[#1]

Hi all,

I suppose I'm asking what everyone wants to know but has anyone got any tips for making cut backs that won't be too noticable?

There's been a lot of talk about tax credit cut backs. I've just done an online thingy that estimates how much we are likely to get for 2012 and it looks like we will be £50 a week worse off. I think by using the car less I could save £10 a week in fuel. I always shop around for the best insurance quotes. 

Fuel, water and food bills just seem to be going up and up. 

[#2]

Hi all,

I suppose I'm asking what everyone wants to know but has anyone got any tips for making cut backs that won't be too noticable?

There's been a lot of talk about tax credit cut backs. I've just done an online thingy that estimates how much we are likely to get for 2012 and it looks like we will be £50 a week worse off. I think by using the car less I could save £10 a week in fuel. I always shop around for the best insurance quotes. 

Fuel, water and food bills just seem to be going up and up. 

[#3]

I know :-( . It is something that is really worrying me too.

Hugs

Jillxx

[#4]

A few tips from me off the top of my head, which I'm sure we're all doing but are useful reminders:

1 - Shop around every year for all of your insurances.  Never renew automatically and combine them if you can.  eg Buildings and contents can cost about the same for both as they do for the two seperately.

2 - If you use a supermarket with a loyalty card make the most of the savings and shop for other things via ita website.

3 - Grow your own veg.  With even the smallest patch of earth you could have a wonderful crop of fresh runner beans or some cut and come again salad leaves or a bountiful courgette plant.  I love my home grown veg.mmmm

4 - Transfer your credit card balance to the lowest available interest  rate.

5 - Exchange things on Freecycle.

6 - Think about everything you throw away.  Could you reuse it?

7 - Batch cook and freeze some mid week dinners to save buying any convenience foods when you're short of time.

8 - Have a clear out and have a spring boot fair with a friend or neighbour.

9 - Only wash full loads and do as much as you can on a sunny day to make the most of air drying.

10 - Buy two bunches of daffs for £1 on the market this weekend to cheer yourself up.  You deserve it!

[#5]

Batch cooking is something I should do. I also love the idea of growing my own veg. Years ago when I was married we used to grow a bit but what with the kids and time I seem to have got out of the habit of venturing in the garden. I'm going to start small this year and grow some peppers and a couple of other bits. Whatever I do grow will have to be in pots as we're all patio and decking.

I love the daff tip. They're my favourite flower. They're so cheerful.

[#6]

I'm not fully convinced you can make serious savings without noticing tbh. It's kind of like a diet - if you want things to change then you have to make changes, no matter what a diet plan says about what you can eat, somewhere down the line you need to not eat as much junk. Anyway, that's probably moot. I would say to reasses everything you spend money on, know the difference between wants and needs and work from there. If you don't have a look at the big picture all the small picture stuff won't make any difference.

It's easy to sleepwalk into spending that you don't notice. Amy Dacyczyn of The Tightwad Gazette (frugal bible) talks about "creative deprivation", her example is going to the shopping mall and buying your kids an icecream as a treat. After a few times of doing this it stops being a treat and is just something you do. So if you don't have the icecream every time then when you do have it it becomes a treat again. If you don't stop it then in order to have a treat then you have to buy something else iyswim. I think a lot of the time when it comes to cutting back it's about doing more instead of spending more. The three rules of not buying are - shop at home first, what do you already have that can do the job? Procrastinate, wait a day or a week before you buy something you think you need, you might not want it in the end or find a way to substitute and Do instead of buy. Really simple things but they can work.

I know that's kind of more conceptual than actual but it can help to do along side meal planning, shopping lists, freecyle, repurposing, borrowing instead of buying, having a change jar and all that other stuff. 

[#7]

Batch cooking is a great idea, I need to do more of this.

How about replacing a sky or virgin media contract for a freeview box? Shop around for best mobile phone contract deals or go pay as you go.  Do your weekly shop at aldi or lidl to save or go a brand down at your usual supermarket (if you by Heinz, try going for the middle range own brand beans instead). 

Rather than buying new toys for kids, do a toy swap with a friend so they have different toys to play iwth at no cost to you.

I'm sure I'll think of more, but that's it for now.

[#8]

Thanks ladies,

That's given me something to think about.