Cut your household expenses by 50%

Don't be a little goose! Times are getting harder and you should be thinking about saving and investing not squandering resources and throwing money, literally, down the drain.

Living in Limousin and running a Bed and Breakfast, Les Trois Chenes, on a tight budget is a lesson in thrift from times gone by. People here live the good life on a small income and I can help you to think twice and save 50% on your household expenditure. You really can save a small fortune just by giving your lifestyle a little thought.

I was recently watching Economy Gastronomy on, yes, I confess, English TV, when I realised that a family of five spent as much on food per year that my entire annual income. On the Today Programme, BBC Radio 4, (16 12 09), it was reported that as much as 50% of food is wasted in Britain. As an artist, one has to live on ones wits as, in general, everyone loves and admires what you do, but nobody actually pays you to produce it. So, having got over the shock of watching this family pouring perfectly good food into their waste disposal unit, I began to think about all the ways I manage to live a life that many envy, on a very basic income.

Since writing this the world has been plunged into recession, (or credit crunch) and not only are people choosing to live more frugally in the name of anti-materialism or in support of a greener life, but many people are being forced to live on less due to loss of employment, benefits or pensions. In any case you might pick up some tips, and remember, please leave your comments and ideas for saving money in the box. I'll add them to this article.

1. Buy less
2. Use less
3. Waste less
4. Share more
5. Club together
6. Think 50%. If you use half of everything, your annual housekeeping bill goes down by HALF. Just try it.

Last time I lived in England it was possible to take in up to two lodgers without incurring any problems with the authorites - ie before you became a hotel, or house of multiple occupation and such like. This is my top tip for saving money. The lodger will give you a bit of rent and contribute to the household expenses. If you're lucky you might even be able to do a bit of swapping - babysitting for cooking etc.

Join a 'Lets' or other no-money skills and services exchange scheme, where you can swap objects and services with others in your community.

"LETS - Local Exchange Trading Systems or Schemes - are local community-based mutual aid networks in which people exchange all kinds of goods and services with one another, without the need for money." Have a look at the UK LETS web site.

Pay off debts. In October 2011 the British Prime Minister was about to advise us all to pay off our debit cards and get rid of our debts. He back-tracked on this policy. Why? Because if we all did that the banks wouldn't earn their massive interest rates and the country would go into recession. (See Money Box 8th October 2011 Radio 4)

Don't let the banks make a fool out of you!

Do you have the best deals on the phone, TV, internet, gas, electricity etc? Take some time to check all these out and ask your friends what they pay and what they get.

Save don't borrow

You don't need a sofa/bed/chairs even. I have a friend who lived in a Paris flat and she had cusions on the floor, boards raised on bricks for tables and a matress supported with the carboard inner rolls from reels of paper. You could use the same from carpets and other flooring. The flat was perfectly comfortable!

Lets start with food and the weekly shop

• Eat less? (Most of us are too fat anyway!)
• Try your very best not to throw good food away.
• Buy fresh food rather than ready meals. Healthier and cheaper.
• Buy supermarket own brands; they put alot of effort into reproducing the big brand names at cut-prices. Don't pay for other peoples fat bonus's and companies' advertising. If you are not sure if you are going to like it - try it once.
• Do buy 3 for the price of 2 bargains, cook and freeze. Throw end-of-day bargains into freezer. You are paying for your freezer - make it work for you.
• Cook in large quantities and freeze portions for future. Saves on gas or electricity
• Always fill the oven and freeze anything you can't eat within three days. Organise your menu. My mother never put on the oven, unless she was going to produce a whole meal - meat, roast potatoes, jacket potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, roast vegetables and rice pudding. If nothing else, you can always squeeze in a few potatoes for the following day. Microwave them in a few minutes. Hot but with all the flavour of baked potatoes.

