Your number 1 money-saving tip

[PupInAPram]

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

Use old wallpaper as wrapping paper. The diy stores often sell off old ranges for a couple of pounds a roll and you get masses - generally about 10m

Don't have pets - bloomin fortune.

Charity shops for clothes and household items (I've bought tops/bottoms for £1, eBay is going to be at least £3.20 for postage so charity shops is the way to go, unless it's a posh charity shop that charges too much, I tend to avoid my local British Heart Foundation as found this was the case).

Save bath water and use a jug of bath water to pour into the toilet instead of flushing.

Instead of donating old/outgrown clothes, cut them into pieces to use as toilet paper. I'm not joking, toilet paper is expensive.

Replace tampons with a re-useable menstrual cup.

See if there are any benefits you could claim.

I bought a cargo E-bike to save on bus fares, car fees, parking fees and to cut down on the time is takes to walk or bus everywhere (I'm 30 and never owned a car even with two kids). Also enables me to do a big shop in one go without getting a taxi.

I sold my washing machine and tumble dryer and now use the free on-site laundrette attached to this flat.

Switched from liquid to the cheapest laundry powder.

Don't use the storage heaters, bought other heaters and only switch them on when I am actually freezing or to warm kids rooms up before bed.

Haven't had a holiday in over 10 years.

Bring a flask of coffee with you if friends want to meet for coffee. This works for me as I have a pram to store it in.

If your baby had eczema try to figure out the cause rather than just treating the effect, as it took a lot of back and forth to the doctor but figured out he has a dairy allergy that causes him to flare, doctor prescribed dairy allergy formula so thankfully don't have to pay for it any more. Of course breastfeed if you can, I can't.

Cut down nursery hours for children and only have them go for the free 15 hours a week. I've saved £255 a month doing that.

Don't be a smoker of any kind.

I have a quick shower once every 3 days if my hair can last that long. Try dry shampoo. Kids have baths together.

Disposable nappies during the day. Again, only worth doing because I have free on-site laundry.

Yellow labels and freeze what can be frozen.

Instead of donating old/outgrown clothes, cut them into pieces to use as toilet paper. I'm not joking, toilet paper is expensive

This definitely wins the most stupid idea of the thread! The cost of unblocking your drains after you’ve thrown cut up clothes down the toilet will be extortionate!!!

Never use a credit card
Hugely disagree with this one.

I think the poster means to wash the cloths not out them down the loo.

@Soontobe60

Instead of donating old/outgrown clothes, cut them into pieces to use as toilet paper. I'm not joking, toilet paper is expensive

This definitely wins the most stupid idea of the thread! The cost of unblocking your drains after you’ve thrown cut up clothes down the toilet will be extortionate!!!

Nobody is throwing cut up clothes down the toilet. Are you sure I'm the stupid one?

@Soontobe60

Instead of donating old/outgrown clothes, cut them into pieces to use as toilet paper. I'm not joking, toilet paper is expensive

This definitely wins the most stupid idea of the thread! The cost of unblocking your drains after you’ve thrown cut up clothes down the toilet will be extortionate!!!

You wash them not flush them

Although with the price of electricity washing them is likely to cost more than the toilet roll would have

The poster who suggested this has a free onsite laundry though?

Hi all, and thanks to @PupInAPram for starting the thread and @ifyouturnonthelight for the suggestion - we've moved this over to the Chat section now.

@spaceman1 I totally disagree. Credit card can be your best friend if you use it right. Not only does it help build a good credit score, lots of cards offer cashback bonuses and othe benefits. I have two - I charge everything on them. One for daily use which helps me accrue cashback and air miles (free flights to Cairo few years back) and another I use abroad which offer 0% sterling transaction fee. Do your research and always pay your balance every month. It's effectively free money.

Also, the obvious one - sell anything you are not using. I've sold kids shoes and clothes bundles; my own clothes, furnishings, furniture etc etc. So anything languishing in your cupboards could be turned to cash

@Nnique

Can’t remember if it’s beeb mentioned, but don’t buy loads of different cleaning products. You don’t need specific ones for everything.

