to ask for your best frugal tips?!

[tryhard]

We are a single income family, 2 DC & things are suddenly very tight financially so I'm trying to find practical changes I can make. A big expense is the food shop which is currently Sainsbury's (normally over £100 a week) - DH thinks switching to Aldi save a lot of money but I'm not sure? Our clothes I get from eBay. Kids are only 3 & 6 so no expensive hobbies yet thank goodness. Planning short break in the U.K. for a family holiday. Takeaway maybe once a month, booze gets bought in the weekly shop, maybe £20-30 on that a week. My big weakness is Audible, I have anxiety & listen to stories in bed at night to get me to sleep so I need to just bite the bullet and stop that habit. How else can I make 2017 my most frugal (but not miserable!) year so far?! Any good tips? Or blogs I can read?

Would agree with super drug vit e products. It's amazing

Some good ideas.

Sorry to say this OP,but reduce the booze! I think 20 - 30 quid a week sounds quite a lot to spend perweek on alcohol. Even just cutting it to a tenner a week would help. Sorry if I sound judgemental,not my intention!

Check out my blog if it helps supermoneywoman.com I'm trying to get on track too.

Our Aldi does wholemeal / brown stuff.

Lacura for Lidl is the face cream/wipes and wash that are good. I get their deodorant.

Don't get the aldi/lidl (sorry forgot which one) red tube toothpaste. It's runny. The blue one is fine though. The other shop that has white tubes for 39 or 59p is really good and they do a sensitive version.

I do 98% of our shop at lidls or aldi. The cat food at aldi is 35p tin and gets eaten. Next cheapest (wilko/morrisons) gets spat around the kitchen.

Other than the toothpaste, I cant think of anything that I would avoid. OH buys the 50p a can lager and its fine for evening.

Poundland for toiletries and cleaning products - who cares what brand of bleach they pour down the loo?

Best tip for cutting back on alcohol is to buy a stronger tasting white wine and dilute with fizzy water. Also in the week have tonic water with angostura bitters - quite hard to work out there isn't any gin in it.

Buy reasonable quality clothes in the sales - places like Uniqlo do good quality basics and offer decent reductions in their sale.

If you wear perfume try a nice body spray instead. I use Ted Baker (the pink one), I think it's £6 (off the top of my head) in Boots. Much cheaper than perfume, I actually prefer it because it's nice and light.

Turn your clothes inside out to wash. Makes them last longer and stops them going 'bobbly'.
I also don't buy fabric conditioner. Instead of stain removers such as vanish I use a bar of ordinary basic soap.Rub onto the stain and squidge in, leave for a few minutes then rinse off.
Whenever possible, line dry, especially if its sunny. It makes the clothes extra clean.

Instead of body/hand lotion I use a small amount of olive oil. It seems to work well and no hidden ingredients.

For kids clothes, I used to buy on e-bay but it seems that taking into account postage it is cheaper to buy new clothes in Sainsbury's (even cheaper in the sales).

Asda and Tesco are great for kids clothes as well (and adults).

Book at Bedtime on BBC iPlayer Radio. For any time story listening.

I don't think £30 per week for two is a lot? Its a few beers and a couple of bottles of wine l! Lighten up yall they are in a budget so night out and evenings at the opera are probably limited. 😂 Stop making them out to be lushes

-Cut back the booze (I know you've been told this a million times . . . sorry!)

• Cheaper/own brands bread/milk etc. DC won't be able to tell the difference. Big weekly shops.

-Chickpeas are a brilliant and much cheaper alternative to meat - my DS's love them. A few great recipes available online. -borrow what you can (Magazines etc).

• Our library frequently has sales of used books for very cheap - DC have got some really good ones.

-Second hand shops - have a lot around here, have managed to get converse and van shoes for DS's for around $5 (about 2.50 Quid I think). ALso hoodies. And heaps of stuff for myself - only things I buy new are activewear, socks, underwear.

Also - vinegar is great for cleaning - I use it as a rinse for the dishwasher, and when I buy a multipurpose spray, i decant half into another spray bottle and fill the other half with vinegar.

Read the following two blogs

mrmoneymustache
frugalwoods

Loads of tips-they are so frugal they retired in their 30's

Aldi is great for food but household stuff such as cleaning ect I buy from the likes of homebargains or bnms as they have a lot more choice and are really cheap

You can get branded stuff cheap at home bargains and stores like that. We meal plan and spend £40 every 6 weeks, then it's just milk/bread on top. We also have Costco membership.
Each shop has a time when they put out reduced stuff which you can freeze.
We grow our own veg, if bought we go for the basics as it's cheaper & no difference. I'd say meal planning would save you loads.

We rely on Tesco's basics, their basic disinfectant is like dettol but 1/3 of price.
We're not poor by any means, DH is putting stuff aside for next house. We buy everything with cash mostly and save up. Avoid finance at all costs of you can.
Aldi do great drinks really cheap, their version of most spirits is £5 for 70CL.
Audible you could keep, but Radio 4 have fab pod casts. Jump on the Archers bandwagon.

This is a good frugal eating blog with recipes and there are others mentioned in the comments.

Eat Not Spend

Another Aldi fan here. Family of 4 (often 5 if DD1 is back from uni) and last week I spent £70 which covered meals for all of us including lunch for three of us (DD2 has school lunches) as well as non food bits like loo rolls and bin bags etc. I cook a lot of meatless meals but we have a roast chicken every Sunday. I meal plan a month at a time and that saves a lot of money as I don't buy stuff we don't then eat.

It is all about waste, planning your meals goes a long way and then you only buy what you need. With household goods the basics do the same job as the cheap ones. Tesco's Basics disinfectant is the same as dettol. You don't need treble quilted toilet roll, I think the only time you'd notice is if you had a cold. In which case keep some tissues, again own brand.
Aldi does favourites alcohol wise for £5 or less. If you have the time you could get into coupons. Ooh and sanitary wear, I actually prefer the basics pads, 19p to the always plastic ones.

For money saving blogs, check out

frugalwoods for inspiration
frugal queen for cheap recipes

Easiest way to save on the food shop is to cut down on meat - save a fortune now I'm veggie. Healthy too. Also cut out any processed stuff, e.g. mini cheeses that are individually wrapped are always loads more expensive per kg than a block of cheese that can be chopped up into chunks and then put in little boxes for lunch.

Mucky she's not being told off, she's asked for tips on being frugal.
Alcohol isn't an essential therefore it should be considered an expenditure that can be cut.
Peanutbutter haven't seen that one, thanks for posting.

Honestly, what sort of meals do you guys eat to keep your bills so low? £40 would be my top up shop. We don't even eat any meat and we shop in Aldi mostly. Also are you all including food for lunch/nappies/cleaning products in this spend?

Here are my main dinners that I do:
Turkey stir fry with sauce with rice or noodles
Spag bol
Chick pea and spinach curry (sometimes also with chicken)
Sausages and potatoes (mashed/boiled) and at least 2 veg
Waffles/eggs/beans/bacon/sausages or a combo of these
Chorizo and bean stew (loads of hidden veg) with cous cous and salad
Chicken stew
Beef stew
Chilli con carne

Puddings are fruit/yoghurt

I love lidl more than Aldi but like both and definitely cheaper.