Please tell me crazy things you've done to cut back cost of living

[Moneyschploney]

I'll go first and share some of the lengths I've gone to.

Cut own hair.
Gone days without eating a main meal.
Stay home every weekend and make zero plans for weeks on end.
No birthday or Christmas presents for anyone, except DC.

I'm in £7k debt and need to pay this off by halfway through this year. Single income/parent household.

I'm sorry things are tough for you, OP. I'm in a longer-than-intended spell of unemployment, and I've found the following things helpful:

• I use TopCashBack for small (and on occasion, large) purchases. So I'll use it to buy contact lenses, bedding, etc. I've used it for over 5 years and have claimed back over £1k. You have to be consistent with it, but it does pay out and adds up over time
• I cancelled all my paid app subscriptions and make sure to review these regularly, including Spotify. I got a corporate rate for my gym because I'm a long-term member. Sometimes it pays to ask the cheeky question!
• I realised that I owned a smartphone outright, so I sold it and traded in for a contract whereby I give the handset back at the end of the term. This consequently brought my monthly mobile bill down because I shopped around for deals
• I shop at Aldi and check their clearance aisles before checking out. I've picked up loaves of bread for 14p! And whilst convenient, any food deliveries are a no-no. I'll walk/get the bus to save the fiver
• I buy 90% of my clothes second-hand and operate a one-in-one-out policy. So if I acquire new shoes, I try to sell a pair. Avoids clutter and cashes in on things that collect dust in my wardrobe
• I have a small income from a property portfolio, and on a semi-regular basis, I'll switch current accounts and get the new joiner fee, which can be anywhere from £75 to £200

Reading this back I'm more thrifty than I thought! I'll come back if I can think of more..

Use all the supermarket apps. I like nectar (for extra points AND prices) as Sains also match Aldi. They also have extra points 'games' every so often to collect more points. Right now it's for healthy eating stuff. On my way home I always pop in for bargains, including fruit & veg.

Lidl app also good as £50 spend gets you a free veg item - I always choose the 7.5kg bag of potatoes.

Are you near a farmfoods?

Cancel your TV licence and any subscriptions and stick to watching the players (not BBC iPlayer though). Look for a cheaper internet provider. Change phone contracts (mine is sim only and £6 a month from Asda, there are even cheaper ones around). Don't buy coffees when you're out, take a drink in a travel mug from home. Take a packed lunch instead of buying one. It's not for ever. Good luck.

What form is your debt in? Loans? Credit cards? All one account or several?

We keep backup food on hand instead of takeaways - frozen home cooked and store bought, ramen, mac and cheese.

I also have lentil vegetable soup or bean chilli in batches every week and batch cook lentil pasta sauce for my kids. Their fussy meals are leftover pasta, sandwich if we have bread, or porridge or cereal if we have any.

I run out of things that can get pricey (cereal) or spoil (bread, bananas). Cereal or treats waits till another big shop, bread I will replace in a day or two but I’m not okay with the way loaves of bread or bunches of bananas were being wasted when they magically never ran out.

I Make soup , veg or lentil it’s heathy and cheep. Do you look at Martin Lewis money savers website? & also for a longer term view rebel School of finance

You're not really giving much info on what you're already doing.
What do you buy that you could make instead? Do you know how to cook? What do you cook with? What appliances do you run? Do you keep the heating on or off? What foods do you all eat? What are you doing for amusement if you stay in all weekend?
Sometimes people ignore the most basic things to save money because they didn't grow up poor enough and don't think of it.
If you grew up in post war years or seventies you might be used to living in a house without heating or hot water, walking or cycling everywhere, mending clothes, darning, making a flask of tea to take out with you, eating cheap fish and liver once a week, porridge for breakfast turning your old clothes into money or soft furnishings or in worst case dusters.
If you don't already learn to use a slow cooker and microwave to get the most efficient cooking.
I used to go out for my daily walk with a giant courier bag and fill it with dead sticks to use for kindling. But probably learning to cook is the best thing anyone can do: pancakes and flapjacks are expensive to buy but pennies to make, same for soups, omelettes used to be the way to go but eggs are too expensive now. Learn to use those weird cheap ingredients you're not used to like lentils and split peas.

I think you perhaps are doing everything. Keep on going it will improve!
when my three were growing and eating more than elephants I found that cooking Indian food worked well. I buy the very large bags of rice, lentils and chick peas. Adding lentils and chickpeas makes most dishes go much further, filling and nutritious. If they don’t like Indian you can add lentils to stews and shepherds pie. Not big tips but every little help.
When I was very short of money I roped the kids in to help. They were pre teen though so maybe more amenable. Each week they took a turn at budgeting for, buying and cooking a meal. They were quite competitive at proving they could do it and would help each other out. It made the daily meal struggle more fun. Although I did at one point think we may all turn orange! There is a carrot farm near me and they would wait for the carrots to fall off when the tractor turned out of the field! 😂 There was another day when they picked up a pheasant which had been hit by a car. It seemed dead until it started flying round my kitchen.
Good luck, try to keep your spirits up.

ooh I have another hack. I don't use eggs for baking at home, I use a "chia egg" : 1tbsp chia soaked in 15ml water for 15 mins = 1 real egg in baking recipes.