Use left-overs

• Re-use all left-overs as a basis for a meal the following day. If nothing else add water and a stock-cube, whizz and produce as soup for lunch. For adults add a shake of Worcestershire sauce, chilli, zest of lemon etc.
• Don't waste stale bread, (but do make sure bread is dry and not mouldy. Always discard mouldy food). Otherwise there is a wealth of recipes that require stale bread. Here in the Limousin, a good supply of dry or old bread is an absolute essential ingredient.
• Here's a great way to reuse old cake or make cheap cake into something special; try my Fat Rat cake

WARNING Always be aware of food hygine. Don't re-freeze food, don't forget food in the fridge, keep food in the fridge and keep it covered. If you reheat, reheat very thoroughly, especially meat. I have a three day rule. I don't buy meat that I don't intend to cook within three days. Keep your fridge at the recommended temperature. Keep all kitchen surfaces clean and dry.

Why not band together to buy your own food from the wholesalers? Cut out the middle man and put the supermarket profits back into the community. It sounds like a big organisational feat but some people are doing it.

• Be realistic about what you can eat. If you get it wrong, cook food and wack into the freezer rather than let it go to waste.
• Peel only if you must. It came as a revelation to me that it isn't always necessary to peel potatoes and other fruit and vegetables. When I was at University and my Irish flatmate's mother came to stay and cooked us the most delicious whole potatoes complete with skins, I vowed that I'd never peel another potato! Why waste good food and give yourself more work? (But take care with non-organic foods like carrots and fruits that will have been treated with pesticides and fungicides).
• Again, when I was a child, we would throw away celery leaves, tops of leeks, outer lettuce and cabbage leaves. There is nothing whatsoever wrong with these. Eat them up! Celery leaves are great in a mixed salad or added to soup. If all else fails, make stock.
• That goes for bones as well. Boil up chicken carcasses and other bones with left over vegetables and make the most superb stock. When I worked in Terry's Restaurant in York, everything went into an enormous stock pot, and the most delicious soup came out!
• Lentils and pulses are nutritious and cheap sources of protein. Use instead of meat 50% of the time.
• Make your own yoghurt. It is easy and economical. Here's how: How to make your own natural yoghurt
• Look hard at junk food. Do you have to buy crisps, biscuits, sweets, fizzy drinks? All poor in nutrition and high in salts, sugars and fats. I know a little of what you fancy does you good, but keep them for special occasions.
• If all else fails I give food to a. The dog b. The cat c. The chickens. (the latter get anything sugary on the grounds that they don't have any teeth to ruin) and d. The compost heap.
• Eat free food. There are plenty of fruits and herbs to gather from the wild, nettles, sorrel, blackberries, elder flowers, elderberries and dandelions, to name but a few. The wild foods are full of nutritional value bred out of many cultivated fruit and veg. Try making Nettle Soup, it really is delicous!

• I really hate wastefulness in children. The ones at a party who take a cake, bite it, leave it and then take another one! I am sorry, I am a post-war child brought up by a mother who had experienced rationing. We used to call this greedy.
• Make sure children are not wasteful. Babies should be weaned on real food, cooked without salt. (Follow guidelines on weaning given by your health visitor or reliable baby care sources). I am convinced that bought baby foods make children picky eaters. PLEASE NOTE, THIS IS BASED ON NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER!!
• Give children a wide variety of tastes and textures from the word go.
• Insist that they eat a fair amount of good food before they are allowed the dessert or sweets.
• Insist that they try everything.
• Serve up left-overs in an imaginative way. When I asked a group of children who would like Sausage Soup, all hands went up and all plates were left clean. The sausage soup was last night's sausages and vegetables chopped up and boiled together with a bit of extra flavouring. Souper!
• Make food fun - kids might not like poached eggs but will go wild for 'Ghosts on Toast'. I made these as a Halloween treat. They love them.
• Don't give in to tempers and tantrums. Don't get into fights. Don't wheedle and persuade. Don't let meal times become stessful. If you make meals a battle - they will win!
• Don't tolerate fads, but don't make children eat anything they really don't want to eat.
• Don't fill them up with low-quality junk foods and drinks that 'spoil their appetites'.
• Send them out to run around in the fresh air to 'work up an appetite'. Old fashioned values but they really do work.

