I want next year to be my most frugal yet.

[TheHippywhowearsLippy]

So I've decided that I want to save as much money as possible next year in order to pay of debt & become more self sufficient.

Right now I meal plan, sell things at car boots, we don't drink or smoke, I walk pretty much every where but a car is essential for school runs etc.

I was thinking of starting the year by bulk buying the essentials for the first 6 months possibly the full year depending on what the item is.

Can anyone help? Give tips, what should I buy in bulk if anything at all? Or anything else you can think of.

Much appreciated!

[Trigglesx]

I also do a load of washing in the evening of things I eventually want to tumble dry. I hang them on the airer overnight, then put them in the tumble dryer in the morning to finish them off - no crunchy towels, less drying time. I figure any reduction in use of the dryer is good savings.

[Ememem84]

Am trying to save for a deposit for a house. This is so far how I have saved money:

• walking to work every day.
• taking in packed lunch (worked out that I was spnding at least £5 x 5 days a week = £25 = £1175 a year)
• bulk buying household things which won't go off - toilet roll, cleaning products, washing powder.
• making a shopping list and sticking to it.
• meal planning.
• have invested in a slow cooker recently and have spent the last 4 weekends batch cooking and filling up my freezer.
• pound shop for take away boxes/freezer bags.
• bulk buying brand toiletries and only when special offer - bought 9 deodourants the other day as were on 3 for 2. not going to go off. will use.
• down branding toiletries and bulk buying (ie boots own brand pads/tampons - just as good, half the price).
• Utilising points on boots card (for treating myself or DH to the good stuff - ie new YSL mascara, more aftershave for his birthday etc)
• Only buying new clothes twice a year or so but making sure I only buy stuff which will go with the items I already have. Tend to spend a bit on these trips, but means I won't spend throughout the year.
• not being afraid of ebay - buying or selling.

-am a bit cheeky and charge my phone at work.

• cool wash. fast spin = less time drying.
• only put small items in the dryer (undies, vests, tees etc).
• bedding & towels are left to air dry, and fluffed up in the dryer for 20 minutes.
• put all pennies/loose change into a jar. then every now and then, count it up and put it in the bank.
• use or lose memberships - I pay £40 a momth for the gym. I wasn't using it. So started. I go 4 times a week before work. By doing this, I save on money by showering at the gym. And use the works milk on my cereal as have breakfast once I get in (cheeky I know, but it saves us about a pint a week).

These are just the thngs I can think of at the moment. I'm sure I do loads more.I want to be able to save £12,500 next year as a minimum. I think this will be tough, as I like nice things. The only thing I have refused (for the moment) to give up is my monthly trip to the beaticians. Bio Gel french manicure, and a bikini wax (£45 a month in total). If I absilutely have to, I'll find a cheaper place (ie beauty school), and if really necessary, I'll stop completely.

good luck in saving. Don't wait until next year. Start now!

[Mum2Fergus]

The tip that has saved me the most money is to withdraw my weekly budget (£50pw for DP, DS and I) in cash, and when it's gone, it's gone!

[Witco]

Marking my place!

[SoftKittyWarmKitty]

Please can I join? I'm already pretty frugal, especially compared to my friends who are better off than me, and I often feel like such a tightwad next to them.

Short term I want to finish paying my credit card off. I've been paying it off, swapping from 0% card to 0% card, for nearly eight long years. There wasn't even that much on it to start with - about £7.5k - but I don't earn much so it's taken ages. I've got just under £900 left to go which doesn't sound like much but I can only pay off between £50 and £100 per month. It seems never ending.

Medium term I want to take DS on a cheap week abroad, and we'd like to have a dog.

Long term I want to save a deposit for a house. Bit of a joke that, seeing how long it's taking me to pay off a £7.5k CC , but it's there as a long term aim.

I already shop at Aldi but live near to small branches of Asda and Tesco and the temptation to pop in for milk and come out with £10 worth of shit junk food groceries is great . I really need to get my arse into gear, meal plan and stick to it.

[Fluffycloudland77]

You can freeze milk you know, if you could defrost one the night before you need it you wouldn't need to pop to the shops.

Supermarkets are designed to make us spend after all.

[MinimalistMommi]

If you don't have room to freeze milk like fluffy suggested! I've read that some people keep a box of dried milk in their cupboard so once all the fresh is gone they have got emergency milk! Some people use this all the time as it is so much cheaper than regular milk. I know A Girl Called Jack uses it a lot to make her macaroni cheese sauce from etc

[MinimalistMommi]

Random exclamation marks...

