You can get a massive telly and only have to pay a few quid a week for it.

>>437887
I actually removed telly from my life a few years ago due to autism, but that reminds me - how to ebay shit efficiently?

Like I have a 32" tv that's displaying stuff with some problems sitting in a box and taking up space, because if I tried to sell it the shipping would probably cost more than the TV and well no one I know wanted it.

Two pairs of socks and a jumper before you decide to put the heating on.
Pay as you go phone with limited use (proper PAYG not these £10 a month for X calls/texts/data).
Library/free wifi for internet.
Radio and DVDs instead of TV license and Netflix.
Turn off your fridge freezer or atleast use it only seasonally (hang your milk out the window).
Charity shop clothes and a sewing kit.

You generally get to learn the cheaper places to shop and come to notice some of the pricing tricks supermarkets use to fleece your wallet. Always check the price by weight before picking up the promoted items 'on offer'. Don't be afraid to use the weighing scales to compare fresh fruit and veg with the packaged varieties.

These days it's not poverty, but comparative poverty. Atleast where I'm from - though i'm outside of the major population densities so i might have it easier.

>>437887
I was so glad to see that place shut down on my highstreet. It was there for maybe 6 months and i never saw a person in it.

>>437888
You can list as "collection only" on ebay. If the TV has problems though, I'd recommend using gumtree instead because ebay has the dispute system which almost always favours the buyer. If someone picks up your dodgy TV, then cries to ebay about it not being perfect, chances are you'll lose your money and the TV.

If you have an Aldi or Lidl nearby, shop there - it's decent quality and the lack of expensive branded products makes it hard to overspend.

Eat a decent breakfast, because you can set yourself up for the day with something cheap and filling like porridge or toast.

Stock up on cheap staples. Pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes, eggs and cheese will make a meal out of anything. Plan out some cheap and simple meals and stick up a list in the kitchen - often the hardest part of cooking is just figuring out what to make.

Most local libraries are closed at the moment, but make good use of yours when it re-opens, especially in winter.

If you need to, don't be too proud to visit a food bank. You'll usually need a referral voucher, which you can get from Citizens Advice (0808 2082138, 10am - 4pm Mon - Fri). It's probably worth speaking to Citizens Advice anyway to make sure you're getting all the benefits you're entitled to and you should definitely speak to them if you've got any debts.

Moneysavingexpert.com has tons of useful information on, well, saving money - budget planning, the best deals on household utilities that sort of thing.

>>437891
Yeah I'll probably not get anything out of it on ebay looks like

>>437894
>Moneysavingexpert.com
Thanks mate this is exactly what I've been looking for it turns out, amazing
> If you have an Aldi or Lidl nearby, shop ther
So I don't have one, instead I have a fucking whole foods in walking distance, and supermarket pricing is intentionally confusing so do I win if I take the bus to a lidl for £3? That would also limit the stuff I can carry at one go, or should I pay ocado £4.99, but wait, ocado is more expensive than tesco which has more expensive delivery slots... I guess you can spreadsheet this out so long as the prices are online, I was being too lazy.

>If you need to, don't be too proud to visit a food bank
It's not that dire unless I manage to fuck up hard again, I just need to be cheap until this furlough period ends and after that if things aren't looking up I'll just sell my stuff and go back to my parents basement to jobsearch. At the end of the day you can't eat an Oxford degree.

>>437895
I'd also add to you for a shop, get some dried or tinned/prepped borlotti or cannelini beans. You can really make a good vat of tasty pasta for next to nowt, portion and chill or freeze as required, add the beans to whatever other meat and/or veg is there and have at least subsistence off that for a week a time. Adding the beans means B vitamins and iron straight off, protein and fibre - assuming you use a tomato based sauce (passata/tinned tomatoes are cheap enough) there's your vitamin c to process the above. Plus by adding enough, you've extended it by two to three portions for pennies without taking anything away.

