to ask for your best frugal tips?!

[tryhard]

We are a single income family, 2 DC & things are suddenly very tight financially so I'm trying to find practical changes I can make. A big expense is the food shop which is currently Sainsbury's (normally over £100 a week) - DH thinks switching to Aldi save a lot of money but I'm not sure? Our clothes I get from eBay. Kids are only 3 & 6 so no expensive hobbies yet thank goodness. Planning short break in the U.K. for a family holiday. Takeaway maybe once a month, booze gets bought in the weekly shop, maybe £20-30 on that a week. My big weakness is Audible, I have anxiety & listen to stories in bed at night to get me to sleep so I need to just bite the bullet and stop that habit. How else can I make 2017 my most frugal (but not miserable!) year so far?! Any good tips? Or blogs I can read?

[19lottie82]

Aldi will save you LOADS!

Also meal plan, make a shopping list and stick to it.

£20-30 on booze is a lot and can't be good for your health either. Can you not cut back and just split a bottle of wine twice a week or equiv?

[19lottie82]

If you meal plan and cut back the booze I reckon you could half the cost of your weekly shop.

[Justmuddlingalong]

Only DP and I here. When I go to Sainsbury I spend about £80 plus extra milk, bread etc a week. Going to Lidl or Aldi we're down to a around £40 plus bits. Your spending on alcohol seems quite a lot, if you cut that down that would be a big saving.

[dalmatianmad]

I spend approx £50 a week on food shopping at Aldi, family of 2 adults and 2 teenagers..
We eat well. Menu plan.
Sounds like a lot on alcohol??

[Sinkingfeeling]

I love Aldi (and Lidl) and shopping there will save a lot - I find the quality is generally really good, but the range of items available will be less than Sainsburys/Tesco. Cut down on booze? Save for Fri/Sat night? Have you looked to see whether your local library has a range of audio books?

[Catherinebee85]

You need to quit sainsburys! Aldi/Lidl is the way forward. Quit any convenience food. That's a LOT of money to spend on alcohol when you're struggling financially xx

[DJBaggySmalls]

Lidl, Aldi and Asda will slash your weekly shop.
Meal plan and budget, use a shopping list for further savings.
If you can visit Asda and Tesco late before they close there's loads of reduced bargains.

Project Gutenberg has free audio books to download if you like classes. You can also donate a small something to the project or volunteer.

[MoreThanUs]

That is a lot to spend on alcohol and cannot be good for your health.

[tobecontinued2000]

Could you listen to audiobooks on YouTube on tablet/smartphone? Or like pp suggested and get some from the library?

Aldi will cut your shopping bill. £30 on booze a week is expensive for brands, aldi do their own version of everything so you may be able to get the same booze but cheaper.

They do a lovely bottle of prosecco for just over a fiver.

[Leatherboundanddown]

Cutting booze completely for one month would be an easy way of saving some money to start with.

Have you done a full stock check of your cupboards and freezer to see what you have got and then build the following weeks shop around using existing stuff. Only buy what you need.

Aldi is great I have never had anything from there at all that wasn't decent.

With your audible, did you know you can borrow audio cds or ebooks for free from libraries?

[littlepeas]

Aldi is amazing and really does save money - some stuff is fantastic, better than Waitrose in some cases (I shop in both).

[Foldedtshirt]

Radio 4 extra is all speech and drama I think.

[Noodledoodledoo]

Could you hunt down some audio book cds in charity shops to listen to instead of Audible. I don't have it but is it like itunes where you can listen to stuff again?

Personally not a fan of Aldi - some stuff good some not so much, wouldn't do a full weekly shop there - just too many things we use which are not pricey items not available .Asda normally works out cheaper for us and has the same variety as Tesco/Sainsburys.

We meal plan every week and this week we spent very little as we are eating up the freezer - husband is a bit of a magpie with meat in the reduced cabinet but then we end up with a freezer full as it wasn't on the plan!

[Rainydayspending]

If you shop on ebay could you save money with local shops and remove the delivery costs? They can be excessive. You could make a big saving by having a dry year by the sound of it.
Could you relisten/ reread to some favourite books? Or listen to music you already own more?

[BusterTheBulldog]

How about free podcasts instead of audible? Loads on radio4, plus got comedy Ines around too! My dad wrote a porno is hilarious (though an odd source material!)

[EatSleepTeachRepeat]

How much is Audible? I have no idea but I get free audio books with my student amazon prime (£35 p/year but free for the first 6 months if you have a university email address).

I need music/stories/tv at night and couldn't sleep without it so I understand your point, however you could buy/rent/download audiobooks to listen to instead?

Agree with PP about Aldi - also Sainsbury's has to be the most expensive supermarket surely, have a go at Aldi/Lidl and see what you think - no harm in trying. The Lidl bakery is bloody amazing, second to none!

[foxyloxy78]

Cut the alcohol out. Job done.

[AddToBasket]

Yes to podcasts, although I think audible is one of the last things to go. If you have anxiety I'd be more inclined to cut the booze out.

[Bellaposy]

The BBC website has archives of shows and podcasts going back years including the book at bedtime so that should keep you going.

Go through your baby statement and see what is necessary expenditure and what isn't. That helped me to see how the odd dash to Tesco really adds up.

And sorry but that is a lot on Booze! It's a quarter of your weekly shop. Get that down and you're already on your way.

[Danglybits]

Get yourself on moneysavingexpert and do their financial checks to see you're getting best value for utilities, insurance etc.

[curlii103]

When you're bored and don't go out much a glass of wine is one of the few treats! I still think that's quite a lot of money to spend per wk. Even halving it would free up 50/60

[noeffingidea]

Write down all your outgoings and go through it to see if you can make any savings. Anything you can do without? Anything you can get a better deal on?
www.moneysavingexpert.com will be helpful here.
As for blogs, theres plenty out there. I would just google frugal blogs and have a browse to see what interests you.
I think theres a frugal thread on here as well if you search.

[ChasingAPinkBall]

Your library might have an audio/ebook app you can use for free. That's what I use to listen to audio books on a night.

Aldi/Lidl will save you half your shopping costs.
They do some lovely wine too.

Meal planning is a good one too.

Have you checked your gas and electricity to see if you can get cheaper elsewhere?
The uswitch website also compares broadband and stuff too.

[edwinbear]

I've just switched from Sainsbury's to Lidl and halved the cost of our weekly shop from £100 to £50, 2 adults and dc of 7 & 5. I'm still working my way through, testing their products vs Sainsbury's, but so far not found the quality to be any different.

[DJBaggySmalls]

Learn how to make your own wine. Its not difficult, and costs a fraction of supermarket prices.