What cut backs have you made recently?
Discussion
peeliewally said:
Swapping my F31 335d for a mini electric. 60 miles per day commute with road works to and from work every day was the final straw. Diesel now £2 per litre and £100 per week to fill up vs free charging at work and £0.05 per kw/h to charge at home overnight.
Sky subscription halved and loads of other things cancelled or trimmed down. Pressure eased significantly given gas & electricity more than doubled now.
First post since registering at the beginning of 2007- that's top lurking.Sky subscription halved and loads of other things cancelled or trimmed down. Pressure eased significantly given gas & electricity more than doubled now.
hotchy said:
I changed from going to the odeon at £13 a ticket here, and drove to the vue £5 tickets and user meerkat movies so litterly cost £5 for both. I even brought my own snacks instead of spending about £30 on junk.
I stopped going to the cinema years ago. The thought of sitting with strangers where the volume has to be SO HIGH to drown out people talking just doesn't appeal.
I've also switched from car to motorbike as principle transport and also picked up a commuter bike.
Journeys of <3miles = commuter bike.
Taking family or going mountain bikin= car. However on the latter I've not bothered these past two weekends.
I'm about 20 years since my last cinema trip.
The thought of that many other people for that long, eating their food & making their noise has successfully put me off - and that was even before Covid.....
I thought Top Gun 2 would tempt me back but have resisted so far.
I do have a 7.1.4 surround sound room at home though - but that's a sunk cost so the savings keep being made
The thought of that many other people for that long, eating their food & making their noise has successfully put me off - and that was even before Covid.....
I thought Top Gun 2 would tempt me back but have resisted so far.
I do have a 7.1.4 surround sound room at home though - but that's a sunk cost so the savings keep being made
Fusion777 said:
First post since registering at the beginning of 2007- that's top lurking.
Yes, I like to lurk in the background. I’ve been away from BMW for a while and returned to owning one again last year. I think I had an E46 330d back when I registered but it was faultless so didn’t need to seek help on the forum.Loving all these savings tips. Got a sales call today from Sky, lovely pleasant lady asking how I was and hoping I was having a great day. Asked me if I'd be interested in subscribing to Netflix or something for X more a month. Currently I just have the basic BB and line rental which has crept up to about £35 pm from £27.
I was no thanks I rarely watch TV when the clocks go forward and my partner has Netflix account we use for movies but whilst I have you on the line can we talk about reducing my monthlies? Click. Hahahaha.
Cheeky cow. Sky are really not winning these days.
I was no thanks I rarely watch TV when the clocks go forward and my partner has Netflix account we use for movies but whilst I have you on the line can we talk about reducing my monthlies? Click. Hahahaha.
Cheeky cow. Sky are really not winning these days.
MercedesClassic said:
... lovely pleasant lady asking how I was and hoping I was having a great day. ....
.... Cheeky cow.
.... Cheeky cow.
Lovely pleasant lady, turns into a cheeky cow.
If a female called me and was immediately 'asking how I was and hoping I was having a great day', I would consider her a cheeky cow at that stage, not make that judgement at the end of the conversation.
I have a short fuse, with cold call, telephone sales people.
If when they call, I do happen to have spare time, it can be quite amusing to begin talking about nonsensical matters, to see how quickly they realise they are being pranked.
Answer is usually, not very quickly.
My favourite ploy is as follows;
They ask my age ............... Answer 96.
Do you live alone ? ............ No, I live with my mother and also her father.
Do you have mobility needs, for example climbing stairs ? ..... I don't need a stairlift, because I have a mobility scooter. It has recently been fitted with a 1,000cc motor bike engine. That can now easily take me up the stairs!
And still they keep on reading their script questions. It is hilarious.
( My mother's father must be at least 135 years old ! )
Edited by Jon39 on Thursday 23 June 23:21
Jon39 said:
Lovely pleasant lady, turns into a cheeky cow.
If a female called me and was immediately 'asking how I was and hoping I was having a great day', I would consider her a cheeky cow at that stage, not make that judgement at the end of the conversation.
I have a short fuse, with cold call, telephone sales people.
If when they call, I do happen to have spare time, it can be quite amusing to begin talking about nonsensical matters, to see how quickly they realise they are being pranked.
Answer is usually, not very quickly.
My favourite ploy is as follows;
They ask my age ............... Answer 96.
Do you live alone ? ............ No, I live with my mother and also her father.
Do you have mobility needs, for example climbing stairs ? ..... I don't need a stairlift, because I have a mobility scooter. It has recently been fitted with a 1,000cc motor bike engine. That can now easily take me up the stairs!
And still they keep on reading their script questions. It is hilarious.
