Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Aug 26, 2010 12:57 pm So my partner and I had a big long chat last night- some things have changed as of yesterday and we have to dramatically cut down on what we spend if we are going to stay afloat this year. So some general advice pleeeassse would be so very appreciated 1. Ok so we have managed to cut down our phone bills, but the electricity and gas bills seem to be really slugging us. Which providers are the cheapest - anyone got some great deals out there they can tell me about? 2. We live in a city so we buy fruit and vege from the supermarket- farmers markets are not possible to go to on the weekend- so what have you all done to cut the cost of groceries? We started having kangaroo mince alot more rather than other meat (its cheaper and seems more meat for your $), stopped buying bread (as we eat non-wheat bread and it is $), have looked into natural cleaning products like bicarb instead of commercial cleaning products, trying to cook at home rather than eating out, ummmm etc 3. Any other tips for cutting costs you have at all Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 2Aug 26, 2010 1:02 pm Best thing I can suggest is to check out the simplesavings website - there is a forum there completely devoted to saving tips in every aspect of life Building an Eden Brae Saville 27 http://karry327.blogspot.com/ Building thread https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=44247 Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 3Aug 26, 2010 1:13 pm with regards to food do you like stews and slow cooked foods? slow cooking uses the cheaper cuts of meats and you can bung a heap of vegies in and can get several meals out of it. Also look at the butchers for specials on bulk buys - sometimes it's cheaper to buy more than you need just now and freeze it and you can save some $$'s doing that. Don't let vegies or anything going off in the fridge be thrown out - use it to make a soup or caserole or something in the slow cooker - even in a lasagna or a fritata or something 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 4Aug 26, 2010 1:23 pm Socialising at home is much cheaper than a night on the town-and you have the benefit of being able to crawl into bed without having to locate a taxi! Deemaree Kyndylan Capers: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=46852 My blog: http://www.sufficientlysufficient.blogspot.com/ Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 5Aug 26, 2010 1:55 pm We've just gone through this ourselves. Have you got Origin Energy in your area? If you sign up with them for 12 months they will give you one month's free electricity. We saved just on $160. I know they are gas providers too but unsure if the same deal is available on gas. To save energy we have basically banned use of our heater and have just resorted to using extra clothing. I'm considering buying those wearable blankets...daggy but if they save money I'm happy. We have also started to use small LED sensor lights (plugged into the powerpoint) for the bathroom for the kids rather than leave the big light on overnight. The LED light turns off as soon as it detects sunlight or artificial light in the room. Very efficient in terms of power usage. Another thing that we do is turn off our appliances at the powerpoint when not in use...every bit counts For meat, fruit and vegetables we do tend to shop at Aldi. We can't always get what we want so we do need to be flexible and just buy what's available. Meat is always bought in bulk and unfortunately we don't get to eat heaps of red meat except mince. We also have two family members who are gluten free and the cost of their bread is so exxy for such a small loaf. We will always try and find specials on normal bread for the rest of the family to compensate. Our upright freezer has become our best friend...anything that we find on special and can be frozen will be frozen. We managed to shave a heap off our phone, internet and mobile phones...almost 1/2 by changing the plans we were on. Good luck with your changes Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 6Aug 26, 2010 2:32 pm From a food point of view, go to South Melbourne market about an hour before clsoing on a Sunday. They just about give the food away altough you have to battle the knowledgable crowds but prices usually drop by up to 80% of fruit and vegetables, 50% on seafood and meats. Buy in bulk. Go to Costco and buy their specials. You can make massive savings if you have storage that allows you to buy non-perishables in bulk. Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 7Aug 26, 2010 2:37 pm Try these guys for the best power bills etc http://www.energywatch.com.au/ 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 8Aug 26, 2010 2:40 pm Do a retrospective on your last bank statements, don't suppose you spend x on fast food, and y on dvd's, get out the old statements and make no assumptions and see what it tells you, you'll be very surprised! Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 9Aug 26, 2010 2:42 pm Phone around different companies for your insurance. For me CGU has always worked out the best, but i know lots of people who have saved bags of money by shopping around for there insurance car, house, contents etc. Another thing is to pay money onto your bills each week, that way when they come in you only owe a little bit or you may even be in credit. This doesnt save you money but does make the bills more manageable when they come in. Good Luck! Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 10Aug 26, 2010 2:45 pm all the sand Another thing is to pay money onto your bills each week, that way when they come in you only owe a little bit or you may even be in credit. This doesnt save you money but does make the bills more manageable when they come in. This! When we were sharing a house with another couple, each month we'd pay them $x for rent and $y for bills, so they would pay the amount to bills each month rather than waiting til they came in and having a huge amount at once. Agreed, it doesn't save you money, but it does allow you to stick more to your budget for bills and that way you know the money won't get spent for whatever reason and has already 'paid' some of it. