With bills going up again — where are you all cutting costs?

[CrispsandChips]

I feel like I’m really struggling at the moment and I don’t quite know where to turn. I’d genuinely love to hear how people are managing to save money right now because everything just keeps going up and it’s starting to feel unmanageable.
My household bills alone are going up by around 22% this April… and I just keep thinking, if only my wages were increasing like that too. It feels so unfair and honestly a bit scary.
What are people actually doing day to day to cope?
Where are you shopping at the moment? What does a typical weekly shop look like for you? Are you going to multiple shops to try and make it work. If so, where are you going?
I’m trying everything I can think of just to claw back a little bit, I’ve swapped out all the lightbulbs, I’m cooking / washing clothes outside of peak hours, but it still doesn’t feel like enough. My water bill alone is going up by 18%… and I’m sat here half-joking thinking, what next, do we just stop showering?
If anyone has any tips at all, even small ones, I’d really appreciate you sharing them. I feel quite desperate just trying to keep on top of everything right now.

Actually this isnt a bad tip. I do it for cosmetics so why not daughter's ranch sauce?!

There’s a surprising amount left in there, especially with thick ones like mayonnaise. I never used to bother but now I’m like “I paid good money for this!”

Basically, we’ve got two options. Haven’t we earned more or spend less?
I’m trying to get myself into the earn more category.

i try and avoid plastic bottles, glass jars of mayonnaise = less waste

We are being more mindful of wasting food. Menu plan for the week. More meat free days. Jacket potatoes and pasta feature a lot. We use comparison apps like Trolley for big price items. We live near several different supermarkets so we shop where most of the items we want that week are cheaper. We never eat takeaways so not bothered there. We have cut down on going out for meals. We don’t eat breakfast (never have done) but a couple of days a week I go without lunch. I don’t find it hard plus it maintains my weight. If I am in the office I no longer buy a Pret sandwich etc, just have a packed lunch. I no longer buy expensive Instagram influenced products like make up and toiletries etc - I am trying to use up a big stash so that has been a great help. I have stopped making unconsidered purchases, only buy what I absolutely need. We check where the cheap fuel is. I will be okay as long as I have access to books - I buy kindle daily deals, or go to book bargain shops, or buy second hand - rarely buy a brand new, just out book these days. I have gone back to basics. I actually feel better for it. Sometimes my mindless consumerism and waste made me feel bilious.

Good point. I just had an look and the glass version of the Asda mayo I buy is actually 6p cheaper for the same amount so I’ll get that one next time.

@ExBert80if you’ve got a local library they probs have BorrowBox- not always as wide a selection as kindle or audible but they’re all free!

Haven't read through so sorry if i repeat others' tips.

Things people used to do that were perfectably acceptable:
No need to shower or bath every night. Instead flannel wash at the sink inbetween.
Bar soap, not liquid soap.
Washing up liquid to clean, damp cloth to dust, bleach for the toilet - not multiple cleaning products
Borrow books from the library (you can also read newspapers and mags for free through an app eg pressreader - look at your library webpage)
Write shopping lists on the back of old cut up cardboard cereal boxes (maybe just my grandparents did this 😉)
Buy second hand school uniform
Eat cheaper fruit (eg apples and bananas) not blueberries
Eat porridge for breakfast
Make a flask of coffee
Make packed lunches
Eat out when it someone's birthday, not because you couldn't be bothered to cook
Etc etc

I’m going to be more organised at bringing a flask instead of buying coffee whilst out and about.

I’m going to a wedding at the end of the month, and instead of buying new, the dress was from a charity shop, shoes and bag from Vinted.

I already cycle instead of using the car for shorter journeys. It saves parking charges.

So the high council tax and water charge increases will mean less money from me circulating in the local economy.

For those of you feeling that you need to skip meals, have you thought about cooking something once a week, that will last the week in the fridge or fridge half, freeze half for later in the week?

