Any top tips for cost cutting/money saving!?
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@Alice let me know if you think of anything good! I got made redundant too so nothing to go back to 😵💫
As long as you have the money for the bills. Start saving what you can if you haven’t already. Then everything else honestly you don’t need much! Smp honestly wasn’t bad! I was able to pay my half of the bills and had the minimum for a coffee/nappies etc just no extras like clothes etc
Self-employed and when I get maternity allowance any work triggers and work day and only allowed ten before they cut my pay. So can’t really side hustle. Apparently even responding to emails etc triggers a whole day 🤦🏽♀️
I think I’ll be short about £350 each month between SMP and my bills, which we’ve accounted to come from the savings, but then once they’re paid, anything else on top will need to be funded somehow.. 😮💨 I know we will make it work in the end but isn’t it such a shame we have to sit and worry about it!
We are trying to make some cut backs now so that it's not as much of a shock when mat pay starts like swapping a brand in supermarket, batch cooking better etc and putting that money into saving
We use the Boots Recycling Scheme... You recycle 5 things, like nappy or wipe packets, and then you get a voucher that gives you 500 points (worth £5) when you spend £10. I usually use it to buy things we'd need to buy anyway, like wipes or suncream etc, and then the extra £5 on my Boots card is there for when things are tight. We took out some bills with Utility Warehouse, and we got a top up card that we can use on our everyday shopping and we get some cash back from it, which gets knocked off our bill. We also bought bundles of clothes from Facebook Market and eBay and kept what we wanted and then donated the rest to charity or sold it on. This probably saved us hundreds compared to buying everything brand new. And we've got Uber Eats because you get Disney+ included for free for 12 months, and Uber Eats has half price fruit and veg on Mondays. It saves us loads because we use veg to bulk out meals and I live with a couple of gannets 😂
I’m worried about this too as SMP won’t even cover 50% of my half of the bills. Plus I’m going to want some spending money whilst on mat leave for baby classes of getting a coffee with mum friends. Would love suggestions of free activities when on mat leave and ways to cut back now!
I totally agree- mine won’t cover anywhere near my half of bills either.
Less days out or free days out, take your own lunch etc. Asking relatives to pay towards meal kits etc. It's hard. We made it work by cutting back on non essentials. It's not easy though as there's some you can't cut. Bulk cooking at the start helped. I'm going to start using a Sunday to bulk cook for the week to prevent food waste and to mean I've always got something in the freezer rather than ordering takeaways (my bad habit is ordering dominos when I can't be bothered). Even with cut backs, it's tight or downright unmanageable at times.
To keep costs low for activities, we usually end up going to the park and having a picnic for lunch, there's a few small free farm parks near to us so we sometimes go there. It's worth keeping an eye out for offers and deals too, the National Lottery have weeks where they offer free entry to National Trust Sites and there's also the National Garden Scheme. Our local soft play has an entry fee of £8 per child, so instead we go to garden centers that have soft play, and they charge £1 for under 1s and £2.50 onwards. I don't know if it's every House of Fraser, but the one near me has a large play area for toddlers in the cafe, so you can sit and have a drink, whilst your little one has a play. Libraries sometimes have bounce and rhyme sessions that are free to go to, and some have sensory rooms which is a bonus. We've used tokens from cereal and biscuit boxes to get half price entry at the Sealife Centre and other attractions, which we usually save for special occasions so we appreciate it a lot more.
Apply to prolific, it's a survey website. Best I've found! Can pay out from anything like 10p-£10 per survey depending how long it short it is. I've made over £800 in just under 2 years doing it here and there, not very often They are all legit surveys, mainly posted by university's Also look into Jam doughnut app It's a cash back app, I use it weekly for my Asda food shop and gain back about £10 every month, but only spending around £70 a week.
@Alice totally agree with this. I will be £900 short on my half of the bills (my mortgage is a joke due to the interest rates)… harsh times... luckily ive saved but it’d still crazy!
@Hannah it’s crazy isn’t it!
I’m the same, SMP doesn’t even cover my bills, mortgage etc!!! I am having to desperately save every penny I can now to build a buffer to help.
Also worried about this! Have a pot of savings but just don’t think it’s going to get us very far! Looking for some easy side hustles!