Read more about children's eating in The Problem With Food

• Have you taken all the basic steps to reduce energy consumption? Remember the 50% rule. If you can use half as much electric lighting, half as much heating, half as much water you cut down on these big bills by 50%.

Reduce Heating Costs

• Insulate your house. First easy and proven step to saving on heating.
• Heat the rooms you are using and leave any other rooms cool.
• Put on a jumper or warm sweat shirt.
• Install thermostats to control the temperature.
• Keep the living rooms nice and warm, but the bedrooms could be a little cooler.
• Exercise. This keeps your temperature up and improves circulation.
• Get out of the house so you can leave the heating off. Go out walking for the day, go to library, visit a friend.
• If this is just too draconian, switch the heating down just one or two degrees; this has been proven to reduce bills substanitally.

Cut Electricity and Gas Consumption

• Don't leave machines on standby. Leaving a TV on standby can cost you £60 a year.
• Switch off lights behind you.
• Always fill your oven, dishwasher and washing machine
• Always keep your freezer full, even if you stock it with empty boxes. It takes more energy if air is circulating.
• Always cook large amounts, then freeze or keep in the fridge to microwave later.
• If you have a wood-burning stove - use it to cook and heat water. In the winter we have super old-fashioned steamed puddings and stews and meats that simmer gently all day until wonderfully tender. On cool autumn evenings we cook chestnuts on the stove and in winter keep a pan of mulled wine warming.
• In summer we have salads, raw food and we use the microwave, wok and frying pan to cook quickly. Stir frys are quick, delicious and healthy.
• Do you have a low tarif time or could you get one? Then do your washing, water heating etc during these cheap periods, ie at night.

• Take showers rather than baths
• Fill your washing machine and dishwasher
• Install toilets with dual flush (or put that brick into your cistern).
• If you have a garden, plant pots or window boxes, put a bucket in your sink to save all the water you use to wash your hands, prepare fruit and vegetables, rinse out cups and crockery etc. I save several gallons a day that goes onto the plants in the summer. You could use it to flush the toilet in the winter. (Actually I must do that!) Cut that water bill in half.

• Ask yourself the question "Can I do without the car?" Take some time to cost out how much that car is costing you. Include initial payment(s), insurance, cleaning, garage bills, fuel, oil, tyres, taxes etc. How many taxis or buses could you get for that?
• Ok, it's hard to do without the car, but do you need that car? Could you make do with a smaller, older, more efficient car? Trading down can save you money. Sell the car, buy a cheaper one and pay off your debts!

Save fuel costs by reducing petrol and diesel use

• Try to combine journeys. I try never to have to go out in the car just to shop, for example. I have plenty in my store cupboard to wait a few days and combine shopping with some other unavoidable trip.
• Shop with a friend if your friend lives nearby and the supermarkets are a distance away.
• Walk or cycle if you can.
• Join a car share scheme

Ask yourself what you really need. All my life I have easily managed without a spin dryer. Next year I might have to give in - but only because of the demands of our Guest House. In the past I dried clothes outside in the summer, and on a pulley above a radiator, an 'AGA' or, as now, above a stove. When the stove is lit, I can dry a whole wash overnight.

If you live in a flat, or have low ceilings or a small house, this might not be possible, but just go around and ask yourself if you can do without engergy-guzzling machines.

Here's my list of things that are a waste of money and add up terrifyingly

• Magazines
• Mobiles
• Huge TV's
• Niff-naffs, ornaments, decorations for the house and garden and, in short, all that STUFF
• Presents, cards and other 'gifts'. They give it to you, you give it to them. You didn't want it and they didn't want it and the shop is laughing all the way to the bank. Make or cook your own gifts, pick some flowers, do a drawing and put a bit of time and thought into something really special.
• Cups of coffee and snacks bought outside the house
• Taxis
• Restaurant meals
• Sugary snacks
• Breakfast cereals
• Alcohol and cigarettes etc
• Clothes and shoes
• Makeup, perfumes and the like

Don't fritter your cash away!

