Your number 1 money-saving tip

[PupInAPram]

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

@SkiingIsHeaven

Don't have kids. Saves a fortune.

Very true! DD wants the guest bedroom with ensuite as her bedroom, I've told her she's not having it until she can learn to turn off taps and lights, the amount of time she turns lights on for no reason is astounding!

@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 🤔

You sort of can...QVC will let you try cooking stuff and you can return it.

I got my air fryer from there, on offer. It's really good. Def cuts oven time a lot.

The total postage + return would be c£8. I wouldn't have paid in a regular shop, I wanted to try it.

We often have beans on toast with grated cheese for a cheap & nutritious meal

Stick it under the grill for a few minutes for cheese beanoes. Yum!

The other thing is don't throw any food away. Something I learned late in life after an extended visit from my Mum. If you plan and learn how to cook you will never discard anything edible.

Eat more vegetarian food. It’s cheaper than meat, and better for the planet. And grow fruit and veg in your garden.

I got a newish soup maker from ebay, it's really fab and I use it tons, just chuck in any veg you fancy with a stock cube and you've got some lovely soups, I've got a batch I made in the freezer..

Avoid too many top up shops. I’m terrible for that!

[quote Nothappyatwork]@Babyroobs A young guy that we work with has just had to be pulled aside to be told that he actually smells because he’s quite clearly doing that with one of his jumpers, we actually recognise the bloody thing because it practically walks to the kitchen on its own but he does genuinely smell[/quote]
Oh dear he must have really stunk. I give my boys hoodies a sniff test to see if they actually need washing !

@sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea we do have a college that teaches hairdressing nearby. That's a great tip. I'm not overly invested in what I look like but I do need hair that looks 'tidy' and businesslike, (as opposed to 'wonky' or eccentric) so this could work. I'm going to investigate that one. Thank you so much everyone. I'm not replying to every post but I am reading and thinking hard about every post. 👍

My ex-MIL always had her hair done (cut and dyed) at the local college and it always looked neat and presentable.

@BoredZelda

We often have beans on toast with grated cheese for a cheap & nutritious meal

Stick it under the grill for a few minutes for cheese beanoes. Yum!

This is actually a good compromise between expensive ready meals or spending ages prepping, cooking and washing up. I live alone and reckon I'd be happy eating this very often for dinner.

scrambled eggs with beans on toast-cheap, filling, high in protein & really quick to make. Batch cook healthy soups and freeze in suitable sized pots ready for defrosting. Keep sliced bread in the freezer, ready to toast with the soup. Look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves. Buy a whole chicken to roast rather than packets of breasts-then make stock with the carcass to use in risotto/soup. Also if you eat a lot of meat, body building magazines advertise bulk orders of chicken/protein etc as a cheaper way to buy lots.

Things got really tight for me when the pandemic started, it's got a bit better now but now we have the crazy inflation. So these are some of the things I have been doing.

1. Heating has been off for years (even before the pandemic). I'm in another country and it's a local heating system in the village with hot water pumped from a central plant through our radiators. Absolutely useless - I had huge bills and was still frozen to death. So off it went and was replaced with one small electric radiator to heat one room, electric blankets and hot water bottles.

1. No tumble drying

1. Make my own bread (once bread rolls hit €1 per roll and that was a couple of years ago, I decided I wasn't paying that any more).

1. Buy food at Aldi - get whatever is cheap/reduced/on offer and can be stored or frozen. Check whether the fresh vegetables on offer are cheaper than frozen or vice versa. Normally the frozen are cheaper but a couple of weeks ago fresh cauliflower was on offer and very cheap so I bought that, made a lot of it into soup to freeze and froze the rest of the unused cauliflower. I have vague meal plans in my head when I go to Aldi but adjust depending on what they have in stock.

1. Hang around Aldi and/or the other local supermarkets an hour before they close - that's when they reduce stuff. Again, only buy stuff I can freeze or store or use up that day so as not to waste money on food that then has to be binned.

1. No more eating out. Ditto going out - can't afford 6 Euros for a small non-alcoholic drink - so socialize with friends at theirs or at mine instead.

1. Camping holidays in a much cheaper nearby country (am in Central Europe). Wait until there on holiday to buy things such as clothes, electrical goods, anything really. Most of the things are half the price and the same as you'd get here.

Apols if it's already been mentioned. We both need to drive for work and have started driving to maximise fuel use - driving a little more slowly, easing off the accelerator, watching the road ahead to avoid needing to brake and using gears instead, that sort of thing. It can take the mpg up surprisingly fast.

@GeneLovesJezebel

I’ve read on here (so it must be true !) that doing fast washes in the washing machine and dishwasher uses more water and power.

It’s true, I watched a YouTube channel that talks about household appliances and how best to use them (yes really!) and he said to use the eco setting because although it’s a longer cycle it uses less water and is cheaper to run. Same with the dishwasher.

Do you remember that money saving programme with Alvin Hall? He said try a supermarket brand instead of your usual just once, and if you don’t like it go back to your name brand but you might just save money and he was right.

Compare prices per kilo/liter/use rather than item as sizes differ so much!

Sometimes it's cheaper to buy 2 small packets on offer than one large one.

@florentina1

Washing lightly soiled clothes in cold water or warm water, without detergent.

Using the Airfryer and pressure cooker instead of the oven.

Stopped using the tumble drier.

Mine is the airfryer. Costs considerably less than putting oven on.

Re camping holidays, we joined the Camping and Caravanning Club last year and their charges are very reasonable. Good facilities too.

If you are on a water meter and your water takes ages to get hot, collect ithe running water in an empty milk carton to use on plants.

Take the bulbs out of the ceiling lights and use fairy lights to light certain areas of the house.
Fill hot water bottles to keep us warm in an evening or overnight instead of having the heating on.

I know that's 2 but they're both noteworthy.

Plus I do many of what other posters have said, too.

Do you remember that money saving programme with Alvin Hall? He said try a supermarket brand instead of your usual just once, and if you don’t like it go back to your name brand but you might just save money and he was right.

Your Money or Your Life. It was a great show.

I'm still staggered though that anyone thinks branded products like dishwasher tablets are some how magically better that basic one brand. Obviously the cheapest ones work or no one would by them!!

Unsubscribe from all but essential emails. I found that I was receiving so many emails from every company I’d ever shopped with or given my email address to )in exchange for a discount that I rarely used.) Then they constantly emailed with offers, sales etc. I ended up buying things that I wouldn’t have thought of unless I’d seen an email.

If you eat meat learn how to debone chicken and cut meat. I'll often buy large heavily reduced chicken and meat joints and cut them down into portions and freeze. Generally it means I buy more ethically e.g. red tractor, at a reasonable price point.

I buy most of my clothes in charity shops....never shoes or underwear but tops, trousers etc. And if someone compliments me on my outfit l just can't stop myself saying oh it is from a charity shop but l am working on not doing this!! Feel like pepple should know you can get some lovely stuff second hand

Make sure your greenhouse gets a WiFi signal and spend some time sitting in the warmth.