Your number 1 money-saving tip

[PupInAPram]

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

@velvet24 it’s not the price. It’s because I have a few already and I don’t want to have to store any more of them. Our kitchen is large but doesn’t actually have much space (or not as much as I need anyway!) and a whole wall is pretty much unusable for now. The bigger sizes are better for me but even so I only have 3 large, 2 medium, and then loads of the takeaway containers. But I have very little room to work with in my fridge so once I’ve got let’s say 1 large one, 3 takeaway containers and 1 or 2 small in there, there’s no more room! At some point when we actually need a new one we’ll replace it with a full size fridge but until then it’s extreme fridge Tetris! Onion in clingfilm can be slotted in somewhere more easily and won’t stink out the fridge plus I’m not worried about wasting the clingfilm since I pretty much only use it for wrapping alliums these days! However now I can keep it on the counter upturned in my little ramekin instead which solves the whole problem quite nicely!👍👍 And now i feel like I’ve talked about onions/clingfilm/containers more than I ever will again in my life! 😀

I think with showers you can shower effectively in two minutes... so I'd probably rather cut down on shower length than frequency, e.g. have everything ready before you get into the shower, if you shave wet your legs and switch the shower off (or switch to an electric shaver, that's what I've done as I don't have to buy razors and they were expensive here, plus only need to charge it about once a month!). That really cuts the shower length down as all you have to do is get in and wash yourself. If I really wanted a shower I'd have one and not deprive myself because I think if you get in there for 1-2 minutes the cost must be minimal (I have a water saving showerhead and don't have the shower very hot).

I guess every penny counts though. An article I read suggests:

How much does taking a shower cost?
Looking at a 40C power shower that lasts 10 minutes, you’ll go through 150 litres of water and require 5.76 kWh of energy to heat it.

The price you pay for water will vary depending on your regional provider, but Discover Water estimates that two litres from the tap costs around a third of a penny. That comes to just under 25p per shower.

So for a family of 4, it would be £1 a day. Which adds up. Of course the simple thing would be to reduce the time to 5 mins.

I use wholefoods online and buy dried onions, dried mix veg, top up on spices (where I live you have to buy in tiny jars).
Dried onions are brilliant in soups, no waste and no chopping. I use an Instant Pot pressure cooker so just put them into the soup and add whatever else I am using and throw in a handful of the mix veg instead of salty stock powder.
Wholefoods have great offers when you spend so much, I got free 1.5kg of porridge oats last month and money in my discount bank. Google voucher codes.

Article here with more details www.google.com/amp/s/metro.co.uk/2022/04/02/what-costs-more-taking-a-bath-or-a-shower-16388092/amp/

A slow cooker is great for batch cooking curry for the freezer

Or this tomato sauce for pasta
www.easycheesyvegetarian.com/slow-cooker-tomato-sauce/

@Jewel1968

I guess every penny counts though. An article I read suggests:

How much does taking a shower cost?
Looking at a 40C power shower that lasts 10 minutes, you’ll go through 150 litres of water and require 5.76 kWh of energy to heat it.

The price you pay for water will vary depending on your regional provider, but Discover Water estimates that two litres from the tap costs around a third of a penny. That comes to just under 25p per shower.

So for a family of 4, it would be £1 a day. Which adds up. Of course the simple thing would be to reduce the time to 5 mins.

I darent tell dh, he’d suggest we shower together! 😂

Line dry - dont user tumble dryers

@RoseGold24

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

Same ! Good idea never thought of freezing it!

I have an instant pot as we are a family with teenager and young adults.
If I was solo and rather fed up with cooking as op seems I wouldn't be bothered about any new gadgets.
My mum says when feeding one her (only small) freezer is the one thing she wouldn't be without. Any leftovers and spare bits from packs go in there and make the next meals easier.

I've got the equivalent of a calor gas heater. Instead of buying another gas bottle I'm doing some exercise when I get cold.

Warms me up and burns calories, so win win.

We’ve got 2 fridge freezers in the kitchen ( had to bring one in from the garage as it didn’t work when it got really cold )
One fridge we open more frequently and use for milk, bread etc
The other we keep colder and don’t open so frequently, I store fridge safe fruit/veg in the crisper drawers and it keeps for ages so never have to throw any away.

@Esspee

Wow, just read the whole thread. Lots of suggestions. Most of them I was already doing but I noticed a few people mention defrosting stuff in the microwave. If you think about what you will need the next day before you go to bed you can take the frozen items out of the freezer and put in a dish in the fridge. By morning it will be defrosted so no need to use the microwave PLUS the fridge will need less electricity overnight as the frozen food defrosting keeps the temperature down.

We don't have a microwave since our last one stopped working years ago. I realised I was only using it for defrosting (can take whatever out of the freezer and put on the side for a few hours), porridge (just as good on the hob, maybe cheaper as gas not electric and very occasional jacket potatoes (crap in the microwave anyway).

Plus in a small kitchen it's nicer to have the space I find. Obviously depends on how much you use things like this but it's important to consider how much you really used something before jumping to replace it once it goes bang.

I find most small kitchen appliances bar kettle, toaster, cafetiere and blender are a bit faddy and niche and eventually go unused in our house so I don't buy things like that now. I sold our Aldi stand mixer on Facebook marketplace for more than I paid because I wasn't using it and they seemed to be in demand at the time.

