Reduced cost living - share your ideas?

[Time Waster]

Just thought I these times of high inflation and other cost pressures people might be reverting back to the old ways of reducing their costs and reassessment of their actual needs and expenditure. Not necessarily through lack of supply but less headroom in their spending capacity.

What changes have you made? What tips do you have?

I'm guessing that accommodation, heating, food and transportation are big expenses that could give the biggest, potential for reductions. So what and how do you go about it?

We're not in financial difficulties but we're not being clever about things. Food is our big issue and since we have the money we buy something if we want it. There's little thought about whether we should get something. That's changing along with the setting of a fixed monthly food budget. We've been buying too many treats or items without thought as to use. All waste and wasted money.

So budgeting is now more important. Need vs want gets priority. Savings over toys. What's your changes in ways of living in these different times?

 

[Oldhippy]

I don't buy processed food, cycle as transport and pay exact electricity not their best guess.

 

[Saluki]

I batch cook and freeze real food (note to self, I need a spare, small freezer), then defrost and cook as required. Great for work lunches too. I am considering a Remoska but they are not overly inexpensive to buy and I need more research yet.
I don’t use much in the way of heating if I can help it. I have my huge hooded fleece, also my sofa fleece for cold days/evenings.
For years I have boiled the kettle in the morning for a cup of tea then filled a flask with the rest of the water. I tend to have fruit tea in the day now and flasked hot water is fine. I can’t see the kettle/flask thing changing any time soon. My Nan did this as she had a 50p meter and said that it saved her money.
I shower at the gym, rather than use water and electricity at home. The gym is my luxury and I got an excellent ‘Black Friday‘ deal last year for 18 months membership so paid up front and it worked out to just over half price. It’s my social events, where I see my friends etc and I am glad to have it. In May 2023 I may have to have a rethink.
I drive if I have to, walk or cycle where possible and if I I’ve to take the car somewhere, I try and incorporate another errand, such as picking up a few sacks of dog food.

 

[DCLane]

SWMBO lost her NHS job six years ago (a long, nasty story of illegal behaviour by her ex-NHS Trust) and tried to go freelance. That didn't work and she went back into the NHS elsewhere for a couple of years before the Clinical Commissioning Groups closed and was redundant again. She tried freelance a second time and for just over a year we threw everything we had at it before it semi-succeeded with part-freelance, part-NHS roles and she's now busier than ever. Covid may have helped as she worked/works on Covid/Covid-rehab wards as well as other stuff but her policy-writing/conference attendance and talks/networking got her to where she is now. Why have I put this? Because we've been there, despite me having a 'decent' job.

The above meant we had to tighten the purse strings a lot to avoid going into debt, but are now in a much better position. So ... what did we do:

• Every bill got looked at and changed if there was a better deal; gas/electric (we're on a 2-year fixed deal to Sept '23), internet, mobile, etc. You don't need the expensive mobile subscriptions - use free wi-fi somewhere rather than a big contract.
• Debts were paid off, then the mortgage. Not paying interest = more money.
• Food shopping moved to the more 'basic' items where we could. No ready meals, cook from scratch and learn to if you've not done so. Yellow stickering helps sometimes.
• Share food and other items to save waste and cost. Olio and others allow you to share items you don't need or need to use.
• Don't go hungry. Use a food bank or similar. Being hungry often means we make bad decisions at that time.
• Anything we didn't need, we cut. No TV streaming, eating out including coffee/drinks, evenings out, subscriptions unless they helped (TV/food/magazines/gym all cancelled).
• Look at the charity giving you do. Reduce that if needed.
• Use cash-back websites (sorry CC) such as Quidco/Topcashback, cash-back credit/debit cards, loyalty schemes = triple bonus points.
• No new car. No lease car. We ran, until last week, 12/13 year-old cars and I used a bike for almost everything.
• Need something? Try second-hand / free. Our home office suites were free (SWMBO's via Freecycle) and £20 (mine via eBay) and both were almost new.
• Children's trips got cut back. Son no. 2's racing was almost always local unless we had support.
• Take advantage of things like free days out; do a search for your local area. Farm visits, etc. are educational and entertaining.
• Holidays got cut back. We went from 2-3 a year, including an international trip, to one basic one. Previously we'd done house-swap holidays which reduces the cost massively.
• I sold bikes and bike parts galore, including buying and fixing-up old bikes. We raised £10k+ from that. Thanks to the CC members who bought stuff as it kept us afloat.
• Do you need it? Are you using it? If not, and not likely to then sell it. eBay / Gumtree / Facebook Marketplace / local ads / etc. and if using eBay then take advantage of their free/low-cost listing days.
• I found new methods of earning; the Royal Mail panel, private work (marking in my case), mystery shopping/focus groups, competitions (a 'bonus' but resulted in a £30k car last week). MoneySavingExpert helps here with an alternative income suggestion.

