What cut backs have you made recently?
Discussion
No heating since clocks changed.
Hot water only on 20 mins in the morning and evening .
Using the Ltr fiesta mainly now and using train rather than car where possible .
Aldi for the essentials ( no point in paying up for toilet roll etc) and trying to stretch out food .
Wasting food has always angered me. My dad was an orphan and had very little food.
I’ve always been one to turn lights off etc .
Hard to know what to do beyond this .
Great thread btw
Hot water only on 20 mins in the morning and evening .
Using the Ltr fiesta mainly now and using train rather than car where possible .
Aldi for the essentials ( no point in paying up for toilet roll etc) and trying to stretch out food .
Wasting food has always angered me. My dad was an orphan and had very little food.
I’ve always been one to turn lights off etc .
Hard to know what to do beyond this .
Great thread btw
No holiday this year, primarily because of the airport clusterf
k but also due to the ex rate. Will be going next year though.
Sold my car because I wasn't using it and now the potential for paying 6/700 a month for a PCP gives me a wtf moment
Other than that not a lot really, although we are saving noticeably less at the moment. Had a bit of a horrendous month though with kids milestone birthdays x2, car insurance for the youngest, car services and MOTs all round. Savings took a dip
k but also due to the ex rate. Will be going next year though.Sold my car because I wasn't using it and now the potential for paying 6/700 a month for a PCP gives me a wtf moment
Other than that not a lot really, although we are saving noticeably less at the moment. Had a bit of a horrendous month though with kids milestone birthdays x2, car insurance for the youngest, car services and MOTs all round. Savings took a dip
worsy said:
No holiday this year, primarily because of the airport clusterfk but also due to the ex rate. Will be going next year though.
Sold my car because I wasn't using it and now the potential for paying 6/700 a month for a PCP gives me a wtf moment
Other than that not a lot really, although we are saving noticeably less at the moment. Had a bit of a horrendous month though with kids milestone birthdays x2, car insurance for the youngest, car services and MOTs all round. Savings took a dip
Annoyingly the wife went nuts on holidays this year given we havnt been away for 3 years but now I’m hacked off about that . k but also due to the ex rate. Will be going next year though.Sold my car because I wasn't using it and now the potential for paying 6/700 a month for a PCP gives me a wtf moment
Other than that not a lot really, although we are saving noticeably less at the moment. Had a bit of a horrendous month though with kids milestone birthdays x2, car insurance for the youngest, car services and MOTs all round. Savings took a dip
Next year will be far more low key .
It’s quite scary to know the worst is yet to come and and it’s not going away anytime soon
droopsnoot said:
... I don't like leaving the car too many days without running it, ...
No need to be too concerned about that.
I have a sports car, that hibernates every winter (450 bhp can be a little too exciting on damp roads).
Using a battery conditioner, full tank of ethanol free fuel, higher tyre pressures (push car every couple of months), mouse prevention measures, and cotton sheets cover, everything has been fine for years.
GT3Manthey said:
worsy said:
No holiday this year, primarily because of the airport clusterfk but also due to the ex rate. Will be going next year though.
Sold my car because I wasn't using it and now the potential for paying 6/700 a month for a PCP gives me a wtf moment
Other than that not a lot really, although we are saving noticeably less at the moment. Had a bit of a horrendous month though with kids milestone birthdays x2, car insurance for the youngest, car services and MOTs all round. Savings took a dip
Annoyingly the wife went nuts on holidays this year given we havnt been away for 3 years but now I’m hacked off about that . k but also due to the ex rate. Will be going next year though.Sold my car because I wasn't using it and now the potential for paying 6/700 a month for a PCP gives me a wtf moment
Other than that not a lot really, although we are saving noticeably less at the moment. Had a bit of a horrendous month though with kids milestone birthdays x2, car insurance for the youngest, car services and MOTs all round. Savings took a dip
Next year will be far more low key .
It’s quite scary to know the worst is yet to come and and it’s not going away anytime soon
Reduced our tv packages to essentially freeview. Saved £80 there alone. Mobile is now sim only and I’ve cancelled subscriptions.
Got a smart meter being installed next week so I can see where we’re wasting gas and elec but we’re getting better at usage awareness and our consumption has decreased compared to same period last year.
Gone overboard on holidays though but fk it, I’d rather spend it on something I actually enjoy rather than give it to Shell Energy or Virgin Media…
Got a smart meter being installed next week so I can see where we’re wasting gas and elec but we’re getting better at usage awareness and our consumption has decreased compared to same period last year.
Gone overboard on holidays though but f
k it, I’d rather spend it on something I actually enjoy rather than give it to Shell Energy or Virgin Media…Only phone contracts here so far as that literally was no noticeable difference in anything yet saved 50 quid. For me I can't really see anything major beyond that would be worth cutting otherwise tbh - I look down my list of fixed outgoings and the single biggest thing that is a luxury is still under 100 quid a month so doesn't really seem worth it given we use everything we have.
I have tried to make sure wife knows to turn lights off not to boil an entire kettle of water every time she makes a tea etc, those I feel a good habits for the winter!
