Your number 1 money-saving tip

[PupInAPram]

What is your number 1 tip that saved you the most money on regular household spending?

Wear jumpers/ fleeces indoors and only heating the family room with wood burning stove. Thick duvets and fluffy bed socks in Winter.

Wash clothes less (except underwear and shirts/tops).

Absolutely no heating from 1April-1October. Our school had this rule.

Tips from the seventies:
Bath once or twice a week only. Wash in between. (Bits and pits)
Wash hair less regularly. Comb and brush well as adjusting.
Long hair=no haircuts.
Hand me downs and charity shop clothes.
Smaller portions, particularly meat. (Magic chicken)
Try different levels of brands. Find the lowest cheapest level you can. Or if you only like Kellogg cornflakes try shop brand branflakes or value wheatbiscs. (I do not recommend Finefare yellow pack. )

Learn to use up leftovers, what needs using in the fridge first and reduce waste. (Serve less go back for more if necessary)

Know the price of everything. If you spot an offer you can work out whether it is really cheaper than Aldi.

Eat fruit and veg in season, when it is cheaper per kilo.
Make meals with the cheapest veg as the main part. Use the more expensive veg sparingly.

Thick curtains and draught excluders.

Wear lots of layers. Look out for wool jumpers in the charity shop. Aldi do the cheapest Marino wool thermals but these are still v expensive compared to a charity shop jumper.

I was bathed in a baby bath in the living room well into childhood but that may be a bit too seventies. Would save on water if you put the baby bath in the bath though for young kids.

Grow your own if you have a garden. Runner beans don't take up much space. You don't need that many either. (Took about 20 years after I left home to want runner beans as we had them most days when there was a glut)

One I've used today so I'll just add
Cut tubes of face cream toothpaste in half to use every last drop
Also recently decanted soap and shampoo into a " foaming dispenser"Although an initial outlay, I use much less product so will last much longer

I’ve always said to mine If in doubt, don’t much the same as thinking twice really, it works for us.

@HelebethH

If you shop weekly extend it to every 8 days and use up bits and pieces in the fridge freezer for the extra meal. Instead of 52 shops a year its only 46 shops saving you 6 weeks worth of housekeeping money. This pays for our xmas. I have decided with the rise in fuel costs I am going to try and make my weekly money go 8 and 9 day weeks alternatively. If successful that will be 42 shops a year saving me 10 weeks housekeeping.

If there's a prize for best tip, you win!

Smaller everything starting with fewer kids. Smaller house, smaller car... don't upgrade your lifestyle when your income increases. It only works from a certain level of income of course and is more of a longer term approach

Soz - No sound advice but reading all of yours cheered me up !

I always do a menu for the week before I shop. I never just go to shops and shove stuff in my trolley without knowing what I need. I also keep a list on fridge door to add store cupboard stuff to as I run out, agian that way I don’t overstock
then I Do 7 days of shopping, and then I try to go 1 day more or even 2 using up everything or store cupboards or even a mini diet with a small tea on final day. But I’m on my own so no one else to complain about a small meal and I could do with loosing weight 🤣🤣
I also buy standard size packs of fish, meat etc and batch cook to save money and time. When I’m in a can’t be bothered to cook or haven’t time as busy day I can raid my cheaper home made freezer stash rather then spend on takeaways . I try to add at least 2 meals a week to my stash and have at least one day “off” cooking when I use 1 .

I’ve reduced my spend on food by 20% in last 12 months by doing this.

If you shop online then order one item you don't want in completely the wrong size, so you have to send it back. That way you won't be tempted to keep things you don't absolutely love to save on the effort of going to the post office.

I'm proactively not washing sweaters and jeans nearly as often. If they're not dirty and don't smell, no wash and back in the wardrobe. I've had three weeks out of my current jeans, they fit better (a bit tight when freshly dried ) and I guess on a larger scale I must be doing less laundry.

I also don't shower daily, purely because I don't believe it's necessary. Quite happy with my level of hygiene btw 😉

Three pairs of wool rich socks. Aldi Men's ones have higher wool content than ladies. Top layer in bigger size.
Duvet and wool blankets on the sofa.
Thermal base layer tucked into socks
Men's thermals as they meet in the middle and don't get a cold back.
Hat and polo neck or snood indoors in winter.

Move bed and sofa away from the windows. It coldest there.

Let hair dry naturally.
Dry clothes on airer or outdoors. Keep moving clothes on airer, turning them over or moving those in the middle to the outside to dry them quicker. If you have an airing cupboard use that.

