Sneaky money saving tips

[Bonbon27]

Trying to think of sneaky ways to save the pennies. Apart from the obvious like meal plan, grow your own veg, turn heating down etc. What tips do people have?

Smallsteps88 - I've never heard of that Asda card and we do most of our shopping in Asda- will have to look into it for next year.

@BowlerHatPowerHat

Smallsteps88 - I've never heard of that Asda card and we do most of our shopping in Asda- will have to look into it for next year.

I hadn’t either until my mum mentioned she had one so I looked it up. I’ve missed the bonus deadline for this year (it was in November) but I’m going to start saving £5 a week in January.

I have standing orders set up to pay myself first on payday. So a set amount goes into savings each month. My lloyds account also does “save the change” so any small amounts get popped into my savings account. It rounds purchases up to the nearest pound.

I’ve spent a lot recently in the run up to Christmas and am seriously going to rein it in from now.

We are working from home now so I’m not in town every day so no temptation of shops. Having to wear masks in shops is putting me off shopping unless necessary so no browsing. Food shops online which is saving money.

This is a great time to pick up wrapping paper, crackers and cards for Christmas and even bargain gifts. The charity shops can be brilliant this time of year, and again around September when dc go back to school and people clear out unused games and toys before Christmas. It’s not unusual to find stuff still sealed.

I definitely agree with staying out of shops as much as possible. I have a milkman so my milk costs more than at the supermarket but I save a lot by not doing top up shops. If you have a freezer, you can stretch the gap between shops too.

This one is a bit odd but it was an eye opener for me: I went from having a massive ironing pile and overflowing laundry baskets to getting every scrap of washing done once a week. Then it became very obvious which clothes were favourites and worn all the time and which ones stayed in the wardrobe. We were able to cut back massively on clothes spending. I also do project 333 and I’ve ended up looking a lot more stylish and put together for less money.

I think it really helps to change your mindset so that being frugal isn’t about poverty and can’ts and wants but a more positive lifestyle choice. Buying second hand and reusing and recycling are great for the environment. Minimalism is great for your stress levels. There’s a great book called Frugal Hedonism too. Oh, and if you want a particular book check if your local library can order it.

budget planner

Work out your expenditure and income. The budget planner makes you consider everything, from the regular weekly and monthly spending, as well as the less frequent ones such as car tax. When I first did it, I was amazed how much we spent as a family on haircuts.

Once you’ve worked out how much you need to spend on birthday presents, Christmas, haircuts, etc, then put some aside each month for these items. Either set a separate account, or get cash and put it in an envelope. Then when it’s time to get a mot, buy new school uniform etc you’ll have the money ready. It’s a nice feeling.

@Standrewsschool this has been the game changer for me in the last 18 months. I have combined this budgeting with a Monzo account and have pots for absolutely everything - haircuts,clothes, uniform, birthdays, Christmas and put the right amount in each pot each month so it is there when needed. I no longer have to use my credit card as before I was spending the "extra" I had but without seeing it as needed for future months spending on essential and then not always having the money there when needed.

The same as pp - Monzo has been an absolute revelation the last year or so. I've always been fairly organised with finances but Monzo pots are wonderful and it's the most in control of our finances I've ever felt.

I also have pots for everything -all my bills by DD or SO come out of their appointed pot and then I have pots for budget and various expenses so nothing ever hits you unexpectedly. When dh and 3 ds's go for a haircut that's £50 a time and it always tends to fall just before payday! So now I put that money aside on payday meaning when they go it's already there and ring-fenced and causes no budget strain.

The round up facility is also great - I set up a savings pot for 'Xmas 2021' a couple of weeks ago and hid it from sight (another thing you can do on the app so your savings aren't staring you in the face every day!). I set the round ups to go in so now eberytime I spend something on my card it's rounded up to the nearest pound and the excess goes to your chosen pot.

I've just checked and I have £27 in there already after a couple of weeks and it's money I've not noticed going. I'd imagine at this rate I should have at least a few hundred in there by Xmas without trying.

If you shop at lidl, download the app. You get £10 off a month if you spend £200 per month. We shop there anyway and it's easy to reach £200.

@OneRingToRuleThemAll

Save first. Allocate a set amount to savings and pay that on payday like you would any other bill.

This has been a gamechanger for me. i have a standing order that goes out the day I am paid to an account dedicated to holidays. We thought we could not afford holidays for years until I did this. First year we went on a cruise. Second year to Lapland. If they money goes out fast you adapt and don't even know it is 'missing'; so to speak.

I'm doing a thing where when I go to buy something, I think do I really need it and then if not, I out the money aside and save. I saved £30 from a take away last night. It'll soon all add up. I've also got a save the change option with my bank

I do something similar balls. I am doing Dry Jan and when i have done this in the past it used to amuse me to look at the wine I would have bought if at the shops or the pub then put that money into my savings account. I also realised that we were easily spending a couple of hundred a month on booze and eating out between us. Stopped that being a regular go to habit and we have saved loads. (DH never went back to drinking after our Dry January about 2 years back).

I have a delivered weekly shop every 8 days online. That way in a year you gain 5/6 weeks spare money. Found it really easy to stretch the weekly shop by one extra day. Also as other posters have said, I also have halved my food bill by not being sucked in by impulse buys in the supermarket and menu planning.

Know where everything is, so you don't end up buying more of something when you actually already have some but can't find it. Sigh.

Left over veg go in one freezer bag - chopped up broccoli stalks, left over cooked veg, half tins of sweetcorn or beans, chopped up rubbery carrots from fridge. They get turned into soup.

Similar with fruit, which becomes crumble.

“Compost soup” and crumble makes a good meal a couple of times a month.

There's an app called Chip that monitors your bank account and auto saves money for you based on spending patterns. You can set it to a level you're comfortable with. Also another one called Moneybox that rounds up your spending on your bank account to the nearest £1 then moves it once a week. Across the 2 apps I've saved £5k in 12 months. I moved £2500 from chip yesterday to my bank savings account so I start the year from 0 and will do the same on Wednesday when this weeks save moves over to tip me onto £2.5k on Moneybox as well. It does help that I've only had one UK holiday rather than 4 foreign ones this year and my big birthday party I was saving for didn't happen but the small amounts to add up

I'm loving these tips. Our household income will drop this year by 20% as I am going part time at work and I am keen to keep saving as much as possible.

Kind of similar idea to the 'compost soup'.

I have a big tuppaware container in the bottom of my freezer...and everytime we have a tomato based sauce type meal (often!) and there's some left but not enough to freeze as a whole meal, I add it to the ongoing freezer tub...then when it's full we bung it in the microwave and over pasta/rice as a meal.

Honestly it sounds weird but when you have a mix of a spoonful each of bolognese, curry, chicken casserole, beef stew, veggie casserole, chilli etc, it mixes together to just be a bowl of yummy stuff which is lovely over rice. And all those odd spoonfuls which used to be scraped into the food bin really add up fast to a whole family meal.