petitefrancaise

There's a whole load of sites on the internet with good ideas on how to save money....
a google search of "frugal living" will give a good many of them

One of my all round favourite sites is mrmoneymustache.com The forum is excellent with people always willing to help out and encouraging you to learn how to do something rather than pay someone to do it.

If you are very hard up - and I knew of several expat divorced women in France who were in this situation - then there are the restos du coeur that will give you a meal for free. A friend of mine was in a very tough spot financially for a while, her kids got free meals at school so she went to resto du coeur at lunchtime and her grocery bill went right down, allowing her to survive this awful time.

Don't forget to go and see the assistante sociale at the mairie to ask for sources of help.

dmu

As far as I understand, you have to take a ton of paperwork to prove that you're in need, before the Mairie will grant your children free school lunches and before the Restos du Coeur will register you.
I feel so sorry for divorced women/mothers, with few resources if their spouses don't pay the alimony due - French bureaucracy adds stress to the distress....

petitefrancaise

yes, french bureaucracy.

I should also add that these divorced women were also unable to move back to the UK because their fathers refused to allow the children to move permanently.

White Trash

I'm very pleased to see new interest in reviving this thread. Spare a thought for those who are struggling here and add your bit.

EuroTrash

Lunches are a very cheap meal for me. In the cold weather it's usually bread and soup and the soup is basically leftover veg and whatever, so the only cost is the bread. And I suppose, the cost of electricity to heat the soup. Doesn't get too samey because the soup kind of evolves day by day according to what I chuck into the liquidiser.

dmu

Some things are so obvious that I normally wouldn't think of suggesting them. For example, choose inexpensive cuts of meat and make pot au feu in a pressure-cooker with cheap cuts of beef/pork/lamb; choose mackerels (baked en papillotte) or "lieu noir" instead of more expensive fish. Drink tap water, not bottled water. The list is endless....
I mentioned above that those who are struggling should avoid entertaining - I meant long visits by family and friends, not the odd dinner, and should have added unless the guests pay their share of the shopping bill. Not good for the morale if you don't socialise!

Scots in Treignac

Three years ago , I wrote about Megabus.


Megabus sold their business to flix bus about a year ago although you might still see the blue megabuses on French roads.


Since Megabus opened up the market by their challeng in the French Courts, there have been a number of companies operating long distance buses.


I think the main players are Flix bus and Ouibus (SNCF)


The cheap rate for trips other than Paris seems to be 12 euros,


For Brive to Bordeaux, this is probably less than the autoroute tolls.

Scots in Treignac

I'm assuming most folk avoid the airport shuttlebus and use the local buses instead. Remember most cities have a ticket which lasts for an hour so the need to change buses does not increase the cost. The ticket is valid for boarding your final bus an hour from the time you boarded the first bus.


If you visit London , this system now operates there as well. After years of Boris saying that it was not possible, the new Mayor had it installed in two days.

grannybunz

I am not hard up but on the other hand we live on UK pensions so the way things are going we could get there fairly soon.

My expertse is in food and I could and maybe write a book on the saving that can be made here.

First, i want to mention somethhing we have done all our lives which is use the skills you have and sap them for skills you need rather than get into the hassle of getting paid cash and all that entails.

For example if you were a teacher then help a local youngster with their brevet or Bac' That way we have had a rood repaired, a large tree felled and a load of stuff taken to the dump, a load of firewood etc

We gorw our vegetables and have hens and we swap surplus with other gardeners. I make all my own preserves and swap some of them for rabbits, hares and joints of venison and wild boar.

We help a couple of restaurants with the English translation of their menus in return for a bottle of wine or a free meal.

At the same time as saving money it has meant we intergrate with our neighbours and friends.

Tweedpipe

GrannyB Excellent initiatives!
So sorry to learn of your health difficulties in another post.
Bon courage.

Notdunroamin

Since the thread title does say "All ideas welcome"



https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/comparison.jsp

In our own case it doesn't take into account the €180/mth we were paying for our mutuelle.

May contain nuts

Living as we do within 20-25 mins of the Spanish border, we often shop in Spain as prices there are very competitive. There are the ventas that are dotted along the Spanish side of the border - excellent for filling up the car, and for general household grocery shopping - and then there's Irun and San Sebastian for clothes etc.

rich13

All the ideas on this thread so far seem to be about money saving ideas, which is fine. But does anybody have any ideas for earning money in France?

petitefrancaise

Valerie at start a business in france has been posting a few ideas on her FB page
https://www.facebook.com/startbusinessinfrance/