What have you done to cut back on spending ?

[Kindnessproject]

Interested to know what people are doing to make ends meet from a reducing outgoings perspective plus looking for extra ideas!

here is mine:

energy bill:

• heating on 15 during day and 10 during night (used to be 18 and 12). keep warm as have fleece bedding with extra blankets, an electric radiator in room in if needed, electric blanket if needed, warm drinks, layers, oodie, double socks
• barely use tumble dryer
• use air fryer instead of oven
• Turn all plugs off when not using
• rewearing clothes more so washing them less
• hoovering less often
• only putting enough water in the kettle for the No of cups I’m making

food/drink

• buying supermarket own brands or value brands instead of more expensive brands for items such as coffee, weetabix, tomato sauce, shreddies, crisps, squash
• buy much less fresh meat/fish
• buy much less treat food
• given up alcohol
• making hot drink to warm up

beauty:

• Using home dye rather than hairdresser
• New toiletries and make up ban (I have loads so will use all up first which should take months)

household

• changed from tabs to washing powder

entertainment :

• cancelled Netflix
• Strict one meal out a month only
• strict two coffees out a month only

other

• cancelled dds to charity :(

I’ve been selling a lot on Vinted as well. I needed a new dress for a wedding this summer so ordered it online to check sizing and then bought from Vinted for £30 instead of £75. I’d already sold something this week on there so had £10 on my account so it only “cost” me £20.
I like that there’s no fees for selling involved and I can make a few pounds quite easily.

I’ve had very little success with Vinted. I’ve put things on, and it sits there. I ended up taking it to the charity shop last week as I was fed up of it sitting about.

It can be summed up as thinking more.

Do I need to drive this or can I walk
What is in the fridge still before I buy more
Is that subscription necessary
Is car or train cheaper
Can I dry outside
Shortening wash cycles
Rereading books
More layers less heating

1 hour heating on in the morning, heating off all day whilst children are at school 1.5 hours heating in the evening.

only buying own brand shopping items.

no more after school treats to soft play or a cafe for a cake.

not hoovering everyday.

I have a quick bath then the kids jump in the hot water after me, like the old days when I was a child.

Box dye and stopped getting gel nails as I was spending around £50 a month on them.
Electric oil radiator in the office whilst wfh instead of central heating on all day.
More careful when food shopping but doesn't make much difference it's still insane prices even in Lidl.

For home:

• Bought a drysoon electric/heated clothes airer to use instead of inefficient tumble dryer
• Replaced living room window trickle vents as they were permanently open letting cold air in
• Boxing off living room fireplace to stop cold air coming through from the chimney
• Lowered maximum water heating temperature and limited frequency of use
• Purchased electric heated mattress topper
• Reduce frequency of baths, limiting to short, 5 minute showers
• Lots of thin layers
• Oodies & Slippers/no direct contact with hardwood flooring and tiles
• Replaced front door (had a crack and broken letter box hole which let in cold air, been on to do list for 5 years!)
• Radiator reflective panelling to reduce heat loss from walls
• Radiator bleeds & Boiler service

Finances:

• Reviewed monthly spends and set up digital jars/stashes on online banks.
• Called suppliers and asked for retentions teams/threatened to leave to reduce monthly bills (saved £30 per month on TV package)
• Stopped buying lunch at work, always prep my meals now.

Other things I've thought of but not yet done/decided on:
Invest in a power bank to charge up on the bus/in cafes/at work for use at home
Shower at work gym

I no longer use a trolley at the supermarket. I only buy what I can carry.

I had switched to Lidl!

However last night most of the things I bought were similarly priced in Sainsburys and I get free Saver delivery slots on Tuesdays. So I'm going back to Sainsburys.

Used the tumble dryer less but haven't stopped completely.

We've cancelled Amazon Prime which has actually stopped us buying random stuff throughout the month. Aren't missing Amazon TV at all!

Also cancelled Disney +, English Heritage as there was dog crap everywhere.

Adjusted meal plans so that we only spend about £65 a week for a family of 3.

Using the car much less.

DH cuts my hair 🤣

I only buy clothes from Vinted 50% of my orders get automatically cancelled due to sellers not sending :(

Use a max of £3 electricity a day. WFH, cooking, laundry, xbox etc. But a 2 bed semi. We have a prepayment meter. (Will obviously go up in April though!)

And now we time every shower to 3 mins. This has dramatically reduced our water and gas usage.

Just a tip, with Vinted I find you can avoid the non sending sellers by just always either messaging to ask a question or always making an offer (you can always just take 20p off) before buying. If the seller doesn't respond to a message or an offer then generally they've forgotten all about their Vinted account and they won't ever send you anything.

Food

Buying large packs of meat or chicken, splitting and freezing for a lower per kilo price. Eggs are also cheaper by the dozen than half dozen

Stovetop pressure cooker to reduce gas used

Cooking twice on a Sunday, first something like chilli/curry/bolognese for dinner for the next few nights, then vegetable soup straight after in the same pot for my lunches for the week. Prep veggies together for both. One lot of washing up

Porridge made up the night before cooks very quickly so less gas (proper oats), also cheap, tastes fine made half and half milk and water. Banana on top is also cheap

Heating at night to 18 degrees, during the day 20. Luckily our house isn't too old, so it's easy to keep it warm. Last year we kept 20 at night eek! Not anymore!

Less clothes, if anything, I search on vinted first. Cheaper make up.

Very little amount of meat.

No takeaways.

