Your number 1 money-saving tip

[PupInAPram]

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

Already mentioned, investigate if a water meter would be cheaper - for years I resisted 'on principle' but when I did my water charges were less than half than previously. I live alone, 2-bed flat, small garden, daily bath/shower, usual appliances. Worth considering.

Work out how much a day you have to live on after all essentials e.g. utilities, rent/mortgage, weekly shop, so if you have say £5/day to 'play with' you'll think twice about an expensive coffee, Amazon purchase, etc.

Buy in bulk if you can

Save all veg scraps, even things like broccoli stalks, clean, chop up & dip in boiling water & freeze, keep adding odd bits of prepped left over veg scraps from every meal. You'll very soon have a bag of frozen veg curry, veg or minestrone soup, stir fry or whatever else you can think to do with it.

Wrap your fridge veg in foil, sit broccoli in a cup of water etc to extend the life.

Ceramic oil/wax burners can act as heaters in a small room, our loo is freezing without, but cosy & warm when the wax burner is lit.

A larger version is an upturned clay plant pot over a heat proof tray & several tea lights underneath, depending on the size. I've used this to heat a large teepee tent when camping & it's very effective & I'm told it works well to heat a room too

Make extra portions or curries, pasta etc & freeze it as ready meals. It's cheaper than making individual meals again & rice, couscous & often pasta meals free well

@weleasewoderick23

Sorry to derail but, what's all this love for air fryers about? I bought one about a year ago and I just can't get on with it. A pp mentioned that they cook chicken and chips in there, when I tried that it was dry and tasteless. I've been on YouTube to try and find out what I was doing wrong, but still nothing came out nice enough to eat. It was a waste of money and I gave it away because I was wasting food that we couldn't eat.

Well everyone's different so stands to reason some people don't like them. I don't see how an oven would magically add taste though, surely its down to how you season them. As for how to afford one, depending what size you'd need you can get good ones for £30ish, or second hand. I'd never normally recommend payment plans but on amazon for example if you get the 0% interest one then it's the same amount a month, if not less, than you'd save on electricity using the oven all the time.

[quote weleasewoderick23]@Nnique

I get what you mean. I really thought it would revolutionise my kitchen, but obviously didn't. My ( adult) dd tried to give me hers for the same reason, ( we bought at the same time) nobody wanted it so it isn't just me.

I'm not wasting any more money on gadgets. My food processor does loads so I'm sticking to what I've got. That's money saving isn't it? [/quote]
@weleasewoderick23

Heh yes! I’ve already given away a slow cooker once years ago because I was definitely not impressed with the ‘food’ that came out of it! However having learnt a bit more about them and how to best use them I’ve figured out that I probably could really use one again but only cook the sorts of things that actually work well in them. And they’re not expensive so if it turns out to be another mistake at least I haven’t wasted £££.

Does everyone shower daily here? We do but wondering if we can cut back to every other day

@Nnique

I've got a slow cooker too, but I don't really use it as I find stuff goes a bit soggy and it's a pain to clean.

It could just be that I'm a crap cook!

@velvet24

Does everyone shower daily here? We do but wondering if we can cut back to every other day

I showered twice a day, now only doing pits n bits at night.

I personally find food in the slow cooker is less tasty, maybe it’s because it doesn’t lose as much fluid as when cooked on the hob/oven.

I don’t have many small plastic containers for the fridge but I do have many takeaway containers as they stack perfectly in the freezer and hold the perfect amount for two people. My money saving tip on those is to buy the containers new rather than ordering takeaways. 15-20 of those for the same price (ish) as one takeaway dish.

A lot of these things seem silly in isolation, but they’re really not - each one contributes to an overall attitude and mode of operation and the cumulative effects can make a big difference.

Of course there are many people for whom this is not just a welcome exercise in spending a little less but actual, daily life as there simply isn’t any choice in the matter. I’ve been there and it’s extremely difficult and can feel absolutely relentless and at times, utterly hopeless. Anyone who’s reading, wishing you strength and hope and that things will improve for you.

@GeneLovesJezebel

Glad it's not just me!

@weleasewoderick23 I’m thinking it might be useful for things like dal, pasta sauce/chilli, cooking pulses and legumes etc. Have you had any luck with those at all? Wouldn’t be doing things like stews/casseroles/curries/tagines as the flavour/texture payoff just isn’t good enough.

Yes the ‘safe’ liquid level they recommend ruins everything IMO. I’d have to experiment to find my own way of doing it. But even if I can find one at £20 it’s money I don’t want to spend if it’s going to go to waste.

@AchillesPoirot

If you’re skint - truly skint - you don’t even have an extra £20.

I wouldn’t pay for a soup maker. I have a saucepan and a stick blender already.

