Can we have a 'best money saving tip' thread please?

[PlateSpinningAtAllTimes]

Myself and DH have decided that we really need to have a frugal couple of years to start properly saving some money. I think the MSE website is good but can be a little overwhelming- so much info! What are your best tips for curbing spending?

My tip: meal plan, cook in bulk, freeze individual portions. Lasagne and pasta bake seem to freeze well and are cheap to make.

I love these threads!
1.Ebay only on free listing weekends so never sell for only 99p
2.freeze everything and anything, if unsure if something will freeze, google it or try it,
3.once a month have a freezer / cupboard audit and buy only to complement what you already have

1. Lidl/ Aldi and local shops eg, coconut cream, 99p in tesco for one block, two for 99p in local turkish shop!
2. Rice / pasta in bulk
3. Bulk out meat with beans lentils etc,
4. bar soap, not liquid

May have more but too tired now!

Liddle and Aldi not always good. You have to know the prices. Let's say right now the best price for strawberies is in CO-OP - £2/2x400gr, net is Iceland - £2x600gr.

Check your local farmers markets (again knowing the best prices in supermarkets), often they have really good deals for seasonal fruit/veg.

Spend a few extra minutes carefully combing your hair properly rather than buying conditioner, matching or otherwise. I've lived without it for years now and am grudgingly admiring of this con. It doesn't "nourish" the hair from the outside in because hair is, erm, dead. It just improves the silkiness of the cuticle and by doing so, means you need to wash it more often because it gets greasier. Win win for shampoo manufacturers. It is bloody clever.

The same applies to any skin product which claims it can permeate and nourish from within. Total bollocks. The skin is an excretory organ. If you want to do it good, don't smoke, don't deplete vitamin stores by drinking alcohol, wear sunscreen and drink lots of water. Save your skin-product money for actual cosmetic surgery / fillers

If you're having a short term skint period and want to reduce your spending for a couple of weeks to catch up, just eat everything in your house. Over the last year or so we've bunged so much stuff in the freezer, that we had an incredibly low cost month by eating it all (plus cupboard stuff). Has the added benefit of giving you an opportunity to defrost and clean your freezer . Now slowly refilling it using batch cooking and special offers.

If you are batch cooking, portion up the 'spare' portions into a tub when you are serving the meal, that way you won't be tempted to have seconds, because it is already spoken for.

Buy clothes at charity shops, and be sure to look on pound rails! The better-off an area, the better quality clothes you'll get. This week I got 2 x tops for me, 1 pair Brand New Next shoes for me, 1 x smart trousers & waistcoat (for weddings etc) for DS1 (to then be passed on to DS2 , a dress for me & M&S school shorts for DS1 (a size too big but look fine & he'll get more wear from them) for a grand total of £24! Lots of my friends spend this on just one item!

Sign up to the Money Saving Expert weekly emails and to freebie sites. This week alone I have had vouchers for pork pies, coffee & Little Dish meals (I am saving the last one until I find the products yellow-stickered) and am awaiting samples of tea. Even better if you can print the vouchers at work (disclaimer: boss is my Dad & he doesn't mind )

Hi all,

we have moved this thread out of chat and into credit crunch so that it doesn't disappear.

Fantastic suggestions.

Check you are getting the service you're entitled to from all your suppliers and complain if not - you might get a discount! Our broadband drops to

Some great tips here, thanks everyone.
A few more

• buy own brand medication and vitamins, branded paracetamol and ibuprofen is often 2-3x the price
• primark - just bought a swimming cossie for my DD for £2.50. Now I just have to stop myself buying a second one just cos it was so cheap.

-gumtree your children's toys/equipment. This is particularly pleasing if you manage to buy an item on gumtree and then sell it 6-12 months later for the same amount (or sometimes more!!)

Great thread !
I am well known for keeping back portions of dinner to reheat for lunch.
and takeaway
Luckily we have a well equipped staff room . I also make batches of homemade soup and keep the freezer stashed with them in individual tubs ready to take one out for work.
If you don't have a microwave at work buy a really good flask or an insulated bento box and carry it in an insulated lunch bag so soup stays nice and hot.
You can eat lunch for pennies and flavour with herbs etc rather than salt. I find bought carton soups very salty.

