Champagne lifestyle on brown ale budget or similar?!

[umiaisha]

Since giving up work 2 years ago to be SAHM achieving this has been my mission. Would love some new ideas from any savvy mumsnetters on how to save ££ without compromising on the finer things in life.

Have listed a few of the things I do below:

• Have you hair cut/coloured/whatever by a trainee. I never pay full price for my hair and actually find that the students are generally more enthusiastic, have better ideas and really look after you. Had a full head of highlights, cut and blow dry this week for £10 + a £10 tip and am very happy with it.

• Shop around for things like gel nails. I have found a shop near me that gives you your third visit half price, which isn't loads but more than any of the others are offering. I also do my own toe nails now as find that a lot easier and just have a pedicure a couple of times a year.

• Get your eyebrows and other threading done in an asian shop. Far cheaper than the usual salons/stores. Was horrified to see that Fenwicks charge £20 for eyebrows!

• If you exchange christmas/birthday lists amongst family give a lot of thought to what goes on it. Amongst other bits I have Topshop vouchers which I can save for when I need something or fancy treating myself and Chanel nail varnish that I can't justify buying for myself! Same principle can be applied to lists for the children.

• Save monthly for holidays and christmas. We have done this for so long that it becomes another bill and we don't really notice it.

• We like to eat out at least once a weekend and have made it a mission to keep the bill under £35 by keeping an eye out for discounts/vouchers etc and often giving dessert a miss.

Over to you..

The really nice 'posh' hair dressers in my town (upwards of £70 for a cut and colour) now do standby appointments. I think as soon as people started tightening their belts, they realised they had to give a little. They now do a standby cut and blow dry apt for £15.00 and a cut and colour apt for £25-30 depending on what you'e having done. I never tip as I'm a minimum wage worker and can't afford to. Simply call up in the morning and see what they have. They also make you tea and give you a head and neck massage while you wait. It's bloody fab.

I can very rarely stretch to it, but one of the local nail bars do cheaper appointments as well. Again, depending on what you want done, you can get gel/acrylic nails done for between £10-15 at certain times.

I cannot stress how much I love charity shops. My local Oxfam is wonderful. I picked up a beautiful knee length navy blue Vera Wang dress in there a couple of years ago for £11.00. It's my go-to occasion dress. I can't usually afford to treat myself to new clothes, but I popped back in there a couple of days ago and bought myself to 2 'new' tops. One from M&S (looks like Monsoon - 'tis gorgeous) and one from Fat Face. Cost me £8 for both and made me ridiculously happy.

I haven't paid for liquid foundation for years. I pop into Boots whenever I run out and ask to sample things. The little sample bottles (plural) they give me last quite a while. So I don't stick to one foundation, I try 'em all. It's very cheeky of me, but it has saved me quite a lot of money

I can rarely afford a night out in town. So every month or so I get a group of friends round to my house for games night and a catch up. It's bring your own bottle(s) and nibbles, and we play Pictionary, cards, Monolpoly, Jenga, etc. Very amusing whilst tiddled. I stop in at Lidl's and buy a bottle of cheap plonk for myself (under £3) and the night's sorted

The Burger King app. Lots of vouchers on there, or printable ones if you google.

Cheap meal out.

This may have already been mentioned, but voucher cloud is your friend. I don't shop online unless i've checked the website first.

bumping for more traffic! loving these tips!

i second the use of groupon, and deal.com type sites.

i like to use a nice pen for writing notes etc, a real fountain pen isn't very expensive but somehow feels so much nicer in the hand.

i also use ebay for clothes: just bought a joblot of j crew pencil skirts for very reasonable prices and keep getting compliments on them at work.

Any tips for buying lovely Xmas pressies for less?

Great thread

I just found some absolutely beautiful floaty/silky scarves for - drumroll - 99p in a local Indian clothing shop, they are gorgeous and I have 3 to give female family members who will love them, lovely jewel colours and look way, way more expensive than a pound. It is always worth a root around these kind of shops for pretty gifts.

I buy Xmas presents throughout the year, to make the most of offers.

My tips:

1. I returned some unwanted gifts in early January and bought presents for this Xmas.

1. Accessorize sale has make up bags for £4 and bus pass holders for £3. For girls, the stationery is half price too.

1. Body shop reduces some body butters from £16 to £5, plus the regular 40% off means you get them for £3. This is my emergency gift.

Anymore ideas?.

I have started assembling presents instead of buying complete. I nicked this idea as dc1 was given for birthday a gift bag full of craft items like card and feathers etc. it was well received! This year for dss I made him a craft hamper. I bought a few packets from the pound shops of pom poms and pipe cleaners etc and split the packets a long with things I already had. The biggest outlay was craft scissors (Jane Asher for poundland) and I put beads etc in old Nutella jars with lids. It all went in a plastic box left over from dc baby stuff. Dss was delighted

Also in poundland I bought xmas decoration making kits for all dc friends that we exchange gifts with. These were really well received I will be buying lots next year :-)

Try amazon for household goods.

I bought some light bulbs for my cooker hood. The were under £2 for 4. Compare that to homebase and B&Q, which were £5 and £3 for 2 bulbs.

Both DC birthday outings are being covered by tesco club card deals - we then have money left over for a birthday meal out.

Aldi for baby bits, nappies and wipes are cheap and the best weve used. Aldi baby bath smells like parma violet sweets and is gentle on my 6mo dds skin-89p a bottle! Ive also bought muslins (pack of 3 1.45!)
DP likes ales so i always pick a couple up when im here he seems to like them!
I have a useful friend who is a fully trained hairdresser, i have colour cut and blow dry £35!
Im on the Very mailing list, i often use there 20% off voucher codes then pay the account off straight away. This is great at christmas!
Face wipes two packs for a pound in poundland.

Just thought of another one, meekat movies!
I didnt have anything to ensure so ensured my holiday to yorkshire, cost me £3.17 and now weve got two for one cinema tickets all year!

That should be insure not ensure!!

Groupon has a fantastic deal on now for £19 for the kids pass .

Kids eat free/huge discounts in lots venues/ cinemas etc

I was about to buy it when I realised it doesn't cover Ireland :(

I've had a free trial of that kids pass for the last year and I haven't used it once. I live in a big city so I thought I'd get lots of use from it but the deals are either very restrictive such as kids eat free Mon-Thur before 5 or the offers are available on other sites for free. I won't be paying £19 to renew it.