Money saving tips for the new year

[MushyPeace]

New year, new start and all that... Anyone have any fab money saving tips?

Just due to everyday costs I have somehow managed to run up £5k debt and am so embarrassed. I don't budget well. DP and I have been taking about having a baby soon (not getting any younger) and I just can't go into it knowing I have this debt. AF was three days late until today and while i would be so happy to be preg I am also relieved I am not.

So what's your top tip?

I am so far trying the budget supermarkets and it will be packed lunches from now on. I will also eBay anything and everything!

We take a thermos flask everywhere, saves us a fortune as would otherwise go into too many coffee shops - plus a cheap pack of biscuits/fruit and bottles of tap water or budget fruit juice (cartons or decanted into bottles) for the dds.

love these frugal threads!
marking my place, and also adding that I try to change my mindset. I consider my money really precious, and as a resource that i want to spend on niace things, rather than giving to mulitnational companies. thereore i do all the savvy shopping aournd for utilities and internet providers, and when I DO have any extra money, I think of myself as being 'choosy' in to who I give my precious cash to!
not sure if i have explained my strategy very well, but basically i don't want to give my hard-earned cash to just 'anyone'

RosemaryandThyme Is there a link to Planet Earth shops? I've tried Googling but can't find anything!

For shepherds pie, lasagne, cottage pie etc I use pyrex dishes (made by ziploc but concept is the same) with plastic lids on them. I found them reduced at the supermarket and they had a coupon inside for another $1 off. They cost $3 each and I have 6 in total.

If I make a lasagne I will cook one to eat and I try to do another two for the freezer. I bake them all at the same time and the two for the freezer are cooled with the plastic lids on them so they retain their moisture (wait 10mins before you put the lid on or they will melt). When it's time to eat them I leave them in the fridge to defrost during the day and zap it in the microwave for about 4 mins with the lid on for lasagne but lid half off for anything with a potato top layer.

I make a huge pot of pasta sauce when I start to run low in the freezer. Freeze in ziplocks and make a plain version so it can be used for a basic bolognase, chilli or soup. If we have roasted veg one night the following night is soup because reheated roasted veg is horrible!

We are in the US and buy our ziplocks at Costco. I pay $9 for 4 boxes and don't reuse them as they are pretty much only used to freeze with while the sandwich ones are used for DD's snacks so get pretty grubby. I use ikea tupperware type stuff for my chopped fruit I take to work. They were $2 each and are looking like new two years in. We have a couple of bigger ones for leftovers that are being kept in the fridge. I use foil for sandwiches and that gets reused all week and thrown out on Friday.

I will also say that it is interesting to see the difference between my parents and my PIL. My PIL waste so much too as does my mother but my Dad is very careful with his money. Going to the supermarket with my Dad is an education. He bangs on that the only thing you should buy are their shares! He goes to the market and starts haggling with them (What time are you open till? Ok, if i come back then what will you be looking to get rid of? How much will it cost? Ok, can we do a deal so I buy it now for x so you're not worrying about having to throw it away come closing time?). He doens't pay to park as he knows all the free places in town to park. My mother and PIL go to the supermarket, buy organic, buy expensive meat cuts etc. As an example, my PIL threw out the turkey carcass on Christmas Day. I was furious and it was only my Dad who understood that the carcass would have made enough soup for a weeks worth of dinners/lunch.

I freeze stuff in Tupperware lined with a freezer bag. Once the food has frozen into a solid brick I remove it from the Tupperware. Takes up less space in the freezer and easier to remove from the bag for reheating. Oh and if you must use foil trays then poundland is your friend.

The thing I've found helpful is to use a small convenience store or petrol station when I run out of one or two things. I used to think they were more expensive so avoid them in favour of a supermarket. But I would never go in and just get the milk or onions, I'd always come out with a basket or more. Even though I didn't often buy treats and mostly bought extra fruit and veg, cheese, cereal, etc it was all stuff we could have managed perfectly well without.

Apologies if this is a repeat of a previous post:

1. Get car serviced at a private garage rather than a dealership, hundreds cheaper.
2. Shop around for all insurances and don't accept the first offer, I asked if Tesco could price match and they did - just by asking they took another 50 quid off.
3. Definitely just stop spending - it's an addiction I'm sure and you have to find a way of breaking it!

I agree if you really want to budget Go back to using cash and when its gone its gone using a card is far too easy to overspend as its not real money.

Holly you have reminded me of another. When your mot is due, take your vehicle to the local authorities garage, that services council vehicles. They do not do repairs for private vehicles, so will have no reason to find non-existent faults just so they can charge you for their repair, iyswim. Got this tip from money saving expert newsletter (well worth signing up to, for free)

Second hand shops for lots of clothes and esp coats and jackets.
Meal plan.
Bulk up meat dishes with lentils.
Keep track of fridge leftovers and make using them up part of your meal plan.
Always use a shopping list when you grocery shop.
Make a master list that includes every single thing you have ever bought for your home from a grocery shop and refer to it when you compile your grocery list so you will avoid nipping in for 'one or two things' another time in the week.
Try to keep trips to the shop to one a week.
Buy frozen veg instead of fresh.
Consider frozen fruit too, maybe make an exception of bananas, apples, oranges.
If you don't have one already, invest in a freezer and get a good system going for keeping track of what's in it.
Make your own lunch.
Stop buying fancy coffee when out.
No need to buy special foil trays for freezing items like the makings of shepherd's pie. Freeze in any container and then reheat in the microwave, then transfer to the pan you want to serve it from.
Consider stopping buying things like crackers and biscuits that can really add up and are not good for you anyway. Only serve homemade baked goodies.

