Do the little things really make a difference?

[Rayn]

Just what it says really. I have been googling websites, blogs and tips about saving money. A lot of people say stuff like wash on 30, use soap instead of hand gel etc
I am not convinced that things like that will make a difference. We really need to start saving some money but I have been concentrating on the big stuff! Car, bills etc
What is the little thing you have changed that has saved the most money?

I suppose it depends what little things you use the most of

I guess if you do enough of them, then it will have a cumulative effect eventually. It’s not going to change anything overnight but I guess it’s worth being aware of how you can save on everything and then you’ll know you’re doing all you can. Each time you save 50p or a £ a day maybe work out what that means over a year to motivate yourself.

I think it's about the little things adding up. On the MoneySavingExpert website, there is an acumulator calculator. For example,

Lunch at £5 a day is £100 a month/£1200 a year.

coffees at £2 a day is £40 a month/£500 a year.

Frugal people are normally wealthy because they don't spend money.

It's both, not an either/or.

Big things that make a difference... shiny new car every 3 years on a finance deal with masses of interest.

Small, cumulative things that add up - that coffee habit, especially if you have a muffin with it.

It does make a difference.

We've cut back on water use as my bills last year were 90 per month now they are 50 per month. Shorter showers, properly filling washing machine, turning off tap whilst washing up etc.

Not buying coffee whilst out prob saved me a fiver a week. Bought a flask it's great.

Use the car less, saves loads of petrol.

Trying cheaper food, we switched to aldi from sainsbury and save about 40 a week.

It seriously adds up when your on a budget!

If you are not sure - do a big shop at Waitrose just "seeing what there is", ideally when you are hungry, then next week go round Aldi with a strict, meal planned, list. Every decision you make will be a small one, but the difference in your bill won't be...

Thanks guys. First thing is just to use up what we have on this week! So far only spent a tenner on food. Trying not to spend till Friday!

When saving make sure you strategically plan everything...what's for breakfast dinner & tea. If it's not there you'll end up shopping or having takeaway. Keep a few portions of curry etc on the freezer.
My OH asked on Sunday evening ' what's for tea' if there's not a curry or burger etc there he'll say Chinese?? then adding £££ to the budget.

I do spend if I see something we use on special offer.

I'm talking dried pasta, soap and coffee not special stuff.

Having said that I used to just have tea when on a low budget! For years I bought coffee rarely, just had a jar in for visitors. Now I buy it regularly but only on offer. Yes it's pathological with me!

I can confirm it makes a huge difference with consistency and over time. Of course make the big savings first.

May not apply but we have a toddler and baby and switched to cloth wipes and nappies for the baby and potty trained asap with toddler, also shop around for gas etc, switch current accounts when there is a switch bonus, I've made about £500 from doing this, take packed lunches whenever you are out for the day

Yes, that’s how you do savings. There’s no point switching the car insurance & saving £150 if you buy a coffee everyday or have a phone costing £70 a month.

I think the idea is if you start with small changes that can go unnoticed you will be saving in the long run without making large sacrifices and the small difference it saves can go towards paying off larger bills. I do the 365 day penny challenge which gives me £667 at the end of the year. google it x

I think of you do the little things regularly then they do add up to fairly big savings.

Things like not buying lunch out when at work/not buying takeaway coffee do make a big difference to the food budget.

I plan meals very carefully so that we don't waste stuff but also so that if there is an evening which will be busy/I will be later from work we have something available that's quick and easy. Saves us ending up at the takeaway! If a were to order takeaway pizza locally with a side then it would be about £25 - it only takes you doing it 4 times and you have spent £100.

I try to avoid needing to go in the local village shop for top ups as well as you tend to buy things you didn't go for.

Big things matter as well though - we have economy 10 electric and we careful to use things like the washer at the cheap times. Making sure you have the cheapest car insurance is another.

A big one for us has been saving for things - we never buy anything at all on credit (even cars!). And we make sure we have a cushion in the bank - I appreciate this isn't possible for everyone though.

Yes the little savings add up. When there are cheap deals on for things like coffee, toilet roll we buy in bulk. We eat leftovers. Take packed lunch to work. Don't auto renew any utility bills or insurance, shop around every year for a cheaper deal. Change bank accounts to the one that has the best deal. Pay off credit card every month. Buy from markets, car boot sales, charity shops.

I think you've got to do lots of the little things all of the time for savings to be substantial AND the big things too.

Buying only basics tea bags over a year and using only one bag a day, two at a push, rather than fancier tea, will save you a minimum of £33 over the year. But that's a drop in the ocean of savings, or even negligible, if your phone is £50 per month.

