To ask you for your advice on 'best cheap items'

[CarrieBradshaw85]

Please go easy on me, I have Aspergers and sometimes what I mean comes out muddled and wrong.

I'm currently saving and looking at cutting costs on things like toiletries and wondered if I could get your opinions on the best cheap items out there. What I mean is like normal shop brands for womens razors, shampoo and conditioner for long thick hair. That kind of stuff.

Also do you have any advice on what to get before moving out or what to do? I'm 31 and have no savings yet. I am going back to work after a long bout of depression and then having a clot in my leg. I estimate to bring home perhaps a grand a month if not a little under. I have bills of at least £160 and a train fare monthly of around £220. The bills including my rent to my mum will be going up once I return to full time hours to £260. Money left over will go on food only buying when we need. Is this a good place to start for saving?

My boyfriend is also saving though he doesn't have to pay rent, only his phone and travel to work which is about £100 a month. He earns atleast £1000 a month full time.

I'm sorry if posting in here was wrong but you guys are so knowledgable. And no I'm not a journalist ( hides ) :)

toiletries look in poundland they have some big named brands of shampoo, shower gel, conditioner and toothpaste nowadays and of course price is one pound each, i buy all my stuff in there now,
To move into a rented place you will need , one months rent, one months rent at least as a deposit and probably some agents fees, depends where you live as to how much that will be, looking at starting in maybe a furnished flat will save you money buying stuff for your move, bills every month basic will be gas, electric, water rates, tv license and broadband if you dont have a smart phone, food aldi and lidl your food money will go alot further than asda or tescos

Aldi stuff is great.
Shampoo & conditioner
Moisturiser
Hand soap
Toothpaste
Deodorant

Actually they sell all the basics and their own brand stuff is actually quite good

Thank you. We will be saving and see where we are this time next year and perhaps look to find somewhere to rent. Hopefully we will have extra for continued savings and extras for anything that unexpectadley crops up.

We don't have an Aldi or Lidl where either of us live. Can I do it online?

try tk maxx, they have some really good products that maybe unknown in the UK but great especially if you buy the larger sizes.

Depends what you call cheap, but Tresemme is definitely the best value. It's always on offer somewhere too. We never pay a fiver for the big bottles.

Yeah, poundland are great for sanitary towels, toothbrushes etc, but I don't rate them as much for toiletries because they're often £1 sized bottles. The poundland size mitchum roll on is a fraction of the size of the regular supermarket one that's often on offer for £2, anyhow!

DH tends to buy whatever shampoo and conditioner brand-alike they have in Aldi or Lidl at the moment. Some are more successful than others on my thick hair - always worth experimenting.

Don't bother with women's razors. Men's are cheaper and better! I think the manufacturers assume that women can't be trusted with razors that are actually sharp.

If you have a big Tesco, they often have a Lidl style aisle.

Shop basics, where feasible - go for wonky fruit or veg, in season. If you like your greens, a savoy cabbage goes further than baby spinach, for example. A Cos lettuce will last longer than a bag of salad leaves. You say you'll buy food as you need it, but you might save money by a little menu planning - eg buy a 500g pack of mince and make meals for several days out of it - you can freeze portions if spag bol 3 or 4 days running doesn't appeal.

Morrisons are currently doing a £10 meat box and a £1 wonky veg box
Soap instead of shower gel
Basics toothpaste (check fluoride content is over 1450ppm)
Men's razors are cheaper than women's, and so is men's shave gel or use cheap conditioner to shave legs

Thank you all. With your advice in mind how much could we be looking at have saved this time next year?

Sorry I should have mentioned we are both vegetarian

I find home bargains better for toiletries. I'm super skint myself atm so use the mens disposible razors and replaced my finished handwash with soaps today.

Freeze everything. Leftover meat from dinners, fresh herbs, raw veg and fruit that you might not use up in time. Even food like frozen raw celery can be used in soups, fruit for smoothies or in porridge. Check online if you aren't sure how certain things should be frozen. If you aren't buying fresh, frozen veg is just as healthy and can be more economical. Things like lentils are really useful and cheap to have in your cupboard.

I use a razor sharpener (it is about £8 from Amazon) that sticks to tile and means I've been able to use the same disposable razor since March.