On washing machine/dishwasher always use eco wash if you have one mine is much shorter on washing machine too.
Do all your food shopping at budget supermarkets it's much less stressful too.
Bulk buy nappies/wipes etc when there are offers on at Boots join the parenting club and build up points to use on essentials such as nappies etc when money is short.
Get a big box and dump anything in at all that may sell on Ebay add things as you go and keep relisting take advantage of free listing days etc.
Sign up for the MSE email it has loads of tips.
Buy cheap/economy and bogof who cares what brand baked beans are when you can no longer see the tin?
Join loads of survey sites and answer them everyday. You can do it whilst watching the soaps. I always use the ones that pay cash not vouchers and have made a fair few pounds from them but they take ages to pay out so you have to be patient it's worth it when they pay! This month I reached the threshold on a few so had over £100 into paypal plus a few ebay things just for sitting on my bum and tapping the keyboard!

I love that I seem to be really frugal to myself yet am still always skint

Muchostinky it's called Accounts Tracker (or might be Account without the 's'). The developer is Graham Haley if they helps you find it. There's a free version and a paid for one. I started with the free version then upgraded when I realised how useful it was going to be - you can transfer your info from the fee version to the paid one very easily.

Get a spreadsheet going of all your incomings and outgoings, with dates they leave your account. Use it to set a budget, you might spot random DDs coming out of your account and remember to tot up all those little extra purchases on your card. We've got a budget and although we don't have to religiously stick to it, it has been brilliant at cutting back our outgoings.

lurks for ideas

Interest free credit cards which you change annually - so you never go slightly overdrawn in the bank as I used to and pay £5 a time. My banking has been completly free for about 5 years.

Very useful tips

Go shopping at around 7pm when stores are doing their reductions - I went to Asda a few weeks ago and they were selling packs of prawns that were £3.99 for 60p - so I bought lots, portioned them up and put them in the freezer

I eat a lot more pulses now - if I'm making a dish such as shepherd pie then I just do half mince and half lentils - it makes it cheaper, healthier and just as tasty

I've stopp buying preprepared fruit salads and now make my own-I realized that I can buy a whole melon for less than what I used to pay for a pretty small one in Tesco

Ask yourself one question every time you want to buy something: "Do I really want this top/eyeshadow/latte more than I want to pay off my debt/add to my savings?"

Children's clothes: Buy popular brands (Boden, Joules) in the sale or second-hand on Ebay. When the kids grow out of them, sell them on Ebay for almost as much as you paid. Things like denim skirts/dresses/dungarees also work really well like this as they don't tend to wear out. I have bought things for DD on Ebay which she has worn for a year and which I have then sold for more than I originaly paid. :)

Sell everything you no longer want on Ebay and use the free listing days to avoid the listing charges. Things that can't be sold on Ebay sell at a car boot sale if you can. Kids clothes with small stains on I wouldn't sell on Ebay but people are quite happy to pay 10/20p for a t-shirt at a car boot sale.

Get a blanket and turn the heating down/off.

Join as many survey sites as possible and do them every day.

Get an allotment if you can plus a freezer to put produce in.

Have 2 days a week where you don't take your purse to work. Don't spend a penny on these 2 days.
Grow as much of your own food as you can.
Pay off the credit card as soon as your wage comes then you have to budget with what is left. Paying interest is throwing money down the drain.

My big one at the moment is Amazon Subscribe and Save.....

We use Johnsons Sensitive wipes on DD.

Supermarkets:

£2.44 per pack or £10 for 12 packs.

Amazon - £7.78 for 12 packs, free delivery.

Amazon Subscribe and Save - £7 for 12 packs, free delivery.

And I shop around for nappies too, I have never paid full price.

Good thread!

Someone on here suggested getting a tesco credit card. You get points everytime you use it so use it to pay for absolutely everything (even if you don't shop at tesco), pay it off every month and see the points accumulate.
It's great for getting vouchers for theme parks and places to take the kids in the holidays.
One person on here even managed a holiday to Turkey for her family all on the points!

Boots card, nectar card, tesco club, etc, and actually cash them in rather than just hoarding them. this works for us as we see regular savings.

offset mortgage (saves us almost 1000 per year)

bringing-your-own-coffee to the park, on a walk, stay and play, etc (thermos flask has saved me a lot as i'm a caffeine addict)

Ebay, ebay, ebay! I've sold so many baby things/toys/clothes etc that I rarely feel guilty about buying clothes, etc (also on ebay)

charity shops, NCT sales

re-gifting things that my children have duplicates of or don't play with or I know will never play with.... (they're young so they don't notice this!)

pound shop for things like birthday cards, wrapping paper, etc - would never pay 'real' prices for these types of things.

Marking my place, hell I need as many tips as I can possibly get this year!