Money-saving hints that aren't...

[TheFifthKey]

I've been looking through momey saving blogs etc and the same things come up that annoy me every time because they're either not good hints or just unhelpful.

Firstly, the "if you stop buying lunch/coffees/magazines" tip - maybe there's the odd person who hasn't noticed that £5 a day at Costa adds up but it's irritating when you never really buy these things anyway - funnily enough if I had a £100/month black hole in my budget like that I'd notice!

And the second is "use lemons for cleaning" - they don't bloody work and a bottle of Flash is £1 and lasts aaaaaages for me - I don't use loads and it's fine. A net of lemons is at least 50p and would last one cleaning session - this is not a saving in any form!

[Jaxtellerswife]

Haha too true, I spend almost nothing but I'd love some more saving tips.

[SandysMam]

I hate the constant suggestion to “grow your own”. Costs a fortune to set up, and loads of time to nurture...which you haven’t got if working two minimum wage jobs to make ends meet!

[SandysMam]

Also if you post that you don’t have much food in or money til pay day, people suggest foraging for blackberries or apples. As if they would!!

[TheFifthKey]

Oh yeah, home-grown veg is lovely, and it's a great thing to do, but it's not at all a money-saving tip.

[loveliesbleeding1]

Spent 20 quid last summer on a set up to grow strawberries for dad.One strawberry we got,one.so I won’t be doing that again in a hurry.

[Passthecake30]

I agree. You can't save what you don't spend!

[Pandasarecute]

The, "stop buying lunch and coffees" always makes me laugh!! When I read ways to save money I already live that way

[livingthegoodlife]

Agreed. I never buy coffee out or lunch. Lemons are expensive! I don't know how to cut back much more. I've stopped going out as at least I can't be tempted to spend anything.

[namechangedtoday15]

There was a post the other day where a lady said she'd transferred the pence from her current account to her savings account each night (dead easy if you have a banking app on your phone) - so if her balance was £123.65, she transferred the 65g into her savings account. It was so little each day that she didnt notice it and at the end of the year she'd saved £200+ towards Christmas. I thought that was a great idea. Not really changing spending habits but generating savings.

[namechangedtoday15]

65p obvs

[Roomba]

Even supposed 'expert' help isn't always super helpful ime. I was sent on a 'managing your money' course by the jobcentre. We spent three days being told don't take out payday loans (think everyone knows that's a bad idea, and no one gets one unless they are truly desperate) and pay off higher interest debts first when possible. Don't buy cars, tvs etc when you've been made redundant and don't spend all your money in the bookies. Hardly rocket science and this company are probably paid millions to run these 'really helpful' courses. I could give the dwp some money saving tips 😁

Some people are that daft though. My sister ran up huge credit card debts and when we went through what she'd spent it all on it was all coffees, false nails and new outfits for every time she went out. In her head, everyone needed to buy these things or life would be miserable. A lot more miserable with a few CCJs and bailiffs ringing you all day.

[Sitranced]

name changed Lloyds have a similar saving you can setup called save the change where by any purchase you make will be rounded up to the nearest pound and the odd pence moved into your savings account automatically.n

[Whatififall]

namechanged I liked that tip so much I’ve just gone and transferred 74p from my current a/c to my savings! Little things like that are useful!

[Licencedtodrill]

I never go to any of the coffee shops myself but am always bemused at how busy the Starbucks is that is attached to a local supermarket. It's absolutely heaving at around 4.30pm, when I walk past after work. I never feel the need for a snack/drink after I've done a shop but it seems to be the normal thing to do for most people. I don't like coffee but am too tight to pay their prices any way!

[Guineapiglet345]

I just watched that live well for less or whatever it’s called with Steph and Alex with the family that spent an absolute fortune on Christmas. So their top tips were don’t spend £100 on a box of Christmas crackers from Harrods, £600 on a single outfit for your 12 year old or my personal favourite, don’t buy hand soap that costs £16 per bottle! I mean do people really need to be told these things?!

[Flowersonthewall]

That live well for less and eat well one with Greg bloody fat face do my head in! They have families who spend £400 a week because they buy 7 take aways, ready meals and throw half of the food away. Or buy their kids masses of stuff from smiggle and brand new clothes every week from next.
I'd like them to come to ours where our food shopping is always Aldi and as cheap as we can make it!

[ChesterGreySideboard]

I like the transfer the odd pence idea. Except my bank won’t let you transfer less than a pound. So I’ll do £1 plus the odd instead.

[Soontobe60]

My top tip: only use cash for weekly expenses. Been doing this for years. Managed to pay of a ridiculously big loan accrued through frittering money away on cards in a shorter time than expected.
Even now, when I'm quite well off, I still draw out my cash every Saturday and revel in being able to save a bit of it each week. I get my nails done once I've saved enough up from my weekly budget.

[Guineapiglet345]

@Soontobe60 I’m going to try and do that, for the last I don’t know how many years I’ve been using a credit card for my everyday spending and paying the balance in full at the end of each month, so that I could save up the points on the credit card but it’s to easy to overspend. So now I’m a month behind iyswim. I’ve just got to save enough to pay off last months credit card and have cash to use for this month.

[megletthesecond]

I love the Save the Change idea.

Another one who always takes my own sandwiches and snacks to work. Only I make decent tea so there's no way I'm wasting money paying someone else to so it for me.

[TheFifthKey]

Some things that I've tried/am trying:

• instead of making a monthly budget for food/days out/clothes, I'm trialling a yearly one. I've taken my monthly allowance for each and multiplied it by 12 and I'm keeping a spreadsheet of all purchases. It's actually really helping me because you can project much better "oh if I don't buy that top in the sale at the end of the year I could have £30 more..." rather than it seeming like a small amount out of your monthly budget if that makes sense.
  
  
• use cashback sites for all online shopping where appropriate. Coming up to Christmas they had lots of boosts and bonuses too so I've now got over £80 in my accounts (which I'm not withdrawing until I need it)
  
  
• GreenJinn for supermarket shopping is great and they pay out quickly too. Sometimes you end up buying some random stuff but I always use it and actually it's nice to try new things cheaply. I can easily get £3/4 a week doing this which soon adds up

[WakeMeUpWhenGoodOmensIsOn]

I get about 200 quid in cash back each year from putting absolutely everything I spend on a credit card and paying it off immediately, so I find the evangelical “cut up your credit cards” people the most annoying. I’ve never had to use the Section 75 protection you get with large credit card purchase but that’s really valuable as well.

[TheFifthKey]

I've been doing all of my shopping on my Tesco Clubcard credit card with a direct debit set up to pay in full every month. I find it really good as it's easier to see my purchases itemised as opposed to them being among the litter of bills etc in my current account, and the points come in really handy - for example, I easily get enough to take the DC for a free cinema trip with snacks once a month, which is a real boon for me. Keeping a close eye on the balance is important though.

[FayFortune]

A cash back credit card is a good idea. (If you are a disciplined type of user.)

I agree with op as I've always been frugal.

You have probably reached the point of being a giver of good advice op!

[FayFortune]

All the basics mentioned on this thread I've been trying to tell my teen.

Scarily it's having little impact. I am seriously questioning the brain wash of advertising they are being put through now.