What are you adjusting to save yourself money?

[flyingdream]

I'm hoping we don't eat go out to eat as much as we do or order food in. It's just a really bad habit. But we can never stick with it it. Paying 8.50 for a pizza (12 inch from local takeaway) is a large amount and I'm ashamed it's taken recent price increases to make us think.

Also hoping we don't turn on the radiators as much as we do.

No car..
I have a dinophone - not interested in smartphones at all, although I do see their uses - daughter pays £1.75 ish per short train journey through her phone, I have to pay about £3.60 from a ticket machine. :-(
I have a credit card from the supermarket so I get more goodies. I use quidco too.
I'm sure I could get cheaper internet but I go with the 'if it ain't broke' approach after seeing relatives' disasters.. ours is fast & reliable.
I buy some Christmas gifts when I see good stuff on offer, and do the same with food - 6 jars of coffee when they worked out to around £1.87 each (NOT horrible supermarket brand!)
I do the same with clothes - buy them in sales if I like them, whether I need them at that time or not. Basics don't go out of fashion. If I need perfume, I order after Christmas, cheaper prices PLUS it includes perfumed body lotion in a nice big box!
I actually like live TV and don't begrudge the TV licence. I don't have Sky.
I use the fastest programmes on my washer & dishwasher. Oh, and my all time favourite - dressing gown on TOP of clothes when it's particularly nippy, & slough it off quickly if anyone comes to the door!

Coffees out, gone. Who needs them at those inflated prices, unless its somewhere sensible like Gregg's.
I don't have a tumble dryer and have always used radiator hangers, they work well and my house has no running water down the walls.
Takeaways are a complete waste of money.

Several things

1. this has given me the kick up the arse I needed to finally quit smoking. I vaped for about 4 years but then had a very traumatic break up with my exDH involving police etc. Started having the odd one and then with a couple of weeks was back on them full time. That was 3.5 years ago . How can I say to the kids that we have to have a cooler house or less treats when I am literally setting fire to our money? Havent had a cigarette in over a week, vaping is going fine and we are already better off.

2. I work in a supermarket where there are some mad reductions when stuff is about to go in the bin. I would often not bother but now I do. The other night I got 6 packs of high quality mince which, with reductions and my discount, cost me 25p each! One has been made into cottage pie and the rest are frozen up as bolog sauce in batches. It does mean cooking at 11pm sometimes, but totally worth it.....a weeks worth of meals for under £2?! Yes please!

3. 6 weeks ago the tumble dryer broke. I am now not replacing it as I used it mainly out of laziness and it costs a fortune. I have an indoor washing line across the bathroom which I never used and is now used all the time.

4. the dishwasher. I save up the big pans and stuff and use it twice a week after soaking them, the plates and glasses I do by hand as we use them. We are three in the house now and dont need it as much as when there was eight of us here. Will get rid of that when it breaks and not replace.

5. Replaced my coffee habit with a subscription to nespresso. A lot cheaper, and very very nice machine and actually much nicer coffee! Since I did this I have worked out I have saved about £50 a month. I have to drink milk regularly to help keep my blood sugars stable so latte is non negotiable!

6. This isnt new but is a tip some may find useful. I wear black jeans all the time and own many pairs. Realised I was buying new ones when the old ones had faded but there was nothing else wrong with them. a £6 pack of dylon machine dye with do 2-4 pairs of jeans depending on the weight of the bundle, I find you can do more than the pack says because they are already black and you are just topping up the colour. £6 for 4 new pairs of jeans!

Don't buy takeaways. We have frozen pizzas in the freezer if we fancy something easy.

I've insulated my windows with window tape to keep the draft out, and it made so much difference. I'm considering wrapping them in cellophane to see if that helps on top.

I've turned the heating off bar thirty minutes in the morning before the kids wake up. I turn everything off at the socket when before I was to lazy too.
I

[quote Riverlee]@Nemorth

“ Clothes dry within 24 hours.”

Mine take a lot longer than 24 hours to dry on an airier - 2-3 days.[/quote]
I always do a second spin only in the washing machine. That really, really helps. Have you tried that?

You should see the amount of water that comes out of the clothes on a second spin.

I don't heat my home very warm but I do ventilate it often. To dry the air out.

I don't overload the airer and I turn things over to make sure they air well.

Hardest thing to dry are hoods of hoodies, and cuffs (of anything) but they generally dry by the next day.

