Expenditure Reduction Tips

friznit · Post by **friznit** » February 9th, 2011, 19:28

Spoodles wrote:Good: As part of my expenditure reduction exercise I called Virgin to get my package changed to a cheaper one. They dropped my monthly bill by ~£12 with no change to the package

This has to be a good idea for a thread. Given the current climate of pay freezes, redundancies and benefits cuts I think we'd all be quite interested in any tips to reduce outgoings or make efficiency savings. I recently went through my bills with the proverbial fine toothed comb to see where I was wasting cash - even cancelled all my Eve subs and replaced them with in game currency Timecards. And reduced central heating to 1 hour a night (Wear a warmer jumper). And all light bulbs are now those fugly 'green' ones that kill pandas if they break but don't pop every 2 weeks.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » February 9th, 2011, 19:37

Atm I've taken to shutting my computer down when I sleep, and doing washing/drying at night, when leccy is cheap.

The Shutting Downs · Post by **The Shutting Downs** » February 9th, 2011, 19:38

I've been buying the large packs of mince, chicken etc, and making up extra of whatever I cook.

Get a bunch of silver takeaway trays (about a quid in morrisons for 14), put the food in them and freeze it when it's cooled.

Instant ready meals, take one out before you go to work, bung in the oven when you get home, you don't have to cook when you are tired, you save on washing up and the bulk buy has saved you some cash.

I do the months shop and spend a day cooking, yeah, it's a day doing not much more than cooking, but I think it's worth it.

Wiggy · Post by **Wiggy** » February 9th, 2011, 19:57

I've recently decided to move to a smaller flat to try and reduce my rent, council tax, and bills. Also selling some stuff on eBay to try and get rid of my horrendous credit card debt. I also got rid of my WoW sub

I'd love to get into the whole cooking portions and freezing them thing, but unfortunately I'm shit at cooking. Anyone got any decent curry/chilli/other recipes they can suggest?

friznit · Post by **friznit** » February 9th, 2011, 19:58

Protip TSD, specially given that fud is the mega pricey bit atm.

Post by **tandino** » February 9th, 2011, 20:14

Fill your house/flat with energy saving light bulbs, they're super subsidised at the moment, good quality (Phillips etc) are on sale at about 10p - 99p in your local DIY place.

Also, if you own your own place, check out your loft insulation. The recommended depth is 270mm, most places have less than half that. Space blanket stuff is also heavily subsidised by Eon, going for about 3 - 5 quid a roll. 10 rolls or so are the most you'll likely need. You'll definitely notice a difference in heat retention.

Also, downgrade your shopping. If you buy named brand, go down to own brand. If you get own brand, go down to essentials. Sort out your loyalty cards too, saves you loads.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » February 9th, 2011, 20:24

Oh, yeah, I'm not personally a great fan of pre-cooking for freezing, especially for chilli and the like, IMO too much flavour gets lost.

But cheap cuts of meat freeze really well and allow buying in bulk, stewing beef and pork belly are very good, chicken breasts work well enough, pretty sure oxtail freezes fine.

Also, if you can get yourself a makro card or similar, you can win the cheap meat lottery.

Post by **fabyak** » February 9th, 2011, 20:25

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I started saving a shitload of money when I cut right down on booze.

I've also been going to a cashback site

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/fabyak/?s=2

as they have loads of things you can get money back on (including plenty of places you are likely to buy from like Amazon and Play) and they'll give you cash once you hit the threshold. I got nearly £17 for doing a 30 day free trial of my credit report (which I then cancelled the day after and still got it)

I wholeheartedly agree with what Tandino said, especially on the shopping bit, the supermarket brands are just as good imo and a lot of the value things (like crisps) are well worth going for.

As an extra point on his but about if you own your own place, bung insulation and your town into Google as there are a load of government grants around at the moment so you might get a massive discount on the bits or even get it for free (as Mrs Fab isn't earning much at the mo we got our cavity walls and loft done by a company for free

)

The Shutting Downs · Post by **The Shutting Downs** » February 9th, 2011, 20:57

I do agree on the shop brands, but always check if you have allergies, as the things most people are allergic to are cheap to use, and do work thier wy into the economy stuff frequently.

Equally, learn how to make your own pasta/curry/mexican sauces, and freeze excess again.

Whilst we are talking about supermarkets, BOGOF and rollback offers, don't worry about looking like a div standing there working out prices, check the offer isn't worse than buying something else.

e.g Morrisons had a deal on diet coke 8 packs, 2 for a fiver, but the 12 pack was 3 pounds. 2 12 packs meant 8 extra cans for a pound, but the 8 packs were flying off the shelves because the 'deal' was in big letters.

Take your time, check the offers.

