Cutting back to save money

[Frederick]

There was an interesting phone in on  UK local radio where people were asked to phone in and say what they were now cuitting back on in these difficult times and what they were doing to save money ...  Dumping SKY TV seemed to be very  high on the list along with no longer phoning out for take-away meals and  taking a lunch box to work .

Change of Supermarket to Llidl  Tesco and  Asda away from Waitrose and M&S and more buying on line seemed to be seen as a money saver.. I expect the  home delivery charge works out cheaper for  some now watching their  petrol costs than to drive to an out of town big supermatket ...

What I found interesting was that people have taken to searching out on line items where the charge will be in euros . One guy mentioned an item that he bought was priced at £100 but on a site on the continent it was 100 euros  and the postage charge was cheaper. Perhaps its Ebay France and Google translate the pages for easy on line shopping .?  I am yet to look at it .It seems DVD's that can be played in the UK can be bought much cheaper in the   USA ... It seems to me that  thanks to the recession . The penny is dropping among the section of society that has been brought up with a "must have the designer label mentallity  " and they are now  finding they can get by without them .

[NormanH]

I think Chancer on here is the great expert in making economies, but I also had to do this when I came over to France.

The biggest was getting rid of a car (I deliberately bought somewhere where I wouldn't have to have one to survive)

[Hoddy]

It depends if you want to trade with Ebay and Google who are UK tax evaders.

Hoddy

[YCCMB]

Jeez, I've got no idea how we're going to cut back, given that we've never had Sky TV, never, ever phoned for a takeaway and already shop at Tesco and Lidl.

Who are these people that BUY DVD's??? Holy technological breakthrough, Batman, have people never heard of Lovefilm? I mean, what happens after you've watched a DVD? I can count on the fingers of one finger the number of films I've ever wanted to see again.

I expect Ebay France will be more interesting once run through Google translate, but only for the novelty value of seeing just how badly mangled the results will be. [:D] Surely, using ebay UK (or wherever you happen to be) and setting your preferences to include results from other countries will work just as well? Although, to be fair, it seems to be quite well known that the very best bargains on ebay are to be had through the simple expedient of inserting your postcode and opting to consider only items that are listed for pickup only, within a reasonable radius of your home address. If you need to use translate in order to see what's on offer, good luck with opening a dispute if the goods disappear or are not as advertised!

[Russethouse]

Well I've not left Waitrose yet, their branded goods are the same price as Tesco ( and they are closer to me) and I look for value for money rather than the cheapest, I take advantage of offers when they are on something we use and keep an eye on the price per kilo or litre, whatever.

When I do visit Tesco or Aldi I stock up on anything that is a good buy.

I keep turning down the heating thermostat, particularly in the day time...OH keeps turning it up.....

[YCCMB]

Ooh, posh.....branded goods. I remember those. We used to have them in the 90's.[:D]

[idun]

Cutting back.......... well wasting less food should be a priority for lots of people. French news last night said that french people waste 20kilos per person per year.

No Waitrose near here, but I know that some of their things are not overly expensive as I have been into Waitrose. I shop at Morrisons, Tesco and Asda and Lidl. But I buy quite a lot from my local butcher and my fruit and veg from the greengrocer and fish from my fish monger. Not necessarily dearer, I buy less of better quality things.

In France I bought from Carrefour, Super U and Leader Price. A little from Intermarché too sometimes. My fruit and veg were always from supermarkets as not only were my local markets rubbish, but expensive to boot. Our village butcher was pretty good. The local fish mongers were not  good.

[Russethouse]

I had to really think about what we have that is branded:

Heinz tomato ketchup

Branston pickle

Weight watchers baked beans ( for OH)

Bite size shredded wheat

Olivio

Tea is up for discussion at present .....we like decaf , Waitrose own brand is about £1 less than Twinings which of course OH prefers.

We do have an awful lot of own brand stuff in the cupboards.

Using our excellent local butcher instead of the supermarket seems to be a saving as you can have the amount you like rather than pre packed and its cheaper than the In store meat counter.

[YCCMB]

I think the only branded things I buy now are;

coffee - because I actually stopped drinking it altogether, thinking I'd just gone off the taste, and then realised it wasn't that I had gone off the taste, but that the taste was awful, so I'm now buying expensive stuff.

tea - because OH only drinks Rooibos, and there's a branded one that's cheaper than Tesco's own.

I did have a senior moment last week and bought PG Tips because I actually forgot I've been buying Tesco's own brand for the last several years. They were on special offer, though, so I don't feel bad.

Our local butcher closed down years ago, and the only alternative is the Windsor castle farm shop (prop. HRH Prince Phil, although I've yet to see him doing a stint on the tills). Since they charged my next-door neighbour £85 for a normal sized, free-range turkey lo, these 10 Christmases past, I've given their meat products a bit of a wide berth. I do not regard having to take out a loan for my Sunday joint as belt-tightening.

[idun]

Poulet de Bresse can cost 40-50€'s so a turkey at £85 doesn't sound so bad.

I never buy 'big' chickens in England. What are they? I've seen hens and they are not 'that' size, there is something weird and not wonderful about a young hen being 'big'. In fact I cannot bring myself other than to buy the smaller ones, which look normal size to me.

I buy decent coffee, hate the cheap stuff, but IF I ever found a decent one, I would buy it. It isn't as if I'm that blinkered. I only like Heinz baked beans,  HP Sauce and Heinz tomato Soup. Some things I'd rather have less of, but have what I like.

Truth is that some own brands are awful.  Cereals can be dreadful, if I was that hungry, I could eat them, but I would have to be very hungry to do so. And as I can no longer have milk in tea, tend to drink Earl Grey, but some own brands of that are truly disgusting, so I have twinings when it is on offer.

