Good lord, where have I been?

[radegund]

Where did the time go?

We're still pretty whacked out after the extension. Snag list is outstanding, but it's essentially done. We live here now, and every day it feels less and less likely that the real owners are going to come back and evict us. Most of the boxes are even unpacked.

Our main object at the moment is to juggle the cashflow so that we squeak unscathed from payday to billpay, slaloming between our creditors like an Olympic athlete. Fun times. [We'll be fine. But it's a little hairy this month and next.]

To that end, we're penny-pinching. (Or cent-cinching, which is the same but in euros.) Problem is, we trimmed out a lot of the fat a few years ago, and it's tough enough to see where we can trim any further.

Things I'm perfectly happy to do, off the very top of my head:

• Go back to washing my hair in bicarb and vinegar (reasonably effective, as I recall from 2006).


• Shop more often in Lidl.


• Find out which of our staple meals are actually cheapest and dearest, and plan accordingly.


• Keep a hawklike eye on expenditure, and stop spending on non-essentials when the allotted budgets are exhausted.


• Work for pay every spare minute I get (which is not very many minutes, admittedly, but I have been doing a bit of paid work).

Things I'd strongly prefer to avoid:

• Stop buying organic food.


• Cut out paid childcare and house cleaning (they're such a relief).

I dunno. What are your favourite money-saving strategies? I'd really love some inspiration.

Comments

[jinxremoving.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you are already doing this, but since joining the redundancy club I have finally learned to only buy groceries when the ones I have are finished, rather than shortly before I expect them to be used up, which invariably turns out to be a miscalculation. I'm walking all over the place instead of using the bus, and I can possibly give you some hints for cheaper travel if you're planning any trips away.

Also I find that hosting couchsurfers is quite useful because, although I don't expect anything from any of them, they often do things like buy me drinks and/or groceries, as well as leaving their shampoo behind by mistake. It would, however, be a bit weird to start hosting people simply in the hope that this might happen.

[sm2005.livejournal.com]

Organic fruit and veg in Aldi is cheap and decent quality.

How much bicarb and vinegar do you need for a hair wash? Pound shops are a good source of cheap shampoo in large servings.

The 2 euro shop on Abbey St (and presumably elsewhere) stocks a surprising variety of goods and brands (including 300g tubs of veggie-friendly jellies!) at dramatically reduced prices, esp coming up to best before dates.

The Asia market and other ethnic supermarkets in town have excellent prices on food - I buy enormous bunches of fresh corriander for 1.50 on Talbot St instead of the sad small handfuls Tesco and the like sell for twice the price.

Do you pay for TV? We invested 80 quid in a satellite dish and decoder in Lidl 2 years ago and have only paid the license fee since.

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

Travel. I know it's essential for some things, but buses and trains mount up very, very quickly. Obv I commute a long and expensive distance, but I'm always shocked how easy it is to spend a fiver or so on bus fares without meaning to. See if you can cut out car use as much as poss, maybe? I know petrol is cheaper than public transport, but still.

[ailbhe]

I so so don't want to cut out organic food, but we have almost eliminated organic meat :( I make up for it by buying only about-to-be-binned meat (there's a special Reduced section) and planning the meals around that. I am also thinking *very seriously* about Freegan-style waste-food-reclamation from actual supermarket bins but am a bit scared of it.

I don't think it would help my cleaner's budget any if I cut out her money, either.

Meal-planning is my absolute favourite. Also, I'm starting to assemble my price-comparison sheet again; it turns out that for organic foods Sainsburys is the cheapest in many, many instances, and the True Food Co-op is cheapest in many other instances.

An Aldi has opened nearish us and I intend to investigate it; we already buy Lidl stuff a bit (their free-range chicken is ok, because it *is* free-range and at least British, so comparatively local, but it still makes me sad).

Clothing - only second-hand, often free, including Freecycle.

I'm planning on going through our bills in the near future to see about changing phone, elec & gas suppliers.

Linnea will be making Christmas presents for most of her friends. So will Emer and I for Emer's friends.

Working out which meals are expensive is a good idea but one I find very depressing.

If we get the trike repaired our transport costs will go down again. I really hate being without the trike.

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

It's an obvious one, but I've saved a fair amount in the past by not going to the supermarket with a set list, but buying whatever was on special and figuring out what to do with it (also has the effect of expanding your cooking repertoire). Has the extra benefit that you end up eating seasonally without even trying!