Your number 1 money-saving tip

[PupInAPram]

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

This might be an obvious one, but if you have a child on DLA, make the most of the free carer tickets. I didn’t learn about this until last year. Even if your child is on the low rates, you as their carer can often get a free ticket to places like theme parks and attractions. Even some theatres. You just pay for your child and then add the free ticket when you check out. You then need to take proof such as the DLA letter to the gate. Saved me a load over the school holidays and meant we could do places like Whipsnade which would otherwise cost a fortune.

And pack your lunch of course.

My top tips are:

We put the central heating on for about half an hour twice a day (usually from November to March). As soon as all the radiators are really hot we turn it off, as they hold the heat for so long. Appreciate we're in the south east though.

I regularly browse the clothing brands I like online and bookmark what I really like. A month or so later I can usually edit it down to just a couple of things I still really want.

Decent exercise, hair care and skin care will make anything look expensive. I gave up a £75 a month yoga club for a much better YouTube video; No7 Early Defence serum, Aveda shampoo and conditioner and an at home hairdresser (£65 colour and cut from an ex-top London stylist) four times a year.

Again with our home. We spent what we thought was a lot of money on decent decorators and carpet, but our furniture is cheap as chips (IKEA...retail park stuff).

Guests think we've spent a fortune, but it's all down to getting back the basics right - after that anything looks good.

@MayMorris
I've never tried to zest the lemons that I freeze...today I did try it and the zest seemed a bit dried out..maybe you can experiment with it, though
@GranMarnie enjoy!

[quote SweetpeasforEasterfeast]@MayMorris
I've never tried to zest the lemons that I freeze...today I did try it and the zest seemed a bit dried out..maybe you can experiment with it, though
@GranMarnie enjoy![/quote]
Right…I’m on a mission then 💐

I have tried taking Shreddies in a sandwich bag, but other office users steal my milk for their tea and coffee on the days I’m not in - I don’t like hot drinks
Put your milk for the shreddies in a small flask and take it with you.

Don’t order takeaways.

@PupInAPram

I must admit I would tend more to Jack Monroe than Jamie Oliver. My trouble is that 2 decades as a single working parent have turned me off cooking from scratch, having got in every day after work and produced a home cooked meal to sit down to together. It's also a faff to cook for one.

I,m single and never cook for one. Just batch cook split it into tubs and freeze. I love the Aldi curries with the spice separate in the lid. I buy a bag of chicken thighs (usually cheaper to buy frozen than fresh. Make a big pot of curry using the sauce jar and split it up into about 5 portions. One for my meal and 4 go into the freezer. Do that for a few days and you build up a stock of ready-made freezer meals which you can bang in the microwave on the nights you don't want to cook. Also, cook a large pot of rice. drain and portion up. You can microwave straight from the freezer too. much cheaper than buying the microwave rice packets.

Oh I have another one to add. Might sound obvious but check out ikeas tips on saving on heating with draught excluders, add a lining to your curtains to create black out curtains. Go to the college hairdressers to get your hair done. Check out if your entitled to any help with travel, work uniform, house hold support fund etc. I’ve always found there are things I’ve missed out on. Did you know if you have a child 0-2 you can also claim the free school meal vouchers under what is called the winter voucher scheme. Check in with your health visitor for all of the details as many aren’t letting you know you are entitled

If you eat a lot of beans (we're vegetarian) you can buy bags of them dried.

Boil them and then sort into servings and freeze.

Cost 50p for 200g (drained weight) costs about £1 for a KG of dry.

So you save a fair bit!

@PupInAPram

I line dry already but I had never thought about washing in cold water. One to try. Wish I could try airfryer and pressure cooker cooking without the initial investment in them, just to see how got on with it 🤔

Washing in cold is really just fine. I never use warm and really notice no difference.

@coodawoodashooda

Don't go to the shops. Seriously. Wait until tomorrow and see if you really need it.

I do another version of this... I put loads in my amazon/ebay/etsy basket... Probably less than 5% quid I ever buy... But you often get special offers on said items

@FourChimneys

Don't be very frugal in the supermarket and then cause £500 of damage to your car by reversing into the trolley bay

😂😂😂😂 this is the kind of tip I'm here for as I've done this before!

Cancel your twinkl subscription that you haven't used since you left teaching 😳

I have a cash back card that pays for my Spotify subscription.

@Calandor

If you eat a lot of beans (we're vegetarian) you can buy bags of them dried.

Boil them and then sort into servings and freeze.

Cost 50p for 200g (drained weight) costs about £1 for a KG of dry.

So you save a fair bit!

Thanks for this. DH and I were wondering this week if we could freeze beans as we had a bit of a splurge on dried beans.

Look out for reduced food items bag and freeze.
Buy in bulk
Cook from scratch, i.e no ready made sauces

If you love a costa get a reusable cup and take that with you, you will receive 2 beans inserd of one and hence get double the free coffees

Get your teens involved with beating their stuff they grow out of - once they see the money they will love photoing stuff as it's like social media

Turn money saving into a game, who can have the cheapest tastiest meal, best date under £50 etc

Don't assume uk holidays are cheaper I find Turkey far cheaper when you look at all inclusive etc

@lapasion

This might be an obvious one, but if you have a child on DLA, make the most of the free carer tickets. I didn’t learn about this until last year. Even if your child is on the low rates, you as their carer can often get a free ticket to places like theme parks and attractions. Even some theatres. You just pay for your child and then add the free ticket when you check out. You then need to take proof such as the DLA letter to the gate. Saved me a load over the school holidays and meant we could do places like Whipsnade which would otherwise cost a fortune.

And pack your lunch of course.

Also following on from this make sure you have the CEA card.. Whoever takes the child/adult to the cinema goes in free. HERE

@saleorbouy

No credit card or credit, save up and you probably won't want it once you've accrued the money. Credit will cost ££££ if you don't pay off the balance in full monthly.

This is exactly what I taught my kids, by the time you’ve saved up your pocket money you probably won’t want it any more.

This is something I taught my kids, know what you earn an hour, then work out how many hours you need to work to buy the thing you ‘really want’. Now you know that, do you still want it.

From my dad: If you see something and think “I must have that” don’t buy it straight away. Give it 2 or 3 days. If you are still thinking about it after 3 days, think about buying it. Chances are, you’ll have forgotten all about it.

From Martin Lewis: if you can’t decide between 2 things to buy eg: boots, imagine them side-by-side, with the cheaper one full of bank notes making up the price difference.

Another one from my dad, which is similar to Vimes’ boots theory [[https://moneywise.com/managing-money/budgeting/boots-theory-of-socioeconomic-unfairness]] - buy the best “standard” version of something, rather than the cheapest luxury version eg: the best Ford rather than the cheapest Merc.

Was just reading an article in the papers on what you can do to save money etc, one thing it suggested was replacing a shower head with an eco shower head, beware with some showers changing the shower head can blow a valve (I think it was a valve) and was left unusable.

This happened to my diy shop on the wall unit, it’s written in the instructions but no reference made on the unit in a sticky label. The manufacturer offered me a new valve for but it really needed a plumber to fix it.

@VelvetChairGirl brokers are rarely truly independent they work on commission so will recommend the people they'll get most commission from have you ever double checked what they are advising you? Not just on comparison sites but the companies themselves? Often the price is cheaper going direct

I dont use them for cost I use them for convenience, your far more likely to get a decent payout with a broker, its not like trying to get blood out of a stone and they will bullshit extra stuff to cover the excess payments and they are fast.