 

 

 

[YCCMB]

A turkey at £85 ten years ago, though, (which was when it happened) would have needed to be gold plated.  Poulet de Bresse...whilst I'm sure it's delicious and so on, there's a 2 star Michelin pub up the road from me where I can get a 2-course lunch for two for no more than the cost of one of those, so I'd rather spend the money with them!

We (luckily) get free - or very cheap - cereal from the offspring, who works for a cereal company.

[Frederick]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]A turkey at £85 ten years ago, though, (which was when it happened) would have needed to be gold plated.  Poulet de Bresse...whilst I'm sure it's delicious and so on, there's a 2 star Michelin pub up the road from me where I can get a 2-course lunch for two for no more than the cost of one of those, so I'd rather spend the money with them!

We (luckily) get free - or very cheap - cereal from the offspring, who works for a cereal company.

[/quote]

We tend to have lunch out when we do the weeks food shop as we to go 18 miles in to town .We use the two for the price of one £9.95 menu that Green King pub chain  have  .    On the odd occasion we go out for an evening meal . I check these people out which can be a money saver .

 http://www.tablepouncer.com/     . They cover a lot of towns so for those in the UK its worth checking out before you leave the house .  I dont know if there is a French site like it

[eleanor_12]

[quote user="Frederick"]There was an interesting phone in on  UK local radio where people were asked to phone in and say what they were now cuitting back on in these difficult times and what they were doing to save money ...  Dumping SKY TV seemed to be very  high on the list along with no longer phoning out for take-away meals and  taking a lunch box to work .

Change of Supermarket to Llidl  Tesco and  Asda away from Waitrose and M&S and more buying on line seemed to be seen as a money saver.. I expect the  home delivery charge works out cheaper for  some now watching their  petrol costs than to drive to an out of town big supermatket ...

What I found interesting was that people have taken to searching out on line items where the charge will be in euros . One guy mentioned an item that he bought was priced at £100 but on a site on the continent it was 100 euros  and the postage charge was cheaper. Perhaps its Ebay France and Google translate the pages for easy on line shopping .?  I am yet to look at it .It seems DVD's that can be played in the UK can be bought much cheaper in the   USA ... It seems to me that  thanks to the recession . The penny is dropping among the section of society that has been brought up with a "must have the designer label mentallity  " and they are now  finding they can get by without them .

[/quote]

Because of the present economy, the cut back is a wise thing to do to avoid loan. I just bought things that I truly needed on my everyday living and skip the luxury things. Food is one of the necessity that's why it is always on my top list and I buy more of fruits and veggies and leave behind junks and sodas as well. For me cutting back of expenses doesn't mean of taking for granted of a healthy one. I always see to it that  have a healthy food on my fridge.

[Théière]

[quote user="Frederick"]
We tend to have lunch out when we do the weeks food shop as we to go 18 miles in to town .We use the two for the price of one £9.95 menu that Green King pub chain  have  .    [/quote]

Ah yes them at Greene King, just sent them a scathing email the other week. I know their steaks are Zebu I don't really have an issue with that but the fish used to be  Haddock but is now Pangasius, tasteless and tiny, I left the pub still hungry as a horse? So unless they change back I won't be going there anymore and as there is a good fish and chip shop not a mile up the road not a difficult decision.

Betty, I would like to hear more of the DVD hire/download films  as I was considering it, any issues?

[Russethouse]

I used to wonder about these 'Sunday lunch for £5' and similar deals but then read that some chains have such massive purchasing power that they buy ingredients near their sell by date very cheaply as they can sell it quickly.

Not sure where t he meat comes from though.

[Patf]

Our biggest expense is heating - gas, electric, wood. We were in the category of "fuel poverty" ( one tenth+ of income on fuel.) So we've cut back - less gas and more wood. Propane gas is very expensive here.

[Frederick]

Today we food shopped and bought very little only milk tea and the fruit and veg. ...I did a garage chest  freezer contents  inspection and we have decided  it is now  time to live off whats been in  the  bottom for ages ... Now own up .... Who can say they know whats in the bottom of their freezer and who has been buying stuff twice .? 

[Russethouse]

In 2010 we noticed my mothers chest freezer wasn't working as we'll as it should and eventually replaced it with an upright. In the process of transferring the food we came across vegetables from the garden labelled 1996 !

[Rabbie]

[quote user="Russethouse"]In 2010 we noticed my mothers chest freezer wasn't working as we'll as it should and eventually replaced it with an upright. In the process of transferring the food we came across vegetables from the garden labelled 1996 ![/quote]I knew there was a reason we have an upright freezer rather than a chest one. Always find it awkward to get to the bottom of a chest one.

[Russethouse]

That was half the problem, as my mothers mobility decreased she kept the freezer topped up with all this 'old' food just so she could reach the top level - watching my mothers decline over the years has been very educational........what not to do....

[halfblind]

Interesting that a lot of the comments on this thread are from people saving money in the UK (Waitrose and Green King in France ?), so I assume second home owners. Cutting back on second homes would save a lot of money [;-)]

[woolybanana]

If you can sell 'em!

[Russethouse]

[quote user="halfblind"]Interesting that a lot of the comments on this thread are from people saving money in the UK (Waitrose and Green King in France ?), so I assume second home owners. Cutting back on second homes would save a lot of money [;-)]

[/quote]

Look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves...:-)

[woolybanana]

Sell all that Quimper stuff you have acquired, RH and you will be a millionaireessessess!

[Russethouse]

If only.....