If you have a good supply of one-off purchase herbs and spices, you can make anything cheap taste super if you know what you're doing. Order some online if you can't, those little Schwarz jars are extorion and a waste of glass and plastic, get a 50 or 100g bag. It makes me feel really awful about those who can't from rent, bills and god knows what else besides, but imo in a good frugal kitchen there should always be a pinch of this or that to your taste to outdo a takeaway or restaurant.

I can share some recipes in /nom if you like fellow exstudentlad.

>>437895
Assuming you mean the Amazon-owned chain, then that puts you in a very expensive area of London - the pictured outlets are the only ones in the entire country.

How do you survive on £500 a month unless you own a house?

>>437896
I found a lot of discounted pasta/sauce today in Tesco actually, I'm guessing demand was high during the lockdown and now they're stuck with too much of it. I'll add some beans and be healthy on top of it. I also learned about 5kg "ugly veg" boxes in lidl from moneysavingexpert, I'll get one of those in the weekend and maybe learn to make some fresh sauce from that.

>>437899
Missus is covering the rent for now in exchange for my sexual services, but with my contribution gone her whole wage just about covers rent+council tax. So it's not that terrible, though the money needs to feed two.

>>437927

>I found a lot of discounted pasta/sauce today in Tesco actually, I'm guessing demand was high during the lockdown and now they're stuck with too much of it.

Isn't dry pasta among the food items that are supposed to not go bad for five years?

I remember reading something that expiration dates on things like dry rice, peas, pasta, and even sugar really don't make a lot of sense, unless you keep them in a cupboard for more than ten years.

>>437927>>437949
It'll be a rebrand. They'll change the design on the packaging and flog all the old stuff on the cheap.

>>437927
Yeah they have loads of weird brands too - obvious over-ordering from early on in the corona panic.

I guess I should update this now that period is kind of over. I'm back to making good income for now, missus got a new job that pays more and we've moved from central London to a shady part of Edinburgh with a huge Aldi nearby instead of a Whole Foods.

However, I think until the day I die I will be looking at price per gram in supermarkets from now on. Why was I buying pasta for £2.5 when they have it for £0.2? To be fair no, I wasn't buying pasta for £2.5, I was paying some garbage chain £12.5 to boil it for me too.

One thing that backfired was renegotiating the broadband. Virgin halved my bill, great, but for a new 12 month extension. When I moved, it turned out they didn't offer service in Edinburgh and... now I have to pay the rest of the contract as a "disconnection fee". Few years ago I'd moved from Oxford to London and BT had cancelled my contract without any trouble just because they couldn't match the same speed in my new address. These guys don't offer service and want to be paid for it.

>>440499
> renegotiating broadband.
How do you do this? When i've asked for a discount on paying the contract in one transaction, they've said 'sorry we don't do that', but they've been happy to credit my account with the same amount anyway.

>>440499
>These guys don't offer service and want to be paid for it.
Nonsense. You contracted their services for a fixed period and decided all on your own to move out of their service area. I haven't renewed my broadband contract and recovered my lapsed discount precisely because I can't commit to living here.

Your BT story is very likely bullshit as they charge the remainder of the contract too (less 1%) - you were simply out of contract.

>>440499

>now I have to pay the rest of the contract as a "disconnection fee"

It's worth getting in touch with the next tenant to see if they want to take over your contract.

Keep an eye out for special offers at Lidl. Sometimes towards the end of the week, at my Lidl anyway, they have packaged meat like pork or chicken breast 50% off when it's nearing its sell-by date. Sometimes, those 50 percent are off a reduced price that it was already marked down to, so you can get a family pack of pork loin for a song.

You then have to put the meat straight in the freezer when you get home, but it'll then keep for as long as any other meat.

>>440503

Every single McColl's I've been to has always had plenty of half decent stuff they reduce to cost at about 4 or 5. Mince, pizzas, chicken breasts, loads of veg etc. McColl's have supply deals with Morrisons and Safeway's. Safeway's ready meals are well worth it if reduced, and their fruit and veg is generally of a good quality.