Avoid Costa and Starbucks (went with dd as a treat today and nearly had a heart attack at the cost)

Dont buy brand named food

Buy the 20p pasta bags, cant tell the difference once the pasta cooked

@PupInAPram

I don't smoke or drink but I could definitely cut my grocery bill by stopping ready meals for dinner on a week day and batch cooking on a Sunday. It is my one luxury as I walk to work and back every day and work in a full time busy job. I worked, shopped, cooked tea and washed up every night for two decades as a single parent with no support. Ready meals are an unnecessary indulgence though 😔

You don’t need to batch cook in one go. I just couldn’t be arsed to do that cooking all day game. I just aim to cook from scratch 4-5 times per week , but for at least 2 of those meals make enough to either have it next day in slightly different way (e,g a pasta sauce with pasta, then with veg and baked pot next day) or freeze. It makes sense if you’re cooking for less than 4 people, to make for 4 and get savings on bigger packs of your proteins and veg and then freeze the rest. You’ll soon be in situation of having a good variety of ready meals in freezer and Turing them over at a good rate. I’m sort of 2 out and 2-3 in per week.

Bathe once a week?

@ModerationInEverything

I always wondered why am eco setting on the washing machine could be cheaper when it takes so long. The answer is it takes a long time because it uses less agitation (less electricity) and more time soaking the clothes in the soapy water. It's also at a lower temperature so not as expensive to heat. Now I understand how it works I just it all the time.

Thank you for that info…didn’t know that and now you’ve said it makes a lot of sense. Everyday is a learning day 👍🤣

Stopped buying stuff altogether. I have enough clothes, handbags etc. Though appreciate this may not be the same for everybody.

Looking for cheaper haircut. Also,
I’m considering doing my own free form lowlights as the hairdresser recently messed up my hair colours and did terrible lowlights and highlights!! Interested to see others are trying this!

I buy cordysyl moth wash which is very expensive. At a cheap shop like Savers I found the generic equivalent for 1/3 of the price!!!!

But tbh I can’t cut back anymore. It’s all heating, food, wine, books and holidays: that’s it! . I can’t cut back anymore on those, though I do look for cheaper options.

Take control of the everyday food spend

Clear & audit fridge contents each day.
Plan meals for the next few days if not the whole week.
Stick meal plan on front of the fridge so that you know what stuff has been allocated to meals, e.g. packet of ham is for 3 days of work sandwiches, slab of mousetrap is for macaroni cheese for four tomorrow.

Do not go food shopping without a list that matches the meal plan & list of things that run out. Set yourself a time to get in & out of the shop so that you are less likely to browse & pop curiosity items in the bracket.

Only BOGOF is it something that you always use & have room to store it.

Go to the reduced to clear chilled cabinet as soon as you get into supermarket. Ask the store what time of day the cabinet is filled if you can. Nab anything close to what you usually buy to either eat that night or freeze for later in the week.

Eat or snack before you go food shopping, so are not in a shop packed full of goodies when you are peckish.

Good tip from pp about having emergency loaf & pints in the freezer.
Find a long life milk that is OK for your palate - for porridge, milky coffees etc.

Designate one food item that is your absolute treat/reward for keeping food spending under control, e.g. good coffee, tub of cream, slab of best cheddar etc. That spend is ringfenced as you’ll be cutting back on everything else.

mouth wash!

I used to use shower gel but have switched to bar soap - the cheapest I can find is 30 cents and it lasts for ages. Does a better job than shower gel too - used to find I'd smell sweaty later in the day if I'd used shower gel. Using the soap as removed that problem completely.

Even accounting for increased heating costs ?

Commuting costs for both of us added up to almost £800 per month before the last increase in train prices: even with the fuel increases, and a compulsory day a week in the office for DH, WFH is still a substantial saving.

@VelvetChairGirl

Never accept a renewal quote for car or house insurance. Always shop around.

doesnt this depend on who you are with? I am with a broker, not direct so they should be highlighting the cheapest deal anyway.

Nope, brokers work on commission and aren’t going to have all deals I always find I have to do multiple searches and phone calls to get the best deal. I muck around with my breakdown insurance at same time as I prefer to see the total price I’m paying for both…often you can get deals better by going direct or not. Yep it’s a pain and takes time but I always save about £100 or more I what I get quoted for initially. This year I cut it by £180 🥳

Soap is meant to be much better and more effective than shower or washing gels. Also less chemicals: they have to add various chemicals to gels!! Soap is stronger on bacteria, also simpler and cheaper as you say, and most likely much better for your skin :-)

Oh and currently eating my way through the freezer, any bits of batch cooking left especially

use a slow cooker as often as possible. much cheaper to run, can use cheaper cuts of meat or sausage casserole is great. Use eggs more, great for protein, omelets are quick and a good way to use scraps up.

‘ Absolutely no heating from 1April-1October’

I grew up with this.
It is just a few days at each end of the no heating season that were chillier, & told by parents to put more clothes on or run about!
They went round switching off everything electrical not being used.
The immersion heater went on for one hour before bath time.
Very energy conscious & frugal.