( My mother's father must be at least 135 years old ! )
HaHa brill. I love winding these cold callers up too. I remember a conversation that went something like this
Who is your mobile phone contract with.....reply - No-one
Do you currently own a mobile Phone.....No
Are you planning on getting a mobile phone on contract.....No
How do you plan on sending messages to people then.......Carrier Pigeon
Edited by Jon39 on Thursday 23 June 23:21
Cracking thread! For me not eating meat has saved me alot over the last few months. Veggie recipes are cheap as...urm chips and also the knock on effect of not eating takeaways has helped.Changed from pick-ups to a fiesta van (64mpg) for the time being but also walking whenever possible.
Food savings seem to be a popular choice. Has anyone noticed that reduced items, you know in that short date section don't seem to be the bargains they used to be?
I noticed in Tesco the other day items that were maybe £5 reduced to £4. I thought to myself if I wanted the item I'd probably buy the in date item due to the minimal saving compared to quality and food poisoning risk.
I actually went in to buy a whole cooked chicken. They're about £5.50 now, up in price but worth it for the number of meals I get out of it. Usually they have long dates too.
They were all out of date the next day but full price. Didn't buy any for that reason. Ironically they were on the shelf above the reduced stuff too.
I noticed in Tesco the other day items that were maybe £5 reduced to £4. I thought to myself if I wanted the item I'd probably buy the in date item due to the minimal saving compared to quality and food poisoning risk.
I actually went in to buy a whole cooked chicken. They're about £5.50 now, up in price but worth it for the number of meals I get out of it. Usually they have long dates too.
They were all out of date the next day but full price. Didn't buy any for that reason. Ironically they were on the shelf above the reduced stuff too.
emicen said:
Cycled to work and back yesterday for the first time, calculates out at saving £6.60/day.
We do a 4 day week so my aim is to cycle in one day a week and work from home one day. Should cut the car use largely in half.
I've done the same, I reckon at fuel prices as they are I'm saving about £7 a day. Cycled 4 days this week We do a 4 day week so my aim is to cycle in one day a week and work from home one day. Should cut the car use largely in half.
(We'll gloss over the fact the bike is new on the cycle to work scheme, but 3 days cycling and it breaks even and I've got a shiny new bike
)Makes even more sense for those in the vicinity of London with work in central.
I cycled 18 miles each way for years and years, travel card for zones 1-6 was circa 14 quid a day. Plus the bike was usually quicker. Saved me over 2000 net per year, so basically nearly 5 grand on salary. As said above, I've easily spent £15-20k on bikes but that's another story
I cycled 18 miles each way for years and years, travel card for zones 1-6 was circa 14 quid a day. Plus the bike was usually quicker. Saved me over 2000 net per year, so basically nearly 5 grand on salary. As said above, I've easily spent £15-20k on bikes but that's another story
We generally are pretty good at cutting the monthly direct debits to the minimum anyway. Aside from the mortgage all we have are:
Council Tax
Gas & Electricity
Water
Internet
TV License
Mobiles (Sim Only)
Netflix
Prime
Then we have insurances for 2 cars and the dog that we pay for annually but put money for aside monthly.
Then there’s some additional pension contributions and mortgage overpayment that are viewed as mandatory. But obviously if things got really bad with price increases we could cut back there.
No kids to worry about. One 100k shed, and a 4 year old BM owned outright.
I’d say that we haven’t noticed it too much just yet. Shopping obviously costs a bit more.
I think the first time we properly notice it will be when the heating goes back on and the lights are on longer.
I think the time it will be noticed most is if when we come to change cars. I reckon the cars that we’d have considered 2 or 3 years back will now be out of reach. I reckon lightly used BMs or Mercs etc. will become Fords / Nissans.
But I’m comfortable with that. I’d prefer to give up a ‘premium’ car before I gave up eating out, going to the pub, cinema, on holiday etc.
Council Tax
Gas & Electricity
Water
Internet
TV License
Mobiles (Sim Only)
Netflix
Prime
Then we have insurances for 2 cars and the dog that we pay for annually but put money for aside monthly.
Then there’s some additional pension contributions and mortgage overpayment that are viewed as mandatory. But obviously if things got really bad with price increases we could cut back there.
No kids to worry about. One 100k shed, and a 4 year old BM owned outright.
I’d say that we haven’t noticed it too much just yet. Shopping obviously costs a bit more.
I think the first time we properly notice it will be when the heating goes back on and the lights are on longer.
I think the time it will be noticed most is if when we come to change cars. I reckon the cars that we’d have considered 2 or 3 years back will now be out of reach. I reckon lightly used BMs or Mercs etc. will become Fords / Nissans.
But I’m comfortable with that. I’d prefer to give up a ‘premium’ car before I gave up eating out, going to the pub, cinema, on holiday etc.
