Reading the threads on here, it's made me think about how frugal we really are. We have made huge inroads into our 'disposable income' spending, but we still don't consciously do very much to save money. For example:-
Food:
BETTER. I have improved here. I meal plan and shop mainly at Aldi / Lidl. Food bill reduced from £100 per week (DP, me and 20mo DD) to about £40-50, with an extra £10-15 for cleaning stuff, toiletries, loo roll, nappies etc.
HOWEVER - I am fanatical about not running out of anything. It means that I've always got to go to the shops, even when I don't. I reckon I spend probably £20 on things which really could wait for several weeks / months to be bought.
Clothes:
HMM. I almost always buy my clothes from charity shops, or Tesco / Asda at a push. I look out for good names (Boden, White Stuff, Fat Face etc) and will rarely buy anything less (for want of a better word) than Next or M&S. I do online surveys and ask for vouchers for Christmas / birthday. I currently have over £100 in vouchers to spend in John Lewis.
HOWEVER - I can't seem to stop 'bargain hunting' in charity shops. I buy clothes just because of the name / quality, rather than actually needing them.
DD's clothes are mostly hand-me-downs or supermarket bought. Her shoes are Clark's sale bought, and I recently bought her boys' shoes as no girls' shoes in the sale. Felt odd about that, but it was a good decision - they are much harder wearing!
DP almost never buys clothes and when he does it's either charity shop or with a Fat Face voucher he had for Christmas / birthday. His pants come from Sports Direct or Asda!
Gas / electricity:
NOT GOOD. We do not do much to save money other than turn lights out. We tend not to plug in things we don't use, but those we do use are often left on standby.
We have a wood burner, but the radiators in all the other rooms are left on. We don't use the burner enough; we have an inexhaustible supply of free firewood so we have no reason not to use it.
I have recently switched dual fuel providers using MSE so hoping to see a benefit here.
Cars:
OK. We have 2 cars and usually need them both for commuting (shocking public transport). We pay annually for insurance / tax when we can afford to do so.
Luxuries:
SO SO. We don't go out often but do enjoy the odd bottle of wine at home. We've always got something in. We have a takeaway every fortnight-3 weeks. When we do go out it's only to the local pub, but we don't worry about what we spend.
We take DD to the play centre 1 x week (£3.50), to playgroup 2 x week(£3) and occasionally out for cake (about £4) and swimming 1 x week(£4). We take her to the swings, the park, rhyme time, to see GPs, dog walking etc etc i.e. as much free activity as much as possible.
How frugal are you? I'd be interested to know where other people save money and how easy they find it. I know I can do better.