To ask for your tips on frugal living?

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First time poster. Reading some posts earlier prompted me to start a thread for us to share our tips on frugality and budgeting. Most of us are feeling the pinch and I thought it would be helpful to hear all the different ways we can save some money that perhaps we hadn’t thought of.

Would love this to be a friendly, judgment free thread. Hit me with your top tips, no matter how big or small - I want to hear them all!

meerasodha.com/recipes/daily-dal/

An absolute winner.

CarmSoprano, we have a shower egg timer - I take pathetic pride in showering before it's run half way through (sad arse) - our water authority provides a goody bag of water saving stuff if you send off for it - gadget for reducing shower flow, shower timer, expansion bag for loo cistern, water gel for plant pot, water stick for plant pot - worth applying for, especially the shower flow gadget and loo bag. We're on metered water and it concentrates the mind amazingly.

Thank you @darlingdodo I’ll have a look!

That’s the type of thing that’ll make me proud too 😆

Agree about the bigger things.

Delay replacing anything for as long as you can- cars, phone, clothes, or downgrade if it's worth it.

Cut off subscriptions more readily - even Netflix for a few weeks, or prime only when you need it.

In fact, Amazon is a rip off - look up the same thing in ebay

Agree with just buy less.. life is so much easier with less stuff

Buy multifunctional things. - a laptop can replace a pc and tablet, multipurpose cleaner,etc

Waste no food. Eek it out for lunch.

Don't pay to exercise.

Plan your purchasing ahead where you can, you will generally always save money and avoid last minute gifts, lunches, petrol

Unsubscribe to emails and stop clicking in impulse purchase ads on social media - the algorithms will just put more distraction and temptation in your face. Clear your cookies too.

Change timings - invite a friend for coffee at 2pm instead of meeting in a cafe for lunch. Make it home in time for lunch or dinner to avoid grabbing things on the go.

All the loyalty cards and cash back apps

Solidarity via frugality

I live on my own, so for things like heating I can cope with a blanket or jump into bed early!

• I only shop once a fortnight if that. Try and get whatever’s on offer or reduced


• I use my air fryer 90% of the time, quicker and cheaper than the oven


• Water temp, check it’s poss lowered as mine came it hotter than the kettle!


• batch cook or I bulk meals with past, rice or veg


• most appliances are off. Too many standby appliances for the sake of it


• I literally shower on about 2.5 minutes..shampoo, leave on, face. Body, rinse shampoo & out!


• i drive in eco mode (if your car has) or I try and walk when I can


• I wear a onesie with dressing gown over the top


• candles

sure there’s more..I’ll be back!

Great tips. I’ve found the Too Good To Go app a bit hit and miss in the past but I’ve never tried the Greggs magic bag - fab idea having a picnic with it!

Thanks for all your tips so far and for links/discounts some of you have posted. Keep them coming!

The one big change I’ve made was getting rid of my car a few months ago. Judging by the price of fuel not to mention insurance, tax, maintenance etc I’m so glad I did. It took a little while to get used to but haven’t looked back. Monthly savings have been massive. Obviously not an option for everyone though.

Will be implementing lots of your tips, have taken notes and feel a little bit more positive now! Thank you!

Place marking.

Only use cash. Take out what you need for the week, then leave your card at home and delete it from your phone. It is amazing what you don't need when you haven't got your bank card with you.

This is one thing I want to start doing. But I end up convincing myself that if I go out without my card, there will be some kind of emergency or situation that requires it! Of course this has literally never happened so not sure why I can’t seem to pluck up the courage. Silly I know

I'm completely the same!

Slowquickstep, I really like using cash, much easier to budget week by week - once it's gone, it's gone, but so many places are card only these days. I've started voting with my feet if businesses won't accept cash. I know there's a cost involved, but there's also a cost involved with card payments so the excuse doesn't wash.

Take cuttings from your garden plants and grow them up as gifts for birthdays, end of term, etc. Geraniums are good.

Really random but it might help someone!
If you're really cold, put some mustard powder and warm/hot water in a bowl and stick your feet in it while you drink a hot drink
I dunno how it works but it's a remedy from my Nan and I end up sweating within minutes

They do sell actual mustard bath stuff on Amazon but I've not been brave enough to try it yet!

A little bit cheeky but make sure you charge your mobile phones at work each day, not at home…. Also if you have battery banks they can be charged at work and used at home to charge the kids phones/tablets.

Organise walk to school Rita’s with other parents BEFORE the new term starts.
arrange car shares for school runs for further trips.

To reduce energy when cooking:
Set timer and turn off when beeps
Use a steamer for veg over potato saucepan - taste much better too.
Small saucepan, use small ring.
Defrost naturally, not in microwave.
Empty and turn off second freezer (if you have one) in summer.