It depends what your goals are, what the time limits for saving are, and what sort of lifestyle you can manage. Sometimes you just really need a decent cup of tea after a long shitty day at work.

Also some penny pinching in one area will cost you dearly in another. I use the more expensive fuel in my new (to me) car. I didn't in my old car and I'm sure I could have kept it going longer, and not get stung with £500 filter bills but I insisted on using the cheap supermarket fuel. Lesson learned.

I think it can help. Spending £10 per week in Costa adds up over the year, even if at the time it only feels like £3 for a coffee.
I cut £20 off my Sky bill per month, just getting rid of channels I don't watch. Didn't auto renew house insurance etc and bought a Huawei phone instead of the newest Samsung. None of these things have made my life worse, just saved me from wasting money.

i'm sure the little things do add up, but sometimes it feels a bit futile. im meeting up with some friends next week, they have all suggested a pub lunch and we only see them once a year so there is no chance of us not going, but lunch will cost us £50. that is more than my budget
for food for the whole month this month!

I have found a big difference on saving on the bigs things like insurance, utitily bill etc. I have found I can save large amounts of money per year by knowing what and how to cut back on a few things.

I’ve experienced it the other way round: going from a period of being careful and frugal to relaxing. We found that we spent a lot more without really having much to show for it.

I think meal planning is the single most important “small” thing because it saves on the costs of food waste, on takeaways (we keep easy meals in the freezer), on lunches (which are also tastier and better variety than buying from the lunch van), on snacks and sweets.

And one funny benefit is that we enjoy takeaways/ eating out/ coffee etc much more than when it was a standard part of our lifestyle.

We realized that we’d rather spend on holidays and days out that we can enjoy together than fritter the same money on convenience food.

Making lots of little savings could add up to £100 a month. Every little helps when it comes to savings.

I always calculate a saving as over the year and it makes more sense to me, for example I recently swapped our broad band as it was £10 a month less, doesn’t seem much but in the 18month contract we will have saved £180 which is a chunk towards a holiday we might not otherwise have been able to afford (obviously with swapping and saving other things too) x

Soap is cheaper than shower gel
Packing lunch is cheaper than buying lunch out
Walking the last miles to work is cheaper than idling in traffic queues
Swapping credit cards for zero % interest will reduce debt far quicker
Overpaying your mortgage by £50 a month will save you £££ in unpayed interest and shorten the term of your mortgage
Swapping two meat meals for meat free will save £5 per week on average £260 per year
Swapping current account with 2 direct debits will make you £100 per year on average
Purchasing own brand loo roll instead of branded will save you £1.00 per fortnight which is £26 per year

It all adds up

Little things do make a difference I think.
I cut up scour pads and use half at a time, I use half the amount of washing gel they recommend-clothes still come out clean, ditto fabric conditioner, I use basic /cheap dishwasher tabs, eg 30 for under £2- I’ve had finish etc before and there really is no difference on how clean the dishes are! I wash jay cloths and reuse( may be obvious but I know a lot of people who use once then throw away) I use a vanish soap bar for stains, rather than these expensive vanish powders that you add to a wash, bar is about £2 and lasts the yr at least. I use dettol liquid (supermarket cheap 35p version in with towels and jay cloths etc instead of the fancy dettol washing liquid.

I Try not to buy food and drink out, I can’t condone the waste of money! Mostly it’s a disappointment anyway so try to keep that in mind and plan trips out around lunches/teatimes to reduce the temptations, one meal for our family at hungry horse last year cost over £100! I didn’t enjoy it as I was wincing inside thinking about how that’s nearly a weeks food shop!
I usually try and keep a few soft drinks/ snacks in the car to give the kids if they’re hangry.

I try and plan car journeys depending on what I need to get done, in any given week and do stuff on the way back from the school run etc so I’m not in and out in the car all the time.

I always change my insurances every year to get the cheapest deal.
I turn my heating off at night once everyone’s tucked up and asleep.
I carboot/fb/eBay anything we don’t need anymore, I also have become the dumping point for family, so anything I’m not keeping goes to charity or sold.

I scour charity shops when I’m in town for anything that might be worth selling on, in the summer it’s car boots and half and half of things to sell on and finding stuff to furnish etc the house or stuff we or the kids need, I hate buying stuff new (except the obvious underwear/personal hygiene items etc!)

I thought the same as you OP but I swapped from Sainsbury's to Lidl and the few pence on each thing added up to roughly £40 a week.