[souperb]

I freeze milk and make bread in bread machine, which has helped cut down the top up shops. But my current downfall is eggs - online shopping orders always bring broken ones, and once I pop in to buy just eggs it all goes wrong. Any wise tips on the egg fiasco? I find it much easier to be frugal if I'm not in a shop...

[gingysmummy]

excellent thread can i join? really need to tighten belts. i already mel plan shop at aldi but spend fr to much on elec bill don't have gas where i live

[ConfusedPixie]

Marking my place! DP is going to be living away next year so along with changing my job situation, I desperately need to start being frugal! We're still going to have a joint income but we'll be running two lodgings and lives on it which will double our expenditure even though he's getting £10,000 more that year :(

[TheHippywhowearsLippy]

This threads picking up speed..... Go us! (More random explanation marks, I like those)

Been up since 5 with the kids, so much for a lie in now that schools out. On the plus side I've had lots of time to think about saving money which I will share v soon.

Go Ememem84 that is some serious money saving! Ohhhh £12,000 that's amazing. Slightly jel as that's my annual salary & I work full time :( but serisouky if I save £2,500 next year I'll dance naked in my garden with joy lol

Welcome Softkitty, yes join, invite friends & soak up the money saving, frugality. Goal setting is good motivation I do that with weight loss too, am not just tighting the purse strings :)

Soup, eggs, emm sorry can't think if anything atm. Hopefukky someone wise will pop along soon.

Ginny & Confused, welcome & keep us updated.

Confused, would you consider renting out a spare room to a professional. That could help in a few ways.

Hope no ones been effected to badly by the storms, lucky here just a blustery here.

[TheHippywhowearsLippy]

Forgot to ask, has anyone tried own brand shampoo/conditioner/toothpaste? Asda is selling these at 25p for 500ml/100ml. Pretty good or would it be a false economy? I was my hair 3/4 times per week so do my DG's so think hulk buying these would be a good idea if it's worth it.

[souperb]

Really cheap shampoo I tend to use more of as it often feels thin and it's hard to get a lather. I buy own brand stuff, but not the economy lines if you see what I mean. Buy one bottle and see how it goes?

But shower gel/hand soap/bubble bath is ok. I tend to buy the big bottles of economy bubble bath and dilute into shower gel bottles and hand soap bottles. At the moment I am using diluted ecover handwash that I bought in a massive 10L container off Amazon - but the prices fluctuate, so don't assume it is always a good deal. I prefer the ecover handwash as it's better on my eczema, but it still stands some diluting and when funds are low I use the bargain bubble bath.

Toothpaste I buy the quid tubes of crest/colgate/boots smile when they are on 3 for 2 and focus on using a small amount instead of covering the enture toothbrush head.

I think these deals come round on cycles, so I personally wouldn't tie up too much cash in a soap mountain. The sainsburys economy stuff is regularly discounted and Boots economy lines periodically go on 3 for 2. People rave about the Aldi stuff, but not sure how it is priced.

We've been really bogglingly skint in the past until a series of unfortunate events left me heavily in debt AND skint. I got a grip and managed to pay off the debt and improve our situation somewhat, but now we are doing better I have eased up on the purse strings. I would like to get a bit stricter again and focus on getting rid of the mortgage and having some money for Big Fun instead of frittering it away on diet cokes and other nonsense.

[tshirtsuntan]

souperb our local newsagent/offie sells eggs,milk & bread..I'm much less likely to buy a load of crap! Alberto balsam shampoo is always a quid a bottle and feels (vaguely) luxurious

[SoftKittyWarmKitty]

Thanks Hippy, I'm definitely in on the challenge but doubt my friends will be. One is very affluent - 3 or 4 foreign holidays per year, nice things and fab house - and another says they're pretty skint, then in the next breath tells me they spend £150 a week on groceries and makes regular visits to the nail bar. I think skint is quite subjective though and what's skint to one person would be well-off to someone else.

I don't have the freezer space for milk and don't fancy the powdered stuff on my cereal , so if I have a milk crisis I'll start taking a single pound coin to Asda where they sell 4 pints for £1.

It's nearly November so we have two months to prepare for the 2014 year of frugality. Think I'll need that time to get my head around meal planning and stopping random spending. I like to think I don't do a lot of random spending but if in being honest, I do. It needs to stop.

[souperb]

tshirtsuntan Unfortunately, our local newsagent/offie is a tesco express... Bread and milk I can work around, but going in for eggs is my downfall. I quite like Alberto Balsam - especially the tea tree one.

SoftKittyWarmKitty Have you tried porridge with water instead of milk? I prefer it, but I really don't like milk anyway. The kids don't notice, especially as I often add mashed banana/cinnamon/maple syrup/jam. Not all at the same time, I hasten to add.

