Families On A Budget! – How we save on our Broadband, Shopping, Christmas, Family Days Out and more!
When Jonny decided to have a career change this September and train to become a teacher we knew that we’d have to have a serious look at our finances! We knew very well that there were things we wasted money on simply by being stuck in our ways and too lazy to look into it but the change in our finances forced us to scrutinise what we were spending our money on and with a gulp we sat down to do it!
Food Waste!
Food shopping was a major contribution into the dent of our purse strings and when we realised that historically we did a ‘big’ shop which wasn’t very big at all and just contained random items while we would then pick things up daily depending on what we fancies, we could see a major problem with left-over food. We decided to change and instead buy things which wouldn’t get half used on one meal then be left to go off in the fridge and with a meal plan (we have one like this stuck on our fridge) could perhaps be used in two different recipes instead thus being thrifty AND with less food wastage. I plan ahead and think about what we will eat and my best tip is to do a roast chicken on a Sunday before having left-over meat for sandwiches in the packed lunches Monday and with a boiled carcus, stock and leftovers for a soup. One chicken and some veggies makes 3 meals for our family at least! I also think meal boxes from people like Hello Fresh and Gousto are well worth ordering when they have at least 30% off – it sounds expensive but 4 meals for 4 people at around the £35 mark is quite good in my book and for a treat, if you save elsewhere, it’s really good to take the load off!
Thrifty Heating!
It might sound really simple to say put a jumper on rather than having the heating blasting out yet we are so trained to simply flick the switch on the thermostat without even thinking. I do think it’s important to have the heating on at certain times and it’s important to remember that the pipes could freeze if we don’t but generally wrapping up a bit warmer and the dial can stay low. We have a wood burner too which if you think ahead can be used completely free of charge. We pick up wood that’s fallen from trees and store it as it seasons over a year and then burn it when the cold sets in. It’s not only warm but wonderfully festive and creates a really cosy room!
Searching For The Best Home Deals!
The thought of changing providers for our services fills me with utter dread. It always feels like an argument and a battle of wills as you negotiate and renegotiate but it HAS to be done. When we realised what we were paying for everything we knew that we had to cut back. We totally stopped our TV package as no one even watched it and switched to Netflix and Amazon Prime only with apps like iPlayer meaning we can still watch terrestrial television if we want to. It has saved us a package and we realised that we were paying way over the odds for our utilities too. I think where we saved the most was on our broadband which we just hadn’t questioned since we set the package up, which included the TV deal we no longer wanted and our land line, which is something we need for the broadband but NEVER use to make calls. We had this amazing sounding free call package but didn’t even have a phone to plug in because we do everything from our mobiles. The line was and is simply for broadband so… We had to act! Of course the sorting it out and finding which is best IS a minefield so when looking for broadband deals specifically for us we used a well known online comparison site. They do the searching for you looking for the best deals including rental charges and can save you huge amounts of money if you’re paying for something that you don’t use like we were. You put in what you’re after in terms of broadband, length of contract and if you want to include a T.V package and they will show you what ALL the providers can offer. We were bowled over when we discovered what we could and should have been paying and switched our package as soon as we’d compared! The site was also helpful with advice when we weren’t entirely sure what we wanted and with each provider’s deal they let you know any extra benefits or add ons you can opt for. We also found that comparison sites for other things were tremendously helpful and take away that gulping moment when you realise that you have to sit down and sort out your finances but the prospect feels like hard work, this isn’t! We’ve gone from paying £50 a month to £25 so halving that outlay is amazing. Yes we get less because there’s no T.V package but why pay for something that you don’t use?!
Family Days Out!
A family day out can be very expensive, especially when you have a larger than average family but didn’t want the children to feel that we were doing less fun things now that we’ve had a change in our lifestyle, that seemed unfair on them. So instead of deciding what we want to do then looking to see if there are any vouchers or coupons to make it cheaper, and if there aren’t doing it anyway, I now check sites like Groupon before we even think about it and we ONLY do the things which are great value and have a special deal. It’s great because we have been on days out that we may never have thought about before and no one feel like we are economising even though we totally are! I got tickets to The Hippodrome Circus in Great Yarmouth for a really great price using this method and the kids LOVED it!
Christmas!
Christmas, oh Christmas, you wiley beast! If ever there was a time that the pressure was on to spend money then it’s the festive frolic season of which one day can cost as much as all the other days put together! And why?! If we look at this from a really basic point of view we can save hundreds of pounds without making the day any less special. In my house I’ve abandoned spending the same amount on everyone and instead I’m going to buy for each person individually – if one person’s present costs less than another then who cares, it’s NOT about the money, it’s about being thoughtful. I also think the children don’t need big expensive presents and they don’t understand the value of money anyway. Florence wants an Alexa, I got one on Amazon Prime Day for £22.50 and I expect black Friday will see similar deals. She doesn’t need anything else as a big present because despite it being incredibly cheap, to her that IS a big present regardless of what it cost as that’s what she wants! I have used all the discounts and saving options that I can find and will continue to do so for everyone else too and while Raffie is only two and really doesn’t understand Christmas or presents AT ALL, he will have hardly any money spent on him full stop. In fact, I have hundreds of pounds worth of Jimmy’s old Brio train set in my loft which I am going to take down, box up and wrap up for him. He will be SO thrilled and won’t know or care that it’s not brand new – it’s new to him and he will be beside himself with happiness at all the trains! Jimmy on the other hand is more tricky to buy for and though how much I spend on him concerns him not at all, I will spend the most on his present just because that’s how it’s worked out – again it will still be by being thrifty and getting the best deals. You don’t need the expensive decs and ALL the food and to be buying everyone presents right left and centre. You need to be festively kind and thoughtful because that’s all anyone will remember anyway. I hope my extended family will see that I have gone to great efforts in the kitchen to please everyone and that I’ve been thoughtful with hand-made gifts of knitted items and painted projects. I hope that they won’t go home wishing I’d been more of a consumer and I am pretty sure, without much thought, that they won’t. I think they will feel my approach to Christmas this year, without it being too full of STUFF, is actually way more considered and personal!
Eco Friendly Approach!
When we consider being more ecologically friendly I wonder if we often think past the cost to the environment and the savings we are making there and consider that we are actually saving cold hard cash by being a little more environmentally conscious too! Recycling doesn’t have to begin and end with the green bin, think about the crafts you can do with boxes and old paper before it goes out and if you have a fire how much can be popped on for a bit of kindling or just to keep the burn going a bit longer. We can make financial savings and planet savings in one in many ways from buying shampoo bars which have no plastic AND last longer than a bottle to walking rather than getting in our cars and using petrol! Other ways to double save on the green side and in our balances are to:
- Make, do and mend – why buy new if you can repair and home made items are often far nice than shop bought mass produced things that everyone else has – be a peacock not a pigeon!
- Take a packed lunch on days out – we always have soup in a flask on cold days making the picnic stretch all seasons!
- Ditch tumble dryers as they use MASSES of energy. I have a Dry Soon Heated Airer from Lakeland which uses less that 6p an hour, takes about 3 loads of washing and if you use the cover dries everything in a couple of hours!
These are the things we’ve been doing but I’m sure there are plenty more that we haven’t even thought about. It’s on my mind a lot this how to save money lark and having to think about it has done me the world of good I reckon. It’s silly to just allow the blinkers on because no matter how much or how little you have why waste money when you don’t have to! Have you got any other top tips on how to save on the budget with a family?! Do let me know if you’ve some goodies as I’ always happy to save a bit more moola!
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