If you have a food budget and shop once a week stretch it to every 8 days .365 days ÷8 = 46. You gain 6 wks worth of extra housekeeping a year. It pays for xmas in our house

Frozen veg. Much cheaper than fresh and just as healthy. I batch cook a soup of frozen casserole veg, a handful of lentils and a stock cube most weeks. It gives me lunches for a week and is delicious and healthy. To stop it getting monotonous I add different seasonings as the mood takes me - sriracha one day, ras-el-hanout another, chopped spring onions and yoghurt the next.

Frozen spinach is also great - microwave it, squeeze out the excess moisture and make a luxurious spinach gratin by adding a little garlic, butter, grated cheese (and cream if you have it) and grilling it briefly. . It's rich and delicious and will accompany any meat or egg dish beautifully. It's also lovely cold the next day.

I'm a fan of pre grated cheese. It's normally cheaper by the kilo than block cheese and if you buy the strongest cheddar available a little goes a long way. It adds oomph to any otherwise dull pasta/sandwich/omelette/sandwich.

People need to be really careful about cooking pulses in a slow cooker- kidney beans (and I think some others) can contain a toxin which.might give you food poisoning. The toxin can be broken down by correct soaking and high-temperature, vigorous cooking

I bought a soup maker about 4 years ago and it makes such cheap and tasty soup. Veg soup - 1 onion chopped, teaspoon of olive oil, chopped carrot, few chunks of chopped swede, half a chopped parsnip, lump of cauliflower, water and salt and pepper. Serve with crusty bread. Tomato & Lentil soup - boil lentils in saucepan of water for 4 mins, skim of foam, put in a sieve and run under boiling water. Add to soup maker, pour in a tin of plum tomatoes and basil and add water. More crusty bread. Leak & Potato soup - wash and chop 2 leaks put in soup maker with 1 teaspoon of olive oil, add 2 chopped potatoes and water. Serve with a few toasted croutons. Each soup feeds 4 generous portions. There might be some left. Makes a cheap and tasty lunch and can freeze.

Massive fridge sweep pasta bake.

Loads of bits of veg, bit of chicken, bacon, mince whatever to make the sauce. Boil big packet pasta. Mix together. Top with cheese sauce. Oven for 20 mins, then broil to get crusty top. Serve alone or with garlic bread. I swear this can feed about twelve people.

I usually put some jacket spuds in at the same time, for use at a later time.

Possibly not what you’re looking for but big, and important.

Research job market thoroughly- really throughly like it’s your job- maybe take AL to do this, are you getting paid as much for your skills as you could be? Are there opportunities for progression where you are? What is the job you want in 4 years- how do you get there? Getting this right is worth tens of thousands.

If you have money, invest it and don’t mess with it too much. Saving is good, but all your savings should be working for you. Think it through, get professional advice.

Are you living in the right part of the world for you? Is there somewhere that offers better quality of life for less expense? Consider not just property price, but price of things like commuting, childcare, entertainment, what’s the social safety net like?

shop around for the big stuff and take your time.

I've been banging on about this across loads of threads lately, but it will be our biggest "saving" this year, so I shall shamelessly repeat it in the hope it might help someone...

If you have a mortgage check when you're initial fixed period is up. You can lock in a new deal 3-6 months before your current fix ends. With interest rates going up the way they are, fixing now will be much cheaper than fixing in February. If your current provider will only let you lock in a new deal 3 months before the end of your current fix have a look at other providers.

We have a large family and were down to one income for a few years, so things were tight and we cut right back.

Food wise, we tried all the cheaper own brand/value foods first. We preferred lots of the swaps to the big brands. Swapped supermarkets to lidl which really helped too so long as you avoid the middle isle of doom. We rely more on pulses and eggs for protein than meat. Lots of people eat far too much meat.

Really hate food waste. Challenge yourself to get as close to zero as possible. Leftover mash and veg can be reshaped into potato cakes (can add a little milk if they are a bit dry to shape) and topped with a fried egg and served with baked beans for protein. There is another meal. Leftover pasta into pasta salad, leftover rice into egg fried rice (my teen loved loves this). Try to base meals on what's going out of date next. If you open the fridge all you see is red peppers google red pepper recipes and see if you can throw something together before taking something out of the freezer to defrost. Flat breads and naan are very easy to make and cost pennies, but can help to bulk out meals.
It's a bit of work, but really cut our food bill down this way, and you get to try lots of different recipes instead of the same fixed things.

Looking at Christmas, can you agree with other adults not to swap gifts and just to focus on the children? Or do secret santa with a budget in mind?

I agree with whoever mentioned turning the oven off a few minutes early. You can also leave the oven open once you're finished cooking (but watch out for small children) to let the heat into the room.

Make sure your house is well insulated. Check your loft. We got some great draft proofing tape that has sealed up a few windows for us. We packed up a now unused hole at the back of the tumble drier that was once intended for an older model of drier with an extraction tube, but is basically just a big hole in the wall letting all the hot air out and cold air in.

Be aware of what your highest electricity usage items are. Normally things that are cooling or heating. So washing machines, freezers, dishwashers, tumble driers, electric showers etc. Work out how to use them less.