What's your number one piece of money saving advice?

[SneakyGremlins]

Own brand is just as good 99% of the time, I've discovered. Still always trying to save though!

I shop on amazon and eBay late at night, browse for hours, put everything in my basket and leave it. I revisit it a day or two later and if I still want it, I get it. Amazing how many late night, too much wine money I have saved doing this.
My coffee express makes better coffee than I can buy. I make my own, take it in a flask and done..and nobody stares at me when I request extra extra cream

Negotiate as much as possible.
Always get three quotes to compare.
"What's your best price ?"
Ask what extras can you get.
Book flights early.
Look for special offers, discounts, sales.

Don't spend more than you earn. Interest is expensive. Even if it means I own less and do less, I insist we live within our means.

Leave your cards/purse at home when you go to work.
Aim for 4 zero spend days a week.
Meal plan.
Make a shopping list based on meal plan and stick to that list.
Save all your £2 coins in a jar. They mount up fast.
Get a slow cooker, batch cook in it then freeze in pots. It's free meals through the week.
Shop at Aldi or Lidle, always.
Charity shops as much as possible.
Don't throw away any left overs, pot it up and freeze it.
Do a bottom of fridge clear out weekly, I cook up half bags of carrots/broccoli etc then freeze it. I don't throw anything.
Eat out of the cupboards and freezer at least 5 days a week.
Have a root around cupboards, you will have stuff you forgot you had bought. Cleaning products, deodorant, toothpaste, knock them off the shopping list.
If I'm tempted to buy something, I say to myself that I will get it next pay day...9/10 I will have forgotten about it when pay day comes.
Be strict which yourself.

Leave your cards/purse at home when you go to work.
Aim for 4 zero spend days a week.
Meal plan.
Make a shopping list based on meal plan and stick to that list.
Save all your £2 coins in a jar. They mount up fast.
Get a slow cooker, batch cook in it then freeze in pots. It's free meals through the week.
Shop at Aldi or Lidle, always.
Charity shops as much as possible.
Don't throw away any left overs, pot it up and freeze it.
Do a bottom of fridge clear out weekly, I cook up half bags of carrots/broccoli etc then freeze it. I don't throw anything.
Eat out of the cupboards and freezer at least 5 days a week.
Have a root around cupboards, you will have stuff you forgot you had bought. Cleaning products, deodorant, toothpaste, knock them off the shopping list.
If I'm tempted to buy something, I say to myself that I will get it next pay day...9/10 I will have forgotten about it when pay day comes.
Be strict which yourself.

Leave your cards/purse at home when you go to work.
Aim for 4 zero spend days a week.
Meal plan.
Make a shopping list based on meal plan and stick to that list.
Save all your £2 coins in a jar. They mount up fast.
Get a slow cooker, batch cook in it then freeze in pots. It's free meals through the week.
Shop at Aldi or Lidle, always.
Charity shops as much as possible.
Don't throw away any left overs, pot it up and freeze it.
Do a bottom of fridge clear out weekly, I cook up half bags of carrots/broccoli etc then freeze it. I don't throw anything.
Eat out of the cupboards and freezer at least 5 days a week.
Have a root around cupboards, you will have stuff you forgot you had bought. Cleaning products, deodorant, toothpaste, knock them off the shopping list.
If I'm tempted to buy something, I say to myself that I will get it next pay day...9/10 I will have forgotten about it when pay day comes.
Be strict which yourself.

Not one I've done and it only works with standing orders not direct debits.

We all have one expensive month, for a lot of people that is December.

In January look at all your standing orders for rent, bills, phone, things that the amount will not change in the year.

For each one multiply by 12 and divide by 11 - pay this each month.

Say your rent is 500 pcm, 500 x 12 = 6000, divide that by 11 (and round up a bit) pay £545.46 from January until November, you will have built up an extra month's rent so you have £500 to spend.

Obviously you have to be careful with things like phones that need a payment every month, but your last payment of the year can be £1.

Yes, ideally you could put the £45 in a savings account, but can you be sure you will not dip into the amount?

Costa/Sarbucks - do without
Sky TV/Virgin Medi etc - reduce package or do without
Expensive mobiles / contracts - old phone on a £10pm contract will do
Taxis - Try to get a lift if possible, take it in turns to drive
Gym memberships - walk/jog/cycle

But most of all?

Stop drinking and smoking.

The MSE website has already been mentioned, but I'd specifically highlight their Cheap Energy Club. www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub

You provide your details and not only do they tell you the cheapest deal for your gas and elec based on your usage, they monitor and email you whenever it's financially advantageous to switch, and they make switching easy (they even rebate any switching commission they receive). Easy!

If you have school aged children buy less clothes - they'll be in uniform most of the time. More is needed in the summer long holiday but shorts/tshirts are cheaper than jeans/jumpers.

My friend’s got a good car one- before your annual car service (if you have a car that is ) check your own tyre treads and if any are too worn book a company to come to sort them first.
I’ve often had eye watering tyre bills and also assumed mid range or higher tyres might be safer but friend pointed out they all need to be safety tested / safe and so goes for the cheapest

For me it was getting rid of my car which I appreciate isn't for everyone.