No branded foods, maybe 5% of my shopping is branded (coffee, pepsi).

Stopped using tumble dryer ages ago- only for bedding and towels (as I only have 1 set of winter/summer bedding and I wash towels 2x a month, so it's two weeks batch). Air drying instead.

Regular dental check ups to avoid paying for expensive fillings or other work (god forbid).

Following for ideas.

We already do most of what’s mentioned. I’ve just started to hang the washing out on the line again this week.

I have always been quite frugal around the house so not much has changed.
The central heating has been on 5 times since last spring. Dh insists that it has to run now and again.
We dont normally drink at home.
I am still pegging out the washing. I got 1 load of lights line dried this morning and a towel was about 1/3 dry before tumbling that.

I wish I could cycle to work but I'm an essential car user.

Line drying all clothes

Wearing items multiple days to reduce washing - for DH and I at least, harder with teens

Heating on 1 hour am 1 hour pm

Shorter showers, shallower baths

UK holidays

Sticking to same food budget so buying cheaper food

No meals out or takeaways, making occasional special/easy meals from supermarket options instead

Turning off lights/sockets when not in use

DH and I cutting each others' hair

Trying to avoid buying non essentials

Films at home rather than the cinema/theatre

Meeting friends for walks or coffee rather than going out

Oh I also mastered the art of fridge cleaning. I go shopping when there's actually nothing to eat (sorry husband 😬).

We’ve always been fairly frugal but I’ve been stretching out how long I go before I wash bedding, particularly as it’s tumble dried this time of year. I wash the pillow cases weekly though. I also skip showering some days as I wfh and a wash will do every now and then! kids have a bit of a capsule wardrobe going, for ds this is mainly as he’s growing like a weed and nothing will fit in 3 months time!
Food wise, I’m going with bigger portions for meals as that stops expensive snacking.

I go a lot longer with clothes.before washing them. Largely homecooked meals for me and 17 yr ds. For hobbies I do free ones e.g. Reading books from the library. Yoga on you tube at home with my own yoga mat. Trim my own fringe monthly. Go every three months to unisex walk in barbers. Haircut £9 so average s £3 pcm. Hair dye Loving Care from Savers £4 but I use only half each time by d ecanting into washable reusable old bottle from Body Shop. So £2 a month for ha irdye!

The depressing thing is that doing all these things doesn't result in there being any extra left over...it's like living crapper for no reward.

Whilst that is true, the most depressing thing surely is for those of us who already were doing all of these things due to low income, and are now having to work out how to cut back exactly, whilst everyone else comes up with the same ideas that you've been doing for years.

You keep looking through cost of living threads for ideas on how to cut back, but struggle to find anything you haven't already been doing since, forever. Thinking, wait, isn't that just normal?

Ordered free period products box from my local authority. Three months supply. Saving a fortune. Gets delivered to my front door by Royal Mail.

You keep looking through cost of living threads for ideas on how to cut back, but struggle to find anything you haven't already been doing since, forever. Thinking, wait, isn't that just normal?

Exactly 😂

surely if you have made all these cut backs and there is still nothing left over, if you didn't make them surely you would be going deeper and deeper into debt, so although it is rubbish having no new debt has got to be better than having to borrow money for a slightly more fun life, I agree cutting back an already pared to bones budget is much much worse

I find saying to myself we have eating and heating and still no debt plus no food bank. As for hobbies\lifestyle I try to enjoy free hobbies. Walking is free fresh air is free library books are free playing the piano at home is free etc. Yoga on you tube is free.

Hobbies keep you going and for as long as we enjoy strong budgeting skills we can only do our best.

We have reduced the thermostat to 17 degrees. Last winter it was at 18/19. It felt cold at first, but we are used to it now and don’t tend to feel cold and if we do, we have a couple of oodies.

Have eaten out less.

Cancelled Spotify and reduced Netflix to the £4.99 option.

Use Chase Cashback debut card for any expensive purchases to get 1% Cashback.

Keeping a lid on supermarket shopping - fruit is mostly apples, bananas and satsumas and no berries or avocados. Cheaper own brand crisps. Cheaper cheese. Same good quality meat but less of it - smaller portions of meat. Cheaper shower gel and shampoo - supermarket value brands.

Doing at least 1 load less laundry per week, probably 2 less. Wearing jeans double the length of time than before and more wears for jumpers and some t-shirts. Have doubled length of time bedding is on beds.

Chasing best interest rates for savings.

Bank switch if current accounts to bring in the £100+ Cashback each time.

We all have oodies, and the heating put up to 17 each evening, and off at night. WFH with an electric blanket. I go to bed in earlier so the heating is not on as long, and we got a new efficient boiler. We never use the Tumble drier any more and don't wash bedding as much as a result. We food shop frugally, and batch cook a lot. No meals out or takeaways unless a special occasion/ unavoidable. Have an airfryer which gets used a lot. Started having baked potato night, sometimes I just have toast for tea. Gave up gym membership, and only do free activities, and also try to keep an eye on petrol and not drive as far to do them. Only buy clothes if required. Hair cut and colour for me only 2 times a year. No Xmas presents for adults in the family, I also paid £££ last year to get mortgage fixed for 10 years, which may have been a good move but rate was 3.8 so not amazing. Holidays, now only a few nights camping in the UK, no hope of anything overseas for the foreseeable. All in all, doing my best, but I would say overall spend is still higher nevertheless. Mostly because of energy doubling, and food shops have gone up by 50 percent, even though we are buying less, and not fancy, food.