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!

Hoping to have a frugal year too. I hope it every year in fact!

Baby is due on 6th January so I refuse to compromise on heating costs for her ( though for now us older ones have to suffer a little) So I need to make cut backs in other places.

1. food is a major expense for us so keep trialling stores value brands and only buying brand names when on a good offer ( we luckily have plenty of storage space!) I use mysupermarket price alerts for items we don't compromise on or dont need to buy weekly/ dd needs Mitchum deoderant, DP wants lynx... Our multivitamins, loo roll, etc)

2. fridge freezer is on its way out so I'm keeping an eye out for sales on ones with larger freezer compartments. Since I'm not panic buying I can research, haggle etc

3. bulk cooking ESP leading up to birth of baby. Lots will be stuff DP or dd can reheat in the microwave themselves.

4. adding lentils or chickpeas to foods to bulk out since neither dd or DP want to go meat free.

5. splitting shops with my mum. Eg taking advantage of bogof or 2 for £x on short shelf life products like milk, bread etc. I'm the only one in the house who likes brown bread- my mums takes a third if my 50/50 bread in exchange for 1/3 loaf of her whole grain.

6. waiting to do errands in car til I have a few in the same area. Sometimes its cheaper to order online and pay postage than to drive to somewhere where I have no other errands to do.

7. sign up for petrol price alert emails.

8. look out for deals on grocery delivery. I bought a 6 month tesco delivery pass for £30. Not only does it save petrol, allowed me to browse deals at my leisure and plan better using what's in my cupboards, but I don't impulse buy at all. My shopping bills have come down by around a third.

9. basically everything you are going to do, ask what value you are willing to spend on it. I get 10 cards for £1 in card factory... Or similar. The cards aren't m&s quality but they look ok and it's the handwritten message inside that counts. I have a list of events that are coming up, and bulk buy in one go.

10. have a go at making quilted blinds for smaller windows - layering fabric and batting ( I'm using ikea fleece blanket though cotton or wool probably better) and some blackout material or one of those silver emergency blankets? I've read great things about them but in process of getting two rooms redecorated and can't make blinds til after plasterer has been so I know actual window size!

Can think of more but need to get out of my cosy bed and get some housework done!

m.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24757144. Low tech ways to save money :)

Have only skim read, so don't know if other people have recommended the same things, but here's my twopenn'orth

• Go to supermarkets near closing time for cheap (75% off or more) fruit, veg, deli products, chilled products, meat, fish, bakery goods. Times will vary from store to store, so just ask a member of staff from that area what time they reduce their prices. I tend to do this around twice per month & stock up enough to last roughly a month & freeze.

• If you can't find reduced bargains, try Farm Foods for basics - 2 loaves of Hovis/Kingsmill for £1.50, 2 x 4 pints milk for £1.60, 30 bags crisps (own brand) for £3 etc

• Use loyalty cards whenever they are offered! I have a 'free' coffee from Costa once a month or so & am currently saving Nectar points for a Eurostar trip (or money towards it). It helps to think of bonus offers in terms of money eg 25 Tesco Clubcard points can be worth £1, so if I gain 25 clubcard points I am saving £1.

• A rather specific one, but if you have DC & fancy a trip to Disneyland Paris, consider annual passes if you are going for more than 1 day. We are just back from there & got annual passes for me, DH & DS1 (DS2 doesn't need ticket yet as only 2). They cost just 30 Euros less altogether than if we had bought 2 seperate day passes. Other theme parks/attractions may do the same thing.

• Use Groupon/Wowcher etc for days out, presents, haircuts etc. We have just bought a day at a big local farm park for 2 adults & 3 DC for £9, would normally be about £30.

• Use Nectar or Topcashback or similar when you buy anything online.

• Check you are getting all benefits/funding etc you are entitled to. I did not know that DS2 may be entitled to free nursery funding because of his speech delay until the SALT mentioned it. The funding has still not been confirmed & it may only be a small amount if we get any, but all these things are worth investigating, as we are paying for it anyway.

