Cost of living....

[gbb]

...I got a shock.
My wife has always done the finances, she has a much better eye for detail, more tenacious and easier access to banks etc than me and tbf, I tend to lose sight of it all. In years gone by, we always budgeted carefully, we had to but thankfully those days are gone so I realise, we've both relaxed and don't take as much notice of the overall picture.
Cherrrist, we looked the other day...phones, Internet, insurances....some of them are blooming expensive so she's had a good look at a few things, result is we're now £100 a month better off.
TV package reduced, I will miss some channels but I can't have it both ways, too much time wasted in front of a TV anyway.
Home phone reduced to incoming only. More than enough coverage with mobiles.
Internet reduced to 100meg, probably be fine anyway.
Pet insurance did cost us a lot due to some very expensive treatment in the past, heavily reduced by switching.
House and contents....heavily reduced and actually got better conditions such as well in some parts.

We made the mistake of sitting back, we were comfortable...well now , we're still comfortable...and better off.

Shame is, there a lot of stuff we can't change....

 

[Spinney]

Always, always get quotes every time an insurance needs renewing.

Have you come across martins money tips? From Money Saving Expert. Explains all sorts of stuff, you can sign up to an 'energy watcher' thing, you tell them who you're with and roughly how much you use, and the thing will email you when you can save £X (you decide what X is) by switching companies. Or if it's worth switching current accounts to get interest, is it worth getting an ISA, etc. All sorts of good stuff. You can also sign up to a weekly (I think) email with news, and often good offers that they've blagged because they have a large number of followers.

 

[Dave 123]

Every now and then Mrs Dave has a day of housekeeping, pruning and ringing insurance companies.
Last time she did it she saved/found £1,500.

 

[ColinJ]

I worked out the other day that I was earning £18,000 a year 25 years ago. I didn't feel particularly well-off at that time and the money just got frittered away.

Despite a quarter of a century of inflation, I could now get by quite happily on £12,000 a year and I would appreciate every penny of it.

I had an "Easy come, easy go" attitude at the time. It is more like "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" now ... (I don't drive, so all those new parking places are wasted on me!)

 

[subaqua]

People call me tight .

I think careful with money is a better phrase

 

[Drago]

Now I'm on a reduced, but still decent, income I've become a big fan of. http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/ to help the shekels go a bit further. He's also a big fan of cycling for it's money saving benefits and reduced environmental impact.

 

[Racing roadkill]

It's aliens.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I've been going through a similar process. When I was working I wasn't earning a great deal but with just two of us now we were comfortable, I'm now retired and on a state pension, at the end of last year I did a fair bit of pruning and cut my bills in preparation for retirement.

 

[derrick]

I got fed up paying for sky tv and expensive mobile phones years ago. Just use freeveiw and a basic mobile phone package now. Don't miss sky at all.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I'm not liking this monthly payment stuff. When i was working i got paid in cash everyday i worked. Now that i'm on sick pay and other bits i get "paid" monthly and paid less as well. I have to budget more and rely on others for my income. Not very nice but i have no alternative.

 

[RoubaixCube]

I read on the BBC today that MPs are getting an Extra £1000 ontop of their 60-70k a year salary because of 'living costs'.

Those poor poor unfortunate souls... Meanwhile in the public sector, some employees arent even being paid minimum wage or even receiving the 'london living wage'

 

[Accy cyclist]

I read on the BBC today that MPs are getting an Extra £1000 ontop of their 60-70k a year salary because of 'living costs'.

They'll tell us it's out of their hands as the pay increase is recommended by an independent body.

 

[RoubaixCube]

They'll tell us it's out of their hands as the pay increase is recommended by an independent body.

Whoever the independent body are need to have a look and see how some of us manage at even under 20k a year.

Fair enough, being an MP isnt an easy job. There are tonnes of places that you need to be and thousands of people you need to speak and correspond with.

Doing the job can cost a lot of money but then again that's why you can charge things back on expenses so the taxpayer pays for it. Not to mention the subsided rent or benefits on houses they may own or rent.

Its just a simple case of the rich helping the rich to get even richer. Meanwhile we have problems with homelessness, poverty & high rents and houses so expensive it would take 30 years to save even on a combined salary of 40-50k a year.

Remember David Cameron's 'big society'?? So much for that eh?

 

[Lonestar]

I've been going through a similar process. When I was working I wasn't earning a great deal but with just two of us now we were comfortable, I'm now retired and on a state pension, at the end of last year I did a fair bit of pruning and cut my bills in preparation for retirement.

I will be doing the same.

 

[galaxy]

Were just moving House in a few weeks, so the Mrs, who is quite good decided we would just stick with Freeview to save some dough. Last night we signed upto Sky for 18 months on the basic package to have the free tv.