Now I do like a curry so for me making a pot of Dahl at the weekend does me the week

A kilo of split red lentils is around £2. - five big pots of Dahl. Tin of toms, tin of coconut milk, a couple of teaspoons of garam masala ,chilli flakes/paste or powder, an onion, and then I add sweet potato and aubergine, frozen spinach and maybe cauliflower - whatever veg that take a low/slow simmer . So full of protein and fibre, totally filling and the most comforting food I can think off

Its a one pan wonder, and reheats in the microwave or in a pan on the hob - cheap cooking methods in the great scheme of things Can even be eaten room temp if needs must, and I often do

A pan full of of veg soup. Here we make a veg broth, dried soup mix and a bag of chopped fresh veg - carrots, leaks , soup celery ( which is unique to Ireland ) and whilst its common to eat it with a slice of wheaten, its also really acceptable to eat it with a couple of scoops of mashed or a few boiled potatoes . But I will make soup with anything. I have memories of being single and broke in the late 80's of making potato soup with potatoes and a spoonful or=f marmite

I also used to serve a Sunday dinner - beef, spuds and veg - using yellow stckered sandwich meat

Nowadays I buy a pack of ham shavings from lidl - I think it's around £2.50 a pack - 5 or 800grm. I pick through for the ones with the fatter larger pieces. . Brilliant in omelettes,pasta and rice dishes, plus the dog gets his share to liven his meals

I look towards middle eastern and Asian cuisines for cheap easy food - very little meat is used and most only need one pan or can be reheated extremely cheaply using a microwave or a pot

Toast or cereal is never going to fill you. Look at cheap protein and high fibre

The Polish make a beutiful dish called Groats. It's pearl barley ( which I hated ) until I tried groats. Now I crave it . Just google, its maybe not the food you are used to eating, but it will fill you, costs pennies per serving and is actually really tasty

The dahl recipe sounds wonderful, @suki1964 ! Could you please post details, e.g. is it 1 kg lentils? Soaked? Cooked for how long? Onions lightly fried? Thanks very much, will try tonight!

@pollyglot , hell no way 1kg of lentils - you would be eating it for months lol

This is the basic recipe that I use.
https://veggiedesserts.com/red-lentil-dahl/

Only I dont flaff with the spices, I just use pre ground ones and I use squeezy garlic and ginger and frozen spinach and add whatever veggies I have lying around needing used .

It makes me sad that people resent paying tax to help other people. That indicates thatvthe social contract has broken.
Butvthat is what you get after years of austerity. We really are becoming mean.
I don't have small kids anymore but I like to see kids being happy so...

I am not yet old but I like to see the old taken care of. I hate seeing homeless on the street et.
Anyway I digress. I shop at Lidl. Mostly veg and have mostly stopped drinking.

Thanks @suki1964 . I did find a kg of lentils a little suss unless I had all the mokopuna here... Sounds wonderful! Going to make it tomorrow. x

Just did an Asda shop and it gave me £20 off. I think the were doing a promotion. Also I filtered using their search bar and looked at all their essentials range and added lots of that.
Therrs a really good pound shop near me called Sam’s. It’s like a cheap old school Poundland. They always have branded essentials cheap so I go there.
Buying and selling off Vinted instead of shops is a great money saver and can also make you money.

I’ve not had any heating for 3 weeks as house runs on oil. Electric shower and everything goes in the dishwasher, otherwise for hot water I boil a kettle

DH is retired, I very much work part-time. The car has only been off the drive one in seven days (yesterday, so I could get to work). In the week, we both found ourselves choosing to go for a walk to a local village (took a sandwich to make it a bit more of a trip) or up our local hill, instead of taking the car somewhere. Two main supermarkets are about 10mins walk away, so we often do most of our shopping on foot, just done up of it that way this week - mind you I regret it when I'm carrying boxes of cat food and large milk😂.

