Money saving tips that arnt shit

[everythingis]

I learnt so much from mn when I first became a lone parent and absolutely loved the recent household thread . I know there's a topic for this but I want the traffic.

My most recent education has been that kondoing the house has seriously affected my shopping habits. I can't bear to buy any junk any more!

We have 4 bank accounts between us. One is a joint account we pay into every month which all bills are paid from except mobile phone contracts. This account includes food shopping. There is a set weekly food budget and any non communal or luxury items cannot be bought from it. This has kept spending and planning under control.

What else??

Just stop buying stuff. Honestly saves thousands.

rummage in your bins.

don't buy whatever it is from your regular shop that ended up in your bin this week again next week.. wait and see if anyone misses it (they won't)

Yes true about the jumper. We have a big pile of blankets in the living room -no one need be cold in our house!

The PP tip about having the mindset where you don't expect to spend anything is great. I became unexpectedly very skint for a few months a while back and had no money to spend on anything other than mortgage and bills (had no children or partner at the time). During those weeks, there were countless times in a day when I would think "I'd usually buy a takeaway coffee here"!or "I'd usually get a bottle of water, a newspaper and some chewing gum here" and "I'd usually buy something extra for dinner now" and it really brought home to me how easily I would rinse through at least a £10 a day on utterly superfluous things. I mean, £1.50 on bottled water! Ridiculous. I worked in an office where I could fill a cup from the tap for free.

Anyway, if I hadn't been on a zero spend, I don't think I would quite have seen the ridiculous waste of those random £1 and £2 impulse buys.

Don't go to the shops much. Don't shop on the net. Delete advertisement emails immediately.
Accept that most stuff is unnecessary.

Do not buy any packaged, processed food, such as crisps, biscuits, cake etc. Either make your own from scratch (so you will be really motivated) or cut out completely and substitute fruit, veg sticks etc.
Never eat before drinking a glass of water and waiting 20 minutes. You may actually be thirsty not hungry.
Keep 2 purses, colour coded. 1 for household spending, the other for personal pending. Put cash in both, leave all cards at home.

If you aren't in debt and if you can trust yourself then do all your spending on a credit card. You will get either cash back or points. Make your money work for you.
I do all my spending on my John Lewis card and get about £50 of vouchers a year.
However, I am very very sure that I pay it back every single month in full.

Great thread!