Ok veggie, you can buy dried beans and that but I find it a bit of a faff and you can pick up tins cheap enough in Tesco, Lidl and Home Bargains. Latter two more than Tesco. Dodge the expensive quinoa, I picked up some cheap cous cous and bulgar wheat in lidl the other week even though I didn't need it to store for when I run out. Iceland do the Linda McCartney frozen substitutes far cheaper than Tesco and Asda tofu again cheaper than tesco. Have a look for Asian supermarkets near you as you can pick up dried beans, grains and nuts in more bulk and a cheaper price. Check out Jack Monroe's 'cooking on a bootstrap' website for some recipe ideas.

Wilkinson is great for toiletries.
Home Bargains is also good for toiletries and Poundstetcher is great value for household items like loo rolls, washing up liquid and the like. You can get an idea of prices via their websites. Poundstetcher may still do 2 x bumper packs of bog roll for £5 (something like 18 rolls in each pack) and large bottles of Fairy is £2 as well. Not bad when you need to be frugal.

Ditch the liquid shower gels and hand wash and go for soap bars. Lather soap onto scrubby wash mitts and it bubbles up just as well as shower gel when in the bath /shower. Soap bars last waaaay longer than a bottle of gel, usually for the price of a single bottle of gel you can buy a 4 x pack of basic, nice soap, it's good for your skin and soap takes up a fraction of the space in cupboards or shelves. There's been a couple of threads on the advantages of soap and I'm a fan personally. But it's extremely economical at the very least.

I second cheap men's razors.

Also if you use tampons I find the own brand cheap ones no different to tampax (applicator).

And yes freeze anything - even milk and bread.

Anything like Poundland and home bargains is worth a look - they have branded products that are either from overseas, discontinued or had a re brand of packaging. I've had some nice stuff from those sorts of places. Food too sometimes. They're good for cupboard staples/dried/packaged food.

Read someone suggest home bargains, I also second there or b&m bargains, super cheap and has everything!
Toiletries, toilet roll/kitchen roll, canned food (soup/veg etc) tea/coffee/juice. And farmfoods for frozen goods if you eat quorn, can pick up 500g frozen mince/chicken style pieces for £2ish...... I can get a fortnight shopping in there for 2 adults & a child for £50ish so defiantly budget friendly to fill your freezers! Amazing how little savings can add up.

Good luck in the saving

money saving expert.com has a great budget planner

Use bicarb as toothpaste.

Use ebay or freecycle
Make your own toiletries and as much else as you can.
Cook from scratch
Asda do a wonky veg box for £3.50 (Thursdays in our area).
Learn the times when reduced items appear in local supermarkets
Grow your own veg or find an allotment owner who will sell you surplus.
Buy from Charity shops and second hand sites.
Use the library.
Take a flask and home-made snacks and lunch with you.

Oh I could go on... Can you tell times have been tough and I learnt very quickly how to live on almost nothing?

Read "Mr Money Mustach"

Best of luck to you

Buy men's comestics rather than ones aimed at females as they tend to be more expensive.

Primark PS Pro mineralised foundation. It’s very good, much more like a high budget foundation, no visible ‘line’, good coverage, reasonable staying power, and £5, less than half of much worse stuff from eg L’Oréal.

If you have space to store then buying in bulk can be cheaper (a 12 pack of toilet rolls, rather than three sets of 4). If you don’t have space and are on your own then try sharing with a friend.

Be careful of offers such as buy one get one half price or three for two. These are only good value if you they are household so won’t go off or you actually will use the extra before they go out of date. Also check that it really is cheaper - sometimes buying two singles from the shelf is cheaper then the supermarket multipack.

If you have a local market then that can be a good place for veg and you only buy as much as you need.

The Money Advice Service has a budgeting tool so you can look at how you spend your money now and savings. It also has on ways to save on phones/broadband

www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/categories/how-to-save-money

I never bother with Poundland, they sell a lot of items that should actually be around the 59-79p mark! They just hope you don’t notice and chuck it all in the basket.
Homebargains is your friend if you have one near you. It’s like Poundland, but cheaper.

Superdrug Simply Pure range is good if you have sensitive skin (I was previously a Clinique only girl) - there are always buy one get one free across the range.

I agree with cheap tampons, I use the non applicator ones from any supermarket.