear in mind ally of people haven’t had payrises in years if you are private sector you are more likely to have been faced with a cut in recent years to save jobs etc.

There are no plans being put in place to help these people out - apart form a £200 loan for energy

However this poor op has found that life has changed and now she needs the support of the safety net of benefits that mean she isn’t earning the salary she used to and she needs to readjust - how dare she be so selfish! (Sarcasm alert)

If you have no useful contribution to make, on how this lady can try and keep some semblance of her previous life whilst dealing with her new change of circumstances and disability then don’t comment.

Why does there have to be such pointless competitive poverty on here well done have a blue Peter badge for surviving in. £2.20 a week and the sniff of an oily rag. All our lives and circumstances different.

Back to your question OP
Look at brand swaps eg whiskas to Lidl own brand cat food - my own were reluctant for a day or 2 but hoover it up now and it will save about £10 a week
If a meat eater add all your local butchers on Facebook - at least one in mine will advertise a special offer a week - this week one is doing 5lb lean mince for £10 - I have bought 2 and will divide up as this is a good base for lots of recipes and meal especially also bulk it out with lentils or veg