DIY - Get Essential Skills

• Go to evening classes, learn basic plumbing, don't pay out extortionate bills for small glitches.
• Learn to garden. Do you have a lawn? What is it for? Do you just look at it and cut it? Consider turning a small patch into a fruit and vegetable plot.
• Plant fruit trees. They have blossom in the spring, fruit in the summer and lovely autumn colours at the end of the year.

Do I need it? Do I really want it? Why do I want it? Is it good value?

Always ask your self these questions before you buy anything. You can usually do without, put off buying it, choose something which is better value or get a better bargain.

• Buy things in charity shops and give them your unwanted items to resell
• Buy and sell things on E-bay
• Swap things with friends
• Pass on children's clothes to friends with younger children
• Exchange and barter

Remember, watch the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves.

You will also reap the benefits of a healthier, as well as wealthier lifestyle - this is a real win-win situation.

Cancel or cut back on holidays

Now, why would I say that when I make my living from tourism? If you are really strapped for cash you can't afford to waste money on holidays. Spend your holiday taking walks locally. Discover your local history. Oraganise treasure hunts for the kids. Take advantage of any free activities; go to the tourist office, local library etc there is bound to be lots of interesting things to do. Art galleries and museums are free. Buy CD's or films cheaply through Amazon and have cinema afternoons with the kids complete with popcorn, (cooked yourself of course, cheap, easy and nutritious). Be creative.

On the other hand if you just want to cut back why not check out prices for a gite in France. You can fly from various parts of the UK with Ryanair for very cheap rates, and sometimes just pence. Once here our prices for 2012 start at just 265 euros for a 3 bedroom holiday cottage that sleeps seven adults. You'll be self-catering so you can save on expensive eating out and I think you'll find that Limousin is both beautiful, full of free things to do and see and a 'bon marché' as they say here, a bargain!

Take a look at this article Tips for a Budget-Friendly Holiday in S W France

Ok, I'm not so naive as to think you're really going to stop giving gifts to people but why not give gifts that will save them money? Recently I spent £40 on about 10 new books, and I chose cheap second hand ones but the postage cost a fortune! Now I've got them all over my sofa. No-where to put them! I should have splashed out on a Kindle - the Amazon Kindle 2011 is only $79. Shucks!

Other ideas of gifts that save money: thermal underwear, training shoes so your loved one can take up running, cookbooks full of healthy recipes that use fresh food .... I'll add to this as I think of more but use your imagination!

At Les Trois Chenes we serve our own fresh eggs, home made jams and chutneys, home-grown, largely organic fruit and vegetables, and honey from our own bees. Don't worry, not only do I not expect you to set up your own smallholding, I don't even think we save money by producing our own food on such a small scale - especially if you take time into account.

I can never get over how cheap eggs and chicken are in the supermarket. The birds served up for only 2 or 3 euros are only a few weeks old. Mine, at the same age, are little fluffy chicks still, and already have probably consumed more than 3 euros in grain.

Beware cheap food! The animals are often not well kept, they are overcrowded, fed goodness knows what (remember that part of the Mad Cow Disease problem was that cattle were being given a feed containing dead sheep?), medicated constantly, given food and chemicals to force them to grow much too fast, and then, after slaughter, the meat is pumped full of water. The advantage of producing your own meat, eggs, milk and veg, is that you can have absolutely fresh, wholesome, nutritious and organic food.

Buy good food. Don't save money by cutting down on quality. Cut down on waste and thoughtless profligacy.

John Ruskin, the great English art critic and thinker said:

"Learn first thoroughly the econmomy of the kitchen, the good and bad qualities of every common article of food, and the simples and best modes of their preparation".

(Taken from my Granny's cookery book. Sorry, no title or author. It bears only the address 17 Greenhill Gardens, Edinburgh! If anyone out there know more about this I would be interested to hear from you.)

Please leave your ideas and comments below to save money and Iell add them here.