Post by **fabyak** » February 9th, 2011, 21:00

The Shutting Downs wrote: Whilst we are talking about supermarkets, BOGOF and rollback offers, don't worry about looking like a div standing there working out prices, check the offer isn't worse than buying something else.

e.g Morrisons had a deal on diet coke 8 packs, 2 for a fiver, but the 12 pack was 3 pounds. 2 12 packs meant 8 extra cans for a pound, but the 8 packs were flying off the shelves because the 'deal' was in big letters.

Take your time, check the offers.

^ and don't trust what they say the price is per 100g or per can or whatever as it's often wrong

shot2bits · Post by **shot2bits** » February 9th, 2011, 21:11

curry is the god of freezable food, easy to make enough in one go for 3 or 4 dinners depending on how many people are eating it, and tastes better after freezing due to science.

plus once youve got your sauce made you can chuck in pretty much whatevers to hand rather than buying lots of ingredients just for that.

i also must agree with supermarket brand and value foods over big name brands, even things like packs of biscuits which for say mcvities choc digestives cost 80p-£1.20 a pack compared to 12-25p for say sainsburys value choc digestives which imo are better tasting if not a tad smaller. there are exceptions to this and i call it Co-op own brand foods, it is the devil and should be avoided at all cost if any of you guys have a co-op near you as bad as mine. its next to impossible to get decent veg even straight after a delivery and their own milk tastes like the cow was pissing in it

Post by **Dog Pants** » February 9th, 2011, 21:14

Don't get married. Don't live in the South East.

shot2bits · Post by **shot2bits** » February 9th, 2011, 21:19

Dog Pants wrote:Don't live in the South East.

oh yeah that one to, everything is bloody expensive down here.

EVERYTHING

Post by **FatherJack** » February 9th, 2011, 22:20

I've beeen cutting down at lot, while sitting on a large pot of money for the last year, I've been only too aware that said pot is finite and I'm not earning a penny. I've cut down my outgoings from roughly £2.5k a month to £1k a month, which while perhaps seeming excessive to some, hasn't actually meant I've had to sacrifice very much at all. I could, and will probably have to, cut down more (easily half of that £1k is beer and fags, but fuck cutting them out), but here's how I did what I did.

Get a notebook, pen and paper, or a printer. Time to get your shit organised. Or a wife/SO/mum - somehow they seem able to recall every minutiae that trickles from your own awesome brain. Often they'll use it to spite you later, but that's the price you pay.

Start with your monthly bank statement. What is all that shit you're paying for? Ring the bank and track it down, cancel anything you're not bothered about, then be double sure by cancelling the standing order. This is where writing it down/remembering comes in handy - if later, the previous recipients of your cash get all arsey about the cancellation, quote them chapter and verse (and date) about how you cancelled the service with them. It is extremely common for them to still take your cash after cancellation, but hit them with facts and they'll soon be backing down.

Hit the comparison websites and consolidate your utilities. Don't just renew your car insurance, find the best deal. It's a pain in the arse to get a house insurance quote (they need all sorts of shit about square meterage of rooms) but you're certain to get a cheaper deal than with your mortgager. Switch gas and electric to a single supplier, but beware that changing tariffs with an existing supplier can cost a few quid. Sign up for a web-based paperless account and send them your meter readings. I got £200 back last month as they'd overcharged me massively.

TV/Internet and stuff. Possibly also a utility, but again it's usually best to shop around and consolidate where you can. Arguably Sky do the best TV, Virgin do the best internet, and BT have the best service (in terms of connection issues), but pick what you really need and find a package that suits.
Take the hardcore line and threaten to cancel, they should offer you a better deal. Sometimes you actually have to go through with it and really cancel, so be prepared for a brief interruption in service. 9 times out of 10 though, they'll be on the blower begging you back, with an even better offer. When I switched to Virgin from Sky, Sky offered me in increments - a free new Sky box (mine was faulty, my reason for switching), a new Sky+ box, and finally a free SkyHD box - my mind was made up and I still switched, but it shows they're pretty flexible when they want to keep your custom. My Dad recently used the same trick and got a free upgrade from a standard box to a SkyHD box (including free installation of the dual LNB/extra cable) without any interruption.

As for luxuries, decide what you can afford. A Blockbuster/Lovefilm/etc subscription is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying DVDs all the while, and usually cheaper than a Movies sub on satellite/cable - depending how many films you watch per month. Of course I certainly wouldn't countenance anyone cutting back on games, but looking at older/on-sale titles that will give you plenty of playtime for your money makes a lot of sense. Games, incidentally, should some penny-pinching overseer be monitoring your expenditure, universally represent the single-best value for money in terms of cost/time anywhere in the known universe.

Umm, I think that's it for general stuff, I'll make another post about foods.