I've actually been going through the cupboards today to make sure we use anything up near sell-by date. I forgot we hadn't used lentils for a while and they need using, perfect for the dahl above - DH likes something with a bit more texture, so I had cubes of potato to his.

What's interesting about this thread is it's filled with posters cutting back on the absolute most basic of needs - nourishing food. Including myself, for the main part.

For the rest of this year at least, I will be cutting my own hair and having some help doing it for free.

I've decided to buy absolutely no new clothes for myself. I have enough to see me through until the economy hopefully one day recovers. Every time the impulse is there I will check my bank balance and the latest news.

For shampoo, shower gel and hand soap, I decant a bottle of cheap bath foam.

I can't be arsed cooking lentils and making a whole chicken stretch for days on end. My energy levels have a limit. I'd rather have red meat, pasta/rice dishes and chicken or fish for dinner 4 out of 7 days a week and cereal and fruit or eggs on toast the other 3 days.

This really is an economic depression.

You can also keep the bathwater and flush the loo with it, using a bucket.

No meals out - invite people round instead. And keep it simple.
90% of my clothes are now via vinted
I always buy the aldi offers if can use

We eat incredibly cheaply but well .
for eg
we have dhal x 2 a week
we have veg chilli or bolognaise weekky
we have veg shepherds pie
thinks like that .
there is also a food
scheme
locally were you get 3 bags of food for £8.50 - we liked it initially, but realised that quite often it can be processed food in the bags . Eg quiche, crisps , bics , white choc.
One week tho we got hummus , massive block of cheese, loads of fruit
and veg … but as its surplus from supermarket s - you never know what you willl get . We found we were giving a lot of it to neighbours.
But a lot of people love the scheme.
it may be worth
checking out if there are any local.
The other thing is we have short showers and also use electric blanket s not heating system.
we love going to the pub and we have to be careful , and these things help.

Not as many cafe trips with the kids, and if i go out for a meal, i order a tap water. Instantly saves a good £3.50+ off my bill.

We already save water by not flushing every time and use a toddler bath instead of filling a whole bath for the kids.

Hardly drink any booze anyway.

Meat reduction, pulses and couscous increase, dog food downgrade, reusing things like tins for potting plants, less extra treats like ice creams and not having sides with pizza or other meals that should be enough on their own. I have found amazon delivering everything that isn't food much cheaper than driving to do shopping everywhere, much to my annoyance as I would rather not support the freeloading tax dodgers.

I took a screenshot of my gas and my electricity usage on my Octopus app and put it into ChatGPT to ask how to be more careful and where I can save/is there a pattern to my usage etc. It was v helpful!

Ive recently gone through all my household expenses and tried to trim things down where possible. My employers have agreed a salary sacrifice to buy an annual train ticket, saving me roughly £20pm.

Did a 0% interest transfer from my credit card to pay off some other debts (klarna, store cards etc).

My virgin tv/Internet is up for renewal in a couple of months (£65pm) I very rarely watch live TV so going to cancel that, ive already bought an amazon firestick in the recent sale (£23) and going to just get a broadband package which should be about £20pm.

I dip in and out of netflix for a month at a time but always choose the cheapest package for a month, binge what i want and then cancel. My friend has an amazon prime account and he's added me to his plan. Same for Spotify, i have a family plan with several friends added to it paying their share.

This weekend i spent a few hours doing a spring clean and inventory on my fridge/freezer/pantry. Made a list, and asked chatgpt for meal plans and recipes. Only going to buy fresh veg, fruit and salad for a while (if i can!)

I already do everything suggested on this thread as I've always lived a waste free life.

I eat well and I refuse to stop buying healthy organic food and plenty of good proteins and oils etc.

The only thing left is to never go on any kind of day trip or holiday where there could be a cost involved, decide not to go to freinds or family birthday nights out and don't get them a card or present to save money, and to live in the dark and under a thick blanket with the heating off permanently.

It's so bloody miserable.

Trump is making this whole situation 100 times worse.