Three ways to make/ save £100 per month

[FrankWelker]

Hi all! I need to save money in 2016. I'm aiming to save £100 per month in preparation for my hols in August . Can we each list 3 ways to try and save/ make £100 per month ( legally!)? Should get lots of ideas, some useful to me and some to others. Thanks- don't worry about repeating what someone else has suggested- it shows how useful that tip must be.

Switch from branded food to Aldi. I saved around £80 a month from going to Aldi instead of tesco. There a few brands in my house now (no PG, Heinz, Colgate etc)

Prepare lunches for work/school. Buying lunch and coffee out adds up. Invest in decent Tupperware so you can separate the different parts of your lunch (salad, yoghurt etc)

Swap eating out/takeaway for a 'nice' dinner you cook. They'll be left over for the same price.

Check your gas/electric on uSwitch to see if you can get a better deal.

Check your current account is making you money. Santander 123 is good for cash back on direct debits, food and fuel. We earn around £25 a month on our account for a £2 fee per month.

Separate needs and wants. For needs, always shop around and don't impulse buy.

Good luck

Meal plans and batch cooking/freezing things. Take your own food in to work for lunch. You'd be amazed how much money that will save.

Meal planning and shopping in ALDI /LIDL will save lots of money. This is one of the easiest ways of saving money. If you bank online, check it every morning or evening and move the 'odd' amounts into a savings account - so if your balance is £200.51 - move the 51p into the savings account. It is amazing how quickly that adds up. For serious money savings - get a second job in a pub... its social and you can earn maybe £250 a month for a few evenings a week :-)

Meal Plan.
Take sandwiches/leftovers to work.
Really obvious, but stop buying stuff. I'm a dreadful impulse buyer - a pen, a magazine, a scarf ...
it all adds up.

Last year I wrote down everything I bought in Jan/Feb/March and it really made me think more carefully about how I was spending my money - I allowed myself an allowance for 'non essential stuff'.

Then I stopped and started frittering away cash. Perhaps I should start again

Second all the food saving tips - if you are currently a Waitrose/naice ready meals/lots of lunches/coffees on the go type of person and you cut down drastically, you could save £100 a week never mind that amount a month.

Have you changed your gas and electricity recently? If you haven't you could be paying a few hundred pounds per year more than you have to. Also the same for insurances and mobile phone contracts. Can you cut back/go sim only? If you have an expensive phone you could sell it and buy a cheaper one.

Use Quidco or Topcashback where possible. Never buy anything on the internet without checking for cashback and a discount code.

Do the Moneysavingexpert money make over. Sign up to their weekly newsletter for regular tips.

Change your bank account to one that pays an introductory bonus and interest.

Don't waste food - make 'bottom of the fridge soup' with bits of veg at the end of the week. Have cheaper meals like baked potatoes or omelettes once or twice a week. Eat less meat and fish - most people eat too much anyway. Find out when your local supermarket does reductions and go see what you can find.

A daft thing, but save 1p on 1st day of the year, 2p on 2nd day etc, up to £3.65 on the 365th day of the year. It isn't the amount you're aiming for, but after a year you'll have over £200.

Happymummy - if you did it every day you'd save £671.61 next year - however about £135 of that would be in December which is probable the hardest way of doing it.
If I were doing that I'd start the other way round £3.66 on day one, £3.65 on day two etc

Actually, about £108 in December, but it would still be the toughest month.If you did it backwards you'd only have to save £4.96 in December

Rooster I love that you worked that out. Was hoping someone would (was going to try and Google it as my matha is so shoddy. I like this idea. Going to try this. At least for as long as I can!

So I was right - £671.61 is more than £200! :) It's still a good way to save money, whichever way round you do it.

Enid I can't help it - once I'd read the post it was really annoying me so I estimated, then calculated.

You were right HappyMummy - but it wasn't a close enough estimate for me! My class know I'm happy with a 15% margin for error when we estimate!

To be honest, I think it's probably easier for me to save £56 a month which would give you the same result.

Not a money-saving tip, but you can raise funds by eBaying/car-booting all the crap in your loft. Most people have loads of stuff they no longer need.

Don't buy coffees out, unless it's a special meet up with an old friend. Take a Contigo/flask for journeys/coffees out of the house.

Take pack lunch to work.

Best e-reader available on the market is small enough to fit in your credit card wallet... a library card set a reminder on your phone so not to incur fines.

Shop at Aldi/Lidl... so much cheaper on general groceries.

Shop at the main supermarkets at yellow sticker time... bread & yoghurts & veg reduced to 10p.

Bulk meat out with beans/pulses eg kidney beans in chilli, scoop of red lentils in bolognese, cannellini beans in lamb stew.

Once a week, have a random meal of all the fridge leftover veg eg stirfry.

Also, one night make something super-cheap like lentil dhal or Jack Monroe's 9p kidney bean burgers.

Feed your freezer, not your bin. If you have anything that's going to expire soon, freeze it rather than chuck it out.

Homemade pizza costs pennies and tastes far superior to bought ones/takeaways. 250g bread flour, 150ml of handhot water, 1tsp dried yeast, generous pinch of salt & sugar, glug of olive oil, Value or Lidl mozzarella ball, tomato puree, toppings. Just mix & knead the dough for several mins on the worktop, place back in bowl, cover, put in warm place eg airing cupboard for 1 hr +. Roll out, put toppings on, bake for 7-8 mins in hot oven.