Asda cafes have a "free baby food with any purchase" offer but some don't make it obvious.

My (xmas) wrapping tip is to wrap with cheap brown paper and then put a strip of gift wrap around it and then tie with several.wraps of string, raffia, wool.or some ribbon - all of these could be recycled stuff.

On a different theme. If you use the Co op then you can join for £1. This then brings you lots of money off vouchers - we get a 10% off food one every month plus others for money off electrcal stuff or furniture.

I buy Christmas bags in the sales - often 10p and stash them for presents next year. Also within our family we keep pressie bags and reuse them.
DS has a bag that has been going for 7 years now - He would be gutted if he didn't get his birthday present in it !

Saves faffing around with sellotape as well.
I have a Christmas box full a bits that I buy over the year, like stocking fillers ,half price toiletries sets, socks, silly things they will like and then I just buy sweets and put some money (and a Satsuma) in at Christmas.

Also have an ASDA Christmas savings card . One has £144 on it and then in November they add £6 so better than savings .Second one Ive just started so will have £300 for all Christmas food and drinks and any I don't spend I use on buying food shopping in January.

Shitsinger-oh yes, the satsuma cannot be forgotten can it? It's an integral part of the xmas stocking! Along with gold foil wrapped chocolate coins

I 've just downloaded the resourceful cook website, as somebody mentioned below, and will be sorting meal plans after we've ran the freezer down. Fab site, thanks

Great ideas, must keep bumping this thread

crushed totally agree about the chocolate coins and the satsuma

Home popped popcorn is a really, really cheap snack for DC's.

minimalist-It brings back fond memories of my childhood xmas's

Oh, and I'm sure there were monkey nuts at the bottom too

Breastfeed rather than buy formula.

crushed the Satsuma is vital, along with a packet of Percy Pigs and of course -chocolate coins . My DC are older Teenagers !

flowers bfing also saves on sanpro costs

That bfing tip only works if you don't eat like a whale every day like I did :)

Bars of soap instead of shower gel
Costco run for bulk buy of shampoo, conditioner, laundry stuff
Charity shops...just picked up some ted baker trousers for 4.50 and they are immaculate, also picked up a cashmere mix black winter coat for 13 quid!
eBay, eBay, eBay.
Online grocery shopping, meal planning, slow cook pot
Now this is controversial but get a credit report (some bank accounts offe them) or sign up to an experian free trial and look at your old loans and credit cards and you can request the companies check your file for ppi by using a financial ombudsman form....£720 for us for 3 hours work.....

I posted recently about all the Tesco value products we'd tried and liked - this weekend I achieved the unachievable and got DH to agree to try value ketchup (this was one of the items in the trilogy of "absolute no-no's I don't care how skint we are's", along with cheap coffee & loo roll).

You know what? In a blind taste test next to Heinz I'm sure it would come 2nd (bit runnier), but on burgers and smothered over kid's dinners it's a winner. And at 18p for a large bottle it's worth the trade off.

It's often said on here, but being a brand snob is expensive and in most cases not warranted. Even if it's something you wouldn't usually compromise on, sometimes the low cost of the value version is worth a risk.

Ease it in gradually if the thought of value horrifies you - one or two items per big shop?

We buy the Waitrose own brand chocolate covered digestive biscuit bars, £1.22 for 10 for lunch boxes, they taste just the same as Rocky Bars. Also tried the Waitrose own brand Cream Crackers for 40p a pack, not quite as crisp as Jacobs but great value though. Waitrose own versions of Shreddies taste identical to the original too. Their version of Cheerios are not good, they taste like cardboard!

Money saving Expert says that you should go down a brand on everything and only go back up if you can really taste the difference.

Asda Smart price custard creams and Jaffa Cakes are so good we always buy them now. Smart price mustard tastes the same as posh, and Lidl breakfast cereals are excellent, especially their Muesli.

Minimalist Mommi, my first frugal tip would be avoid Waitrose altogether and get 9 Rocky bars from Lidl if you're near one.