Our income has halved overnight, any survival tips please?

[Cherryup]

Like many others we have been hit by CV-19. Both been on 80% furlough since March and DH has just been made redundant, he's only been there a year so will get a week's pay. I'm due back at work next week.

With jobseekers and £60 a month UC our joint monthly income has halved, so need to cut expenditure fast. Any tips would be gratefully received.

So far I have;

Cancelled pet insurance 😬
Mortgage holiday until end of Oct
Requested council tax over 12 months instead of 10

I think our utilities are all competitive, I can't do anything about loan repayments, as that's in my name not his.

We spend about £120 a week on food for 2 adults, 1 dc and 2 cats. Need to reduce that I know.

Trying not to panic but I am.

You can still go on a debt management plan even if the debt is in your name. You can speak to Citizens Advice about it.

Be strict about presents for everyone else - give them a homemade cake or something's but do not be pressured into wasting money.

Good idea, I often give chutneys and pickles as gifts just because I enjoy making them. Start ti save jars. Or ask on freecycle, I once got a box full from freecycle.

Really simple recipe as a gift.

1 block feta cheese 220g is plenty for a jam jar or two mustard jars and will be about £1.50.
1 jar of dried mixed or Mediterranean herbs - about £1.00 but you won't use it all, or even half of it.
1 bottle oil - olive is best but it works quite well with cheaper oils.
1 empty jam jar.

cut the feta into pieces that will fit in the jar.
sprinkle the herbs on the worktop or a chopping board.

press the feta onto the herbs, they will stick, make sure you have herbs on every side.

put the feta in the jar and pour over the oil.

I spend £150 a week on food for 5 adults one teen 2 dogs.
The cupboards are always full ,so I could cut down..2 adults are young males ,and like to eat ..
I find our shopping is cheaper being vegan ,I don’t have expensive meat to buy.
I think food you could cut down ,that’s a lot for 2 adults .
Pet insurance ...our dog was took Ill and died ,and the bill was £4000 in the end ..I nearly cancelled my pet insurance of £40 a month in similar circumstances..but thank god I didn’t..

Thank you for more great ideas, I'm sorry others have been in this situation but I appreciate you sharing your experiences.

Good idea about homemade presents, love the feta idea and my baking has improved over lockdown.

I swing from enjoying the challenge of doing this, to feeling very panicked and bleak. I guess that's normal.

Due to my salary we'll get job seekers, very little UC and nothing else, it's all relative isn't it? We had a decent income before, which we lived to and spent a lot of our savings at the beginning of the year on house jobs. Oh if only we had hindsight!

DH has applied for about 40 jobs now, couple of rejections and heard nothing back from the rest. He's signed up to agencies. He's also started making wooden ornaments to hopefully sell, it's keeping him busy and might make a bit of cash.

Sorry DH isn't a carer for DS, I just meant he is now looking after him whilst he's off school.

@Cherryup Does your predicted income cover bills + food?

If it does, then yes see it like a challenge.

If it doesn't, then you do have a serious issue - and do anything you can to avoid debt.

@labyrinthloafer yes we've factored in bills, food, petrol. Our incomings are a tiny bit more than predicted outgoings, this won't leave much wriggle room, but at least we've managed to get outgoings down enough to cover what's left.

I've just remembered one thing a neighbour does, she's Scottish, if she gets a Scottish £1 coin in her change she saves it.

It means she doesn't save every £1 but they do build up.

Have you checked your taxes? Presumably you have both been paying tax, your husband now isn't so he should be able to clam some back. I think you might also be able to transfer his tax allowance to you, it can all be done online.

I'm glad you like the feta idea, I do another one with a clove of garlic (peeled) then slices of olives (pitted), thin slices of peppers (different colours) mushrooms and capers, you can mix and match.

Once in the jar make sure there are no air bubbles and leave it for at least a week to flavour the oil. Technically it can last for ages but it usually gets eaten in a day.

Please don’t bank on the jobs market improving if anything it’s going to get worse as the furlough scheme comes to end there’s likely to be a lot of redundancies as furloughed jobs just don’t exist anymore.

I'm very glad to hear you can cover everything. Then you have to just try your very hardest.

Don't be too scared. My children still had a totally great childhood - if I couldn't afford something I made sure to read them an extra story or do some drawing or something, everything people say sounds clichéd but it is true that they need your time and your help more than any material thing. Good luck

Thanks!

Love the other jar idea too thanks.

Yes I think this is going to be a long term problem, I just hope we can get in a slightly better position before the mortgage holiday ends.

Thanks @labyrinthloafer (love that film), you are right, quality time together counts for so much more than material things.

Food shopping didn't go so well this week, I spent £56 and seemed to have forgotten a few things. I just had a horrible dinner using up things in the cupboard, but have a homemade cake for dessert to make it better!

Lots of great ideas already.
How about Olio - free food ( and non-food) app. Lots of bakery, fruit, veg & salad from supermarkets & giveaways of apples atm.
If you have Economy 7 make use of it - dishwasher & washing machine on overnight ( I set my w/m to spin in the morning, as it's loud!).
We've been out blackberrying for the last few days....
Best wishes - I'm in the same boat!