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Cost-of-Living Squeeze Plan

A plan for when prices outrun pay: the monthly gap measured, priority bills protected, cuts aimed at the biggest rises, income boosts and support claimed, and reviews that keep the gap closing.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Cost-of-Living Squeeze Plan, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

Before you start: this plan is general information to help you organise your own money decisions. It is not financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Check decisions that matter with a qualified, licensed adviser in your country, and remember that investing and trading can lose money.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

202

Starter tasks

💷 Personal Finance

Cost-of-Living Squeeze Plan

Responding to rising prices with cost cuts, income boosts and support schemes when the household budget no longer stretches.

  1. Monthly squeeze gap figure
  2. Twelve-month price rise log
  3. Essential, important and optional cost sort
  4. Priority bills list and payment order
  5. Cash runway in weeks at the current gap
  6. Household squeeze meeting and shared target
  7. Fixed-price contract and renewal date map
  8. Advice triggers written before you need them
  9. One-page squeeze plan across cut, earn and claim
  10. Cost-of-living support screen
  11. Monthly squeeze gap recheck
  12. Weekly fixed-basket price watch
  13. Price rise notice response routine
  14. Sunday balance check against the squeeze budget
  15. Monthly support and discount watch
  16. Side income ledger and tax set-aside
  17. Quarterly provider renegotiation calls
  18. Grocery spend ceiling with a mid-month checkpoint
  19. Quarterly squeeze plan review
  20. Reading a price rise notice and your exit rights
  21. How social tariffs and concession rates work
  22. Which of your debts get dearer when rates rise
  23. The real cost of payment holidays and deferrals
  24. How official inflation compares with your own costs
  25. Spotting shrinkflation in your regular shop
  26. Side income rules for tax and benefits
  27. Preparing a standard income and expenditure statement
  28. Cutting the three costs that rose most this year
  29. Pay rise request backed by price evidence
  30. Extra hours better-off calculation
  31. Hybrid working request to cut commuting costs
  32. Savings, borrowing or cutting to cover the gap
  33. Pension contribution pause decision with guidance
  34. Spare room or space income decision
  35. Calling a creditor before a payment is missed
  36. First full month on the squeeze budget
  37. Annual bill repricing month preparation
  38. Winter heating cost plan
  39. Back-to-school cost spike plan
  40. Ninety-day squeeze plan review
  41. Squeeze plan for a family with children
  42. Fixed retirement income squeeze plan
  43. Squeeze plan for living alone on one income
  44. Housing cost options for renters in a squeeze
  45. Mortgage payment rise options for homeowners
  46. Raising your prices when your own costs rise
  47. Squeeze plan for households with disability or care costs
  48. Stress test for a further 10 percent price rise
  49. Helping an older relative through the squeeze
  50. Exit plan for when the squeeze eases

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Monthly squeeze gap figure

Most households feel the squeeze long before they can put a number on it, and a vague sense of not having enough is hard to act on. Setting your essential monthly costs, at today's prices, against reliable take-home pay produces one figure: the monthly shortfall or the margin left. Every later decision in this area is sized against that figure, so it is worth an evening this week.

First tasks

  • Download the last three months of payslips or income statements
  • List every essential cost at the price you pay today
  • Subtract essentials from average take-home pay to get the gap
  • Write the gap figure and today's date at the top of a squeeze plan note

Twelve-month price rise log

Price rises arrive as separate letters, emails and quietly bigger card payments, so few people know how far their fixed costs have climbed in total. Collecting every increase from the last twelve months, old price beside new, shows which bills moved most and which notices were never read. It also gives you evidence when you challenge a rise or ask for a pay review.

First tasks

  • Search your email for the words price change, tariff and increase
  • Compare each direct debit now with the same month last year
  • Record old price, new price and percentage change for each bill
  • Ask the agent to rank the increases by their monthly cost

Essential, important and optional cost sort

When money is short, treating every outgoing as equally fixed leads to cutting the wrong things, such as falling behind on local tax to keep a streaming service. Sorting each line into essential, important or optional gives a clear order of what goes first and what is protected. Do it with the price rise log open so the sort reflects current prices.

First tasks

  • Copy every regular outgoing into one list
  • Mark each line essential, important or optional
  • Total the optional column to see what cuts could release
  • Settle with your household any lines that were disputed

Make it yours.

Install Cost-of-Living Squeeze Plan, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.