second recession - Is anyone running out of ways to economise?!

[virgiltracey]

We've slashed our food bill, have switched energy suppliers and are being careful with using the oil (lots of clothes and blankets!), have cut down on , have stopped buying things we dont need, have changed sky subscription and broadband, have switched to an interest only mortgage and have put our money into a better account.
I'm not sure what more we can do if the predictions of a second recesion are correct!

Yep, know how you feel :-
Just cancelled sky altogether
Changed energy tatiff to a discounted online one
Broadband and Phone on best deal I can
Switched Home Insurance
DC's on packed lunch - dinners too expensive now, sadly :(
Shop at Aldi, and top up at Asda and look online at prices before i go shopping
Clothes from charity shops
Watching gas and electric usage
I could go on .........

Yep - same here. I have just taken on extra work (relatives helping with childcare). Working extra until Xmas. Should make a difference.

I've also said 'No' to many things that I previously wouldn't have...

Leaving collections at work, Xmas do's, girls nights out, sponsoring people...

I'm being a bit cheeky with Xmas - only buying for our own DCs, and wrapping up stuff that has been passed to us that looks new. They're only just under 2 & 4, so they really won't know the difference. Everyone knows this is our position. Has made Xmas much less stressful anyway!

Seccond recession? Have we finished the first one yet?

YES!

I just got our tesco clubcard vouchers. £11.50, so with the exchange we could have £20 off... err... maybe furniture.... or maybe wine???

When they first did this i stocked up on useful stuff like oh maybe food/nappies. Now it's just cack.

The Clubcard exchange is on Toys and clothes too, so it will def come in handy for us - although I notice they've upped their prices this week because of it.
Let's Rock Elmo was £49.99 last week, now £79.99. Elmo won't be Rocking in this house.

I emptied the copper jar last month to buy nappies. It was an all time low...

I'm not sure what else we can do here either.
Cancelled everything except our sky for broadband/tv/phone.
We don't buy alcohol and only buy enough food to feed us three times a day and go to Aldi for most of that.
Working as much as we possibly can and I've been taking on extra freelance work in the evenings.
Haven't had a night out in over a year and that was a jongleurs ticket we got for an xmas present with one glass of wine each.
Blankets used, lights all off except for a side light in the corner of the room we are in.
Don't have a car.
We use vouchers and shop around if we desperately need to buy something but otherwise go without. It has got so bad that our parents are buying us clothes because ours are falling apart.
We are doing everything we can and still drowning. We are trying to borrow some money to move to a cheaper house (renting at the moment) so fingers crossed that'll help a bit. Claiming all the benefits we can just so that we can afford to eat.
If it gets any worse I have no idea what the hell we will do. Expecting our first child in Feb and we have actually had to discuss with our families what'll happen if we can no longer afford to live in our house.
Speaking to CAB tomorrow.

mummymccar - have you go on to entitledto.com to see what you will be eligible for when baby arrives? You might find its not as bad as you think with child benefit + tax credits. Plus even if you aren't eligible now it will be worth keeping an eye on your eligibilty for housing benefits and council tax benefits.

If you're breastfeeding the only real regular costs to start with are nappies/babywipes and then if you use the reusuable ones then thats only a one off too. There are plenty of ways to save money on buying the equipment you need to start with. Mostly by avoiding all the stuff that you don't actually need.

Thanks Armadillo - having a look on entitledto now. At least it'll be a bit better when the baby is here. Thank you! Also looking at other ways to earn extra money such as hosting parties where I sell things. That may help a bit.

Armadillo - just to update that because of your advice I spoke to the Department for Work & Pensions today who advised me that I am entitled to another £65 a week in benefits. I've signed up and should be receiving these shortly and they are going to back date them too. This is going to make such a huge difference to our lives and I'm not sure that I can possibly thank you enough.

Woo-hoo Well done Armadillo

mummymccar that's fab, shows the power of wonderful MN again!!

£65 pw will make a HUGE difference to you & the babe, so glad it'll take a bit of worry off you.

Also have a look on your local freecycle site. People are always glad to give baby stuff away (often barely used) & you can get all sorts.

Meant to add, yes I'm running out of belt-tighteners & am dreading the colder weather.

Last year I made my own fire-lighters, African style.

1. Dry out your tea-bags =I put a bun pan on my boiler & a bag in each dip!
2. Put in a screw top jar & cover with cheapo white spirit. Only add about 10 mls at a time.
3. Shake jar to ensure bags are well soaked. leave to stand & add more later if not fully wet.
4. Throw a couple of bags onto your paper & kindling BEFORE lighting, they are brilliant!

We both work in property, and following redundancy for me (now have a less well paid job), and no pay increase or bonus for DH for 3 years, we have cut right back, and there is still nothing left for savings or treats.

1. Cut back on clothes, perfume, make-up, to almost non existant. I even have my hair cut less (and cheaper hairdresser) - hair last cut in May. Wearing it up at the moment.

1. Cut right back on food and alcohol.

1. Stopped sky

1. Changed broadband supplier

1. Only have meals out, if friends have asked us, not just because we feel like it. DH insists we still have a social life.

1. Less heating, lights switched off, jacket potatoes in microwave rather than oven (less electric used).

1. Cutting back on presents.

1. One holiday in UK

1. Days out, which are free, river walks parks etc. and taking picnics. Days out are also local (less fuel).

10. Avoid anything we don't need

11. Always packed lunches for work.

We have also taken out £6,000 from our savings over last two years. Our rainy day savings are now down to £5,000. We have still managed to pay off mortgage, although there has been one month that my parents paid it, as I couldn't bare the thought of dipping into savings once again.

We have never been big spenders, but as everything's got more expensive, and salary is less, we have to watch every last penny.

Bossy - it will make such a huge difference! It was getting to the point that I was having nightmares about it all - not had one in a few days now though! Thanks for the free cycle tip too, I'll check it out.

So many of us are cutting back until there isn't anything left to cut, it just makes me so angry when the government says we need to spend more. What more?!

So happy for you mummymcar.

I just came back to say, although we are not as bad off as some, with loss of bonus and my lower paid job, we are £15,000 a year worse off. We were never big spenders, but in the fortunate position we did not have to worry how to pay the bills.

We were planning on TTC before the recession, but have put it back. We have decided not to put back any longer, and have recently started trying, but be even more frugal.

I did a big weekly shop at Aldi yesterday and it was £35. Low enough to treat myself to a £1.99 face cream and a £2.49 bottle of wine - I'm so unbelievably happy with these two little 'presents'. How times have changed.
Myself and DP both have full time professional jobs, a small house in the north and one child, and yet we are really really struggling, I never thought the recession would affect us so badly

mummymccar - I'm so pleased to read you were entitled to the extra benefit and I'm sure it will go a long way. Small babies really don't need a lot - it's just advertising companies like us to think they do.

having to take a days unpaid leave to look after DCs whrn teachers are on strike on 30 Nov will not help
I have £20 of Tesco clubcard vouchers so I was going to get a toy with it for DS's xmas pressie, thought I wud be ablw to ge summat decent for £40? maybe a buzz lightyear thingy?