How to run a household on a very limited budget? Tips needed!

[PanicPants]

I'm hoping to give up work soon but that means dropping a huge amount of money per month, and we'd be pretty much living hand to mouth.

However, at the moment we do eat out or have take aways at least once/twice a week, so I'm hopin that if I do all cooking and limit takeouts to once in a blue moon I can claw back some money that way.

So any tips on house hold budgeting? Ways to cut costs generally?

online shopping has saved me about £50 per month - even when paying the delivery fee which with codes from mumsnet I dont usually pay.

No impulse buying and I plan better as i can go to the offers first, then see how much money i have left to buy the extras

HTH

Really? I'd have thought you would have spent more! Good idea to stop impulse buying though.

Do you just do one shop a month?

It's really hard to do a cost cutting exercise without more information on expenditure. Planning is the best way forward. You could analyse your outgoings in a home accounting package - that can be quite an eye-opener.

Organise your food shopping so that you always have a big stock of cheaper food such as pasta, eggs, jacket potatoes, and you will not then have to dash out for more expensive top up shopping or convenience foods.

Check if you have the best deals for your utilities suppliers, household insurances etc.

Take a look at the big picture - we sold my husbands car. I still have a car and my husband uses public transport - even the occasional taxi or car hire is cheaper than running a car.

If you are still struggling, really analyse your bank statements to see where you are spending your money - £2 here and there on magazines or coffees can really add up.

Take packed lunch / picnics when going to work or out with the family for a day out. We still have nice days out, but going out for lunch is a real treat and the children enjoy having picnics, even if it is on a bench in a museum or town centre.

Hope this is useful - and good luck!

Menu plan. Write out your evening meals on a weekly basis and then only shop for what you need that week. Write your list out before you go and stick to it. Don't be tempted by other stuff.

Don't have takeaways/eat out if you're strapped for cash, the money you spend on those would probably be half a weekly spend at the supermarket.

Buy items in bulk if you can from a wholesalers like Costco, to keep costs down. This also saves you having to bring home bulky stuff like loo rolls & washing powder in your weekly shop.

Try and look out for offers. Cut out vouchers and use them.

Shop online. Menu plan before you send off for shop.
Then withdraw £100 cash and put all but £15 in a drawer. This is for any 'top-up shops' (bread/milk/etc)See how long you can make the £100 last. (top tip, don't tell dh where it is - mine regularly dips into mine for the pub!)
Find a good mobile hairdresser - mine did me and 2 dds for £30 this morning, and she's great at it.
Look at monthly expenses - what can go? - mag subscriptions/gym/etc.
Use moneysavingexpert.com to see if you can get phone/internet/gas/leccy etc cheaper.

Ooh, and discover Lidl if you don't use it already.

Some very good ideas - love the idea of using points from Sainsburys (is that nector?) to pay for Christmas pressies.

I agree with Anna8888

Work out what you actually NEED for food, petrol, general living expenses.

Set yourself a weekly budget and only take that amount out of the bank (we do it every Fri)

Have some of it in change, fruit money for school, paper bill, etc.

Buy a weeks worth of milk and bread to cut out nipping to the shop and buying stuff you don't need

If you do run out of anything between shops, only take the amount you need with you.

Sandwiches for work instead of buying food.

We totally cut out buying biscuits, treats, etc when doing the food shop. We now bulk buy flour, sugar etc and bake our own instead.

It is hard at first.

But we saved £600 over 5 weeks doing this

Don't be too picky about "value" lines at the supermarket. The non-food ones are always worth a try - I get Sainsbutys value tissues, 27p a pack (not quite as nice as the posh ones, but 27p compared to 99p really adds up if you've got a lot of runny noses)and value baked beans at about 30p -no as many in the tin, but DS never finishes his beans anyway. Also 3 dishcloths for 27p.

I sound like an advert but I would draw the line at anything that cheap with meat in.

No PP wish it was!!I have about 3 deliveries a month and then top up milk/bread/fruit through the week. Never too much tho. Have gone from approx £115 per week to about £95 a week, sometimes less if i make it stretch a bit!

That's a great tip about the £100 - think I'll try that too Slouchy

Sainsbury's is Nectar, yes. Don't forget your Boots Advantage Card points to buy their brilliant 3-for-2 Xmas gifts!

moneysupermarket.com to switch to cheaper suppliers -- we just saved £700 a year on home insurance.