School shirts and sports gear dries in 4 hours!

I also got a great gadget to dry big long things (like bed linen and/or towels). I'll try and get a link/picture.

This hanger is ace really helped my dry bed linen inside during the winter.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0822LYJP2?psc=1&ref=ppxpoppmobbbasin_title

@Nemorth

Didn’t know about a second spin. Will try that.

Thank you.

@Riverlee let me know how you get on. My second spin only takes 13 minutes but what a difference it makes. Sometimes I don't do a second spin and I always regret it!

The weight of the washing after a second spin is much lighter due to all the extra water that's been spun out.

I had thought about getting a spin dryer (look them up) but no where to store. Tiny and leads to really creased washing according to my research. So I decided to just keep on using my machine and doing a second spin.

My other energy saving/money saving tip is to do as little ironing as possible. So extra creases due to the spin dryer definitely out!

Where I shop
What I buy
I’m meal planning
I’m not buying snacks or coffees from shops I’m taking them/giving them to kids from home
Turning down temp of everything 1 degree (boiler/heating).
Using up everything in pantry/freezer before buying more
Set up Plum account which passively saves by rounding up any payment you make on your cards or from your account to the nearest pound.
At the end of each month I put anything that is left in my account straight into a savings account. Even if it’s just a few quid. That way it doesn’t get absorbed into the next months income…
Looking at all tarifs for everything and switching where possible for cheaper.

And a whole load of new ideas just came up on this thread….

@cdba88

Summer will help an awful lot.

Will be able to stop worrying about heating the house and dithering over the thermostat

Won't want as many baths, cool showers will suffice

Can dry washing outside

Absolutely this!!

Get a steamer - potatoes in a saucepan, vegetables in the steamer on top = big saving on gas, greens taste better, and less money going to the Russians!

Less wasteful clothes wearing/less laundry.
Cooking lots at once.
Less dishwasher use.
Wash up at work where poss so we don’t fill the dishwasher with lunchboxes.
Using microwave instead of cooker where poss.
Fewer luxuries in food shop.
Less/no alcohol.
Less takeaways.
Making packed lunches, every day.
Cutting Sky package.
Stopping Deliveroo subscription.
Have turned heating off altogether and using only the log burner now, as DH can get free wood from work.
Lidl only.
I’m going to stop taking so many ovulating tests too - one per month and BBT to log ovulation instead

@Riverlee The second spin makes such a difference, also as mentioned, don't overload the airer. I've just taken a wash out and it will be dry by tomorrow morning.

There must be some knack in how you hang clothes on an airer too. When my DH does it everything takes twice as long to dry! When I do it? Quick drying. It's really bizarre.

I'm still a bit puzzled by the poster who said that they'd cut charitable donations first before cutting back on nail services!

This thread is so sad in that cleaners, beauticians, hairdressers , gardeners , window cleaners, restaurants etc... will be dropped to save money. And rightly so, but it's these small businesses that are going to be the hardest hit, yet again.

I do a second spin in the washing machine. Yes it uses a few pence extra on the wash but you don't need the tumble dryer. We have a heated airer. I also wear things at least twice (not underwear) and sometimes more often.

Heating is on 2 hours in morning and 3.5 in evening. Unfortunately DH feels the cold so is constantly putting extra heating on.

We've never been into getting takeaways although we have fish and chips from time to time. But if we wanted a quick meal I'd open a jar of pesto and have it with pasta. Or cheese on a crumpet!

I buy most of my clothes from ebay.

Have just done what I'm about to share...

A while ago we decided to do a cinema night at home. You know movie, popcorn, dark room.

Well we discovered that we actually enjoy watching the TV with fewer lights on. So now when we plan to watch something we turn off most of the lights in the room.

Better viewing pleasure and saving a few pennies on our electricity at the same time.

Cut back completely on takeaways, haircuts, buying new clothes. I've actually started darning jumpers and socks!

Trying hard to get dh to stop doing top-up shops (when he will come home with a fiver's worth of chocolate biscuits but no loo roll ) and we only shop in Aldi or Asda now.

Have become obsessive about turning lights off. Only shower on days I need to leave the house (WFH most days) and only wash my hair once a week. Can't even begin to admit on here how often the bedclothes get washed now

Don't use hairdryer, tumble drier etc. Have cut right back on the amount of washing we do - I wear clothes for days on end now (again not too much of an issue if WFH) and air woollen sweaters etc rather than washing them. Basically we're stinky these days!!