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=37229 - our Iris 4! Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 11Aug 26, 2010 3:18 pm we have a hot water tank, in a cupboard (you probably dont!) but I turn mine off about 8.30 am ish and on about 6pm and we save $100 a month now on hot water bills we have changed nothing else, so it must be the water savings we also bought a soda stream! Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 12Aug 26, 2010 3:24 pm When at the supermarket buy fruit and vegies when they are in season as they are heaps cheaper. eg. Right now Cauliflowers are 99c each and Red Capsicums $1.99/ kilo. Buy all the 'in season' and 'on special'. Eat less meat. There are lots of fantastic vegetarian meals using chickpeas, red beans etc Risotto is great. Pasta dishes, and (home made) fried rice and other ice dishes. Soup is great too and quiches (home made) Cook biscuits, cakes etc from scratch. Buy meat that has the price marked down It sounds simple but....stop shopping. It's amazing how long you clothes and shoes last if you just keep wearing them. Apparently there is some huge amount of stuff people buy they never use. Before you buy anything ask, 'do I need it or want it'. No cleaners, gardeners, painters etc Anything you can do yourself, do. No waxing etc at beauticians. Shaving is much cheaper. No foxtel. No buying things on higher purchase or credit card. If you don't have the cash, don't buy it.And pay off your credit card as quickly as possible. Shop at Op Shops for clothes. Go through your house and get anything unwanted, unused etc and have a garage sale, or sell them on ebay. Drink water instead of soft drink or juice. Take your own water bottles and don't buy bottled water. Go to the SPC outlet and bulk buy things on sale due to being close to end of date If you smoke, stop. Cut right down on alcohol Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 13Aug 26, 2010 3:36 pm What I have done with my gas, electricity and water is to go on a payment plan, when you contact the provider they work out your consumption for the last 12 months and then average it out fortnightly/monthly etc you can choose - they send you out a card and you pay fortnight/monthly whatever you choose - it certainly helps to budget I believe Telstra used to do it as well, but we no longer have a home line we just use mobiles so we save on the fixed line. Site Start: 10th September, 2010 PCI : Friday 27th January, 2011. Handover: 3rd February, 2011 Build Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=37677 Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 14Aug 26, 2010 4:17 pm ring, that is very common in canberra and makes it SOOOO easy to keep a budget on track. Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 15Aug 26, 2010 4:43 pm Don't go shopping w.out a list and stick to the list! Stop buying coffees take lunches to work from things you have made at home! Buy cheaper brand products. Pay cash for everything and keep your receipts! I've noticed that these days with putting everything on eftpos etc that you tend to spend more cos you aren't seeing the actual cash in your hand. Also - change banks to avoid fees if need be and don't use any ATM's except your own bank to cut down those fees 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 16Aug 27, 2010 12:10 pm johnnyrie So my partner and I had a big long chat last night- some things have changed as of yesterday and we have to dramatically cut down on what we spend if we are going to stay afloat this year. So some general advice pleeeassse would be so very appreciated 1. Ok so we have managed to cut down our phone bills, but the electricity and gas bills seem to be really slugging us. Which providers are the cheapest - anyone got some great deals out there they can tell me about? 2. We live in a city so we buy fruit and vege from the supermarket- farmers markets are not possible to go to on the weekend- so what have you all done to cut the cost of groceries? We started having kangaroo mince alot more rather than other meat (its cheaper and seems more meat for your $), stopped buying bread (as we eat non-wheat bread and it is $), have looked into natural cleaning products like bicarb instead of commercial cleaning products, trying to cook at home rather than eating out, ummmm etc 3. Any other tips for cutting costs you have at all I am a carer my wife is on disability pension so my tips - Don't drive a car or don't use it for eveything - Check supers for specials - Get used to become a handyman or woman - Buy seasonal produce only. ie avocadoes out of season just don't buy them - Buy cheaper cuts of meats and get used to meat rotation. - Go out but don't get tempted. Think how much it cost you to put food on the table. Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 17Aug 27, 2010 1:14 pm I dont know if anyone else has mentioned this but is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT thing you MUST do. WRITE A BUDGET. I am shocked at the amount of family's today that dont have or use budget How can you determine where to cut cost if you dont know acurately, what your costs are? Open an excel spreed sheet or even do it in a notebook (as my sister has been doing for many years). There are also plenty of free spreadsheet on the web but I like to do my own excel spreadsheet. If anyone wants a starting template I can email you one. Start with Income Jim = $500 Alice = $420 Total = $920 Then for expenses make a list down the left handside of ALL the expenses that you have. Now put a weekly (or monthly, depending on how often you want to record it. I suggest weekly to begin with then move to monthly later on) figure next to each amount. If you pay a bill monthly or yearly, then divide it by 4.3 if you are doing a weekly budget or 12 if you are monthly. Example. This is based on a weekly budget Expenses Fixed (These are