Budget ideas now circumstances change

[MilkCereal]

I'm dropping from fulltime work and looking for ideas as our budget tightens. All welcome!
Childcare will be a big one as I will ne the childcare 😊
I'm planning on batch cooking.
Anything else?

Lots of ideas on money saving expert.

Big ones I always think of on these threads:
phones - a colleague spends £35 a month but my phone is £10 and it's fine
takeaways - buy a supermarket bag for £8 instead
coffees out soon mount up (guilty!)
think about secondhand for kids toys and clothes - eBay or charity shops
switch down a brand at supermarket
shop at Aldi or Lidl

Heating bills seems to be a big expenditure nowadays so if you are going to be home all day you need to make sure that your windows and doors are not letting heat escape.

Following

Giffgaff is excellent for sim only deals.

I'm noticing the weekly food shop is increasing even at Lidl, the Lidl app gives me £12pm in vouchers if I spend over £200.

I have the 4 main receipt snapping apps and get Amazon vouchers with them most months.

I use an Amex and Amazon credit card for all my spends for cashback, I get around £150 a year with Amex and £50 gift cards a year with Amazon.

I subscribe to all the loyalty cards and save them on the stocard app (I hate having the physical cards clogging up my purse), sometimes you get points (eg boots, Tesco, the works) for vouchers.

Yes food and drink from takeaways, coffee shops etc can take a huge amount of money if you do it regularly, so if you're guilty of this look for a cheaper supermarket option as much as possible. Always take a picnic on days out as food at most attractions is overpriced, poor quality and at the end of a long queue.

Look for the moneysaving expert money makeover for a systematic way to reduce costs and also increase bits of money coming in here and there.

If there are attractions you like to go to a lot, look for annual passes, so you can have cheap days out, eg National Trust membership.

@Agadorsparticus Could you tell me the names of the 4 main receipt snapping apps please?? I had a look on goggle and there are loads of them.

[quote myfinelady]@Agadorsparticus Could you tell me the names of the 4 main receipt snapping apps please?? I had a look on goggle and there are loads of them.[/quote]
Yes I would love to know this too :D thanks

Storewards, Huyu, Zipzero and Shoppix are the ones I use. Every receipt goes on. Huyu is only for supermarket receipts but will take supermarket fuel ones. Zipzero gives cash onto your bills rather than Amazon cards. It has been on hold during Covid but seems up and running again now. I pay it off my council tax bill.

DH is fed up of me saying where's the receipt when he's been out for something but he's well trained now and it works pretty well.

Thanks @Agadorsparticus

Turn heating down by one degree (obviously only works if you can afford a warm house to begin with)

Drive at 28mph rather than 32/3 mph - over a year if you drive 6000 miles it's the average week's wage. Learnt that on a speed awareness course.

Add another person to your car insurance - shaves about £120 per annum off.

Use cash - easier to see what you have.

Grow your hair long and have it trimmed every 6 months rather than every 6 weeks.

Switch to bar soap.

Do not get a pet because you are at home all day.

Thanks for those @Agadorsparticus, only Huyu will take me atm but still a good tip, love it. I am a keen Costa bean collector (50p a bean, two per drink if you use reusable cup) so this is great

Buy clothes from vinted. I started using it last year and will never go back to buying brand new. Just bought an absolutely gorgeous green velvet dress for Christmas day for £2.