To the OP, if you are able at all, get to know when shops within comfortable travelling distance reduce the stock for the second time (early doors markdowns are generally pretty crap). Sometimes it's a complete waste of time, but sometimes it feels like hitting a jackpot walking out with a massive bag of groceries for under a tenner.

>>440518

Speaking of groceries, you will realise that when you cook your own meals, you'll save loads of money. It may seem counterintuitive to spend £30 a week on groceries for a single household, even at Lidl, but it comes out at less than £5 a day. I had steak for dinner just now with mashed potato and carrots, using all fresh ingredients, and everything put together cost me less than £2. Even frozen brand-name pizza can cost more than that.

>>440535
> I had steak for dinner
> £2
The hoof cut?

>>440535
I've realised I actually love shopping on a restricted budget, it forces you to get incredibly creative and also really tests your cooking skills, you may even pick up some new ideas and probably end up trying things you never knew you liked. Sort of like when you're skint and only have what's left in the back of the cupboards to make a meal with.

You lot are missing out. Try buying your groceries from those ethnic shops in the bad part of town.

>>440540
Their bananas are weirdly shaped and sometimes taste like entirely different fruits.

>>440538

No, pork loin steak. I paid around £2.50 for a family pack at Lidl, so that one steak from that pack comes to about 62p.

>>440540

That can be fun. There's a Persian grocer a few minutes from here who has absolute mutant-sized watermelons every summer at very reasonable prices. I asked Persianlad once where he got them, and he told me his brother back home is somehow in the wholesale fresh food business and always makes sure that he gets a shipment of the best watermelons. I can't remember all the details. But I guess Persia has the right kind of climate to grow those huge watermelons. Never saw them that big at produce markets in Italy or Spain.

>>440543
There's two different species of Watermelons I believe - fuck off big ones ones, and the more traditional more spherical ones.

>>440541
There are thousands of varities of bananas, but most people will have only tried Cavendish bananas.

>>440548

The M&S near here has miniature bananas now and then. Not sure what the cultivar is called. But they are apparently more expensive. I haven't tried them.

>>440499
Basically if you waste 1hr on call with the service center they have some discounts and if you get passed around to the "manager" they have a bit more. I got it from Vodafone too on my mobile.

>>440501
>Nonsense. You contracted their services for a fixed period and decided all on your own to move out of their service area.
I am thorougly sorry that I did not consult with my lord Richard Branson before deciding to move house. However I do completely understand your serf-like view of life formed around feudal contracts.

>Your BT story is very likely bullshit as they charge the remainder of the contract too (less 1%)
No, that is if you choose to cancel. However if you move, and want to move your broadband too but and they are NOT able to supply the service the contract is void (in my case I had fibre in my initial address but that wasn't available in the target location). Virgin, however, is an exception to the norm among the larger broadband providers by making you pay for the rest of the term in that case: you want to keep your service, but can't because they don't serve the new area? Tough tits. Well I'm glad to be rid of them either way, it's just that these days (for the past week at least) I keep getting connected to their customer service after 40-60 minutes and keep getting "disconnected" while I'm being passed to another agent to solve my problem. I'll send them an annoyed letter if they don't pick up the fucking phone today either.

>>440502
Might not be possible in Londonistan. I took the router with me to Scotland to mail it back anyway, that's an extra £100+ charge or something.

One other thing that might be obvious. When I moved house I first ordered boxes from Amazon, £19.99 for 15 of them.

Well they didn't turn out to be enough, and due to black friday etc. shipping times had flung farther into the future so I couldn't get more before the move date.

I asked a few supermarkets around and they had boxes lying around of course - and I guess I saved them the effort of crushing the boxes for recycling. Larger supermarkets are a better bet (tried a smaller one first but they don't get huge shipments so fewer boxes around), and crisp boxes turn out to be fairly large and sturdy enough. Apparently they have them mostly in the morning around ~10, that was when they told me to come pick them up.

