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tips for living on a budget?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
i'm going to be soon having to practicaly sustain myself (with a given budget, because i can't go out and work full time until june 23rd), i don't have to pay rent or bills, but everything else i'm going to have to pay for out of this small budget, whcih i don't know what it is...

any tips for living on a shoe string would be great...
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i'm going to be soon having to practicaly sustain myself (with a given budget, because i can't go out and work full time until june 23rd), i don't have to pay rent or bills, but everything else i'm going to have to pay for out of this small budget, whcih i don't know what it is...

    any tips for living on a shoe string would be great...

    By everything else what do you mean?
    Food?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Cheap meat, lots of vegetables and potato in your diet, and no alcohol.

    It's a pain not being able to socialise, but if you have no money you can't.

    Walk instead of getting the bus too, if its practical.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Don't buy branded food. Apparantely, cheap stuff tastes as nice.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    buy things in bulk if you can, sometimes works out cheaper.

    don't buy expensive convenience foods, it's generally cheaper and better for you if you prepare them yourself.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Food-wise:

    Base most of your meals around pasta, rice and tinned potatoes and vegetables - they're cheap, go a long way, and don't go off.

    Find meals that you can have for cheap. A bowl of soup or tin of spaghetti with bread is about 40p. Cereal is even cheaper. And I'm sure you can think of some sandwiches that cost a similar amount. So by your evening meal you shouldn't have spent more than about £1 on food. Even less if you're willing to eat watery soup and value bread. Eating this stuff all the time also means that you're not throwing bread and milk out because it's gone off.

    Have fruit or a yoghurt rather than chocolate or crisps for a snacks - they're about half the price.

    Drink water, cordial, tea and coffee rather than fizzy drinks. Buy a bottle of water, and keep refilling it if you like to have a drink out and about.

    If you find yourself having to buy food out, get something like a pie, rather than spending £3-4 in McDonalds or KFC.

    Otherwise:

    If you want to do something, invite friends round to watch a DVD rather than go out, preferably one that one of you owns.

    Walk everywhere.

    Buy clothes from supermarkets and discount stores.

    And this goes without saying - don't buy anything you don't need.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    When you go out take a snack and a bottle of drink with you so you don't have to buy over priced stuff when out. A multipack of chocolate bars makes the individual bars work out about a third of the price as buying the same chocolate bar individually.

    Borrow you friends' DVDs rather than renting or buying them.

    Write down everything you spend so you can see where your money actually goes (even if you think you already know) and be as specific as possible.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Bagged frozen veg works out a lot cheaper than tinned stuff...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    buy your fruit and vegetables from a greengrocer or market stall rather than supermarket - LOADS cheaper. I can get 3 bags of lovely stuff from the local grocer for about £7. It would cost me about £15 in sainsburies, and if youre only buying for yourself, youre not even gonna need as much, but its good for you anyway. I eat loads of fruit now.

    Theres some things that are fine in the economy ranges and some things that arent that nice at all. Economy cereal tastes crap - but stores own brand is just as good as top brands usually. Economy pasta is fine, economy beans are shit, but stores own brands are usually nice - i prefer sainsburies ones to heinz.
    Economy fruit juice is exactly the same as non-economy.
    Economy cheese is fine. Economy yoghurts taste crap. Economy bread tastes like cardboard for sandwiches but is nice for toast. Economy butter is exactly the same as any other butter. Margerine, maybe not - try stores own brand.
    Economy coffee and tea is hideous. should be banned. Stores own brand tea is nice, own brand coffee isnt too bad (can be a bit hit and miss though)

    Buy all your toiletries, washing powders, washing up liquid from wilkinsons or savers. They are roughly half the price of supermarkets, and dont be afraid of trying unknown brands if its cheaper.

    best motto, is look after the pennies, and the pounds look after themselves.
    ie, even if its just a few pence cheaper, go for that one. It doesnt take many times of getting the thing thats not the cheapest, for your bill to go up a few quid and you really will notice that next time theres something you really want and you cant afford it.
    If its something for yourself that you dont really need, but you really want - dont get it straight away. Think about it. Want it for a few days and then decide. quite often its easy to just buy stuff on the spur of the moment, but give it a couple of days and youre not even bothered anymore.
    Iceland is cheap for meat, pizzas, stuff like that.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Become vegetarian - meat is really expensive.

    Write down at the beginning of each week a meal plan for what you are going to eat each day and all the stuff you need to buy to make it. then go to the supermarket and only buy what is on your list.

    Make your own lunch every day and take it with you this saves you oooodles of money - I can buy my lunch for 5 days a week for about £2 which is the cost of one sandwich in a sandwich shop.

    Economy braned tinned tomatoes are excellent and sometimes you can get them on offer for 3p.

    Go to Jumblesales often second hand clothes are cheaper there than at charity shops.

    Superdrug own brand shampoo is brilliant.

    Join the library rather than buying books.

    If you go the cinema check the prices in advance - some cinemas are cheaper depending on the days of the week you go or have offers for students etc etc.

    If you do go out do stuff that is exciting and outdoors now the weather is nice like a picnic and also more cost effective.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Economy fruit juice is exactly the same as non-economy.
    I beg to differ. Tropicana is the necter of the Gods. Specially smooth style.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I beg to differ. Tropicana is the necter of the Gods. Specially smooth style.