I have tried to make sure wife knows to turn lights off not to boil an entire kettle of water every time she makes a tea etc, those I feel a good habits for the winter!
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: I suspect if a few people just made a basic spreadsheet of what comes in and what goes out they'd be surprised at how much the little things add up.
Some of those things provide pretty big bang for buck though.TV subs & Sky - For the time I spend watching TV for example which is entertainment at least 4 nights a week, I could cut all of it and probably it amounts to about 70 quid p/m. Which I spent on a few pints and a pizza last night for example. Cheap entertainment is actually something to keep IMO if times are hard for you. For the cost of a one normal night out you can have TV for the other 30 days!
Certainly a little more luxurious of me but coffee costs me £34 a month - but it makes 55 cups of coffee which are of coffee shop quality (as I spent too much on a machine of course) which are £3 a go at least!
Already on a £10 p/m mobile contract and I have learnt to question before buying 'stuff'....which tends to be trainers in my case.
WFH for the last +2 yrs has saved me travel costs but one of the other benefits is I hardly buy coffees now from Costa/Nero/Starbucks (the odd one occasionally), at some point I was on 2 per day...when you multiply that by months and years it adds up!
I suspect that when the energy bills jump again later this year that will force me to find other areas to trim back.
WFH for the last +2 yrs has saved me travel costs but one of the other benefits is I hardly buy coffees now from Costa/Nero/Starbucks (the odd one occasionally), at some point I was on 2 per day...when you multiply that by months and years it adds up!
I suspect that when the energy bills jump again later this year that will force me to find other areas to trim back.
So far I haven’t changed much. But we don’t go out for leaks much and don’t use takeaways.
The heating is turned low/off as it would be and I still have done tv subs going. Will see when need to curb that.
Going away for 2 weeks if flights not cancelled so all in all still ok.
But I am more careful with my driving, particularly if it’s work, no point wasting petrol so I drive more economically without hypermilling.
Stopped using the convenience store for little shops during the week and try to be more organised with the weekly supermarket online shop.
The heating is turned low/off as it would be and I still have done tv subs going. Will see when need to curb that.
Going away for 2 weeks if flights not cancelled so all in all still ok.
But I am more careful with my driving, particularly if it’s work, no point wasting petrol so I drive more economically without hypermilling.
Stopped using the convenience store for little shops during the week and try to be more organised with the weekly supermarket online shop.
richardxjr said:
Sold the third car Boxster, trimmed everything so I can salary sacrifice as much as poss into pension. It helps that I can start drawing down the tax free bit from March though if necessary.
I've noticed a lot of Boxsters coming up for sale. I've been considering buying an earlyish 3.2S (until this weeks share price drop of some of my portfolio). The prices over the last few months have been pumped up but I note now that the higher priced stuff isn't selling. Maybe they aren't inflation proof after all.Re saving: I have a free bus pass due to my age but haven't used it in over 4 years since I got it until last week. One day a week I work in a local museum, i usually drive to the Tesco 3 hour free car park, but I now use the bus. Have to drive to the bus stop (1mile), but the bus drops me off a few hundred yards from the museum and I catch it home across the road. Saving about 16 mile and about £5/week in fuel. Also cut out the "glass of something" in the evening.
okgo said:
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: I suspect if a few people just made a basic spreadsheet of what comes in and what goes out they'd be surprised at how much the little things add up.
Some of those things provide pretty big bang for buck though.TV subs & Sky - For the time I spend watching TV for example which is entertainment at least 4 nights a week, I could cut all of it and probably it amounts to about 70 quid p/m. Which I spent on a few pints and a pizza last night for example. Cheap entertainment is actually something to keep IMO if times are hard for you. For the cost of a one normal night out you can have TV for the other 30 days!
Certainly a little more luxurious of me but coffee costs me £34 a month - but it makes 55 cups of coffee which are of coffee shop quality (as I spent too much on a machine of course) which are £3 a go at least!
There was a thread on here recently where a chap had some debts he was paying off at a pretty extortionate APR and he was asking for some advice on how to get debt free and he was spending £8-10/day on lunch and £20/week on haircuts.
I'm sure we all know someone who pretty much has a Costa cup welded to their hand or centre console.
It's that sort of thing.
And of course if people can afford it then keep doing it but if people really want to cut back discretionary purchases seem the right place to start.
valiant said:
... Got a smart meter being installed next week so I can see where we’re wasting gas and elec but we’re getting better at usage awareness and our consumption has decreased compared to same period last year. ...
Be wary of those things. They cannot save you money. You can analyse usage now, with your existing meters.
However, what does not tend to be mentioned, is that Smart Meters have the capability of applying different tariffs throughout the day. When enough households have them, we will be paying more to use energy at busy times every day. Well I won't, because I don't want one. Guess when most people need to use gas and electricity ? At high consumption times. The hope is that people might do their washing when most people are asleep. Power generation then becomes easier and hopefully not too many washing machines, or tumble dryers catch fire.
The Smart Meter phone salesman used to repeatedly ring me and describe how I could save lots of money.
I told him that I already had a gadget which could do that, ----- pause ----- "It is called a switch".
Fortunately I must have annoyed him sufficiently, because he never calls now.
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