Thrift

Thanks for the responses thus far.

I spent a few hours yesterday ringing around and managed to cut my monthly bills and direct debits down to around £650 (including my share of the rent and council tax). The gas/electric stood out; the DD's gone down to £43 PCM and I've asked for a sizeable chunk of the £hundreds in credit that has accrued since we moved in last August to be refunded to my account.

I note that Tesco accounted for £91.07 this month. Not awful, but she probably matches that. What are peoples' thoughts on more effective grocery shopping? We tend to cook from scratch and we're good at not hoarding tins and random packets; for example, I know that all we have in the freezer is spinach, peas, and half a pack of chicken thigh fillets. I suppose that a bottle or two of wine each week makes a difference and that may have to go. Unfortunately there's only a small Tesco store in town; Lidl, Aldi, Asda etc would be a 40 minute round car trip. There is a ludicrously expensive farm shop not too far away and a butcher but no greengrocers etc. Perhaps meal plans and online shopping are the answer.

Eating out was £159.81 - an easy (ish) one to solve and a notable saving. I've included food bought during lunch breaks at work in that figure.

Car costs were £613.51 (over two-thirds of that were cambelt, water pump, service & MOT). This was a big cost this month. One to ponder for the future but, since we both work 25 miles in opposite directions from where we live, motoring is currently an expensive fact and not a choice.
 
Groceries on line and fortnightly deliveries - for some reason it is cheaper than weekly deliveries - fewer goodies, presumably.

Credit card overhaul - make sure you are using cards best suited to you, lowest interest, cash back, etc.

Utilities overhaul - search and switch. As you have accumulated £100s is credit, no doubt there is a far cheaper tariff to be had. Been where you are too long.
 
Cheers, Carl. Might consider that. Meal planning takes extra care because she's a hospital doctor, meaning that her rota is all over the place with random 'nights' or 'lates'. But it's no different to anyone else working irregular shifts, I guess.

She's never used a credit card and I only have one (paid in full each month) that I use now-and-then in the hope that it improves my credit scores. In fact, I still have a student interest-free overdraft that the bank don't seem to have clocked.
 
Check utility meters more frequently and advise suppliers. The credit they almost invariably build up on most accounts is just them awarding themselves interesr free loans with our cash.

JohnnyO.m:icon_razz:/.
 
Perhaps one day split tariffs will be illegal so I just pay for what I use every quarter at a flat rate rather than play the monthly credit game...I'd keep some credit with them to avoid the inevitable request to raise the monthly tariff when energy prices do rise.
 
quidco is always worth a go. It's money for nothing especially when it comes to things like renewing car/travel/house insurance, breakdown recovery, currency exchange, phone.
 
My wife and I have a money crisis a few years ago and one of the best things we did was.... get a note pad and pen, put it by the front door. Every time you come in write down what you spent and what for.
Then after a few days or weeks, have a look through it.
This gives you an idea of what you realistic budget could be and what you can easily stop spending on.

Its all well and good trying to budget, but you need a bench mark, so this will set it for you.
And hopefully some of the shame will stop you spending. Knowing that you have to write it down when you get home used to make me doubt my impulse purchases and cut down quite a bit of spending.
 
Do a big cook up once a week and put meal sized portions in fridge/ freezer. It's easier to resist the urge to eat out or get a takeaway when you have something readily to hand.
 
Shop when your supermarket puts out the 'yellow label' reduced items which expire the same day. Usually this is between 7 and 8pm. Anything which has 'Use By' preceding the date must be eaten or frozen the same day, whilst you can chance it for a few days with 'Best Before'.

Tesco in my opinion gives the best discounts. Final reduction is normally 75%, have seen 95% on a few occasions. Picked up a Disney Frozen cake for the kids earlier reduced from a tenner to a quid just because the box was damaged. Still well within date :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom