Ideas for a tight budget

I hope you and your family are okay @poggle I have been thinking of you. We have been putting any extra boiled water when we make a hot drink into a flask. It's either enough to make a cup later without boiling the kettle or by adding it to the cold water in the kettle speeds up the time it takes to boil again.
 
Roselina said:
Let us know how you’re doing 🥰
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Not much to report, but thank you for asking :)

We got a sneak preview of January's paycheque from HR and the budget has been 'streamlined' to within an inch of its life; I'm now 95% certain that it is as efficient (and achievable) as it can be. Bills and pets will be covered, including meds, and we'll have a small but doable food budget. About mid-February I'll see where my husband is at and if this is looking like it will be longer-term I'll call CAB and get the ball rolling on whatever support they can suggest.

I've been through all the cupboards and I must say that I'm very pleased with myself - we are well set up with things like flour, tins and dried pulses. We even have a few bottles of wine for date nights! For now I'm going to focus on running the cupboards down and using what food budget I can to get some batch cooks in the freezer. I have my eye on a few budget recipes/foods as well and I'll report back if I find any winners. While I'm an uninspired cook I am an okay no-frills baker, so at the very least I can keep our spirits up with cake :)) I am looking forward to a beer and a takeaway when this is over, though.

I think what has been most unsettling about this whole thing has been just how close to the edge we were skirting without realising. I thought our savings were small but serviceable, but they're way short of what we needed to cover a salary-impacting emergency.
 
Glad you’re holding on and coping.
This is a very helpful thread for a lot of us with soaring costs.
So many people are struggling and there’s lots of good ideas.

Another of my favourite student cookbook recipes is Toucan Stew.
Chop an onion and sauté gently.
Add in a can of tomatoes and a can of chickpeas or red kidney beans.
Cook and serve with rice, potatoes or bread
 
It sounds like you have everything well budgeted and organised. Once hubby is back on his feet and back at work you could perhaps set up a standing order for savings, I find it easier than trying to save money put aside as I alway seem to have spent it!
There’s some good interest rates for regular saver accounts at the moment 😊
 
I have a Chase Bank round up account. If you spend £7.45 it rounds it up to the pound and 55p goes into the 5% interest account. You don't miss the extra pennies and over the course of last year I put over £500 in without noticing it. I also get cashback from any spending. It's an internet only account and takes 5 minutes to set up, no credit check or minimum monthly amount needed. You can also set up a savings account. The only thing we don't like is that they don't do joint accounts. Worth looking into for everyone.
 
Yes, without our savings we would be in a much worse situation! We do save every month but some loftier goals will be a must in future. I'm lucky that I love a good spreadsheet and some clearly defined boundaries - we have a joint account for bills, food etc. and then separate personal accounts for our "fun" money, which makes it easier to see what is available to spend.

I know I'm not really in a place to advise yet but the thing that has been a huge source of relief for me has been the state of our store cupboards. Every time I have a bit left in the food budget I make sure I've got a certain amount of certain things (flour, sugar, tinned beans and lentils, dried lentils, tinned fish, loo roll, bulk bags of rice...) available - things we do use regularly so they won't spoil, but a bit more of them than we strictly need. We're going to burn through them this month but the budget is under a lot less pressure!
 
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