What are you doing to save money / offset the cost of living increase?

[Planetmarss]

I’m so anxious about the rising costs in living. Everything is getting so expensive and continuing to rise. I’ve just bought my first house and don’t know where we stand in terms of bills etc until the letter comes through the door….

What are your tips for saving money?

I’ve stopped getting my hair cut, I’ve bought more thermal pyjamas to cope with the heating being off, I’m investing in pipe insulation and radiator heat reflectors. We will invest in more insulation for the attic. Im looking to buy clear window film that insulates too.

You can use the water you've used to steam your veg, or, the water you've got saved in your thermos :-) I would simply use plenty of lather and elbow grease.
Or you could bring home the hot water in your thermos that was kindly donated by the lady in the cafe 😁

What do you mean @holothane hope you're ok

New things we're doing:

• Turn the radiators down
• Eat more vegetarian, 'student' meals like scrambled egg on toast
• Bought a microwave (we've never had one before) to heat up leftovers instead of using the oven

Things we've always done:

• Not wash our clothes too much. If it smells fresh, it goes back into the drawer.
• Wash our clothes on a 35 minute wash and hang to dry on a wooden clothes horse
• Make a packed lunch on office days
• Switch off lights when not in use

I switch every single plug off at night apart from fridge freezer and WiFi. When we leave for school and work I turn the boiler and water off on the panel. I never use a thermostat it take seconds for my boiler to switch back on and give me hot water. I am using a shorter cycle on my washing. Even the kids are turning off the sockets. I don't switch all my wax warmers on every day like I used to. I do miss those a bit though 🤣 hot water bottles to bed. I usually eat things like salad , poached eggs, pastaz cheese and ham a couple of times a week. Just simple cheap meals. All packed lunches in our house. It's definitely scary times.

@ThreeRingCircus which model do you have? We would normally batch cook for 6-8 portions at a time. Is 8l size too big?

Just a heads up to anyone on this thread using a short setting on the dishwasher/washing machine to save energy or water. You’ll need to check the manual as the most efficient cycles are often the longest.

@Whattochoosenow I have the Instant Pot Duo, think it's 5.7 litres. We're a family of four and it's the perfect size for us. Number of portions depends on what I'm making but I made a chilli in it the other night and that made 6 portions to have with rice/jacket potatoes. It fits a whole chicken in it easily and although it doesn't look pretty I get loads of really tender meat that way.

@Holothane

Christmas can do onethis year I hope not to be here.

Do you want to talk about that? X

Thankyou I hope never to spend another Christmas here with him I’m at the end of my tether with his baccy weed I’m planning to leave but it takes time and money. He’s was grumpy last Christmas moaning we were skint I didn’t care the Christmas’s he’s been grumpy. So yes hopefully not this year. If it it will be the last with him that I do know. We’re on benefit so trying to saving a leaving fund one for him one for me as universal credit takes weeks to come in and I don’t agree with the so called top up you have to pay back (bastards)

Slow cooker is cheaper than an oven. Here is some more detail www.beeco.green/facts/are-slow-cookers-energy-efficient/

I assume its because of the size, you're only heating up the food whereas in an oven you're also heating all the empty space which will use more energy. Also the higher the temperature, the more heat is lost to the surroundings so a Slow cooker which uses lower temps will lose less heat. Heat loss is also affected by surface area, which is also higher in an oven than a Slow cooker.

Halogen ovens are also economical and often quicker than a grill/ oven to cook things like chips, pizza, fish fingers - anything small which would usually go in the oven.

@holothane
Good luck x

Hi,
If you need anyone to chat to please feel free to PM me,
Hope your ok

That last message was to holothane

To save money,
I will be only using the car when needed,
No hair cuts,
Stock up on essentials,
Use codes or cashback for everything,
Use survey sites,
Use referals,
Look on for more hints and tips

I am :

• going back to being very mindful about spending and using cash more to keep better track
• reducing the number of hours the heating is on and being stricter about turning things off
• planning free days out and taking a packed lunch
• having a couple of really cheap meals each week to drag the average spend down
• buying cheaper versions of some items where it doesn't matter so much
• returning to shopping in the charity shops when I want a new book or DVD etc. I always used to do this pre-COVID anyway and it is a nice way to spend an hour too.

