In this age of austerity…

Most of my effort is mainly directed to bollocking the kids about turning lights off, closing doors, switching the damned XBox off, etc. Not that the buggers give a hoot, bank of mum and dad is of no concern to them, as long as food and roof and clothes keep on appearing. Trying to get the missus to find a cheaper hairdresser is proving equally futile (£200 a pop…ffs!!!)

Cancelled gym membership
Reduced wine consumption
Cycle to work 2 days a week
Buy cheap seasonal veg
Waste NOTHING

making your own lunch is a big one for me
if you can get into the routine of making it the night before saves hassle

if you can do it cycle to work, every day, no excuses about weather and such

just make a budget and stick to it

avoid the pub, dont eat out/takeaways- but a monthly treat is ok, share lifts on biking trips etc

Shop around all household suppliers… electricity, gas, telephone, broadband.

Genuine LOLS at tyger there!

We do the asda shop once a week so try and save money that way. If you are cooking from scratch anyway then the quality is fine.
Make lunches for the week – sandwiches, salads etc
Only drink on weekends really.
Drive a bit slower on the way to and from work each day.
More keen about turning off lights, tv, hifi etc.

Not a lot but just little things like that.

This morning I washed my face with soap containing gold leaf.

What recession?

This morning I washed my face with soap containing gold leaf.

What recession?

You washed your own face? What happened to the valet? Ye gods man, what is the world coming to?

I’ve turned off the heated wing mirrors on the car. I never thought this day would come. Frankly I’m a bit embarrassed

You washed your own face? What happened to the valet? Ye gods man, what is the world coming to?

Have you seen the price of gold, it was either the soap or or the valet, and the soap doesn’t demand paid holliday.

http://health-beauty.pricegrabber.co.uk/body-cleansers/Hand-Made-Exmoor-Soap-Gold/m844635550.html

Available in all good shops expensive enough to keep the rif-raf out.

I normally boil 4 eggs at a time, taking each one out eight seconds after the previous so that once all 4 are cracked open I can be sure to get one that is cooked to my liking.

I’ve cut back to using just three eggs. It’s a risky strategy, but needs must.

I took up smoking, the long term cost benefits through shortened life outweigh the cost of the fags themselves

No wonder there is no growth in the economy you tight arsed little monkeys

I spend just as much as I ever did but now I do it all on ebay, so it FEELS cheaper!

In the last week I have bought a replacement laptop, as the old one died, a magicshine front light, a secondhand smartphone and a replacement windscreen wiper for the car, mostly from the bay.

The idea is to keep the economy going right, not stop spending thus reducing the flow of funds and increasing the recession?

Well, I doubt anyone is saving at the moment so incomes are still being spent – people just want more for their money!

binners, that’s a step too far mate 😀

Interesting to see what people are spending in the first place to be cutting back on it now! > £100 pm on takeaways? 😯

That said when money was really tight a while back I had a month where I basically spent nothing except bills and Sainsbury’s and my outgoings dropped dramatically, so I guess I usually spend more than I realise.

Stoner: “Drive even more fanny-like” 😆

Failing that, cycle / walk / car share as much as possible.

Don Simon: “Turn the thermostat down a couple of degrees and use the transfer of body heat to keep warm, you won’t believe the number of chicks that fall for that one.”

Does that work on boys too? Will have to maybe find a chap for winter (purely for the purposes of reducing energy use of course!). Although putting an extra jumper on might be easier … 🙂

if you want to save money, set out a detailed budget and stick to it.

When I moved house a few years ago the new mortgage really stretched and worried me for a while so I set out a detailed budget, all hte bills etc and gave myself an allownace each week for ‘spending money’ from the remainder. I then made sure I stuck to that by keeping note. I piece of paper in my wallet, and note down the money spent on beer, ciniema or what ever, total it up each week. This way I stopped myslef just wasting money, every pound I spent was a decision and I valued what I got in return and I soon found I was saving money each week.

shop at aldi’s, it really is not as bad as it is made out (apart fomr meat and veg), far better than asda and tesco IMO

another big one is to work out each meal for every night of the week and write a shopping list and stick to it.

making your own lunch is a big one for me
if you can get into the routine of making it the night before saves hassle

we do this and you save shed loads.

get rid of one car (if you have two) you’d be amazed ho wmuch you save, its fekin hard work mind at the start.

and Sainsbury’s

Things must have been tight! No more M&S for you. 😉

Got rid of the car. Kept my insurance until next month so I get the full years no claims so not feeling all the savings yet, about £80/month better off so far and £30/month insurance will make it a big saving when it’s finshed.

shop at aldi’s

Tried that, but the lack of anything not tinned or jared means cooking from scratch isn’t possible and making 2 trips to Aldi and a proper shop wasn’t worth the fuel.

No wonder there is no growth in the economy you tight arsed little monkeys

We’re about to withdraw our ISA and spend it on finishing off the house. Working on the basis that we’re going to do the house eventually, but it gets more expensive every year and the ISA’s earning naff all interest.