things like rent that you cannot control the amount) Rent/Mortgage = $340 Phone/Internet = $15 Car Repayments = $50 Insurances = $10 Sub Total = $415 Variable (These are the ones you can control) Petrol = $150 Food = $200 Credit Card Repayments = $30 Pocket Money = $50 Savings = $30 Electricity = $20 Xmas/Biirthday = $25 Sub Total = $505 Total Expenses = $920 Now if your expenses are more than your income then obviously you are living above your means and you need to take IMMEDIATE action to not dig yourself further and further. If your expenses are lower, great!! Double check that you have allowed for ALL expenses and then re-distribute the funds so that all income is accounted for. You may start a new expense line, like HOLIDAY FUND or NEW CAR FUND. Now comes the fun part debt reduction and acurate finance recording. Over the next few weeks keep track of everything you spend. One person mentioned here about keeping reciepts and this is a brilliant idea but if you can't be bothered that is fine just make sure that your bank statement has marked where the money was spent. Mine does so every month, I just go along and mark down next to the deduction on my statement, what line that of the budget that comes out of eg. 19/08/10 coles $30 - I mark down FOOD. Then, I do a total for all the items marked food on my statement and record that next to the FOOD line on spreadsheet. If it is lower than what is budgeted, then great we now have some money saved up for food. If it is higher then the next week we less to spend. The spreadsheet is a great tool as it can keep track of all of this. I hope this helps and if anyone needs any help or advice please let me know. Our Build https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=36661&start=40 Land Settlement - 19/07/09 Building Deposit Paid - 14/02/10 Site Scrape - 25/08/10 Slab - 01/09/10 Frame - 15/09/10 Roof - 21/09/10 Pre Wire/Plumbing - 23/04/09 Bi-Folds - 24/09/10 Bricks - 13/10/10 Plastering - 13/10/10 Cornice, skirting, shelving - 14/10/10 Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 18Aug 27, 2010 1:56 pm Just recording what you use your cash for will make you more aware. I found out 75% of my cash spending is discretionary - on non vital items! I agree with late shopping to get the bargains that they want to get rid of rather than store. Use a rice cooker, rice lasts for ages and is cheap in bulk. Use spices and seasoning to create flavour rather than bulk meat/vegetables. I know when I was poor student plain salted rice went down pretty well and worked out at about 30c per bowl. Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 19Aug 27, 2010 4:03 pm lisanne Don't go shopping w.out a list and stick to the list! Stop buying coffees take lunches to work from things you have made at home! Buy cheaper brand products. Pay cash for everything and keep your receipts! I've noticed that these days with putting everything on eftpos etc that you tend to spend more cos you aren't seeing the actual cash in your hand. Also - change banks to avoid fees if need be and don't use any ATM's except your own bank to cut down those fees OMG I have "found" my long lost sister L, I do & have done the exact same things. 1.I have ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS had a budget! This is essential if you want to stay on top of your finances! 2.THen there is the weekly menu. I sit down once a week & plan my weekly menu. THen I compile my grocery list based on the ingredients I will need or have run out of + whatever else is required to fill the pantry. I shop ONCE a week using that same list. THat means that I don't run to the shops unnecessarily & spend more money 3. ALDI, ALDI ALDI. I have been shopping there since they opened All my essentials I get there eg cheeses, bread, milk, eggs, flour, frozen vegies, toilet paper, biscuits, etc....... & 'other' stuff that Aldi doesnt' carry I get from Coles/Woolies. 4. I worked p/time - we lived on it ie the smaller wage. My DH's pay, the bigger sum, went toward the loan/savings. 5. Any pay rise would go toward our loan or savings NOT on clothes, eating out, holidays, frivolities 6. We didn't have a holiday (go away) for the first 4 years of our marriage. Anyway, those are some of the things we did. Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: Desperate for ideas on living cheaper 20Aug 27, 2010 4:23 pm Have a look around and see what surplus "stuff" you have that you don't need and sell it on eBay. Clothing, handbags, household goods, furniture.... It may only be pocket money, but that can pay a bill, or for a much-needed meal out or a new piece of clothing that you can't otherwise afford. Get your hair cut at a hairdressing school for next to nothing. Other beauty services may be available from students too - I'm not sure I'd be keen to let someone on L plates look after waxing for me though. I don't know where you're located, but here's one in Melbourne, to give you an idea of prices: http://www.achdb.com.au/services.php Hospitality schools offer cheap meals in their restaurants too - and the food is awesome. William Angliss here in Melbourne does a 3-course dinner super-cheap (you could spend your eBay money and make it go further ). http://www.angliss.edu.au/Restaurants This book has some good ideas - many of them have already been covered in this thread, but I'm sure there are lots more: http://www.searchsa.com.au/review/book_view.asp?id=15 There will be suggestions in there that you simply can't or won't do, but it's sound advice. See if your local library has a copy and you'll be saving before you even start reading. Google "saving money" or "household budgeting" or similar terms and you'll find other sites and publications that might help. I would be wary. Is you site demilished but nothing else done? Sounds like liquidity problems to me. Our builder did the same. Got hundreds of thousands of dollars of… 2 15407 3 5594 Can anyone suggest a house layout where the kitchen-dining - living runs the length across the rear of the house left to right where our best view will be we… 0 4348 |