cost of living crisis

 Like I said in previous posts, it can be costly living on your own. You have no one to spread to the cost of bills with and what you buy is solely based on what money you bring into the household. 

I have always been good with my money and being able to budget. I made sure bills were paid, I had money in my savings and then some left over for living my life. During Covid times this was much easier. Things were shut, holidays put on hold so saving money and not being skint at the end of the month was something I got used to.

The cost of living crisis has certainly put a strain on this. To come at a time where everything reopened normally, I had more of a life and paid off two holidays, I could never expect the cost of things to hike up as much as they did. I don’t know about you but I didn’t really notice it straight away. It was only really until I could barely make it to payday without scraping by and eating instant noodles for dinner. Living in true student style. Petrol was the real big hit. I found myself spending nearly double what I used to slowly watch my disposable income slip away. The energy crisis has made me question whether I could actually afford to heat my house this winter, and in all honesty I can’t. That wasn’t until the new government grant by which my bills have come down £67. 

Throughout this time of choosing whether I eat this month or go out with my friends, I have picked up some money saving hacks along the way, which has helped living my own still be possible. 

1)    Buying in bulk and batch cooking. This is something I loved to do and found helps me to save money but be organised as well. In one of my posts I talked about how if I don’t buy groceries, I simply don’t have them. I also missed the times where I would have dinner ready for me coming in. Sometimes I work until 10 at night and the thought of coming in and starting to make something for dinner is decidedly off putting. However, doing your shopping, say spend £60-£70 and cooking in batches makes this so easy. Buy reusable tubs, portion out your meals and freezing it can save you time and money. 

2)    Shop around for groceries. For convenience, shopping at one supermarket makes your life so easy, but by finding what stores do things cheaper and shopping around can definitely save you a few pennies.

3)    Find loyalty schemes for different supermarkets. Tesco Clubcard and LIDL plus are my personal favourites. Tesco can be more expensive, however shopping around like I said previously; you could go to Tesco for the good deals on the clubcard and then another shop for basics. For all the student readers out there, Tesco Clubcard is very good for alcohol.