Will have to cut right back when the Teachers’ Pensions contributions go up though.

Tried that, but the lack of anything not tinned or jared means cooking from scratch isn’t possible and making 2 trips to Aldi and a proper shop wasn’t worth the fuel.

Plenty of fresh stuff in our Aldi. Plus they had Jennings for 99p a bottle when we last went.

and Sainsbury’s

Things must have been tight! No more M&S for you.

M&S? No chance! Sainsbury’s is 10 minutes walk away, Aldi is 20 mins which is obviously fine but I’m sort of with thisisnotaspoon on Aldi- we cook mostly from scratch and I don’t seem to find much in there that we’d use. Not been for a while though to be fair.

‘Value’ is a funny thing though isn’t it? My time has value and I suppose if I’m honest I CBA spending it chasing the pennies* involved in buying my spuds from Tesco a few miles away rather than the Sainsbury’s on my doorstep.

*Also TBH I have no real idea how much cheaper Tesco is, but when we used the one on my GF’s old doorstep I don’t recall there being much difference in our bills.

question every grocery item. If you normally buy the branded item eg. Heinz TRY the supermarket basics range version…if that is truly pants try the next cheapest alternative. For some groceries I found I was happy to pay for the branded item, for others I found the basics stuff surprisingly reasonable.

I also did the ebay all the rubbish, packed luinches every day, ensure food waste is zero (plan means for the week, shop for the week, eat the planned meals). Eat more veg, pasta, bread, rice, lentils and a smaller piece of meat, less chocolate etc.

turn the heating down low – put another jumper on….alhtough I too prefer the ‘share body heat’ option 🙂 Hot drinks if you feel cold – a cup of tea is far cheaper than turning the heating up.

I can split this into categories

Food & Drink
I drink Cava instead of champagne
I now only serve two fresh scallops as a starter instead of three

Lifestyle
I still pay my gym membership – but don’t go. Then I’m not paying diesel to get there, nor am I paying to wash gym clothes

Car
I drive faster and harder to burn diesel to make sure I make the most savings from the 5p a litre off vouchers I get from Tesco

take in a lodger – several hundred a month in rent and bills halved.

I changed job for a 25% pay increase 😀 The new job also requires no commute so £2500 fuel saving + wear and tear pa.
Changed from Sainsburys to Morrisons – Actaully have to drive to Morrisons instead of walk to Sainsburys but still a big saving and Morrisons is generally better anyway.

If things got tough then food bills and cable could get cut but in general we’re pretty thifty anyway.

Take in a prostitute. Hundreds a month in pimping and split the bills 🙂

Could also use her for bodyheat when she’s free and even rig up some sort of dynamo system to harness some of the energy output.

Could be secondary revenue streams in black mailing punters as well…

This idea has got wheels.

I do many as detailed ^^.

Avoid the temptation to buy any food/drink in garages/corner shops.
There is always something reduced in supermarkets which is edible, a fraction of the price and freezable.
Go to supermarkets late when they are restocking and getting rid of perishables.
Pay stuff eg car insurance up front as instalments are often a joke (£120 saving for me last year)
Don’t buy new frames ‘because you have most of the parts’ – the missing parts are always the most expensive 😉

Are you on a water meter? Collect water that you normally run-off when waiting for it to go hot. Flush the loo with it. Make sure the tap is turned off when scrubbing your teeth.

Put a half-brick in the toilet flush so it uses less water when you DO use it.

Use a plastic washing-up bowl in the kitchen sink.

Make sure you put a lid on pans in which you are boiling water on the stove – boils faster and saves on gas costs.

Install an efficient boiler and room thermostat(s).

Commute by bike and rail on a yearly rail ticket (massive discount).

Pick the supermarket bottom shelves when buying toiletries.

Pick supermarket own brands for medication (aspirin and the like).

If you’ve an empty parking space – rent it out.

Make up a coffee vacuum flask and take it to work instead of spending £3 a cup every day.

That’ll do for now…

Start shoplifting

i’m not on a water meter, anybody want to touch mecome use my taps?

I might fill my car up with water next time I’m down your way, ta 🙂

Make up a coffee vacuum flask and take it to work instead of spending £3 a cup every day.

Work ‘tea/coffee fund’ is £3 a month and I fill a flask when I go out which lasts all day. Can’t believe how many colleagues spend more than that per day getting coffee from the restaurant or vending machines at hospitals which IMO is usually disgusting 😯

I do lots of this stuff and I’m still skint, house mate Chris (owns the house) won’t put the heating on until November. I haven’t felt my toes for weeks now!! LOL

How about earning more money by working more and reducing hours spent posting messages on forums?

When you cook a meal think about ways of eating any left-overs/over-cooking.

I did a bit too much pasta last night so, rather than put it on the plate and force it down (always taught to eat what was on my plate from an early age and it proves impossible to break the habit) I put it in the fridge and made a quick bowl of pasta for lunch with some tuna rather than going to town and spending £3.25 on a Boots meal deal.