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?

must say freesat listings are different in different places - some say ch4 and e4 there, others say they arent, and others again say only ch4 and film 4... very annoying. Sorry for hi-jack...

Sorry, lmccream, we can't get Living or E4. Sometimes I look wistfully at what's on other channels but I watch too much tv anyway!

living stuff is repeated on five and e4 is shown on ch4 a few months later. I can live with it..considering the saving on tv. However, I get my broadband free through sky (paying £21 pm for tv (zillions of them), broadband and skytalk ) Will look into it more later tonight, since my sky contract has just expired

That sounds a pretty good deal - depends what 'skytalk' includes though. I'm with TalkTalk [immensely stressed it so wasn't worth it emoticon]so broadband and phone all in at about £22 a month - no line rental and all normal uk landline calls free. Quite a relief not having any nasty phone bill surprises. But TalkTalk has NOT run smoothly for us...

can you extend your mortgage over more years to reduce your monthly payments? We've done this but then most months we overpay by something which we can without penalty.

We've begun a huge cutback as I will be making the change to SAHM starting in May. Some of the things we've done:
-meal planning
-grocery shopping online
-saving Nectar and Boots points to use at Christmas for grocery/presents
-check sales at grocery and plan meals accordingly
-keep things in supply for last minute meals and/or snacks, so there's no temptation to do takeaways
-use breadmaker for homemade bread/rolls and homemade pizza dough
-allowing ourselves a few planned luxuries occasionally, such as a bottle of wine with dinner once or twice a month. not an expensive thing, but it makes us feel like we're still enjoying life - if you cut back completely and don't allow yourself ANY luxuries you may find yourself going off on one at some point
-not using tumble dryer (lower electric bill)
-if we do have to go into town for the morning, no coffee out - amazing how quickly these little things add up
-DH brings lunch from home - lots of ways to do interesting and good food from home - he thinks it's funny that people at work tell him how lucky he is with his homemade food, cookies, rolls, and such in his lunches

Best of luck! It can be done, it just takes a bit of creativity sometimes!

god i need this thread. (one-handed typing, doing the 10pm feed, soz.)

call your mobile provider (if your 12-month contract has finished) and ask for your p.a.c code -- it's the code you need to keep your number when you move to a different network. they'll be all, "and where do you think you're going?" and you'll be all, "i was thinking of going pay-as-you-go, i'm skint". they'll be so scared of losing you, they'll offer some ridiculously cheap line rental or other deal.

i did this last year and ended up paying £60 for an entire year's worth of line rental, 40 texts a month and 30 mins' calls per month. £60!

except for that one-off fluke, i am the world's worst with money. i love spending. i even enjoy paying bills, ffs.

the tips on here are fantastic! my dh challenged me not to spend any money this week, and i have managed it. really helped to see how i often just spend for something to do.

sorry, must not clutter-up thread with inane ramblings.

I have found that sometimes if I have money or know we're financially okay for the month, that I am less rigid about savings. DH can sometimes be the same way. So we take out savings right away and put it into a separate account. We're saving for a house move at the end of May, and if we hadn't put the money into savings immediately, I think we would have just spent it slowly on needless things. It's far too easy to do, and often you don't notice it until it's gone.

I found I saved about 300.00 a month by working purely in cash!

I do a huge montly shop (do have a big chest freezer and lots of kitchen cupboards tho, online which is paid by card, all utilities and mortgage by DD

Then set out 50.00 per week, for fresh stuff, outings and such (am a CM so have 6 kids to cater for as well as ourselves)

I put 200.00 back for petrol (not always used, depends where we go in the month) any left at the end of the month is put straight into a instant acsess savings account, usually enough by the time tax and MOT time comes round to pay it staright off..

One of my parents pays me 650.00 in cash so I dont put it into the bank (I do declare it !) so I dont have to actually take any cash out of the bank.

The remaining money from the 650.00 I put in a drawer, if I need anything for the mindees (equipment, supplies) I take it out of there, at the end of the month I put the remaining in a holiday fund. So far this year I have saved enough for aweek in Spain in August for DH, DGD and myself!

I use Tesco clubcard vouchers each year to pay for my RAC membership (couldn't live without it with littlies) and for the servicing and mot on my car, saves me a fortune.

Thought of another one - though it requires discipline!
Get a credit card which offers cashback for usage. We have alliance and leicester. Use this for any non-cash spends (online shopping, petrol, bday pressies etc) and PAY OFF IN FULL EVERY MONTH. it's like a current account for us. And they pay us £70ish a year in cashback!
But you mjust pay the full amount every month or you soon end up in the shit.

To add to Slouchy's tip, I've just ordered a Tesco credit card to be used ONLY for food and petrol at Tesco. Pay off each month and save points for clubcard deals - the credit card gives you something like 4 points per £1 spent there. And I spend so much there, I thought I might as well get as much back from them as possible!

This is a very good thread - keep 'em coming! I have to have all budgeting running smoothly by September

Some more fab ideas. Keep them coming!

just to slightly highjack

i have sky (with 1 tv package)
sky broadband and
sky talk which gives me free evening and weekend uk calls for £16 / month

one of my biggest bargains is my bank account

i get;
RAC cover
'home emergancy cover' (which would add £50 on to my home insurance)
mobile phone insurance
annual world wide travel insurance
15% off my home insurance (15% off the cheapest price cause i did look around)

all for a bargain £10 a month... they are they things i WOULD spend money on anyway and i dont have to as its all included

I also get; (what i wouldnt pay for otherwise but will happily have for free )
passport / driving license insuarance
credit card insurance (and if i loose my purse phone one number to cancel them all)
key insurance
and they are associated with 'Avis' and i need to rent a car when i got to my friends wedding and will save an extra £15 off of that too!

oh and a £300 interest free overdraft on the account

I pay an extra £3.45 to have ' free' evening and weekends national land line calls up to 60 minutes each and they refund me £8.50 pcm. Don't ask! I don't know and don't care! I have now got my land line(including calls), broadband and tv package for under £50 pcm(Virgin). I use my mobile for all calls except 0845 and premium/numbers abroad for an inclusive £17.50 pcm (with all kinds of extras for free) during the day and the land line after 6pm for land line numbers and although it sounds a lot, it's the best deal I've ever had and it's my ' sanity line'! cos I'm here on my own so much!

I told all friends and my brother and his gf that I will no longer be doing birthday or Christmas presents because I couldn't any more and they were fine with that. Just buy for my Dc, Dp and my parents...I have been slightly embarrassed as some of them still give to us which I asked them not to do...If I must give gifts(say for a new baby), then I try to make something, which so far has gone down a storm!
Don't feel obliged or bullied into putting into a whip for a gift...£20 each is a lot if you are skint!
If you are given a gift that although it's lovely, you'll never use, give it away as a gift.
Recycle gift bags. Make gift tags out of old cards.

I make my own baby food.

If I find food stuff reduced in price I freeze it. Freeze a bottle or two of milk, then you won't need to buy it at a super inflated price at the corner shop if you run out.
I've stopped buying the buy one, buy 2nd 1/2 price as I feel it's false economy(things like washing up liquid).
I buy Bounty kitchen roll as it actually does go further than the cheap stuff and I wont buy the cheaper toilet rolls eith, but we are quite economical with it anyway!
I buy a bottle of flash all purpose and put it in a spray bottle which lasts for AGES.
I get Ds to turn out lights! and I don't wash half a load of laundry.
I love the pound shop, but have been caught out a couple of times. Lidl, Aldi and Netto are great.
Need to start baking again..but not bread as mum reckons she probably spends more doing it herself.

I do need to make lots of changes still though...