    Tropicana is teh best evar imo :yum:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I beg to differ. Tropicana is the necter of the Gods. Specially smooth style.
    Yeah but sainsburies own fresh squeezed orange is as good as tropicana - its not the brand, its the method of production (their TTD version is even better). Most orange juice though is produced from concentrate, and economy is just as good as del-monté for instance
    Copella is better than economy apple juice too, but thats because its pressed apple juice rather than from concentrate - its practically a different drink, but sainsburies own pressed version tastes pretty much just as good.

    Its still not for people on a budget though Tropicana about £2 a litre, economy orange juice 37p. Still nice and its still just as good for you.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Tropicana is teh best evar imo :yum:
    nah, sainsburies Taste the difference freshly squeezed jaffa orange juice with bits is nicer than tropicana.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    nah, sainsburies Taste the difference freshly squeezed jaffa orange juice with bits is nicer than tropicana.

    different people.. different taste...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    different people.. different taste...
    different people.. different budget...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    different people.. different budget...

    different people... different whatever... :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    eurgh, juice with bits! :no:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Wyetry wrote:
    Become vegetarian - meat is really expensive.

    :yes: But i joined a library and ended up paying more in fines that i would have done had i bought the book in the shop.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah but sainsburies own fresh squeezed orange is as good as tropicana - its not the brand, its the method of production (their TTD version is even better). Most orange juice though is produced from concentrate, and economy is just as good as del-monté for instance
    Copella is better than economy apple juice too, but thats because its pressed apple juice rather than from concentrate - its practically a different drink, but sainsburies own pressed version tastes pretty much just as good.

    Its still not for people on a budget though Tropicana about £2 a litre, economy orange juice 37p. Still nice and its still just as good for you.
    How comes you know so much about orange juice production?

    I can't afford tropicana either, unless it's on special offer.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    How comes you know so much about orange juice production?

    I can't afford tropicana either, unless it's on special offer.
    cos im a foodie unfortunately. I just love good food and cant stand eating badly. I say unfortunately cos usually my budget doesnt allow for my tastes, so i shop around and Im an expert on still eating good stuff for less.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    cos im a foodie unfortunately. I just love good food and cant stand eating badly. I say unfortunately cos usually my budget doesnt allow for my tastes, so i shop around and Im an expert on still eating good stuff for less.

    I need someone like you to my my food shopping for me
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    cos im a foodie unfortunately. I just love good food and cant stand eating badly. I say unfortunately cos usually my budget doesnt allow for my tastes, so i shop around and Im an expert on still eating good stuff for less.
    See I only go into that level of detail when it's something important, like beer.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Look for good sales. Most of the time if you look, you can get the brand name products even cheaper than the no namers. Don't buy on the splurge, just wait. Like at the stores, the receipts show how much you spent with how much you saved from instore sales and what not. Every time we go shopping we always spend half of the normal cost.
    Pure black angus a lb for $1, 4 cases of Coke for $10, 6 boxes of cereal for $12. All name brand. The "cheap" stuff is more expensive.
    Can go for everything. It just take some looking in the ads. Yesterday Ed bought over $200 worth of stuff including an $80 toaster oven and 4 $25 pillows and spent only $80.

    The sales are out there. You just have to look.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Actually - econony orange is normally made from concentrate and therefore isn't as good for you as freshly squeezed orange juice - the one you get in like a plastic bottle I think its tast the difference. Tropicana isn't made from concentrate but its also not freshly squeezed so some of the goodness is lost over time.

    Gawd i'm such a fruit juice buff. Having said that even drinking stuff from concentrate is still good for you. But never as good as squeezing your own.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Buy a juicer off ebay and juice your own then:p

    Concentrate isn't as good as fresh, but most stuff in supermarkets isnt fresh. Most of the stuff in the chillers is from concentrate too, if you look closely.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    instead of buying a paper if you do get the metro or look on the net

    cook food in batches and freeze some to stop you ordering takeaway when you cant be arsed

    work out how much money you actually need for a week and how much you can afford for other stuff and then draw that much out oncea week and stick to it
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Food has already been covered. Other expenses might include, entertainment, travel, telephone, makeup, shoes and clothes. Will you have your own laundry facilities? Will your place come furnished? With a telly? and license... Do you have/need bedding/ towels etc? How come you don't know what your budget will be? Are you moving into, can't remember what it's called- but when you leave care and branch out on your own (is it supported living)?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    the big oxfam wharehouses are good for things like furnature, pots and pans and things like that.
    laundry costs can really mount up when you have to pay. i would get into the habit of washing things that can be hand washed (most things unless their really stained) before you go to bed.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well you want to stay healthy... I pay a little more for food now (I can afford to as I don't drink), but before I just went and bought all the economy stuff... Like beans for 8p, orange juice for 40p and so on... The farmers market is often cheaper for things like eggs and fruit.

    Don't drink, don't smoke... Save on water bills by having showers instead of baths and not using too much water on other things, electricity bills by only using lights around the house when you absolutely have to and always turn off any electrical appliance when you're not using it. Keep an eye on your heating too.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Just 1 word - poundland
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