Don't buy books, use your library instead. Don't waste money on comics. Do easy things with your dcs like picnics, walks in the woods or on the beach, things that don't cost anything.
Buy icecreams for your freezer. When you go out don't fork out for costly ones, tell your dcs they can have one when they get home. You can buy a box of them from the supermarket for the cost of just one bought whilst you're out & about. Don't buy expensive teas/coffees if you're off out for the day either, take a flask from home.

BuckBuckMcFate at £600. Wow!

Some very good ideas, we really do squander products, not using by use by date etc.

Yes picnics and flasks bring me back to my childhood! Definitly nicer than overpriced food in canteens at the zoo etc.

I know, I couldn't believe it!

DP was spending nearly £10 every day at work on food and snacks

I would go to the shop for bread and usually end up spending £5-6.

Cutting out on Dp's takeaway pizza helped too.

Meal planning helped cut down on the cost of the weekly food shop and cut down on waste too.

The hardest bit has not been buying any new clothes tho

We have a cheapy card shop in our local town and I bulk bought birthday cards for about 25p each (and they're nice too!) Then bought books from The Works and a big roll of gender neutral wrapping paper. This has saved me loads on birthday presents for DS2's school friends

Aldi toilet roll less than £2 for 9. Morrisons nearly £2 for 4 rolls

Buy a squirty bottle and make up a very dilute bleach and water mixture for cleaning. Bottle of bleach lasts months and I don't buy any other specific cleaning products.

Hardest thing for me would be the clothes too.

Any ideas on 'Making' money from home?

Lots of good tips here.

Buy basic ranges from supermarkets ie tinned tomatoes and toliet roll,stuff you can't tell the difference with (I got used to the 50 odd pence stuff after a few days and wouldn't dream of buying luxury toliet roll now-waste of money!).

If you can hit the supermarkets later in the evening-check out the reduced section,you can get really good cheap deals,meat with the days date-fine for sticking in freezer,I got organic chicken breasts for a stupid price last night.

Charity shops are often fab for clothes and books.

Stop those weekly take outs-just do a once a month special,I find we enjoy it more as its a treat.

Would like to know any making money tips too!

me too!

We use Martin's Moneysaver website for moneysaving tips on everything. I find that to make it work you have to have a total attitude change. Before I had dd I wouldn't have thought twice about buying a magazine, getting a chocolate bar while paying for the petrol, buying things for the house 'on-spec'... eating out, take-aways, weekends away etc. I had to really train myself to only buy the things we need. Newspapers and magazines went straight away. We never ever buy a drink when we're out - always take a flask/soft drinks in sports beaker things. Always be organised so you're not 'caught out' with nothing in for dinner and having to get a take-away. Now I'm amazed when I go out with friends/family. Went round Ikea with a friend the other day and she filled her bag with things that were 'bargains' and she just 'had to have'. She ended up spending £50 odd quid. I thought to myself, it may be boring, but would a couple of cushions, some drawer lining, a couple of bowls, candles etc really make my life that much better? Things aren't a bargain unless you really need them. When you need things, use websites like Kelkoo etc to find the best price, then you can buy in the knowledge that you really have got the best deal. Use library. Use websites like Quidco to get cashback on things like household and car insurance. Make it your challenge not to spend on anything other than necessities. We have a strict budget for buying gifts - it sounds so sad/tight/boring, but we plan a year in advance how much we will spend on birthdays/christmas etc for everyone, including cards, then have a direct debit from our current account to a savings account to provide that exact amount. Then whenever we buy cards/presents etc we just x-fer the money from savings account. Have to really stick to the budget though!! Do similar for car (allow for servicing, MOT, road tax, insurance, maintenance e.g. new tyres etc - add it all up, then divide by twelve and set up dd from your account to save for it. Lessens the blow when the time comes). Will stop going on now... am such a money saving bore!!!

Menu planning is GREAT! As is a slow-cooker. We do still go to supermarket but with a list that we stick to. We usually buy reduced price meat to freeze and plan meals around what's in freezer. Also do a lot of cooking with no/less meat in it - pasta sauce/stir-fry/big stews/salads/etc

Depending on the age of your DC - NCT sales or charity shops for clothes (that's for me too!) Or ebay if you are careful.

Join TNS - they 'pay' you in vouchers to log your shopping. You get a thing to 'zap' the bar-codes, bit of a pain but the children love it and can be easily trained We have used the vouchers for clothes for grown-ups!

If you are near a zoo/animal park/etc look at an annual membership - we are only 25mins from Whipsnade and although the membership seems a lot we use it ALL the time (at least 3 times a month winter or summer) Take a picnic and it costs nothing more. HOURS of walking/scootering in fresh air!

I supose I'd need to start walking more as well, and leave the car at home to save on petrol.

(This is going to be hard )