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Dealing with the squeeze Hca_button


Dealing with the squeeze

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Dealing with the squeeze Empty Dealing with the squeeze

Post by Dandelion 7th April 2011, 10:13 pm

What changes have people made (if any) to their lifestyle to help them cope with the current financial situation?
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Post by polgara 7th April 2011, 10:31 pm

Less shoping, once every 2 weeks instead of every week.

More meals from scratch, & more homemade ready meals in the freezer.
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Post by Compostwoman 7th April 2011, 10:53 pm

More homemade soups. Less stuff bought from the supermarket/shop.

More pulses/grains bulking out meat stews.

Drinking more of the home made stuff and less of the boughten wine/beer!
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Post by MrsC 8th April 2011, 9:57 am

Buying different things to usual - i.e. own brand toiletries and cleaning products, cheaper food where I can. I've also been making the most of special offers either by buying things in bulk or planning meals around fresh products that are on offer. I'm also making the most of the flood of pound and 99 shops that have recently come to St Albans. They have some branded stuff there at very low prices and interestingly some other shops like Superdrug and Tesco (who are their neighbours on our high street) have reduced the cost of some branded items to match them.

I'm frequenting charity shops more (if that's possible!) and especially so when buying things for LMC. When I do need to make big new purchases I'm spending more time researching them online and looking for offers where I can and sometimes waiting until there is an offer on before buying something. I'm also making use of cashback sites, especially kidstart.co.uk where I put money into LMC's child trust fund (definitely worth looking if you do buy things online from the companies involved)

I'm also growing my own (even though this makes a small difference) and going out much less. Going to visit friends with LMC rather than meeting people in coffee shops etc.

Hmmm - seems this is a subject I know quite a bit about!

Mrs C x
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Post by mark barker 8th April 2011, 10:37 am

On a day to day basis I've reduced the coffee shop visits (and that really hurt!), and rarely go out for an evening (child care & night out woks out very pricey!).

On a larger scale not having a car makes a huge difference (estimate that I'll save over £1k this year), and I'm not going to be heading off to any overseas F1 races this year Sad
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Post by Jaded Green 8th April 2011, 1:31 pm

I was thinking of starting a thread about the "Superscrimpers : waste not ,want not" programme on Channel 4, but this seemsa good place to mention it.

There have been two episodes and it is interesting how the people involved have spent money without even thinking about it, despite being so overspent, and how much waste there is.

I'm looking more closely at the cost of everything I buy.
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Post by mr_sfstk8d 8th April 2011, 1:37 pm

We've been onto the charity shops and discount grocers for years. Forever, really. Just cannot wait for boot sale season to start up here!! Prior military, didn't pay well at all, and having four young ones in the house it's been our necessity for a long time. More recently, we've been doing fewer driving tours of the country side, which is something DW and I love, and just going when we have at least one other freind along, largely. Also, cut back from home phone and net to just net for the house at half the price. Since everyone has cells, it was supurfluous anyway. And as for myself, cut back from lunch at cafeteria perhaps 2-3x week to only 1x. Just can't break from Pizza Day, lol. A few other small changes for DW from some of the brands she has been particular about, even in the discount shops, to the less pricey names. We still look at the ingredient/compound lists though.

It's a tough struggle: How do I live now, but still keep as much of the same ecological decisions so we may live in the future. Oh, and as to discount grocers, don't know if you have these in UK, but Aldi has been a favorite of mine all of my life. I can get almost everything on my list, and the prices and quality are fair. Also, they still sell 5 lb bags of sugar and flour (~2.5 kg), wheras other grocers brands have years since gone to 4 lb (~2 kg) bags at a less than impressive percent reduction of price. Mind the small print!!!

I believe we've a few threads around on how to make nearly free cleaners and such form base ingredient you already may have at home, correct? These have been a mainstay for us for a long time, and I imagine will be very helpful for others as well.
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Post by Imagine 10th September 2011, 9:30 pm

I grew a bit of my own vegetables this year but then started bartering with people. I help with the harvesting and delivery and get free vegetables out of it. I am canning, freezing and preserving everything in sight. I no longer buy bread but make it and have been trading it for ground beef. I also have been sewing and knitting a lot of things as well. The sewing is even with a treadle sewing machine so no electricity cost Smile
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