I am also over-budgeting for fuel in my monthly budget and will save any excess, rather than getting caught out. This helps prevent nasty shocks.

So many things! I'm gobsmaked at how much our energy bills will be going up this year. We are incredibly lucky that we can absorb the increases but will be cutting back loads to make sure we have a buffer / savings in place.

• We've turned our thermostat down and only have heating on twice a day for an hour.
• reduced how long the water heater is on for
• using the eco setting on the washing machine, shorter cycles, only washing a full load
• dishwasher once a day only
• Timing showers for 4-5 minutes each, we don't have a bath
• will be buying curtains with thermal lining for all rooms that don't have curtains in new house
• I've bought Sienna knock-off Oodies for me and DDs from Amazon - they cost £40 for 2 kids and an adult size one and are on as soon as we get up / after school
• I've plugged in our electricity monitor in to keep an eye on usage
• Selling off any bits and pieces we don't need.
• Using quidco for cashback and sites where we collect points - Sains instead of Ocado, Boots, Superdrug, Holland & Barrett. Building up points for Xmas.
• Cancelling National Trust, Disney Plus and magazine subscriptions,
• Stocking up on non-perishables before inflation rises
• We bulk buy shampoo/conditioner/hand soap/shower gel and decant into glass bottles - bought fairly cheaply on Amazon, last forever and look very stylish. I buy 5l bottles of Faith in Nature stuff from Holland & Barrett when they're on offer in Jan and they last a whole year for a family of 4 / Dove refill pouches are £1.80 for 500ml.
• Buying cards, wrapping, gift bags from Card Factory or using brown kraft paper / making them
• thinking about Xmas 22 in March (will be buying wrapping paper, cards etc early and putting money to one side)
• meal planning, using up the cupboard and eating at home most of the time, we've massively cut down on eating out / takeaways / coffees out etc
• saved up and paid off CCs this year.
• UK short breaks rather than longer holidays or holidays abroad.

Today I’ve just given up £140 gone on weed magazines that cost a fortune to be sent to father in law. Baccy bottle of whisky. He’s no sence at all with money, I’m trying to do a fund for him when I leave at this rate no chance.

@DogandMog

Just a heads up to anyone on this thread using a short setting on the dishwasher/washing machine to save energy or water. You’ll need to check the manual as the most efficient cycles are often the longest.

This.

It's the water temperture that matters most. I'm doing nearly everything at 30 degrees now. My machine has a 20 degree cycle that takes 4 hours which would be the most economical of all but I haven't dared try it.

We've just had a good clear out of our storage and loft and put loads of stuff on ebay to sell. Also got half a garage full of stuff to take to a car boot sale (things that aren't worth selling on ebay due to their fees and postage costs).

We've always sold old/used stuff via ebay and car boot sales, but lost momentum a few years ago, and then no car boot sales due to covid, so things have been piling up. Seeing how much our power direct debit is increasing by has spurred us into action. We reckon we can cover the increase for the first year by selling everything we've got together so far, so I think we've covered year 1 at least.

If anyone wants a nice cheap bar of soap, Aldi Aloe Vera is 59p for 4 bars. Nice fresh smell, good hard consistency and cleans perfectly well. Good for the planet and the wallet!

Remortgaging.

Our mortgage isn't up until the summer, but a lot of providers let you secure a deal up to 6 months before your old term is up.

We can get a fixed rate for 10 years that's only fractionally more expensive than their 5 year rate, so I think we are going to go for that for peace of mind.

@ToofFairy

Remortgaging.

Our mortgage isn't up until the summer, but a lot of providers let you secure a deal up to 6 months before your old term is up.

We can get a fixed rate for 10 years that's only fractionally more expensive than their 5 year rate, so I think we are going to go for that for peace of mind.

I think this is a good idea. What rate you fixing at?

Ordered take away for us last night. 28. That's a third of my shopping bill on one meal.
Won't be doing that for a while 😕

We are fixing at 2.24%. Last week it was 1.8% but we didn't get it sorted in time. It's rising so quickly. I would really urge anyone with a mortgage to have a look and see when they are able to remortgage and what sort of deals they can get. Don't bury your head in the sand with this one.

We got it down to 1.87% in the end with Lloyd's, just if anyone is looking to do similar .