I was recently asked this question by a friend of mine and the answer was a long one that I thought would make a good post so here goes.
I think it started out of necessity my husband had left me I was on my own with a six year old autistic son and a new-born baby and was unable to work so had to go on benefits. It was hard going from a situation where we could have pretty much anything we wanted to literally counting pennies out to buy a loaf of bread. I drew on my experience as a child I was the eldest of six children to a single mother. We were poor and I mean poor we didn't have much but everything we did have was second hand. Mum would make cheap meals often using liver and other forms of offal as these were the cheapest forms of getting meat. She would make us cakes and sweets as treats saving trips to the shop for pricey chocolate bars it soon adds up when there are six of you. I watched and I learned and it never did me any harm and I never felt I went without.
How ironic that the woman who I picked up a lot of my frugal tips from is now one of the biggest shopaholics and food snobs I have ever known. I have asked mum about this and reminded her of how we used to live compared to the way she is now and her response is that back then she did not have a choice she had to make do with what she had but now she works full time and has a husband who works full time she can afford to buy what she likes when she likes. I can kind of see her logic however I think even if I was in a position to live the "what I want when I want it" lifestyle I would still choose frugalism a hundred times over.
So how do I live so cheaply ?
Well there are many factors to how I keep our living costs down. I will go through them individually and try and advise as best I can.
Energy
My house is all electric and is on a pay as you go meter. I realise a pay as you go meter is not the cheapest way to go but I prefer it as I can see exactly how much I am using and I am never faced with a huge electric bill at the end of each quarter. As soon as the boys go to school I go around the house and make sure all plug sockets are turned off aside from the fridge freezer of course. I do the same again once they have gone to bed at night. I do not watch TV during the day which also saves us a few pennies. I don't use the tumble dryer unless it is an absolute emergency instead I put my washing out on the line if the weather is nice or on the airing racks indoors if it is raining. I also wait until I have a full load before putting a wash on and put it on the timer so it washes during the night when the electric is on economy seven and much cheaper. We have quick showers using an electric shower so no need for hot water from the water tank. As a result I turn the water heater on only every other day and this heats up over night on economy seven and lasts us for two days before needing to reheat it. When using the oven I turn it off 5 minutes before cooking time has ended as the residual heat continues the cooking process saving me 5 minutes of electric. I also use my crockpot for a lot of meals as this uses less electric than the oven. We only charge electrical items for as long as is needed once they are fully charged we switch the charger off we also wait till the battery is completely dead before charging things up. I let my hair dry naturally instead of using a hair dryer. Heating during the winter months is kept to a minimum instead we wear extra clothes during the day as well as fluffy bed socks and slippers. At night we all wear fleecy pyjamas, bed socks and nightgowns as well as having an electric blanket on each of our beds and an extra duvet each. Very very occasionally I will put the electric fire on in the front room if it is extremely cold and we never ever use the electric storage heaters that are in the house. On average during the warmer months (spring, summer, autumn) we use between 10 and 15 pounds of electric. During the colder months (winter) between 25 and 30 pounds. I put 20 pounds a week of electric on regardless of how much we use so that the extra cost at winter is covered by my weekly over payments during the warmer months.
Phone, Broadband, and TV
I have a simple pay as you go mobile phone which I put 10 pounds a month on and get 100 free minutes of calls, 400 text messages, and 1GB of internet. I looked around for a good deal on my landline and broadband and managed to get 6 months free broadband and then 6 months at £6.50 a month. I paid for a years line rental up front at a discounted rate instead of paying £14.95 a month I paid just £9.95 a month. We also get free calls to landline numbers after 7pm and all weekend. I also got £40 cash back through quidco. I have a Freeview box which I was given for free and my dad installed it all for me free so I have no monthly bills for my TV package.
Entertainment
We occasionally go to the cinema as a family treat. Odeon cinema offer a special card for people with disabilities which get one person as a carer in for free both Brandon and Brad have these due to their autism. On a Saturday and Sunday they have the kids club where they will screen one of the kids new releases for just £2.50 a person. By going to the kids club and using our cards myself, lee, and the 3 boys get in for £7.50 and I take snacks and drinks from home.
We have a lovely park in the next town which has a boating lake, tennis courts, putting green, nature trail, skateboard park, outdoor paddling pool, and a large adventure playground. we take our bathers and towels, bread for the ducks, and a picnic making this a lovely day out free of charge.
The national trust occasionally have free entrance days. Take a picnic with you and again its a free day out.
The local library often have crafting or musical sessions free of charge. Not to mention free books and free dvds to borrow.
Have friends over on a nice sunny day and have a bbq (see how I save money on food in the next section), buckets of water for a water fight, and ask friends to bring a bottle if they wish to have a drink (we are tee total in this house).
We are lucky enough to have several local music festivals held throughout the year free of charge. Again take a picnic and its a nice free day out.
Food
During the week the children have a hot cooked meal at school so on these days we tend to have something simple and cheap like a toasty or something on toast or a simple sandwich. On the days the boys are not at school we have a hot cooked meal but it is done on a budget often using a lot of yellow sticker reductions. The boys have a choice of jam or peanut butter on toast or cornflakes for breakfast, a simple sandwich and fruit yogurt for lunch, and a budget hot cooked meal in the evening. For treats I buy reduced price fruit and cakes, value biscuits, value crisps, and value yogurts as well as baking cakes and biscuits at home. I make my own ice-cream using an ice-cream mix I bought from approved foods which will last us years and I make ice lollies using value lemonade and cola (15p a bottle and will make at least 25 lollies). I go yellow sticker shopping about 3 times a week and cater our evening meals around the items I am able to get. I never pay more than 9p for a loaf of bread and nine times out of ten its hovis. Just recently I have been getting lots of bread finger rolls for 5p a pack of six (ideal for hotdogs), and cheese flavoured muffins 5p for a pack of 4, I also managed to get 10 boxes of Mr Kipling's almond slice cakes for 9p a box. I always buy yellow sticker or value goods as the quality in my opinion is just as good as the brand name items. I spend no more than £50 a week on my shopping and that is for 5 of us 2 adults, 1 teenager, and 2 small people. It covers our food, drink, toiletries, cleaning materials, food and litter for the cat, and food and hay for the rabbit. It also includes pull ups and wipes for Brandon (his autism causes him toileting issues).
Clothes
I am fortunate enough that I have a friend who has two boys both one year older than my two boys every so often she has a good clear out of clothes and shoes and sells them on to me. The same friends mum has a foster son who is a year older than my eldest son and she does the same thing. I also buy from charity shops and sometimes get some real bargains. Just recently my local air ambulance shop was having a sale on children's clothing any two items for a pound and the same for women's clothing. I was able to get a lovely pair of jeans and a top for myself for £1. I also got a really nice coat and a Nike hoody that looked new to me for Ben for £1. When I have no choice but to buy new I look around to get the best possible price on an item. A lot of the supermarkets now do a value range in clothing and often have discount events.
Transportation
As Brad and Brandon are autistic they get a free bus pass plus a free pass for a carer so when we use the bus we only have to pay for Ben which saves a lot of money. We also have a family and friends rail card which gets us 1/3 off of adult fares and 60% off of children's fares. Usually in July there is an offer for a free 2 month railcard and at the end of the 2 months if you take out a years railcard they will give you £10 off costing you £20 instead of £30. I have done this the last two years and it has saved us a small fortune. We walk everywhere that is local and only use transport if we are going to one of the neighbouring towns or further afield.
I hope that some of this information helps someone somewhere to save some money. Anyway off to do a spot of yellow sticker shopping :)
Much Love
Claire xx xx xx