1 Bag chia seeds = £1 ish
1/2 dozen eggs = £2 ish (30+p per egg)

You can get loads of "eggs" from 1 bag of chia seeds. It's also handy because you always have a spare "egg" in the house, if you have chia in the cupboard.

They are apparently good for health as well. Not sure what for, might be fibre. Sounds faffy but I had a dc with an egg allergy when weaning, I got the hang of it then and it's not so bad once you get used to it. Flax apparently works, and I think there's about a million uses for the water tinned chickpeas come in, but I cannae vouch for those having never tried.

I second the pp saying use bar soap.

I don't want a MN flaming for this- but squeezy soap didn't exist when I was growing up and we were all fine, so I have replaced our squeezey handsoaps with bars of soap - you can get Tesco Value Soap Bars 30p (it used to be 17p though, sad face) ...and I cut those in half, to stop the end going squishy and I have a proper soap draining dish to stop the squishiness.

I use any bar soap for me, and baby bar soaps for the dc. Johnsons is £1 for 2 and lasts a long time.

I use turkey mince instead of beef when making bolognaise, add lots of grated carrots and courgette for bulk, could use lentils too. A dash of browning and a beef stock cube with the seasoning and you'd never guess, healthier too.

Don't let bananas go to waste! They're great frozen on sticks and dipped in yogurt to make lollies (I'm trying to use them instead of more fattening stuff).
If they're chopped and frozen, you can blitz them in a blender with a spoonful of milk for the best instant ice cream.
Bread can be frozen for toast and breadcrumbs, or used in a good old fashioned bread pudding or bread and butter pudding.

when the cost of oil soared a couple of years ago, I bought an oil sprayer from Dunelm, it was a fiver, but it meant I was only using a spritz of oil to coat my pan, not a drizzle. It's still sold there now, same price I think. I know its an inital outlay of £5 but it's been helpful to me

https://www.tamingtwins.com/slow-cooker-jacket-potatoes/ also just in case its useful cheap batch for jacket spuds.

Some things I do to keep costs down
As others have said, baking treats like cakes and flapjacks cost so much less than shop bought and are more filling.
For lunch boxes I've discovered this chocolate bar box which is 4.50 in a discount store. I got 50 lunch box style bars in it which were all not broken but without wrappers. I think they are Rocky's and penguins mostly and work out less then 10p a bar. I have 4 children so one goes in a bento style lunch box per day
I also make cold pasta for lunches as my kids get so fed up of sandwiches. It works out really cheap if you buy value pasta which is about 40p. If they have pasta, they don't have crisps as pasta is far more than enough.
Fruit, stick to cheaps like banana, small oranges, apples, and tinned fruit. Make sure you yourself are eating 5 a day, even if it's the budget version.
Frozen fruit microwaved with porridge is cheap, Sainsbury's do a good cheap mixed berry one for about three pounds. I get about 6 portions out of that.
I do also often go without main evening dinners often so that the children get the mains. When I do this I ensure whatever I do eat has protin so often a peanut butter sandwich and maybe a banana. It's good enough when times are tight.
I also take breakfast two work, by eating a bit later on the morning means I'm less hungry for lunch. It's not ideal but it does work. I tend to take cereal for breakfast and have a few bits of fruit for lunch
Frozen sausages, not great but very filling and cheap in pasta dishes or with mash and gravy. Frozen veg is great. Add more mash and less sausages to each meal.
When you see something cheap buy it. Such as shampoo etc.

can I just say if you are cutting bars of soap to please be careful/use common sense...I don't want a law suit 😕

If you haven’t already tried this, please contact either Step Change or CAP - they’re both charities that can help you with arrangements to manage/reduce or even write-off your debts. They do all the contact with the various agencies so you don’t need to, and can stop them adding interest, contacting you and/or threatening to take things further. Well worth looking into and the advice/plans are free of charge. There’s no cost to you at all and often ALL the debt is able to be written off, but not through bankruptcy. Alternatively a debt management plan can be arranged that means paying a lower monthly amount than you currently are.

I’m sorry you’re going through all of this, especially trying to keep teens fully fuelled, they eat such a massive amount. I’ve been where you are and it does get better (CAP were an incredible help to me).

Why should you be flamed for suggesting using soap bars? Some people seem to think that it is a new thing to use, to save money, when lots of posters will remember a time, when it was the norm to use soap bars. The bottled shower gels, were, in my eyes, a waste of money, a clever marketing product no less, costing much more.

this is another slightly random one, but at asda/tesco their toothbrushes are 25p/2 in the value range, so I always add them if I am getting a shop, and I always make sure I have basic/value range over the counter medications in the house - cold and flu, zivorax, senna, imodium, electrolytes, and a cheap multivit (they are 99p ish for the cheapest) it saves any dashes to the nearest chemist or corner shop where they only have branded ones; there's been times when I haven't had enough money or have had to make the choice between a medicine and another essential. (not prescription, as those you can get on a prepay if not covered already, but over the counter stuff can add up quickly)

I also get tescos pads and pantyliners from the value range, really don't want to run out of those, or equally pay corner shop prices in an emergency.

