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Everyday money saving tips..

42 replies

Montana7 · 05/01/2022 20:54

DH & I were so blasé with money over the past few years, fritterimg away our disposable income.... We really need to scale back, any tips or advice appreciated especially around utilities & shopping... Thanks

OP posts:
bonfireheart · 05/01/2022 20:56

Meal planning
If you don't drive a car much then ByMiles insurance.

PurpleDaisies · 05/01/2022 20:56

Meal plan. Switch to cheaper brands and cheaper ingredients (less meat, more pulses etc).

Sunsetsupernova · 05/01/2022 20:58

Try to have as many no spend days in the week as possible. It shocks me how much people can fritter away on buying things like coffees, snacks and magazines.

Also get yourself to Aldi or Lidl and stick to your meal plan. Whatever we eat for dinner, we also have for lunch the next day so everything I cook does extra portions. I went from spending roughly £100 a week in Tesco to £40 in Aldi and we eat plenty of fresh veg and meat.

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Sunsetsupernova · 05/01/2022 21:00

If you’re going to switch utilities providers or take out insurances, sign up to either Quidco or Topcashback and make sure you go through their link to whichever site you’re buying from. I save my cash back until I need to buy something fairly expensive (like theatre tickets) and then get vouchers as you get more money than you would taking the cash

Icantremembermyusername · 05/01/2022 21:01

Include lunches in your meal plan. I'm going to have a sandwich and cup a soup tomorrow. Not my first choice but better that than a £4 meal 'deal' when I already have the bread, filling and soup sachet! There will something tasty left over from tomorrow's tea for Friday.

TheChosenTwo · 05/01/2022 21:02

I’ve made a deal with myself to not deliveroo anything at all this month. Every time I consider it I’m going to transfer the money I would have spent to my savings account. Just transferred £40 over this evening because instead of ordering pizzas in for the kids which I usually would have done when dh goes out and I have to feed everyone, I made a nice sauce and gnocchi with literally the ingredients I already had in my fridge and cupboards.
Simple but I’m a lazy cow and I don’t really like cooking so I spend a lot on convenience foods once a week when dh is out!! He does the rest of the cooking all the time, we do Otherwise eat a very healthy and well balanced diet
Also I tend to fall into a lazy habit of buying lunch out when I’m at work which again, I’m Grinnot doing in January. Let’s see how much I manage to save by not doing this.
Can’t really help with utilities, they just come out of our joint account and I’m sure we could be paying far less for things but neither dh nor I can be arsed with the hassle of calling up.

BleuJay · 05/01/2022 21:02

A mountain of information and ideas here -

www.moneysavingexpert.com/

Ninkanink · 05/01/2022 21:02

Stop buying.

It’s the hardest thing to do, but that’s key really.

Frittering can be stopped by being very strict and getting into a routine of deferring until you’re sure you really want or need it.

I’m still working on it, but it’s getting easier.

BleuJay · 05/01/2022 21:04

If you need to buy something then check here for discount codes, sales and lowest prices -

www.hotukdeals.com/

Snugglepumpkin · 05/01/2022 21:04

Budget.
Spend a month honestly recording every penny you spend.
If you have to enter every single take away coffee, magazine, packet of crisps or whatever into a budget then see the true total of what you are frittering money away on it will change the way you spend.

FindingMeno · 05/01/2022 21:04

Shop the deals.
If you use certain brands, stock up when you see them on offer. Not hoarder style but a bit extra.
Hopefully by the time you need the item again it'll be back on offer.
It'll take a while to get into this cycle with as much of your regular shopping as possible but it can mean significant savings.

qualitygirl · 05/01/2022 21:05

If you really need to scale back the. The first thing you do is create a "bare bones" budget.

This is a budget which includes only the necessities
So...
rent/mortgage
Childcare
Insurances
Electric
Water
Gas
Car payments (but even if that is too much could you sell and buy a cheaper car)

Get rid of all unnecessary subscriptions

Meal plan and portion plan.

No spend days

Free activities for days out.

Ensure you know the difference between a need and a want!stick to it!

BleuJay · 05/01/2022 21:06

Have a sort out every three/six months of your belongings and sell on eBay or a local selling site such as Facebook marketplace or NextDoor. Great for clothing and toys etc.

Shedmistress · 05/01/2022 21:08

[quote BleuJay]A mountain of information and ideas here -

www.moneysavingexpert.com/[/quote]
Just go onto this forum and knock yourself out. It is literally the whole premise of MSE.

FindingMeno · 05/01/2022 21:09

Learn how to acknowledge that something in a shop is beautiful but you do not need to own it.

BarbaraofSeville · 05/01/2022 21:10

Second/third MSE. Look at the money mantra and demotivator if you want to stop spending.

Make yourself think about whether you really need the purchase you are about to make. Also work out how much small regular purchases cost and think about how much you can save by taking a slightly cheaper option.

