Turning a new, frugal leaf. Anyone with me?

[Pickledturnip]

Hi guys,
I've decided to take control of the family finances as we are currently just cruising along with our eyes closed!
Here are a few things I'm doing:
*Monitoring electricity and gas usage and cutting accordingly
*Menu planning and sticking to a £50 a week food budget
*cutting out non essential purchases
*cutting way back on snacks and alcohol
*saving my entire part time wage wherever possible
*showering instead of bathing
*getting electric blankets and using wood burner - no heating until very cold months
*not replacing our recently deceased car

Any other tips?
Anyone care to join in the battle against consumerism?

I am trying to save for retirement in 3 years time. Any pay rises allow me to up the direct debit to savings so we don't get used to the increased income. I also save the 2 free months council tax in February and March. Any money left in the main account at the end of the month also gets transferred to savings.

We are frugalish on food as I meal plan, don't do top up shops and enjoy cooking. We rarely eat out and never have takeaways.
I always check insurance policies at renewal and most of the time find something cheaper but when I ring to cancel my existing policy generally they offer to match it.
Clothes are my weakness so I have tried unsubscribing from emails so I don't get tempted (but need to stay off Style & Beauty)

We've been living frugally for years, it is very liberating, especially not Henning a house clued up with unnecessary stuff.

Off the top of my head, over the last two months we have 'saved' a huge amount in the following ways:

Calling or internet provider and asking for a reduction, went down from £55 to £36

Fixing our washing machine ( the heating element broke) that cost £19 including postage to fix, instead of buying a new washing machine

Getting a tumble dryer for free off Gumtree that is broken, and fixing it for £3.50 ( the thermostat had broken so we just need to replace that). We will be using it over winter as we just can't cope with the amount of washing that needs drying otherwise. Never had one before but we are a family of five.

Sold all the kids clothes that don't fit them anymore as bundles. We have calculated that we made enough money from this to justify running the tumble dryer once a day for five months ( over winter)

Identified why one of our car tyres had gone flat and fixed the problem ourselves instead of buying a new tyre. We also service the car ourselves so save a fortune that way but obviously not everyone can do this.

Or garden gate was rotten, wet got a 'new' second hand one for free from a Facebook selling page.

We picked loads of apples and pears over the last six weeks from the community orchard, instead of buying fruit. Lots was pureed into smoothie pouches for the kids as snacks (the smoothie pouches are reusable and are amazing, definitely worth investing in)

I'm annoyed, no wonder so much stuff goes to landfill! been trying to sell a toddler bed mattress for £20 and a sofa for £50 and no interest whatsoever. The sofa is immaculate, enough that we are now donating to a local charity furniture store - but that doesn't help my bank balance. How unbelievably frustrating it is!

yep definitely look at paperwork on insurance cover and other types of cover and don't just keep auto renewing. I just saved £30 a month with a policy I had forgotten about, still need it but really should not have been paying above the odds - realised I've probably been over paying across the last 6 years about 1000 pounds!!!!!

Definately worth checking alternative quotes out before renewing anything.
I found until I started taking control I buried my head in the sand a bit with everything though. But now I'm taking control of one thing the rest is also coming under my radar a bit more.

Just opened a new savings account which pays out 5% on balances for the first 12 months.
Living on a £60 a week spends budget, anything left of my £60 a week will go into the savings account, this will go towards next years car insurance instead of paying monthly and paying their astronomical interest rates on the finance.

Do you have the details cucumber? Might have a little look at that!

Its a nationwide one @pickledturnip we hold a current account with them so they have a 12 month introductory rate on the regular saver account.