@velvet24

I get my chardonnay wine in Lidl - 2.99 and is really nice

We love the Lidl £2.99 wine, the red and rosé are lovely too, I prefer them to more expensive ones. My Mum even took a bottle down to my poundnotish sister at Christmas and she said how nice it was!

@Carpediem15, thank you for the online wholefood idea. Just what I needed.

Anyone use

“Too good to go”?

Thought it might be exciting for the kids?!

@NdefH81

Anyone use

“Too good to go”?

We stopped using it when we got a pitiful bag from Morrisons (they'd been really good up to that point).

We use Too good to go sometimes. It can be a bit hit and miss but have a few local privately-owned shops that are worth it.

I've never liked waste but one of the things I always seemed to be wasting was celery as I liked 1-2 sticks in Shepherds pie, soups, chilli ect but some always ended up soggy in the fridge drawer. I've recently discovered it freezes well chopped up so I now buy when on offer in aldi, chop a whole one and just use a handful whenever my cooking needs it.
Another tip I found a friend doing was slicing a whole lemon up and freezing so you get ice and a slice in one🍹

@notanothertakeaway do you have any good recipes for slow cooker curries? Every curry I’ve done in mine comes out shit!!!

Just to say, I have pretty severe ocd and so some of the tips I just can't face doing but even I don't wash clothes after just one wear if they'll do another wear. Depends what I've been wearing them for/doing with them but yea if I can cope using them again I will. Sometimes I spritz them with febreze or something

Re squeezing max out of tubes - rolling pin works fairly well

I refuse to have DDs

Why? They're the cheapest way to pay you get a discount if you pay by DD

Veg that is well past it’s best will still be absolutely fine in a soup or stew.

Yes I give that advice a lot on here also casseroles, curries, chillis, anything with a decent cook time

I can't do fresh onions for 2 reasons - 1 I react a lot worse than most to the tear stimulating chemical it renders me blind for hours! 2 I'm disabled and would be a liability cutting it!

@RockinHorseShit broccoli stalks are my favourite part!

@RosesAndHellebores sadly there are plenty on mn and ime in real life too who haven't been taught home economics either by their school or parents (if they have parents) it's abysmal it's been removed from education (what has replaced it is a joke!) as it's a key to surviving on a low budget! We need such education back in schools and in maths lessons we need real life economics taught - like how banks and overdrafts and credit cards work! Payday loans! So many are unaware of how it all works and out of desperation get into a real mess with money

I've also met/come across people who consider themselves good cooks but are ridiculously fussy about which food items they will use and which they'll throw and a lot of people don't understand the difference between use by and best before and also imo use by dates are now RIDICULOUSLY over cautious to the point I barely use them now!

Even as a veggie I've witnessed hideous waste of meat in others homes because they didn't know they could use the fat, bones etc to make stock, use as flavouring for greasing pans etc

@NdefH81 Exactly makes sense to save money where you don't mind doing so in order to have money for other things you need/want. I'm disabled and on benefits so I'm money saving to get by! But I've no problem with others doing so in order to manage nice/fun stuff for themselves.

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

You're right - and being poor is expensive as if you're truly skint you can't take advantage of special offers etc but there's nothing wrong with saving money even if you're not truly skint no point spending for the sake of it and hopefully prevents people becoming truly skint and therefore needing help from the finite resources there are for those who are truly skint!

I'd much rather people a little better off acted sensibly than didn't bother and then needed to eg use food banks meaning there's less to go around for those who genuinely can't increase income/decrease outgoings

So they're not only helping themselves they're indirectly helping others too by not putting more pressure on finite help

It's the profligate people that annoy me!

At the moment I'm managing I'm not skint but I've been skint in the past and see it as my responsibility now to do my best to minimise my costs and not need to ask for additional help

@velvet24 if you're not doing anything particularly dirty in work/hobbies then daily showering isn't really good for your skin either every other day is fine. If I'm not going anywhere/seeing anyone then I'll push it to a 3rd day I'm not harming anyone by doing so

I've got a slow cooker too, but I don't really use it as I find stuff goes a bit soggy

Sounds like you're using too much liquid you need very little in slow cooker recipes

@Flatbrokefornow are you sure you're getting all the help you're eligible for? Pm me if you'd like I've been there and may be able to help

I use Too Good to Go but prefer to use it when I’m in London for work and that means I largely get leftover restaurant food which needs eating or freezing the same day . Otherwise I need to drive to pick up stuff and then there’s diesel costs. It has however been a godsend for friends of mine who have lost their jobs in the last two years and means they’ve been able to have little treats like sushi, Starbucks and cake shop stuff for a fraction of the price. The best value on the app is hands down BP:wild bean - we got magic bags with m&s food and stuff from the pastry section.

I buy my preferred cappuccino coffee (Nescafé Gold sachets) from Amazon on a repeat order every 6 weeks. £7.10 for 6 boxes of 8. 48 cappuccinos for a tiny fraction under 15p per drink, if my maths is correct 😁

@CanIHaveASnaaaaak

Have separate “savings” and “general use” bank account.

Put a monthly budget on yourself for the non-essentials.

When you make a purchase, any purchase. Round it up to a whole pound and immediately transfer the difference into the savings account. Or, that nice bar of chocolate = £1.45 - put 55p in the savings account.

You don’t really notice it out of your own budget, but it builds up and quite quickly too!

My bank automatically does this for me