How to cut spending while on SSP

[Majorcutbacksneeded]

Unfortunately I’ve been ill, I’ve used up my 4 weeks occupational sick pay and due to go onto SSP from next week. I’ve got post viral fatigue, I had hoped I’d be back in work by now but it’s not looking likely.
I currently earn £2900 a month, DH earns £3500, at the moment we spend pretty much what we want and don’t worry, we don’t have any debt apart from the mortgage, our only other sizeable commitment is childcare. We’ve also got a 2 week holiday booked in September that we’ve paid part of the cost of but we need to pay a further £4,200 in June, we have most of this set aside and we can take the rest from our emergency fund if needed (or cancel and lose the £1200 we’ve already paid).
I’ve been back through the last few months statements and we spend about £1,800 on petrol, train to work for DH, food, entertainment, fun, nappies, clothes, toys (just stuff). I want to get this down to £700 (£400 food and £300 petrol, train fares and entertainment).
If I can do this, cancel Netflix, national trust and stop saving our shortfall will be about £800 a month. We’ve got enough in savings to see us through (have about £15k) but DH is also at risk of redundancy. They have just done the VR phase and will find out in a few months what the new structure is and whether he will have a job.

Im feeling a bit low at the moment, I’m tired all the time, I don’t have the energy to play/help with DS so a lot of the load is landing on DH who is finding it tough going with us both to look after and work being up and down. I’m a bit worried about how we will manage if I’m off long term or DH is made redundant - especially if we have used up some of our emergency fund now.
If anyone fancies giving me a pep talk and tips on slashing your spending I’m all ears. DS is allergic to dairy, egg and soya so our food bill is probably higher than average as dairy free is expensive!
I think I’m going to get out the slow cooker as I can prep the food when I’ve got more energy and just set it off in the morning.
I am grateful that we are able to cut back and we do have savings, I have no idea how you would manage on £123 a week if you didn’t have a safety net but it will take us years to build it back up if I’m off for any length of time.

I’d definitely postpone the holiday - can you move what you’ve paid so far to next year?

Look on the Money saving expert forum at the budget plans. There are some people who budget very well on there.

We could postpone it, we would lose the flights and a night in a hotel bed or we fly back (£900) but the deposit on the cruise could be put against a future one. The costs of flights have gone up though and under the terms of the cruise company you need to book a future cruise (within 12 months) at the same value or more so unless we could find one from the uk we’d lose most of what we have paid out.
We don’t need to pay the balance until June so I think we will see how I am and whether I am back at work by then or not. If it looks like I’ll be off a few months we are probably best to postpone or not.
I’ve worked out that so long as I can do 14 hours a week we will be ok if we can stick to the reduced budget. Hopefully I will get better soon and be able to get back to work in a month or so even if it is not full time.

You really need to do a full budget and see exact where your money is going. Your discretionary spending sounds like a lot so you could definitely that down.

Can you do things like switching phone plans, WiFi, insurances etc. There's so many tips on money saving expert and the like, you're probably wasting a lot you don't even realise.

Could you set yourself challenges like no new clothes this year (unless absolutely essential). If you have young DC then Vinted and cheaper places than your usual. No takeaways, no eating out, or set a strict limit on it.

Do you have things you could sell? I've made nearly £2k on Vinted just by selling outgrown clothes, toy and things we no longer need.

Use Tesco clubcard points for cheap/free days out and meals out. Do free things locally rather than spending on 'entertainment.'

Switch to own brands in the supermarket. Do more meat free meals.

These are all things I do naturally, as have lived on a tight budget.

How long before you expect to be back at work?

i have no idea when I will be back, the GP doesn’t think I’ll be back “anytime soon” could be 2-3 weeks could me 2-3 months, could be longer.
Ive done a budget, we can manage for me to be off for 18 months on SSP/no pay before we use up our emergency fund if I can stick to the budget and if I can do 14 hours a week and stick to the budget we will won’t need to use our savings. Fortunately DH has worked for his employer a long time so would get c£55k redundancy and 3 months PILON if he left so that’s a future problem.
We don’t shop at Tesco as there isn’t one nearby, tend to do Asda and Waitrose (Asda for main shop and Waitrose for the allergy bits we need for DS as Asdas range is awful and a lot of the vegan things contain soya).
I probably do have the odd thing we can sell, but I don’t have the energy right now, just moving about makes me exhausted, With DS clothes, I’ve given these to my DSIS who has a son 15 months younger than DS, she’s also had the cot, bouncer, playpen and a lot of the rest of the stuff we’ve finished with that is saleable. Although I also won’t be doing many days out and shopping so a saving there! I’ve set DH a budget of £125 a month for DS and his activities and entertainment (he has him on a Monday too) and ChatGPT has come up with some good suggestions of activities for this budget. He needs to take him out as I struggle with them at home, DS wants to play with me and he doesn’t understand why I’m in bed and can’t do much and gets distressed.
Ive looked at switching the mobiles, we can save £12 by switching them both to a £6 Tesco plan from sky which is £12 for the same package, our next insurance renewal is the car in August, but we pay annually. We’ve just renewed the holiday and house insurance. We could cancel the health insurance (£99 a month) but DH is reluctant to do this incase I need to go private for physio or tests. I’ve got another appointment at GP on Monday for a review and they want to send me for tests if I’m no better.
I think our main way to reduce our costs is cutting down on activities, food and takeaways/pre prepped meals. Whilst we spent a lot on these areas, the rest of our budget isn’t bad, we shop around for insurance, have sim only phones, only Amazon prime, Netflix and national trust subscriptions and have no debt/ car payment to service.
We used to be a lot more frugal, but payrises and DS we took our eye off the ball.