Recession

I'm cutting back on the amount of time I use the car  with increases in car tax road insurance and petrol Its now costing me an extra £450 a year to run my car

Inview of this I've bought a bike and intend to cycle to/from  work 4 times a week

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Comments

  • I've already cut back pretty much on everything. Just can't wait for it to end.
    One thing I will say about the recession though, I've got a lot fitter and slimmer image
  • I've stopped buying frivolous things unless I really need them. Craft budget has been slashed, and most months I don't get anything. I'm shopping my stash instead. Food is bought strictly to a list and menu plan, and there's fewer impulse buys and treats.

    Can't do much about petrol use, hubby works 40 miles away, but he's applied for a couple of jobs in our town on similar wage, so effectively £200 a month better off if he gets one.

    I got a loan from work a few months back, I was still on shorter hours, had been off sick for 6 weeks, car needed taxing, and a new tyre, then both kids needed new school shoes, all in the same week. I had literally £3 to get food for a week. Luckily for me, work give interest free loans, deducted from wages, so I asked for one. Finish paying it back next week, sothe money from that will be going into the savings account.

  • I've started using moneysupermarket for tips and cupons and shopping is restricted to the things I need although I do bulk buy when offers are on
  • Same here Madlot. My salary's been frozen for 5 years and I've lived through 2 years of that already.

    I'm slimmer and fitter too, due to having to cycle absolutely everywhere now and drop luxury tidbits off my shopping list. (Same as Kwilter - shop to a menu plan.)

    Just before it kicked in, I'd decided to take up tri training, so I've been v limited in what items I can buy to take part. I have no road bike, shoes or cleats yet. I don't have a wetsuit either. I am popping coppers and 5ps in a big pot towards the aforementioned items.

    Social life has become limited to taking turns with friends to cook/drink round each others' houses with maybe a visit to the pub once or twice a month.

    Hard times eh?

    TBH my quality of life has decreased since I first started working. In my first few jobs, I used to run a car and go out partying loads, I couldn't afford to do that now. Salaries don't seem to've kept pace with inflation, well not for me anyway.
  • Single person household so it's not hitting me so much.  Cycling to work is not an option as I would be too scared to tackle one of the roads - narrow country lane used as rat run by BMW's & 4x4s doing silly speeds.

    I have started to think about planning food for the week ahead and there has been less waste.  I make lunch instead of 'forgetting' so having to go to Tesco for a sandwich and ending up spending £10.

    Luckily none of my kit needs replacing and I've bought a bike through Cyclescheme at work so interest free loan on it and I save the tax and NI - about 50% image

    I still manage my trips away but not quite as many as the last couple of years.  I've just bought a tent so should save on the B&B costs sometime.  I know I'll be a fairweather camper though but even a couple of nights and the tent will have paid its way.

    Cutting back on the treats and clothes shopping impulse buys.  Presents maybe not quite as generous as they once were and I've certainly not give as much in donations to people's charity exploits as in previous years.

    I'm also lucky in that I've still had a pay increase these last couple of years.  Maybe not as big as it would have been but 2% is still worth having and I certainly wouldn't complain as I wasn't expecting anything.

  • not cutting back as such just taking less of a gamble in collectibles I buy in order to sell. Collectibles are the first to suffer in a recessionimage
  • MuttleyMuttley ✭✭✭

    I don't have a car and I don't take foreign holidays. Nor do I drink (hardly ever) so already live a pretty economical lifestyle. Pay has decreased in real terms the last two years and I've also lost out on overtime so income is lower now than it was.

    On the plus side, I'm one of those annoying people with a really low tracker mortgage and since the interest rate crash I've been some £400 a month better off because of it. So can't complain overall.

  • Salary has stayed the same, Car Insurance has stayed the same, Very annoying tracker mortgage (image)

    What recession ?

  • Yeah, I also have a job in the private sector, so am unaffected.  And have been doing my duty to try to keep the economy going, by spending the same amount as ever on pointless crap, gadgets and frivolities.  Some people, apparently, have been cutting back even though they aren't earning less... just because they heard there was a recession and were too dim to look at their own bank statements and realise that they were unaffected.  Those people should be fined!  It's deliberate sabotage to the economy!
  • I've cancelled my subscription to Rosemary Conley's Health and Fitness magazine.
  • So that's Rosemary Conley's retirement plan out of the window
  •  image  I paid off my divorce so the only thing I am cutting back is the overtime hours.image

  • I'm self imployed and the last three years have been hard. Before, life was pretty easy and I now realize that I wasted a lot of money on all kind of things, thinking things won't change. Stupid me!
    Hopefully if I manage to see this out, I'll have learnt a very valuable lesson.
    Having said that, I'm happy with the direction my life is now taking, my values have deffinately changed.
  • I only buy things I really need. Food wise it's a struggle as having 4 kids and always running out of things like milk and fruit, you go to tesco and remember you've run out of x more other items and end up spending more in the end. Running wise, I've only bought clothes that are cheap, still techno stuff but not branded from startfitness, they do decent cheap stuff and then I'll wear it till it drops off. Have enlisted for races but cutting out smaller ones and going to do HM or similar in distance which I found are often the same price as 10k. Would do races about 25 miles away, it also takes petrol to get there. Haven't bought any clothes for kids for about 2 years due to friends and their children's hand me downs.