Fortunately we are in a much better position currently so should ride this current set of increases and issues out, even being able to take a short international holiday this week. I'm aware others aren't so some careful planning, budgeting and decisions now will help.

My advice is to set out your income / expenditure clearly, covering exactly what you have / earn / spend. A good budget means you have a better chance of managing the little bits of expenditure you forget. For anyone who doesn't budget I'd advise doing so and I've attached a blank version of the one we use/used, although there's lots out there.

I'm also aware there are some CC members who make my spending look profligate, and hope they'll add more ...

 

[raleighnut]

View: https://youtu.be/26ZDB9h7BLY

 

[cyberknight]

Mrs CK wanted to pack in her part time job,not happening .
Just had nearly 4 months of short pay after my accident which has dented the savings so we had already cut things back,if it wasn't for the disability allowance we would be in trouble

 

[Moodyman]

1. Earn more
2. Spend less
3. Combination of 1 and 2.

Look at all aspects of your life and make small improvements. Over time they will aggregate and compound.

Be comfortable at having less.

 

[vickster]

I'm certainly eating out less - more just not got back into the habit after Covid (and not in London as much).
One massive saving for me is switching from personal private healthcare to corporate this year

 

[All uphill]

We are doing most of the usual things, and have been since I retired five years ago.

We think it's important to have pleasures as well as economies, so we often have a coffee out, but no more meals out.

We buy books, but 2nd hand now, not new.

We cook all our food from scratch and allow ourselves some luxury ingredients.

To be sustainable for us it has to avoid misery.

 

[Moodyman]

@Andy in Germany how are things in Deutschland? Are the usually prudent Germans coping or feeling the pain?

 

[Andy in Germany]

@Andy in Germany how are things in Deutschland? Are the usually prudent Germans coping or feeling the pain?

I'm not sure what the current situation is like in the UK, so it's hard to do a direct comparison.

I'm told fuel prices went up here, but I'm not as directly aware of those for lack of car reasons. Electricity has gone up a lot; we have a team in the organisation which can go to people's houses and measure their appliances electricity use, and offer some replacements or a small grant for people to replace things like fridges and washing machines, and they're advertising very hard. There's a shortage of sunflower oil and sunflower margarine, but I haven't noticed much else. Overall the economy is pulling back to pre-covid levels; we're seeing a gradual increase in daily sales at the shop and local employers are hiring.

However, two caveats; this is a federal country, and the states are more independent than Scotland and Wales in the UK, so there will be differences. What is normal here in what, to be fair is a wealthier state, is possibly not normal in other parts of the country. I'm also still getting used to having a proper salary after several years of income support, so I'm used to living on very little by most people's standards and I still have the habits from that time so I'm kind of cushioned from the impact to some extent; I do most of the things described here as a hangover from those days.

 

[chriswoody]

@Andy in Germany how are things in Deutschland? Are the usually prudent Germans coping or feeling the pain?

To add in to @Andy in Germany post, the fuel costs went up for a short while and then settled back a little bit, both Diesel and Petrol are currently around the 2 euro mark. I live in Niedersachsen, the home of Volkswagen amongst other big firms, so again a fairly wealthy state. My biggest concern is the gas prices and supply, unfortunately Germany relies a lot on Russian gas and it's a hot topic in the news over here. We have gas central heating and a gas cooker in the house and I've been looking at longer term ways of reducing our own dependance on it. Swapping the cooker for an electric induction one is one immediate solution, I just need to look at reducing our gas central heating. Ground source heat pumps are a no go because of our garden and I'm not so convinced by air source, but I'm still looking into it at the moment.