There are degrees, though. Two years ago, I was looking at new kitchens. A year ago I was waiting until payday to buy treats. Last summer I was holding on till payday for essentials. At Christmas I was selling things and cutting back. In February, I cut everything to the absolute bone. Now, it’s gone beyond that and I’m skipping meals and showers and looking for a third job. I could have bought a soup maker at Christmas, or asked for one my birthday.

There’s no reason why a saving money tip shouldn’t involve a small outlay. No, it won’t be applicable to everyone, but what is?! Maybe lay off recommending buying an electric car or solar panels, or that the children give up their third horse, but within reason, you can spend and save. You could easily save £20 in a month if you’re already buying soup instead of making it.

I couldn’t hope to find £20 now. I had to deprioritise groceries for me to find space in my regular grocery budget for an Easter egg for my kid. But if I’d known things were going to get this bad, and I’d taken more action, earlier, I wouldn’t be in such a poor position (my income has dropped gradually at first which meant we were still ok, then further which I expected and had savings for, and then immediately dropped much further which I didn’t see coming and had left me stuffed. I made savings at all these points, although they obviously varied in intensity)

I just don't think I can cut down any more.

My mobile phone is £6 a month.
I have only once had a takeaway here and I've lived here for over 10 years.
I cut my own hair (it's long so that's easy and I didn't like going to the hairdressers anyway so it's actually a positive thing not something I'm missing out on).
I don't go to pubs, bars or eat out in restaurants any more. I used to go and eat out once or twice a week and I loved it. I loved looking at the menus and choosing the food and the whole experience, going to restaurants.

I track what I spend and it literally is all on: bills and food. The food is from the supermarket as it's so much cheaper.

I only have a few pairs of shoes.

I haven't been on holiday since 2013 (Lanzarote).

I don't get any beauty treatments (manicure, pedicure, eyebrows etc).

I'm a minimalist and live in a small flat. If I was to look around for spare shampoo etc - there isn't any. There is basically exactly what I need to live.

Sometimes there isn't much to cut out.

Thank God it's the summer soon. Free - sitting outside, visiting a park, sitting in the sun, looking at lakes and ponds, seeing wildlife, birds etc.

@florentina1 thank you for this simple explanation. I have been inspired to pop my eco cherry on both my washing machine and table top dishwasher. Never understood how 2 hours+ was cheaper than half an hour. Fingers crossed!

Yes, there are degrees of hard-up. I've always had to budget, but there's a difference between the hard-up of being a single parent (proper skint) with little support, or being a single person household on an average wage (cutting back sensibly). I've been every shade of hard up and I have great empathy for people contemplating putting groceries on a credit card, because, been there, got the t-shirt.

@velvet24

Does everyone shower daily here? We do but wondering if we can cut back to every other day

Absolutely

That seems extreme

Perhaps just reduce time

[quote Nnique]@VelvetChairGirl I only have a few containers and the ones I have are usually already being used for leftovers. My fridge is also small and usually absolutely full as we only do one big shop per month so being able to wedge an onion in somewhere is good. But I’d never thought of just upending the onion onto the open side which is such an obvious solution, and it’ll keep outside the fridge so I don’t need to worry about space.

I’m also not going to apologise for using a little bit of clingfilm here and there. I use very little of it anyway - I cook big batches and don’t have multiple bits of onions dotted throughout my fridge all using vast amounts of clingfilm...Perhaps by the time I would have bought another roll I’ll have decided not to bother anymore but at the moment I have one and since I’ve already got it I’m going to use the roll for however long it takes me to finish it. Probably another year or so![/quote]
but plastic food boxes start at 50p for a pack of 3 in Ikea.

I suspect people will shower less. Some people can probably get away with it, others will probably struggle more. I read somewhere that people showered way less during lockdown.

Either reduce the time or try alternate days.

@Therunecaster

DP and I have stopped drinking and having takeaways. We did have a takeaway or eat out most Fridays. We drank wine more than we should. We've saved 350 quid in a month and that's with adding some nicer nibbles in for a Friday. I've also lost a stone which is great too!

I need to do this. I'm impressed, well done

My soup maker is currently plugged into the electric. As gas is cheaper I think I’d buy a stick blender instead, and cook it on the hob.
If you have a steamer and are putting it on for your tea, put a load in there at the same time and you’re saving there.

If you’re kids are having a shower, get them to put the plug in the bath and have a freshen up in their water.

So many great tips here! Unfortunately I have nothing amazing to add. I write down everything I buy so that I really have to face it and hold myself accountable.

@Jewel1968

I suspect people will shower less. Some people can probably get away with it, others will probably struggle more. I read somewhere that people showered way less during lockdown.

Either reduce the time or try alternate days.

if your water is on a gas boiler showing less really isnt going to make much difference, its the electric thats shot up in price and the standing charges, not so much the gas unit prices.

you'd be better off having a hot bath (heated with gas) then putting electric heating on at night and sitting in it as long as posible.

Oh also, I found that every time I buy Parmesan I only use a bit before it goes off, so now grated Parmesan lives in the freezer and only comes out in portions required