    Otherwise it's just careful planning. I've finally realised I don't need this huuuge order from Tesco before Christmas, last year we were still eating crisps and snacks I bought for Christmas well into March. Big occassions like this and family birthdays have become smaller too. You just have to adjust and learn to budget.

  • I have cancelled my RW subscription and gym membership. We have also cancelled our ironing lady image

    We too are shopping to meal planners and are buying more supermarket own brand stuff.

  • I've also bulk bought my running shoes for this year and most of next

     Found a buy one get 50% off offer on the web and haven't bought any new kit this year apart from socks waiting for Aldi sale

  • and the bike shop were a lot more interested in talking a deal, when I arrived with loads of cash and wanted a new bike
  • used the cycle to work scheme for mine But got to say look forward to it Hate Mondays as I use the car to take my shirts in for the rest of the week
  • Sadly 40 miles of motorway, carrying a lap top isn't going to happen by bike.
  • i'm not suffering from the recession per se as i am  usually quite good at budgetting

    however a 3.5k paycut from changing jobs (for long-term progression) and extra money on the commute has meant i need to be much more careful

  • I am on my lowest (paid) income by for 5 years its actually less than half of what I was earning in 2005.  my essential outgoings are much higher since I am covering the costs of running a house 'technically' as the owner instead of a rented property where some things are included in the rent. I have become a grocery tart - I have easy trips to three major supermarkets and just pop in to see who is selling what cheapest and take the time to shop around - I use local shops as well when they are cheaper.  I have halved my food bill and eat very well.  I drink very little and eat very little crap so basically the hard time are doing me the world of good.  I cycle to work saving the bus fair.  I am currently building the utilities up as they are on a prepayment meter after a spell out of work meant a huge bill I couldn't pay.  I don't have Cable or Sky TV and at the moment no phone line though I hope to sort hat this month but it will be just the phone line and broad band - as a temp internet connection is very useful for job hunting and the local web cafe is crap.

    I struggle tohave a life but as I continue to adapt that is also becoming possible though any big races are a no no I can't afford them.

    I am overall better off with little money than loads much healthier and stronger in character - there are positives to everything and lesons to learn image 

  • NessieNessie ✭✭✭

    My cut backs haven't been recession driven, as we are both still working and the mortgage rate is so low, but since my daughter was born 2 years ago we have both give up our gym memberships (we don't get the time to go now), our footie season tickets (ditto), and the loan on my car was paid off in March.  All in all, we are about £700 a month less in spend on these (including mortgage), which pays for nursery fees and me cutting down to a 4 day week.

    If things got bad, the Sky package could go (we have everything - HD multiroom, movies, sport and ESPN- costs nearly £80pm), I could economise on food and we could share a car, but it's not an issue at the moment.

    We're lucky.

  • We haven't cut back because of the recession - we've cut back because we were spending more than we earned. Living on a budget and shopping around for insurance and utilities etc. I managed to save over £200 per year by switching gas and electric suppliers last week and over £30 per month by ditching the Sky TV/phone/broadband package and going with Freeview and the cheapest phone/broadband deal I could find. It does feel good paying less for the things you 'need', freeing up the money for the things you want.
  • Cycling to work (34mile round trip) saves around £5 a day in fuel, so thats quite a saving over the year, other than that, its business as usual.
  • Been told today I've been drafted onto a project team looking at reducing the workforce by around 25% from a total of 7,000

    Part of our brief was to accept we would have no friends and that people would be pointing fingers and saying things like Why Me

    The future is bright and I will be checking the brakes on my bike every day

  • I cancelled my gym membership and satellite radio subscription.
  • I have had to cut the butler's wages down to 50p a week and the nanny has had her clothing allowance cut because for some reason Mr LB prefers her without clothes....image

    I find I prefer Fortnum's biscuits but Duchy's will do in an emergency....image

  • It's tough at the top ain't it LB image
  • Yeah LB is even thinking of getting her Husband to go out to work !
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