One immediate change I have made is to finally buy a cargo trailer for the bikes so we can do the weekly food and drink shop without lazily resorting to the car. It's a game changer and one I should have made much earlier, now the car is purely for my wife's commute and visiting her parents who live over 70 km's away.

 

[Reynard]

Foodwise, definitely yellow stickers and wonky fruit & veg. But I buy ingredients rather than prepared stuff generally, as I love to cook, which works out a heck of a lot cheaper anyway. Depending on what I buy (and what's available), a typical food spend per week for the two person household chez Casa Reynard is between £35 and £40. I don't stint on stuff and will happily pay money where it's warranted, but I hate to waste money unnecesarily. And the "Mundaners" will know we eat very well here. Here's how I do it:

1) No takeaways or meals out unless I'm "on the road". We live in the boonies, so no one delivers anyway, ergo I have to go out. Which means it's a faff. But a lot of takeaway / restaurant favourites are so easy to cook at home - and much nicer to boot.

2) Very few Big Brands. Sometimes it's unavoidable if there's no alternative, but typically, most supermarket own label stuff is made on the same lines as the branded, just with slightly different spec. More often than not, it's hard to tell the difference, and sometimes I find the own brand product is actually nicer.

3) Very little prepared stuff including oven ready / microwavable - some things have a stupid big mark-up compared to making stuff at home. Even on sticker, some things aren't worth buying. You are paying for convenience.

4) No pre-chopped fruit & veg - it has almost no shelf life, plus again, big mark-ups. And a lot of it isn't very nice.

5) No alcohol. Mum and I are teetotal by choice, mainly because we don't actually like the taste.

6) Almost zero food waste. I remember reading in multiple places that domestic food waste can be around 20% of a household's actual food spend. Tips here is not having too many things open at once, use leftovers creatively, if you see something is beginning to look a little tired, then find a way to use it up (new recipe time!!!), and don't go food shopping if you don't really need it. I will look in the fridge and if I think "nope, still got too much" then I won't go out.

7) Shopping list! Without one, I'm a pain for throwing things into the trolley that I don't need, because it's so easy to get tempted. That's the perils of being a foodie.

8) Take advantage of clearance bargains on long-life cupboard staples e.g. rice, pasta, canned goods, dried goods, flour.

9) Have a well-stocked store cupboard full of staples, seasonings, stock cubes etc. That way you can always whisk up a meal without too much hassle.

10) Get the most out of what you do buy. Save dripping for frying, use bones, cooking juices and trimmings to make stock for soup. Use stale bread to make breadcrumbs or puddings.

11) Learn how to store stuff properly, and remember, that in the right conditions, some fruit and veg will keep a long time. Which allows you to take advantage of good offers when things are in season.

12) And finally, don't buy more than you can use and / or don't buy what you can't use.

HTH...

 

[vickster]

Not eating meat anymore saves me money on groceries I'm sure (I do still eat fish/seafood but probably only a couple of times a week) and I'm a devil for ready made stuff (lazy non foodie ) but I don't shop as much in Waitrose now

 

[oldwheels]

I batch cook and freeze real food (note to self, I need a spare, small freezer), then defrost and cook as required. Great for work lunches too. I am considering a Remoska but they are not overly inexpensive to buy and I need more research yet.
I don’t use much in the way of heating if I can help it. I have my huge hooded fleece, also my sofa fleece for cold days/evenings.
For years I have boiled the kettle in the morning for a cup of tea then filled a flask with the rest of the water. I tend to have fruit tea in the day now and flasked hot water is fine. I can’t see the kettle/flask thing changing any time soon. My Nan did this as she had a 50p meter and said that it saved her money.
I shower at the gym, rather than use water and electricity at home. The gym is my luxury and I got an excellent ‘Black Friday‘ deal last year for 18 months membership so paid up front and it worked out to just over half price. It’s my social events, where I see my friends etc and I am glad to have it. In May 2023 I may have to have a rethink.
I drive if I have to, walk or cycle where possible and if I I’ve to take the car somewhere, I try and incorporate another errand, such as picking up a few sacks of dog food.

I recommend the Remoska. We have had one for years and now I use it more than any other kitchen appliance. Originally bought for a motorhome but now only in the home kitchen.