Get a copy of the Curry Secret/Takeaway Secret to make your own "fakeaways".

When your phone is out of contract, switch to giff gaff. Ask a friend for a recommendation & you both get credit as commission.

Look for jeans, jumpers, coats etc in charity shops. Big savings... you can get £50 jeans for £5.

When your jeans start to wear thin, sacrifice an old pair to patch up. Get iron-on bondaweb to mend those annoying holes in nice tops.

Wear a gilet, fingerless gloves & neck warmer and keep your thermostat around 16 - 17C.

Get an electric underblanket, turn the heating off and go to bed earlier in the evening & read a book/watch stuff on tablet. Only costs a few pennies per night, rather than heating the space in the whole house.

Sorry, got carried away and went well over 3 things. :)

Saving £1.84 a day, for the 365 days, would give you the £671.60. I would prefer to do it this way so that the same amount was needed each day.

Barry do you put pizza on a baking tray? Or pizza stone. I want to try making my own again with gluten free flour!

The penny saving is brilliant - I'm going to do it each evening online (my bank account lets me move piddly amounts (perhaps over £1 so will go for the set £1.84 per day, thanks countryloving) from current acc into savings acc.

Meal plan
One week each month only buy milk, bread,fruit/veg and use up freezer/fridge/larder cupboard food.
Use quidco
Sell on ebay

Stop buying STUFF. I rarely have any cash on me nowadays so it stops impulse buys of little things that fritter away money. I can't afford big things so that's it.

Sell odds and sods on eBay. Even if you only make a couple of pounds at a time, it banks quite quickly.

Freeze or create meals around leftovers. Don't buy more perishable food than you need unless you live too far from the shops to pop in- almost everywhere is open 7 days a week. BOGOF/3 for 2 deals are pointless if they're not going to be used.

Carry snacks with you if you're going to be out for a couple of hours. My diet is a bit limited and as I don't eat gluten- I can't pop into Greggs. I tend to carry water, a banana and some nuts in my bag.

Skill swap. I've been doing my own DIY since ex left- he never did it at all!- but there are a few things I'm not confident in attempting alone. I wanted a light fitting changing recently and now need some laminate flooring laid. I have acquaintances that I trust to do the work. Both jobs will be paid for by me baking them celebration cakes they would have forked out for. Everyone is happy

Bake and freeze your own cakes and cupcakes. Way cheaper than the shop bought equivalent and taste far better.

Use cashback sites and comparison sites for everything.
Save up your loose change. I have been taking part in the MSE sealed pot challenge for 3 years, I only save 20p or less and every year I have saved £100 at least.

I don't know who you bank with but I am with TSB and use 'Save The Change', so that every time I use my debit card it rounds the transaction up to the nearest £1. Again I have saved quite a bit a year. If you are able to, you can make £100 by switching your bank account over.

If you have any books around that you are not going to read again, use We Buy Books to see if they will buy them, Some books are not worth that much, but even if its only a small amount, its something.

I switched electric and gas supplier savings can be £20 per month but brings your total down to £80

Switched to no telephone landline for me I got cabel broadband and so saved me line rental of £10 per month

Switch mobile provider, giff gaff is good

Use a spare room to rent out £ 300-400 per month

Get a second job, Avon, bar work - though realistically not till march £100 per month

I tutor one hour per week @£25 per hour.

I owe money on credit cards, and recently switched it all to 0% for 32 months. That's saved me around £3000 in interest as I wasn't managing much more than minimum for the next year or so.

Shop at Aldi.

Use the freezer so you can buy bulk meat etc or freeze batch cooked food

Drink less wine - saving me a mini fortune

Giff gaff is super cheap for mobile phones

Get Freeletics workouts on your phone instead of the gym

If you have a college nearby with visiting students you could let a room out for the stay ? Normally Adele weeks at a time .
Water wine down .
Get things from free cycle
Swap clothes with friends
Change providers
Haggle with sky if you have it
Air B and B

To stop buying stuff:

Leave your debit / credit cards at home unless you are going out for a specific shop which is planned. eg food shopping. I carry a magic tenner for emergencies - proper emergancies like the car breaking down.

Make a shopping list and stick to it - I find this easier if I list things in the order I will find them in my usual supermarket as it means I don't have to walk past temptations too many times.

Leave any big spends for a few days / weeks to see if you really need it.

If something breaks check to see if you can fix it - You Tube / Google have loads of tutorials for the most random things. My dishwasher (wouldn't drain - just needed a really good clean and a pipe reattaching), freezer (week long defrost required) and washing machine (coin in the pump) all still work after DIY fixes. The boiler wasn't so lucky.

Do a DIY MOT check - tyres, lights, wipers, seat belts, brake fluid, coolant, oil etal before you take it to the garage. Also use a council MOT centre.

If there's a college near you see if they do hair & beauty and get your hair done there instead of a salon

I have a separate 'spends' account so when I get paid a certain amount goes in there by standing order and that's my money for the month. I don't carry my credit card or other main account debit card with me

I save all my change in a piggy bank and I always aim to make my lunch, but on the odd days I don't/can't I raid my piggy bank to buy it so it gives me a budget