[DipMeInChocolate]

Get a milkman avoids the milk crisis here. Yes its slightly more expensive than the supermarket. 58p a pint but the savings on buying shite when you popped in for a 50p pint outweigh easily. I have frozen milk before, not a fan but will buy a couple of cartons of UHT for emergency. I've started to take my lunch into work and I'm enjoying my sandwich more than days old bought ones.

TBH the big thing thing is adjusting your mindset. You're not scrimping and doing without, you're enjoying a simple more natural life (less bloody tat).

I already shop at Aldi and Lidl and clothes buy from bonprix and Matalan. I work in the town centre so can pick up essentials from poundland and new 99p store In my lunch hour (time limiting helps) Can't remember the last time I stepped into Tesco/ Asda.

[Ememem84]

Exactly. It's changing mindset. It's not about "I can't afford it" it's more "I don't need it".

Taking in lunch has def helped. Example yesterday. I took homemade pumpkin soup. Pumpkin cost £5. I have an entire bucket load of soup in my freezer. In cafe at work pumpkin soup was £4.50 a bowl. Without bread for dunking. That's extra. So many colleagues complaining about the cost. I was a bit smug.

I might be being overly ambitious with my £12k saving. I'll be happy if I can reach half of that. But am really going to try to reach the target. It will be difficult as we live in a v expensive area (can't move without moving to mainland uk) so normal things cost the earth here (£1.70 for pint of milk) wages are higher to compensate but I dream of tesco, remember it from student days...

[JimmyCorpseHell]

I read a thread on here a while back about hairdressers admitting that their salons used cheapy shampoo. The trick was to use a little bit and spend time massaging it in, then rinse and repeat. I find that the shampoo can be cheap but cheap conditioner makes my hair feel greasy. We have used value shower gel for a few years now. 30p a bottle, not bad! I have also read that you should spend money on what stays on your skin (moisturiser eg) and get cheap for what washes off.

I second taking just the money you need when you nip out for milk/bread. You feel all virtuous walking home knowing you didn't get sucked into buying anything else Another tip for the milk/bread run is to take all your shrapnel if the shop has self service tills. I have paid for £3+ shops using just coppers!

[SoftKittyWarmKitty]

Sorry DipMeInChocolate (fab name btw!) but I'd rather not pay 58p for a pint of milk when I can get 4 pints for £1 at Asda, Aldi or Iceland. In fact if anyone's near Morrisons, they do 4 pints for 97p . Waaaaay cheaper than Ememem's £1.70 a pint though .

I've taken my own lunch to work for years, even though I work near a shopping centre, and there's a canteen at work. I know I can make my own for a fraction of the cost of buying. The real trick is avoiding buying snacks at work - choc, crisps, drinks - so I tend to take a batch of snacks and fruit at the start of the week for many times I get hungry. I also have a box of cup a soups in my drawer for the rare day that I cba to make anything, or don't have anything in the house to bring.

As well as saving money, I'm going to aim to earn more next year and I'm currently looking for a second job, and also looking into doing some kind of work from home. God knows what though!

[Littleredsquirrel]

Soup have you thought about having chickens if you use a lot of eggs? A couple of chickens will cost you next to nothing to keep but will give you a couple of eggs a day during laying season (and you can freeze the excess for use during the winter months)

We have five hens and are generally overrun with eggs. At the moment in my fridge I have 34. We have pancakes every sunday for breakfast, I bake a cake and we have an egg based meal at least once a week.

[souperb]

Littleredsquirrel Not allowed chickens here under the deeds, and we have a rather pesty neighbour who would make a fuss. I've had them in the past though, which is probably what started our ridiculous egg habit. I cook mostly from scratch, so we get through a fair few and at one point I was making pasta to use them up. We've not been here long, but once I am up to date, I may try to get an allotment, and hopefully we'll be allowed to keep a few there.

Tell me about freezing eggs! Cooked or raw? And I assume not frozen in their shells... Do I need to separate whites and yolks?

[Littleredsquirrel]

You freeze raw. Whisk them up a little bit just enough so that the white and yolk is mixed and then I tend to freeze them in large ice cube trays that I had for freezing baby food portions so that I know each portion is one egg. They are absolutely fine for baking, batter and even omelettes/scrambled egg.

[Littleredsquirrel]

Nothing wrong with many cheap conditioners. At one stage I spent a lot on my hair. I have long very thick hair and its my best feature. I now spend a fraction of the money I spent before and my hair still looks the same. Cheap conditioner is fine. It's the combing through and the thorough rinsing that makes the difference.

Cheap toothpaste is also fine. Homebargains had strangely packaged (orange and red) colgate a few months back for 25p a tube. We are still working our way through the 28 boxes I bought!