For example the meal deal might only be £3, but it's still 2 or 3 times the price of making a sandwich at home and adding crisps and a drink from a multipack from the supermarket.

If takeaways are your downfall, look for similar food from the supermarket. For example, M&S currently has a family Tex Mex meal deal on. For £15 you can get two large mains and 4 sides. More than enough for a family of 4 and similar food from a takeaway would cost at least £3/40 and it's all shove in the oven stuff so hardly any effort and still feels like a treat.

BarbaraofSeville · 05/01/2022 21:14

Utilities are harder currently, but again, follow what they're saying on MSE. Normally you need to be on a deal, but now, you want to be on a price cap tariff if you haven't signed up to a deal more than a few months ago. Recent and current fixed price deals are very expensive.

It's also time to start thinking about reducing your energy use, because it's just getting more and more expensive. Also better for the planet. It could be that the time has come to start being serious about this, especially if you've been one to think 'meh, I can afford it'.

BarbaraofSeville · 05/01/2022 21:20

@FindingMeno

Shop the deals. If you use certain brands, stock up when you see them on offer. Not hoarder style but a bit extra. Hopefully by the time you need the item again it'll be back on offer. It'll take a while to get into this cycle with as much of your regular shopping as possible but it can mean significant savings.
This.

Unless you do most of your shopping in Aldi and Lidl, which have day to day lower prices rather than up and down offers on brands, shop for a store cupboard and never leave it until you need something to buy it. Probably saves tens of pounds a week, ie at least a grand a year, possibly more, compared with just buying from week to week.

Also protects you from shortages. Until March 2020, I didn't realise that there were people who did things like buy a 4 pack of toilet rolls, a tin of beans and a packet of pasta every single week, rather than get a big pack when they saw one on offer and not buy any more until that was nearly running out. These are not people who have no money and no storage space btw.

But they were immediately in trouble because they had to get these things straight away. But if you'd got a 4 pack of beans a couple of weeks ago, as well as paying about half the price per can, you can just carry on using your stock and come back next week, when the shop could have restocked. You don't have to buy the other brand today, at twice the price.

Montana7 · 05/01/2022 21:31

Brilliant tips, much appreciated!

OP posts:
FireandBrimstone · 05/01/2022 21:46

Look into getting something like Monzo.

Work out your essential outgoings, that will already be taken care off by DDs from your existing banks.

Make a list of the other regular expenses (travel, fuel, things like hair/beauty if that's your thing). Include any other regular/occasional outlays such as children's activities etc that are not already taken care of through your main bank. Think about things like buying clothing, expenses for hobbies etc. Work out what you would spend on each of those things, every salary period.

Also think about the big ticket items you want to save for (eg holiday) and your emergency fund.

Then in Monzo, create 'pots' - one for each of these themes, and one month-pot (or even better, four/five weekly ones) to cover your weekly/monthly food budget.

Looking at what's left every month (salary minus main DDs from main bank account), work out how much you will take out of That account when your salary is paid, and transfer to your Monzo account. Then how much of that amount, will go into each of your pots. You can set up regular transfers within Monzo to top up your pots when you transfer your monthly 'spending money'. Then aim to stick to your budget for each of the expense themes you've made pots for: transfer only one week's food budget at a time into your main Monzo spending area (or even better, just small increments at a time) so you're not tempted to blow too much in a week and leave yourself short the following week.

I'm sure there's a simpler way to explain this! But doing something like this has totally revolutionised my attitude to spending, I feel much more in control and it's also very satisfying seeing real progress saving towards bigger luxuries and paying for them out of savings, rather than blowing them onto credit cards.

ImFree2doasiwant · 05/01/2022 21:49

If you go out yo work, take all the food and drink you need with you. Don't buy lunch, snacks, coffees.

Meal plan and shop to your plan.

Montana7 · 05/01/2022 21:53

Brilliant advice. I'll get onto monzo, I'm a sahm so we're relying on dh's salary... Signed up for some survey sites too 🙈

OP posts:
Pegasussnail · 05/01/2022 21:57

My main treats are wine, coffee shop and magazines
So I'm on dry Jan and today I read magazines in the local library. I bring a flask instead of buying coffees. I saved 10,000 euro over the past 18 months. That was on a lower wage for me due to part time hours.

So if I cook chicken I usually cook two and use the aldi veg to bulk up dinners and make curries for the freezer. If I make mince I make about 10 potatoes and add chilli to some and mixed herbs to others. I don't mind buying in charity shops. I don't buy tonnes of clothes clothes myself. My cars 5 years old and paid for.

PersonaNonGarter · 05/01/2022 22:00

@FindingMeno

Learn how to acknowledge that something in a shop is beautiful but you do not need to own it.
This^
Montana7 · 05/01/2022 22:01

I hear ya, wine is my vice as well... I like a couple of glasses Fri & Sat night to unwind but I'm very particular & like a bottle in the region of 10 to 15 quid... Thinking a couple of G&Ts might be more economical as a bottle of gin would last much longer 🙈

OP posts: