What cut backs have you made recently?

[vulture1]

I cut my butlers salary.

[DickyC]

vulture1 said:

I cut my butlers salary.

Bad idea. You've forgotten about the tapes.

[nickfrog]

Fusion777 said:

nickfrog said:

Mean is £38k in the UK 2021, median £31k.

For full time workers. There are 8.1 million part time workers now, plus 4.23 million self-employed.

Sure. But the original joint £90k probably refers to 2 full time workers.

[NMNeil]

I can't honestly think of anything we've changed.

[757]

Cut back on as much as I can do, we have always been a thrifty family.

One thing I have done is leave the car at home and cycling as much as I can to the shops, only for the small things I can put in my backpack, astonishing how much fuel the car uses on such short journeys of 2/3miles.

Sure makes you appreciate the food you buy when your "actively" going to get it, rather than using the car to just go get some butter and milk, seems overkill.

[nickfrog]

That's the thing, if you don't like waste in the first place than there is not much you can save on.

Although I have downgraded my tennis strings which saves me £10/month. I am down to £50 per pair of tennis shoes but as they only last a couple of months, that's still extravagant.

[BlindedByTheLights]

We’re turning down offers of eating out, cutting out the rare takeaways we had, and have just installed a smart thermostat with digital radiator valves to regulate heat individually by room. Definitely thinking before driving and reducing trips out in our one car to as essential as possible. We both earn ok so I dread to think what it is like for low earners right now.

And I’ll be cancelling sky tv as soon as the contract allows.

Edited by BlindedByTheLights on Sunday 19th June 08:43

[757]

Throttlebody said:

Driving more economically, managed to get 45 mpg out of the 1.6 Juke from the normal 35 mpg. £1150 saved in fuel on 20k miles per year. Like free money. Researching hypermiling as a new hobby.

This does help massively, I have to agree, always been part of the hypermiling club

[Welshbeef]

Nickbrapp said:

Got a payrise and moved into a new build house

From December last year to may 31st we used £230 of gas (heating on all day at 21-22) and Wfh 2 of us and showering daily.

Decided to drop from a £350 a month lease car to one for £250, not as nice and don’t drive it as much but it sips fuel and is super comfy.

Swapped my company car for a van so BIK liability down from £150 a month or so to £0.

Stopped buying San pellengreno water as much and now every week waitrose give me a £3.50 “your offer” voucher. Makes it 50p a bottle instead of £1.20

Eating all the food in the freezer to use is up instead of just bunging more and more in there

Why not use tap water

[OldSkoolRS]

757 said:

Snip...astonishing how much fuel the car uses on such short journeys of 2/3miles.

Sure makes you appreciate the food you buy when your "actively" going to get it, rather than using the car to just go get some butter and milk, seems overkill.

When my MIL was ill, my wife was going down to her flat daily sometimes 2-3 times. It's only 3 miles or so. I recently went through the menus on her car and the average MPG since the last reset was 14mpg. It's a 1.8 SLK 250 not a 5 litre V12!! Sadly MIL is no longer with us, so the car sits on the drive 99% of the time now and it only goes out on longer journeys. My wife walks to the Spa for her daily swim and we walk to the supermarket and just go in the car for big shops/heavy stuff. The MPG average is currently at 35 now.

757 said:

Throttlebody said:

Driving more economically, managed to get 45 mpg out of the 1.6 Juke from the normal 35 mpg. £1150 saved in fuel on 20k miles per year. Like free money. Researching hypermiling as a new hobby.

This does help massively, I have to agree, always been part of the hypermiling club

Having put £60 worth in the SLK last week so we could go to various dealers to look at replacements I've been on a mission to see how much I can get out of it: Gentle acceleration helps of course, but looking ahead and easing off rather than braking hard at the lights, etc seems to help. Sometimes I'm still rolling when they change. Just have to be aware of other cars behind who might not appreciate being held up, but it's surprising how many times someone is up my bumper as I drive off gently, only to find that once up to speed they drop well behind.

Highest MPG lately has been 46 doing 60mph on the motorway/dual carriageway.

[Welshbeef]

OldSkoolRS said:

Having put £60 worth in the SLK last week so we could go to various dealers to look at replacements I've been on a mission to see how much I can get out of it: Gentle acceleration helps of course, but looking ahead and easing off rather than braking hard at the lights, etc seems to help. Sometimes I'm still rolling when they change. Just have to be aware of other cars behind who might not appreciate being held up, but it's surprising how many times someone is up my bumper as I drive off gently, only to find that once up to speed they drop well behind.

Highest MPG lately has been 46 doing 60mph on the motorway/dual carriageway.

Last week had a good 2 hour zoom call (but did voice only)
On the M4 all the way cruised at 60mph really relaxing - appeared lots of others did it too.
Managed door to door incl navigating a gridlocked Bristol with 34mpg out of a S205 C63…. So on momentum fuel that worked out to be I think 27pence per mile.

[Carbon Sasquatch]

paralla said:

We are only getting the mid spec LED headlights with PDLS rather than the top spec Matrix Beam LED’s with PDLS Plus on our new GT3.

It’s like finding £2053 in the street.

I hope you don't regret such short term thinking when things rebound again

[captain.scarlet]

OldSkoolRS said:

Having put £60 worth in the SLK last week so we could go to various dealers to look at replacements I've been on a mission to see how much I can get out of it: Gentle acceleration helps of course, but looking ahead and easing off rather than braking hard at the lights, etc seems to help. Sometimes I'm still rolling when they change. Just have to be aware of other cars behind who might not appreciate being held up, but it's surprising how many times someone is up my bumper as I drive off gently, only to find that once up to speed they drop well behind.

Highest MPG lately has been 46 doing 60mph on the motorway/dual carriageway.

I learned the creep up to the lights trick off my father.

It certainly beats accelerating up to them only to slam on your brakes.

Your observation there is shared about some drivers. I can never understand why some people are in such a rush to arrive at a set of lights that have just turned red, or will whizz past you at lightning speed in the neighbouring lane just to get to the lights. It's not like they want to apply their handbrake during the wait either.

[Welshbeef]

Who has now stopped turning off the stop start?

[Fusion777]

captain.scarlet said:

Your observation there is shared about some drivers. I can never understand why some people are in such a rush to arrive at a set of lights that have just turned red, or will whizz past you at lightning speed in the neighbouring lane just to get to the lights. It's not like they want to apply their handbrake during the wait either.

Because it takes thought, planning and anticipation to do the right thing, and that's too much for many people.

[Fusion777]

Welshbeef said:

Who has now stopped turning off the stop start?

I never started turning off the stop start, so have nothing to start stopping.

[a_dreamer]

Fusion777 said:

Because it takes thought, planning and anticipation to do the right thing, and that's too much for many people.

And there will be some who aren't arsed about efficiency and like to drive fast and the feeling of acceleration and deceleration is a major part of that. I'd say all of us have felt it and had those spirited drives at one point or other.

[okgo]

Changing driving habits surely is buttons of difference for all but the high mileage types?

It’s the ongoing theme here - huge change to your life or enjoyment and it’s saving you barely anything. Put the effort into earning more or changing fundamentals would seem more sensible? Be that a more economic car altogether, insulating your house, getting a payrise or whatever else that’ll be a lasting difference that’s sustainable without being that detrimental to life?

[bitchstewie]

That's surprising as I can count on one hand in years of Prime membership how many times and item hasn't been delivered next day so long as it stated next day at the time of ordering.

I honestly think Prime is a complete bargain for what you get from it delivery wise and I barely use the music and video services.

[OldSkoolRS]

okgo said:

Changing driving habits surely is buttons of difference for all but the high mileage types?

It’s the ongoing theme here - huge change to your life or enjoyment and it’s saving you barely anything. Put the effort into earning more or changing fundamentals would seem more sensible? Be that a more economic car altogether, insulating your house, getting a payrise or whatever else that’ll be a lasting difference that’s sustainable without being that detrimental to life?

It all adds up; I'm now on a fixed income having retired early (probably not the best time to do it I guess). We're changing to a more economical car, not by much, but we needed a 4/5 seater now my company car has gone back and we're going to only have the one car anyway, so that's a more fundamental change. I was getting emails via LinkedIn for jobs paying quite a bit more than I was on, but I knew that it would be positions more stressful than the one I was leaving for exactly that reason. So yes, a huge change to my life but I'm much happier: I'd rather cut back on a few things, or actually just not waste money on bills/fuel so I have more spare cash for treats. The extra walking is good for my health/weight too. Extra insulation was done years ago and new front door too (the old one was drafty).

I suppose that having retired I'm not in a tearing rush now, plus I can drive out of rush hour too which I find more relaxing. I wouldn't say it's less enjoyment as I enjoy the reason for the trip, such as visiting friends/family or going out somewhere nice (when it's less busy than the weekends).

captain.scarlet said:

I learned the creep up to the lights trick off my father.

It certainly beats accelerating up to them only to slam on your brakes.

Your observation there is shared about some drivers. I can never understand why some people are in such a rush to arrive at a set of lights that have just turned red, or will whizz past you at lightning speed in the neighbouring lane just to get to the lights. It's not like they want to apply their handbrake during the wait either.

There is one of those large roundabouts with a dual carriageway through the middle of it and traffic lights at each point near me. The light sequence is such that no matter how fast you put away you can't get through the next set before they change (I have tried in the past when I had a faster car ). Doesn't stop plenty of people trying it and I'm sure that they all can't be visitors not familiar with it. I just keep to the left and let the idiots scream past, only to roll up alongside them a few seconds later after they've done an emergency stop.

Edited by OldSkoolRS on Sunday 19th June 11:47