The trickiest thing is the heating. DH was brought up in a house heated to tropical temperatures, and I have shocking circulation which means that most of the winter months I have painful chilblains all over my hands and feet. Some days my fingers are so painful and swollen I can't type properly for work. I wear several layers and a scarf / fingerless gloves indoors most days and try to keep the heating off as much as possible.

It sucks. Roll on summer when hopefully at least the heating bills will reduce.

Is anyone else planning on paying more while using less in the summer with energy bills in order to build up a buffer for next winter?

I am on prepay sadly and while I am looking forward to not using as much energy going forward, I plan to pay the same onto the meter so that the hit come October onwards isnt so bad.

@MonkeyPuddle

We don’t buy take away. Can get a frozen pizza for £1 if that’s what we fancy. Heating only comes in once the house is 16 degrees and only if we are in the house. Dry things outside, I saw washing too it’s a good drying day. For lent I am eating one meal a day Strict meal planning, budget of £50 per week for all household food and sundries.

Hope this is bulllshit

DH only eats one meal a day so that saves a lot of money. I wish I had his restraint, we'd save a fortune!

Good question. We're combining necessary journeys rather than doing 2 journeys plan & do it in one.
Also going to be going to Aldi from now on! Sooo much cheaper than others.
And we've already started using the woodburner & turned the heating off for longer periods.

I’m buying bags of fruit and veg from the too good to go app, help fight food waste and gets me masses Of food for £3.09! I am also using my tumble dryer less, turned heating down, buying larger packs of fresh food and freezing in batches, cooking and freezing meals to waste less, avoiding any kind of convenience food…

MBig light off - LEDs behind TV - makes tv look like movie night- better ambiance.

Massive savings Game changer ditched Sky package, brought a Roku device (£30) and use NowTV £8 per mth ( seperate pay Tv gateway to Sky - think of it like a cheaper better twin to Sky just different namesake) can add channels including all Sky channels and as we require ( sports/ movies - subscription can be day/ week/ monthly option):

Buy on specials and bulk for staples. Especially now Ukraine is 40%+ supplier of grain to the EU market- expect food inflation to skyrocket.

Make home made “fakeaways” options - chicken bites, slow cooked meats ( pulled pork or chicken for use in wraps/ tacos) vs using the oven;

Turn boiler down less gas used.
Heated throws of sofa for tv:

Nemorth

Totally agree with the second spin at the highest spin you machine does (1600 on my machine) also quick wash at 30.

Look at my BBC weather app each evening to see the weather for the next day, then will decide if I’m putting on a wash, if it going to be dry and windy overnight I will stick the washing out late at night often dry by morning if not by afternoon. This week Monday and Tuesday were fantastic drying days , all bedding towels and cloths washed and dried no problem.

Finish off (air) on radiator , don’t usually need to iron after ten minutes on radiator.

Have turned heating down to 18 from 20 hour in morning then a few hours in late afternoon evening, going to bed early (to be fair have always liked going to bed to watch tv)

I’m still going to the gym, because I love my spin classes, and the machines, but I then have a swim get showered there and use there hot water and towels (off peck membership) village gym.

Bought a electric under blanket and the fluffy bedding, really cosy. Have lovely throws on sofas.

Wearing fluffy sock or slippers in house and cosy clothes in house.

Have shopped at Aldis for years, and have alway batched cooked.

Only buy cloths in the sale, but really trying not to buy any.

Another one the uses the dylon black wash to but life back into black jeans and cloths (dh is the man in black).

Have stoped going to hairdresser to get hair coloured ( went naturally in lock down going to stick with it) still getting it cut but leaving it a couple of extra weeks use to get it done every eight weeks pushing it to twelve.

Only going to go on holiday if I can get a last minute good deal. Again I have done this for years, but I know it’s impossible if you have children, but if your are older like us , and can go at a drop of a hat , there are usually good deals to be found.

Only getting my nails done for special occasions, not every two weeks like I did before lock down.

Keeping my sky and Netflix (I love tv) might try and phone sky and get a better deal like another poster said she did.

If things are getting you down here, just think of the poor families in Ukrainian, we are still very blessed. They on the other hand are being torn apart . My heart and prayers go out to them.

All we can do is stay calm and carry on and cut back we’re we can.