Edit: oh yeah. I also bought a dressing gown, it was about £1. It makes me feel like a crotchety old bastard simply to own one, and I totally baulk at the idea of slippers, but damn it saves a lot on heating costs.

friznit · Post by **friznit** » February 9th, 2011, 22:57

FatherJack wrote:Games, incidentally, should some penny-pinching overseer be monitoring your expenditure, universally represent the single-best value for money in terms of cost/time anywhere in the known universe.

So true that. When I did a cost/benefit ratio of my life while I was unemployed last year, games were by far the best value entertainment. I promptly sold my TV, stopped paying for a TV licence, and downloaded OTTD.

Post by **FatherJack** » February 9th, 2011, 23:43

friznit wrote:I promptly sold my TV, stopped paying for a TV licence,

Unfortunately, technically the TV license is payable for any device capable of receiving the BBC signal, so even if I never watched Top Gear or Match of the Day I'd still need one to play my XBox, Wii or PS3, I'd have to bin them, my TV, VCR, DVR and my DVD recorder.

Which is a bit extreme, given perhaps 10% of stuff I actually bother watching is from the channel I'm forced to pay for. Its quality is I suppose worth some premium, but ITV and C4 have both managed to produce excellent programming without the crutch of enforced subscription. I would point towards Granada's Sherlock Holmes series as an example of this.

Stoat · Post by **Stoat** » February 10th, 2011, 0:14

FatherJack wrote:the TV license is payable for any device capable of receiving the BBC signal, so even if I never watched Top Gear or Match of the Day I'd still need one to play my XBox, Wii or PS3

Only for live content, not on-demand.
http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/h ... /tvlicence

You do not need a television licence to catch-up on television programmes in BBC iPlayer, only when you watch or record at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is being broadcast or otherwise distributed to the public.

And even then you don't need a licence to not watch it.

Post by **FatherJack** » February 10th, 2011, 0:26

Ooh, that's a bit wooly, the actual wording places the onus on the viewer's intent, not the device's capability. Still, if you have a TV, you likely have to pay. I can't see how either side in a dispute could dis/prove the intent to watch live BBC TV on a TV unless they were caught in the act. It seems however that it's now softer than the definition I understood was the case. The fact my TV defaults to BBC1, or my Virgin box to 101 when reset makes me wonder about how enforceable this stuff is now - how many seconds can you accidentally watch a BBC channel without meaning to before it becomes a deliberate attempt to watch it illegally?

It is a criminal offence to watch 'live' television without a TV licence or to posses or control a device which you know or reasonably believe will be used to watch 'live' TV without a TV licence.

Post by **Joose** » February 10th, 2011, 0:40

fabyak wrote:the supermarket brands are just as good imo and a lot of the value things (like crisps) are well worth going for

Somewhat surprisingly, this is extra true for drugs. Don't go for named brand things, get the generic equivalent. There isn't *always* a supermarket own version of *everything*, but most of you will only be bothered about headache pills tablets and the like. With these, its not just that the 30p version is just as good as the £3 version, its exactly the same. I mean chemically identical. Don't get suckered in by advertising or stupid people who insist that Anadin is better than Tescos own. It isn't. Its the same.

Same goes for other things, like hayfever pills. Claritin, for example, is just Loratadine with a fancy name. Get some generic Loratadine, and you get a shitload more pills for a shitload less money.

Post by **FatherJack** » February 10th, 2011, 1:04

Joose wrote:Somewhat surprisingly, this is extra true for drugs. Don't go for named brand things, get the generic equivalent. There isn't *always* a supermarket own version of *everything*, but most of you will only be bothered about headache pills tablets and the like. With these, its not just that the 30p version is just as good as the £3 version, its exactly the same. I mean chemically identical. Don't get suckered in by advertising or stupid people who insist that Anadin is better than Tescos own. It isn't. Its the same.

Same goes for other things, like hayfever pills. Claritin, for example, is just Loratadine with a fancy name. Get some generic Loratadine, and you get a shitload more pills for a shitload less money.

This is partially true, the drugs thing almost wholly, but I'll post some stuff about the foods when I'm more lucid which is not tonight. (In short, the crisps are rubbish, you eat twice or more as many)

Drugs almost universally have to list their ingredients, down to the mg - if Tesco Value super painkillers contain 200mg of Paracetamol and x amount of caffeine, then they are equally as effective as Hedex, with the same contents.

Why the big drug-makers continue to thrive is partly down to brand loyalty and the placebo effect. For example, I swear that Zirtek are far more effective at quelling my hayfever than any amount of Claritin, or indeed tesco's own hayfever remedy, even though all of them contain exactly the same amount of Cetirizine Hydrochloride, plus a bunch of dust to make them look like a tablet.

Part of it's getting over yourself/snobbery about Tesco value stuff. Chemically they're identical, you're just not paying Glaxo or some other massive pharmaceutical conglomerate a massive cut.

The only hurdle left is that you have to believe it, which isn't a stretch, given the fact that it's actually true. Then the placebo effect works in your favour.