We're trying to build up a little savings/ rainny day pot. Lots of extra ideas to copy thank you.

Here's some of my thoughts...

We moved in the summer and I've been playing with the electric use thing which is quite interesting.

With heating I'm currently playing with using the 1 hr boost function rather than timmer - except in the morning when its on timmer for an hour. I have a little rule about not feeling guilty about hitting the 1hr button if I/ we feel cold. We have snuggly fleece blankets by the sofas and in the conservatory and I encourage the children to wear socks and slippers. First mention of cold the response is put a sweater on rather than heat the house for us to live in summer clothes. I think we probably have it on about 20% of the time it would be on timmer.

We use UHT milk which I bulk buy at Costco. Likewise I tend to bulk buy toilet roll and kitchen roll. I use value cleaning products, aldi dishwasher tabs and laundry detergent.

I have price points for just about everything in my head so I can determine if an offer is good and not just that the discount makes it look good - also when an offer is really good that its worth stockpiling. For example we use lots of mature cheddar. I don't pay more than 50p/ 100g. Aldi do an everyday value 827g block for £3.97. If I'm in one of the other supermarkets thats my price point.

I havea coupon wallet. I cut them all out when I see them. You never know when you might use them. Kenco milicano are always doing £1 off vouchers and frequently the refil packs are on offer at £2. Combine the offers and its only £1 for nice coffee (i like it).

We've booked our first full week family holiday next year we got £37 flights to Iceland. We've paid for a rental cottage. Just need to save for passports, car hire and food. I'm planning a big ebay blitz pre Christmas to clear space for new toys and raise some cash.

ms £37 flights to Iceland
Is that in school holidays?
Tell me more how you managed this fantastic price?!

Iceland is Easy jet end of July out / early Aug return as they released tickets. It was a fluke really, but you can predict (I've now learnt) when tickets will be released. An offer came up on Groupon, way more than we could afford so I thought I'd check prices. Couldn't believe it. Day later and some flights had gone up to over £100 with Easter ones being over £200 so I booked. The whole holiday will be a over £1000 though so lots to save yet.

can I join? 2014 is the year that the debt all goes, so that we can start to overpay mortgage in 2015. If I get work (self-employed), household appliances don't break, etc etc, it should be achievable...

Some more great tips on here thanks :)

Currys have some great deals in at the min with vouchers for )£10/£20/£30 etc on until Wednesday I think just incase anyone's looking for Christmas savings.

Am starting to line my upstairs curtains with old curtain linings. Have lots & lots of old curtains so may as we'll use those. Also saved about £7 this week not using the tumble dryer :)

Now that we are all down with the flu I've decided its probally a good idea to bulk buy medicines that have a good long date in them. Things to buy, headache tablets, flu tabs, lemsips etc. thinking the £ shop is probally the place to go for these, or maybe tesco/asda own brand would do.

Boots/Tesco/Asda etc paracetamol own value brand is about 16p and is exactly the same as the branded products. When we looked at the ingredients lists for medicines we switched to just paracetamol with a hot water, honey and lemon for colds or with a chocolate biscuit for headaches and saved loads. We do keep value ibuprofen for flu type aches and shops own brand sudafed with decongestant for really rotton colds.

I wish I could convince my dh about that, even watching the chief scientific officer the royal pharmaceutical society on watchdog didn't convince him . I make him buy his own now

Co-codamol is what you want , codeine knocks you right out

I bulk buy rice , pasta, tinned tomatoes, cous cous, tea, coffee, sugar, orange juice & squash, ground almonds, nuts, dried fruit, dried apricots, icing sugar, porridge & weetabix. Use buy dates are generally long.

Toilet roll, washing up liquid, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, washing powder, cleaning products I bulk buy or buy on offer.

Butter, flour, soured cream & cheese I buy in catering packs but keep an eye on the use buy dates as they have a shorter shelf life.

I have registered with approved foods and buy a range of items depending what is available, such as delabelled tescos finest caremellised onion chutney, jams, honeys, treats, items such as cous cous are often 10p a pa ket and make good store cupboard essentials.