To ask for your most ingenious money saving tips

[Toothiehurtie]

my Best one is…

a visit to the card factory for cheap cards and gift bags and then picking up presents from car boot sales or charity shops. I have got some brilliant kids party presents for 50p so with the card and a cheap gift bag I have brought the cost of a present in for a pound before.

looking for any tips at all, obviously you can buy porridge oats in bulk cheaper than buying expensive kids cereal etc but anything clever or that people might not have thought of before.

don’t know how bad the fuel crisis will be but considering charging battery packs to charge phones at work and taking a thermos of boiled water home 😂

You get the value of your cashback plus a small percentage, so for £10cash back I get £10.40 to spend at Tesco. The dining out card is £11.00.

Living in the US I’ve seen some very bold shoplifting. Recently saw a man with a very full trolley walk right out the door without paying. He cut the cost of his weekly shop right done to nothing! 🤣😂😵‍💫 (Before you pile on, I’m not seriously suggesting anyone do this!)

I also have the Chase account. I put all my 1% cashback into their 1.5% savings account. I've also made about £60 since March (in cashback).

You can also round up spending to the nearest £1 which goes to another Chase saving account with 5% - like putting all your change in a jar but a bit better. I've around £100 in there.

More rainy day money than big savings but I can "hide" these accounts so I get a nice surprise when I check.

The cashback is also more than the £3 odd cashback Ive got back from my "main" packaged account with another bank that I pay £15.50 a month for.

In soul right?

Soil?

@martinsmoneysaver Great water useage there but I'm intrigued about mopping the floor with the dirty water isn't that a bit gross?

We take out bath water to water the plants ands not a huge hassle at all and it's only for summer months.

Yes great and same for rice, pasta, couscous, quinoa etc

Use solid shampoo and conditioner. Costs slightly more than one bottle of each at first (say £8-9 a bar) but honestly lasts ages. Think I bought my conditioner bar about 5 months ago and only about half way through using. Also better for environment, no plastic bottles etc!

But even death is far too costly these days...

I wish I could meal plan.
I rarely know days in advance whether it will be one or 5 people for dinner. I do bulk cook and freeze so I can put together a meal quickly.

I'm guessing you've never really been poor, OP, your post sounds like you're playing at journalism as if you really had been hard up you'd have known of these tips over a decade ago.

We're way past that now, I'm not sure even those of us whose parents survived WWII in the north and Scotland, and who passed on their wisdom and knowledge, are going to survive what's coming very well...

Still, a few star jumps, thick socks and a bowl of cold porridge - what more do the proles need??

Out of curiosity, when and where DID you do your journalism course??

Haven’t read the thread but the whole stealing from work gem came up so had to share.
If your employer says no charging personal devices at work, then don’t.
If your employer is okay with it, it isn’t stealing.

We have showers at work. And free snacks. We can charge our devices. So if I take advantage of that to save money, it isn’t stealing.

If I start filling my bag with the snacks, cartons of milk, stationery, and toilet paper and take it all home to save money - that’s stealing

less laundry product seems to work for me too,especially in these cost conscious times,probably better for the environment too

If you dont drink much milk, why don't you just buy less milk in the first place?

Also if you have skin conditions like psoriasis you can get discount on water rates apparently

For those with electric hobs, buy a little camping gas stove and use that instead. Get an old fasioned stove top kettle and use that for tea and coffee. You can get great deals on gas bottles in Go Outdoors.

Is it stealing water if you go for a wee in the toilets at work and wash your hands? Is it stealing electricity to use the microwave or kettle in the staff kitchen? The facilities are in place for staff to use, its not stealing to use them.

A few years ago, we reverted from shower gel and shampoo to soap and solid shampoo bars. As a family, we don't use a lot of conditioner, so I do have a tub of that on my Amazon subscriptions, but I also bring it home from holidays or hotel stays (stealing, I suppose).

As someone said, bars last a gazillion times longer than liquids (and plastic free - my original motivation). For a while, other people in the house bought their own bottles, but they gave up and don't complain now they've got over it.

Amazon sell magnetic soap holders. They stick to the wall near the sinks and bath and on the shower tiles. They come with a bottle cap that you push into the soap and that hangs on the holder by magnets. No scummy soap dishes. We have them by all sinks downstairs and three in the bathroom.

Everyone with a gym membership has thought of showering and hairdrying there. Gym fees will go up.

Have been using bar soap for several years and yes, the amount of plastic in shower gel bottles whichnever last as long is astonishing! Most who have made the change say they feel cleaner too?! The problem is i have an addiction to gorgeous soaps and are now right for life! Back in the day (remember it well) soaps were placed in underwear drawers etc to make things smell nice!

One of the ladies at the gym says she now has her showers and styles her hair etc at the gym, rather than using her own hot water and electricity for hair dryer etc

this has put me in credit by £119 and reduced my water bill by 50%

I’ve looked at saving on my gym membership and found the municipal swim and gym to be £6 per week if you take out annual membership.

I also bring it home from holidays or hotel stays (stealing, I suppose).

Of course not. Why do people think this? They're included in the room rate, doesn't matter where you use them.

Maybe if they're not complimentary individual mini bottles and you're actually filling your own from a dispenser that's attached to the wall, but is that what breaks hotels? Those places tend to use the cheap stuff anyway.

I feel very inspired. Some stuff seems so simple doesn’t it. I bought some onions yesterday and three in a pack were 99p but seven the same size loose were 63p. Same with the carrots. I bought the cheapest white potatoes and made mash and had sausages from the freezer but wanted to make Yorkshire puddings. Didn’t have eggs or flour or milk so just paid for ready made ones as it was just cheaper that day and felt I could justify it.

If you do Ocado online shops, you can order items by 'price per', so that the onions that are cheapest by kg are at the top. I use Tesco now, and they don't do that, but I do check and same on Aldi labels. Sometimes, the cheapest per kg is in the wrong size pack, but it still allows a fair comparison. I used to have in my head that I would pay no more than 60p per litre for olive oil, £2 per kg for tomatoes and £5 for mature cheddar - sadly having to revise those on a regular basis.

Yep and then people moan when they haven’t got a pay rise or the bonus is less than than they expected because profits are down 🙄

I manage an office building and the electric bills are eye watering gone from £4k to £10k a month so far and business don’t have capped rates