Go Compare said:
We generally are pretty good at cutting the monthly direct debits to the minimum anyway. Aside from the mortgage all we have are:
Council Tax
Gas & Electricity
Water
Internet
TV License
Mobiles (Sim Only)
Netflix
Prime
Then we have insurances for 2 cars and the dog that we pay for annually but put money for aside monthly.
Then there’s some additional pension contributions and mortgage overpayment that are viewed as mandatory. But obviously if things got really bad with price increases we could cut back there.
No kids to worry about. One 100k shed, and a 4 year old BM owned outright.
I’d say that we haven’t noticed it too much just yet. Shopping obviously costs a bit more.
I think the first time we properly notice it will be when the heating goes back on and the lights are on longer.
I think the time it will be noticed most is if when we come to change cars. I reckon the cars that we’d have considered 2 or 3 years back will now be out of reach. I reckon lightly used BMs or Mercs etc. will become Fords / Nissans.
But I’m comfortable with that. I’d prefer to give up a ‘premium’ car before I gave up eating out, going to the pub, cinema, on holiday etc.
When I first read "100k shed" I thought prime Pistonheads, but then I realised you meant the mileage! Council Tax
Gas & Electricity
Water
Internet
TV License
Mobiles (Sim Only)
Netflix
Prime
Then we have insurances for 2 cars and the dog that we pay for annually but put money for aside monthly.
Then there’s some additional pension contributions and mortgage overpayment that are viewed as mandatory. But obviously if things got really bad with price increases we could cut back there.
No kids to worry about. One 100k shed, and a 4 year old BM owned outright.
I’d say that we haven’t noticed it too much just yet. Shopping obviously costs a bit more.
I think the first time we properly notice it will be when the heating goes back on and the lights are on longer.
I think the time it will be noticed most is if when we come to change cars. I reckon the cars that we’d have considered 2 or 3 years back will now be out of reach. I reckon lightly used BMs or Mercs etc. will become Fords / Nissans.
But I’m comfortable with that. I’d prefer to give up a ‘premium’ car before I gave up eating out, going to the pub, cinema, on holiday etc.
My DD's look very similar to yours and I like to keep them as lean as I can. I abhor the notion of a set of fixed amounts leaving my account and avoid them wherever possible.
I do have the addition of a gym subscription and Spotify. If I could buy many of these sort of things one off, I would ideally. The fact that films/music/tv has become a monthly subscription is something I am not too sure I am happy about, albeit I don't see it as bad value when comparing to what a CD/DVD used to cost me back in the pre-subscription times.
Just looking down my own list, the dar and away obvious one is childcare. I wonder if this will start to factor in time. I've said elsewhere on here but nursery 4-5 days a week is 1000-2000 a month depending where you live, mine being upper end of that. Reckon could easily chop 1k by finding a childminder or similar.
okgo said:
Just looking down my own list, the dar and away obvious one is childcare. I wonder if this will start to factor in time. I've said elsewhere on here but nursery 4-5 days a week is 1000-2000 a month depending where you live, mine being upper end of that. Reckon could easily chop 1k by finding a childminder or similar.
For a lot of people it was already close that if one of them (usually the mum) going to work made sense, lots of parents in admin roles on £18-22kish, or worked 16 hours and get the tax credits for the rest of it. With the cost of everything going up, it makes me think the cost of fuel, trains or childcare one will just give up and be s full time parent. A bit like it was back in the day.okgo said:
Just looking down my own list, the dar and away obvious one is childcare. I wonder if this will start to factor in time. I've said elsewhere on here but nursery 4-5 days a week is 1000-2000 a month depending where you live, mine being upper end of that. Reckon could easily chop 1k by finding a childminder or similar.
Reminds me of - "my wife and i have decided we dont want kids, so if anyone wants a 7 year old and 5 year old, message me".
It might be a 100k shed with a 100k on it 
Or more likely it could be a 10 year old hatchback that’s worth more to us than whatever it’s cash value is.
Both of our salaries are relatively decent and our mortgage isn’t massive. I reckon if people were given the figures they would think we should be driving cars that are further up the status pecking order. But I look at the costs of them and it scares the crap out of me.
It does make we wonder how close to the sun some are flying with the amount of desirable cars I see being driven about.
Or more likely it could be a 10 year old hatchback that’s worth more to us than whatever it’s cash value is.
Both of our salaries are relatively decent and our mortgage isn’t massive. I reckon if people were given the figures they would think we should be driving cars that are further up the status pecking order. But I look at the costs of them and it scares the crap out of me.
It does make we wonder how close to the sun some are flying with the amount of desirable cars I see being driven about.
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