I use the train, run to work and cycle. If I have to get the odd taxi (heavy one-off shop, night out) it doesn't matter so much as I'm saving £££s. Even got an uber home from Ikea last week and the driver didn't bat an eyelid at the furniture!

Also switch all your food one 'tier' down eg instead of Heinz buy own brand.

Freeze bread by the loaf and defrost by slice.

Always shop with a list.

If I have a shopping trip I buy the clothes then keep the tags on until I actually want to wear them. If I haven't worn them in a few weeks I return them for a refund.

Go to the discounted (stuff that has reached its best before date) section and buy lots of meat and bread that's a lot cheaper and perfectly good frozen until needed.

Have separate bank accounts for different things. We have bills/DD, Food/petrol, school stuff, holidays, days out, summer holidays, big purchases and savings. On payday we each put in our contributions. Then divide disposable income by two.

Save for Christmas all year. I treat this as another bill and have a standing order go into Christmas account every month.

In Jan I buy a supermarket gift card and put £30 a month on it until October/November this takes care of food and drink for Christmas

On a work day keep only £5 in cash in your purse.

Take packed lunches, drinks and snacks to work and on days out. Food on days out is vastly over priced.

Shop online for groceries. Swap to own brand _most own brand is fine.

Use Costco once a month to buy things like washing powder, loo roll, bread, cereal in bulk.

Meal plan, lunches and dinners for seven days.

I only buy three breakfast.cereals porridge oats, wheat biscuits and cornflakes. Used to waste a lot of money buying different cereals the children liked that they never ate.

Cook from scratch where possible.

Pulses to bulk out meals

Meat free twice a week.

Something on toast once a week

Use washing powder instead of liquid tabs or tablets. Use half recommended dose of powder. Dilute softener.

I have ditched expensive beauty products used to buy high end and it cost £££. I now use organic castor oil to cleanse, diluted witch hazel to tone and astral cream to moisturise face and slap on some SPF sun cream skin is fine and I have sensitive skin.

Use re usable sanitary towels honour your flow I think are good ones.

Have gone back to using bars of soap instead of £££ shower gel that just was money literally going down plug hole.

Baby powder is good as substitute for dry shampoo.

Buy in charity shops.

Always buy the best quality bra, coat, shoes, bed sheets/duvet covers and towels that you can afford. They last longer in my experience.

Here’s a few things we do...
We do packed lunches. We do this every time we go somewhere. Tomorrow we’re going to London, I’ve alrady made packed lunches tonight for tomorrow. I won’t spend much, maybe a cuppa/ice cream. We did this on Saturday when we went to the seaside too.
Have a look at U-switch for utilities, and any other luxury tv/media spends.
Write a shopping list. I shop in Lidl’s.
Keep left overs for lunches/dinner next few days.
Tuck a few quid away each month, say £20 a month x12 = £240 in a year, also try putting it into an account that you can’t remove the money and you’re tied in, so you can’t touch it until it matures. If you can open a few different accounts to tuck money away in.

Know your finances and forecast them! Plot what you have coming in and going out as pp above have said. But the key thing is to forecast this as far out a you dare. Some months you will have large expenses such as Christmas, car tax, holiday spends etc. If you forecast a year ahead you will know well in advance of any month that you need to save for and never be too surprised. Our forecast is five years. We put into savings some months and take out in others. Budget for cash spending. In fact I eithdrawer our monthly misc cash on payday and keep it in a tin. It helps to see tangibly what you have left in budget

Don't pay someone to do something you can do for free. Car wash, windows, nails, coffee, waxing, gardening, cleaning etc.

It's not a bargain if you don't need it.

Always price check utilities, broadband, phone packages, house and car insurance. Call and haggle on every renewal.

Sell stuff on eBay you don’t need, especially unwanted gifts!

Definitely start by keeping a money diary - if you don't want to bother with a spreadsheet a notebook is fine. Once you know where your money is going you can see the areas where you're spending unnecessarily - is it on nights out, beauty treatments, an expensive phone contract, grabbing a coffee on the way to work? Identify the problem areas, then stop doing those things

Buy stainless steel pegs for the washing line. Not a cheap investment, but I wasted loads on every other type over the years as they all break.
Use cashback sites. Always check google for discount codes before checking your online basket out.

Dish washing powder instead of tablets, if you can find it, halve the amount recommended.
look in your cupboards/fridge/freezer before shopping.

Declutter!

Seriously once you have got rid of unnecessary items, you realise hw little you ever really needed.

It makes shopping for things much more considered. I spend far less now on buying unnecessary things.

Add up all out going first.
Stuff you can and can't change.
Then see what's left over for food, holidays, Christmas etc divide it all up. Then see if you can shop within that budget. Rather than just food shopping and trying to bend money to that

supra yes having cash is much better and more tangible. We save each month small amounts to bday, holiday etc. Its all broken right down.