You can clean/descale/wash most things around the house with soda crystals (80p a kg at Sainsbury says Google), citric acid/lemon juice, vinegar and soap flakes (or grated old soap). Add some essential oil if you want a different scent. Eco-friendly and also cheap.

@AchillesPoirot

The poster who suggested this has a free onsite laundry though?

Ah, which most of us don’t have

@ravenmum exactly! It’s really not necessary to have specific cleaning products at all.

Actually I’ve got a question on vinegar, does anyone know how much you would use as a softener? For a normal wash in hard water area.

Be wary of growing your own fruit/vegetables as money saving. It is extremely hard to actually save money. What you can do is use this as a fairly cheap hobby which gives you access to the freshest produce you can get.

What you do get from growing your own is a strong sense of seasons. Eat seasonally. In general this will be cheaper and reduce food miles.

@spaceman1

Never use a credit card.

I disagree with this one. Paying for things on a credit card gives you much more protection You have to be disciplined though and either makes sure it's paid off in full by the time the interest free period is over We use a Tesco credit card for everything. All food, fuel any other expenses. Christmas birthdays etc. The only thing that goes out of our current account is our mortgage and other dds We have a dd that pays off the credit card in full every month The points we accumulate pay for our annual eurotunnel crossing and usually a day out at a theme park too

Dried green peas, yuk to eat, but so easy to grow, plastic thingy, recycled from when you bought grapes or whatever, small amount of soil, soak peas for 30 mins, cover with small amount of soil and water, onto the window sill, they grow really quickly, and the freshest green pea shoots you have ever eaten, 😋

[quote Nnique]@ravenmum exactly! It’s really not necessary to have specific cleaning products at all.

Actually I’ve got a question on vinegar, does anyone know how much you would use as a softener? For a normal wash in hard water area.[/quote]
I just fill the fabric conditioner compartment, I use an espresso sized coffee cup , I use the same same size cup for washing powder and alternate using an eco egg and soap nuts for cleaner washing .
The soap bits were in offer at Do bird last month.
The eco eggs were on offer at Waitrose.

I will try to sprout my unloved dried green peas, thank you Nanny.

Throw another dog on the bed.

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This idea makes me come over warm and fuzzy - love it ☺️

Ooh, you can make them sprout? I have a bag of the horrible things too :)

They are so easy to grow, I have some on the go all the time, fresh as fresh and they are so expensive to buy, I used to get the children to plant them, interesting for little ones as they grow so quickly😀

@spaceman1

Never use a credit card.

Strongly disagree with this one. Better to have a credit card to build a good credit score than rack up debt with pay day loan sharks or buy now pay later plans which can incur massive interest and end up costing you more.

If you use your bank credit card prudently, you can make it work for you. So, accruing cashback on weekly grocery shop and other essential monthly purchases; building up a good credit score if you pay that off monthly or make large one off purchases and pay off quickly with more than monthly minimum payment.

@spaceman1 what are you actually mean is never use a credit card to borrow money that you can’t afford to pay back that’s different.

Any purchase that you are ever going to make that is over £100 should be put onto a credit card for the insurance alone. I will typically put something on a card that I already have the money in the bank to pay for in full and just enjoy 30 days more interest on my savings and the free insurance if anything goes wrong. Just as an example I ordered my wedding dress from America it arrived looking like a dishrag and Visa retrieved every single penny from the retailer and covered the shipping of me sending it back to the US.

This is a very good tip!
We put everything on a credit card and have a debit set up to repay it. That way you get a nice high credit score.
Also a credit card that offers cashback is great, if you get even a small percentage back on all your spends for the year, you're making something back. (Admittedly the cashback options aren’t quite so good as they were a year ago but it’s still worth looking at!)

Having said that, you have to treat the credit card as a debit card, only ever spend what you can afford to pay back, don’t try to use it as free money, that way madness lies!