Cut backs and easy money saving hacks

[Riddlemethisplz]

we all know it’s tough finances wise and about to get worse in the winter…

what are all the easy cut backs money saving hacks that you’re making? Maybe the ones that you don’t really feel and wish you’d be doing for years, or the bigger slightly more painful ones?

im all for getting so extra tips as I’ll have 2 kids in nursery come jan

mine are : shower the kids not bath
hot water urn
portable black out blinds (eyesore but trap in heat for winter)
slow cooker and cheap cuts of meats
learn some Asian food (lots of flavourful ways of incorporating pulses which are cheap and nutritious)
shop sales for kids clothes and presents well in advance (Hardly ground breaking)
kids pass
picnics
finding free days out

Gifting/xmas: Agree on either no gifts for adults just children with a maximum budget amount or agree to pool money together to get one gift from all of you

Take your own water, snacks, thermos with coffee or whatever to save on paying for them when out

Save petrol by going to the shops one day of the week and doing all your shopping then. This will require organisation and menu planning.

Have no spend days

Save grey water to water plants or flush toilet.

Ah i forgot menu planning! That’s good one too

Instead of menu planning and shopping for what I want to eat, I am menu planning by what we have in the back of the cupboard and the bottom of the freezer. It had saved me loads of money over the last few weeks and I can still stock up by buying the reduced items in the supermarket.

I've also switched to using bars of soap instead of using shower gel because it lasts longer.

That’s a great shout!

Once your broadband contract is over, renegotiate the new one.

If you are with Virgin, you can get the cheapest rate by giving your one month notice, within a few days, someone will ring you and make you better offers. Stick to your guns you are leaving and have found a better deal. Eventually they will offer you their lowest price.

Virgin’s lowest price at the moment is £15 a month broadband only. At 200mbps. The catch is it will revert to £50 a month in 18 months… then you renegotiate from there again.

Both BT and Virgin do a deal for the lowest income households on benefits at the lower speeds - more than enough to get the important stuff done.

So sorry Ive put this on the wrong post and I don’t know how to delete?!

I just reported it for you. Should hopefully be deleted soon. Sorry I can't help, th3 similar positive and negative examples look very confusing!

-Stop buying brands.
-Buy your cleaning stuff in the £ shop. Eg Tesco rinse aid £1.75, £shop rinse aid £1
-I buy large loaves of bread, cut in half and freeze - it works out cheaper
-my water heater is only on for 10mins/day during July-September, still got plenty.
-turn off everything at the wall.
-secondhand shop for ds' school blazer/sweaters/tie etc
-use leftovers, cut down waste

@chilliesandspices thank you so much!

My shower, dishwasher and washing machine are all cold fill, so we don’t have the water heater on at all - baths are a winter time luxury where the water heats up with the central heating.

I have one batch cooking day a week where I’ll do a roast and use the oven to bake potatoes and snacks for the kids lunchboxes while it’s on anyway. Also cuts down on ultra processed baked goods.

If it’s not raining washing goes out on the line - even on a cold day it’ll dry to some extent.

You always see on these threads that people recommend meal plan, meal plan, meal plan. And I agree, but, for our family I find it works best to only meal plan 6 nights out of 7. We are a busy family with lots going on and there will always be a night when someone gets invited out for dinner, you have lots of leftovers from another night, you're in late and people don't fancy a big meal opting for cheese and crackers instead, you get a take away or eat out etc etc etc. I find that planning 6 nights allows for all that and reduces food waste. If we need the 7th night we always have well stocked store cupboards and freezer, so it's not a problem to make something out of what we have.

I meal plan for 7 days but only the first four days are fresh food because I can't trust fresh veg to last beyond that point. For the final 2 or 3 days it's store cupboard and frozen veg which can be rolled over to another week if needed. Thing like pasta (we have ragu, pesto and tomato sauce in freezer), bean chilli, Dahl, chickpea curry, stir fry (we have sliced onions, soy beans and peas in the freezer). Natural yoghurt keeps in the fridge for a couple of weeks at least so we can make cheese naans and raita when needed.

Just posted this on other thread, but perhaps useful here too:

• If you need (or want) anything (and I mean anything, food, clothes, toys, books, gifts, beauty products), always try to get for free (NextDoor, Facebook marketplace, Gumtree, charity shops, Olio for food) or low cost. Almost all of my clothes (apart from bras) come from charity shop, which often sell things like shampoo, body lotion, soap and nice things you can use as birthday/christmas gifts.


• Food shopping: bulk buy useful ingredients (i.e. oats can be used for breakfast, to make veggie patties for dinner and to bake with, multipurpose, healthy, cheap).


• If you need anything new, always wait till (the end of) the sale. With nice/branded things, I create a wish list at John Lewis and keep an eye on it, so I can snap it up as soon as it is on (decent) sale price.


• Use soap bar and shampoo bar instead of liquid stuff. Better for the environment, lasts ages.


• Use dry shampoo to save on washing hair.


• Take navy style showers; turn on shower, wet hair and body, turn off shower to apply soap/shampoo, rinse. that way you barely need more than 1.30 minute of hot water.


• Get a water saving faucet, water saving shower head and cistern bag (see for example smargreenshop.co.uk).


• When you want something, ask yourself if you really, really need it?


• Get your hair cut (and coloured) at local beauty college - I rarely spend more than £30 on cut, colour and blow dry. They often also do facials, manicure and pedicure for no money at all.


• Grown your own veg/fruit if possible, especially cost effective for herbs and salad leaves, which will grown on window sill/balcony and from seed.


• Make the most of free food you can get by foraging (currently there seem to be blackberries everywhere, which freeze well and can be easily turned into jam)


• Use Shepper or other apps for mystery shoppers to create a bit of side hustle.


• Get a (secondhand) bike (depending on where you live - I live in London and save hundreds of pounds a year by going almost everywhere by e-bike).


• If you already have a bike, get panniers, so it is easier to do (big) shops by bike.


• Charge any appliances at work/in a cafe/library/school.


• Buy a power bank and charge that outside the house too, so you have back up power at home to charge your mobile/tablet/any other device that will connect to USB (lamps for example).


• Buy solar lamps for indoor use (search on google, there are some nice looking ones and especially in spring/summer they should be sufficient for your evening lighting needs. For winter you might need to alternate them to allow for sufficient time to charge). Or use candles/tea lights, providing heat at the same time.


• Move to cheap sim only phone contract, and use your mobile for as long as it will live. If you need a new one, buy a refurbished one.


• Similarly with any tech, buy refurb (often still comes with warranty) for fraction of the cost.


• Heat yourself, not your home. Buy thermal clothing if you don't have it already, in the sale (M&S and Primark both do nice range) or second hand.


• Hot water bottles/electric blanket/sleeping bag to keep warm whilst watching telly or something.


• Be savy about treats: John Lewis rewards almost always includes free soup & bread or free coffee/cake once a quarter. Treat yourself for free that way.


• Libraries/museums etc often have fun, free workshops. If you have time, volunteer somewhere that comes with rewards, (i.e. in a charity shop you might have first dibs on donations, at a local community garden you might get free produce).