I'd really recommend a basic multivit op, it is like a penny or so a day, and it might not do much, but I feel I am staving off rickets or scurvy at least 😅

Seriously, if you are going without eating, you really do need to reach out for help

As a single parent, that is so important,

Contact your broadband provider ASAP. I'm on UC, even if you got paid £1 from UC- you are eligible for social tarrif. No paperwork needed. It's usually £20 and you can add £3-£5 for booster. I pay ST £20 +£5 booster on SKY and speed is perfect 👌

Nothing too dramatic, but we sold our second car, now DH and I share one. We don't ever go out for meals any longer. I sell absolutely everything we are no longer use on Vinted, eBay, FB market. In terms of food, we now mostly shop at Asda.

I don't do a weekly shop anymore to cut down on waist, I was sick of throwing out food that was 'forgotten' or not fancied - I live real close to Aldi so shop as and when and normally go in on a daily basis and just buy what we need that day.

We bought an airfryer, we don't use the oven and it has had a big effect on the electric bills. That plus we also took the light bulbs out of the landing lights (kids always leaving them on, especially in middle of night loo runs - We now have rechargeable motion activated strip lights at the bottom and top of the stairs, this has also made a big different, we charge them once twice a week, they were only about £10 each to buy and have been using the same ones for about 4 years now.

We replaced our 12 year old big 10KG washer for a newer A rated 8kg washer and this also seems to have reduced electric usage further.

Also 2 children moved out 😂and that has made an absolute massive difference - I would only recommend this option if a. They are old enough and b. It's their choice (one bought has other moved in with pregnant girlfriend.

I’m not in the same situation financially as OP, but we have needed to cut back due to other costs increasing significantly. These might not be applicable to you, but thought I’d mention them anyway!

i’m also letting my hair grow out - and have stopped the 6-8 weekly hair dresser trip. I actually get my dh (aided by my 12 yo dd!) to trim my ends a couple of times a year! We have proper hair cutting scissors (as I tended to do family hair) - and I explain very clearly how to do it, while they are doing it. I section it up with clips and they follow my instructions… it works well as my hair has got much longer and is one length and very wavy, so it doesn’t need to be perfect! I home dye with semi-permanent dyes (it can almost look like highlights if you have greys, and it grows out much less obviously) - look out for special offers on multi-buys.

I have massively reduced my expenditure in boots / Superdrug for toiletries.. i made a resolution to use up everything I have already, so it is also acting to de-clutter bathroom cabinets as well. I no longer buy special moisturiser / cleanser for myself, I have actually found that using any type of cream / moisturiser / body butter can be used as a facial wash (this may not work for some people who have very sensitive skin), so am using up all of the random gift sets that I have received over the years. I also use bar soap (but tend to go for the Dettol one).

I am doing the same in the kitchen cupboards and freezer - usually my food cupboards have random residual packets / tins of stuff in, so am making sure to plan meals round what there is (sometimes these are a bit random combinations!) and have been avoiding going to the shops unless I actually need fresh things in.

One question I would ask, @Moneyschploney , is are your dc fully aware of the situation, and are they also making efforts to reduce spending / save money? I only ask as I have a friend with teenage dc, and they have financial problems, but my friend seems to have a blind spot when it comes to the dc - they are still having quite a lot of money spent on them, and still have quite expensive tastes (teen had nails done (£40) before Christmas, and the mum paid for it as she didn’t want her dd to feel left out, amongst her friend group). If teen dcs are able to work, then they can start to pay for more of their own things (if they are old enough).

With my dc at school, lunches can be a big area to save money.. in the canteen it can be up to £5 per day - and they like to do that to be social with friends.. but that works out at up to £200 per month. Packed lunches can be much cheaper.

Re; having half a tin of soup as a main meal - that can work really well, if you can add in some other things to bulk it up / add nutrition. I add a handful of cooked plain pasta (from a box in the fridge, it keeps for a few days) to tinned soup, and also bags of frozen chopped spinach are great, you can bring in one or two cubes to the saucepan when heating it all up (fresh tomatoes also work well, with the spinach, if you ca manage that). Also adding in chickpeas. Plus can always put more spices / seasoning in to add flavour.

Buying fruits / veg frozen can be a good / cheap way of getting veg in. I go for bags of chopped onion and bags of chopped peppers, as you can use just a handful.

Lidl is brilliant for shopping. And switching out the most expensive items for cheaper alternatives works well (so if your dc are big cereal consumers, switch to Lidl 85p versions rather than £3.25 branded versions, or switch to Lidl porridge oats - even cheaper).

Oh, and house cleaning.. when your bottle of cleaner / spray is empty, buy a bottle of zoflora (or similar), it is about £1, and put a couple of capfuls in the empty spray bottle and top up with water, and it makes an anti-bacterial cleaner.