>>440503
>>440518
So I have a Lidl close by as well in my new place, I checked it out and it's not noticably cheaper than Asda - though there is reduced variety. I probably have to learn the discount times to actually make it work. I mean I don't have to now, but why not? I've bought plenty of "reduced" stuff and they're just as good + the fact that it's about to expire makes me think of what I'm going to eat that very day instead of putting it in the fridge for some uncertain future and have it spoil at home.

I don't like getting reduced stuff at Lidl as the reduced stickers never scan properly at the self-checkout.

>>440535
The biggest change in my budget is this. I was eating out every single day, not anything special but some shit from pret, a burrito salad or some burger from five guys. It adds up - £10 for lunch, £15 for dinner, for two people, and every now and then you eat out somewhere nicer and you end up paying more than a London rent for crap food. Again, obvious, but "money for food" was never something I had to account for in my life before.

Stopping that also had the benefit of massive weight loss without even trying, like 25lbs/11kgs

>>440539
I still can't cook anything decent myself but I've started to seek pleasure in work rather than in food.

>>440540
I am now in a rather bad part of the town, but the one Polish? shop I'd been to seemed to have prices around or above lidl/asda. Also no one gave a shit about masks/social distancing so I showed myself out without delving in too deep.

I figured these guys don't have the same economies of scale so can't price the staples like lidl but make money by selling foodstuffs not available elsewhere (like mutant watermelons or 265436 types of polish sausages)

>>440656
>Also no one gave a shit about masks/social distancing so I showed myself out without delving in too deep.
Try the Asian markets, they're unsurprisingly very good at keeping their masks on.

>>440656

I think this year has really turned a lot of people to cooking for themselves for the first time, with all the time spent at home with fuck all to do once your remote working day job was done.

What didn't make sense was when people suddenly started buying up bags of wheat flour by the dozen. How the fuck were you ever going to need that much flour within a reasonable space of time, unless you were about to go on a nothing-but-pancake-all-day diet.

>>440666
Brexit innit.

>>440667

Compounded by a bad wheat harvest.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53921121

>>440666

>What didn't make sense was when people suddenly started buying up bags of wheat flour by the dozen. How the fuck were you ever going to need that much flour within a reasonable space of time, unless you were about to go on a nothing-but-pancake-all-day diet.

It was a bit mindless, but not entirely. Stocking up on bread flour and UHT meant that I didn't need to go food shopping at all during the first lockdown. You can't really stock up on bread and fresh milk unless you've got a chest freezer.

>>440668
Huh it's almost like we were warned this would happen years ago and did nothing to prepare for it at all.

>>440673

The recent uptick in the prevalence of celiac disease and gluten intolerance is a govt psyop to reduce demand for wheat as the Department of Bread knew that this shortage was coming.

From your friendly neighbourhood /boo/lad. watch the skies.

>>440679
>celiac

Do you mine Wikipædia for your conspiracies as well as your medical terminology?

>>440682

Mæbye

>>440679

>Department of Bread

Surely, you mean the Ministry of Bread Truth.


>>440673

On the upside, climate change is making wine growing in Britain increasingly feasible. So it's not all doom and gloom.

https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/climate-change-britain-south-england-wine-growing-region-global-warming-390761

So I recently had the nerve to reject a £80k/yr job that I really wouldn't have liked, because I now know how to live without spending shitloads just to sustain myself. The supermarket autism I've picked up in the last year + moving the fuck out of London really helped.

>>440499
>I think until the day I die I will be looking at price per gram in supermarkets from now on. Why was I buying pasta for £2.5 when they have it for £0.2?
Well now that I have REALLY given it a shot, actually no. I can definitely tell the difference between £1 bronze die pasta and £0.2 crap pasta. However I now buy the premium of alidlidl rather than $brandname and I can confidently say that's more or less the same shit.