Ways to reduce expenditure during career break?

[Shufflebumnessie]

My maternity leave is due to end soon and I've been granted a one year (unpaid) career break from work. DH is still working full time and we'll be using saving to help if needed.

I'm looking at ways to cut our spending & just generally tighten our belts!

So far we've;
Swapped utility providers to the best deals,
Shopped around for the best insurance providers (home & car),
Reviewed all direct debits/standing orders.

We don't smoke, have sky tv, buy take-out coffees etc. We do pay for Netflix but use it a lot as we don't really go out as we have no childcare. Our phone contracts are very cheap.

I try to cook from scratch as much as possible, although we do enjoy a take-out once every couple of weeks. If we go out for the day we generally take a picnic.

Is there anything that I'm overlooking? Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks in advance.

YesBarry:

See my comment on mortgage.
I was able to pay off my mortgage early because no matter what I never touched it.
Some times, I was tempted to have try the holiday period, but decided, this too shall pass.
Now I am mortgage free and loving it.

I took a career break after DD2. That year I shopped in Lidl and meal planned. I used washable nappies and bought some equipment (pushchair etc) second hand. We took a cheap UK holiday and I mainly went to free or cheap baby & toddler groups and met up with friends in one of our houses during the week. We didn't make any large purchases although we did move house (area move - new house was slightly cheaper)

When we had DS, I gave up work (so no income) and OH gave up his job to start his own business (so very low income). It's amazing how little you can live on when you have to. We got a zero percent credit card where you only had to pay minimum balance each month for a year - we basically used it for everything including food shopping, petrol, etc. Savings and what little business profits were used to pay mortgage and utilities.

Re supermarkets, I went twice per week and got into the habit of varying where I shopped, so say Tesco on Tuesday and Asda on Friday. I didn't do any "inbetween" shopping at all. I just kept an eye on what was on offer in each store and would stock up on things on offer, so I hardly ever had to buy things when there was no offer. I was also very strict on meal planning and never bought more than I needed of anything, so virtually no waste - usually nothing more than the odd tomato or last few slices of bread or dregs of the milk. Even now, when money isn't tight, those good habits remain and I still buy things only when they're on BOGOF or other offers so usually have well stocked cupboards. Eg if Heinz beans aren't on offer in Tesco, they'll be on offer in Asda or Morrison - the popular staples are always on offer in one of the main supermarkets.

Cheaper to buy own brand beans though