What ways have you managed to save money.

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Each month we pay everything day after payday, except one bill mid month which is like £30.

We save £100 pm for Christmas.
£100pm in a savings.

I then divide the remaining money by the amount of weeks till next payday.
So averages £200 pw. I seem to do the majority of shopping for £100 then the other £100 is like top ups, 1 payg after school club, things like parking, or a day out.
Id like to save more to have a bulk of money if we ever needed it. We rent so there's always a chance of a non renewal or ll selling etc.

So what ways can i save, even on weekly shop?

Cheap meals in recipes?
Other small ways that help?

We don't eat out, maybe 2x a year.
Never have coffees out.. Rarely buy lunch on the go.

Can you do anything to reduce the amounts you're settling after payday?

Buy clothes if you need them on Vinted so many bargains then sell anything you no longer use on there.Top up shopping is more than you realise try and meal plan so you have no need to shop.I make a little extra on a main meal to use the next day padded out with extra vegetables.Cut out snacks really not needed children can have apples,veg sticks instead of crisps etc.Think about buying presents and cut the budget speak with family so you all agree .Even in winter we take a picnic and a flask and have very cheap days out which we love.Write down every penny you spend over 3 months you will be shocked how much money is wasted.Good luck.

I think changing shopping habits can help. If you do a 'big shop' once a week, you tend to add things because you are there/ for convenience.

I do a big shop monthly to stock up on any household cleaning things, soup, frozen food (frozen veg is cheaper than fresh), toiletries.

I then shop once or twice a week to buy fresh things that are needed - bread, milk, fruit.

Also look around for offers - aldi and Lidl are not always cheaper than Waitrose!

Get a Clubcard/Nectar Card/ Mywaitrose card/ Lidl app. You can accumulate points and you get offers too.

Look out for coupons.

Also if you can, try and shop as 'reduction' times. You can get bargains to freeze as well as some nice fresh stuff. I find Waitrose is the best as their stuff tends to stay fresh even after the use by date; whereas other shops go out of date quickly.

Do you really spend 1200 pounds on Christmas? What on? It seems like a crazy amount to me, especially since it's the same amount that you're saving per year. This seems like an obvious thing that can be reduced significantly.

Thank you.

Yes 1200, 4 dcs 2 of which teens into tech. That includes all food, santa visits, all bits like wrapping paper etc

I did think fortnight shop instead may help, i dont have room for a month's worth. So will try that

. Yes to vinted recently discovered that and its been amazing so far.

As for monthly bills we've reduced them all to cover college travel. Only on2we kept was prime as we use a lot for work items, found by time I drove to city, paid parking etc i was spending loads. The 8 99 for prime is much cheaper.

Tomorrow i shall try a 2 week shop. Just listing what we have and don't need.

Easiest thing is add another £100 to your savings. If you don’t have/see them you don't use them.
One thing that has reduced our food bill apart from meal plan is doing weekly shop with only milk for top ups. Any other thing if runs out, will have to wait until next shopping trip.
Out of pasta? Some potatoes. No tortilla wraps? Serve it over rice.
I have also done a list of random stuff on the cupboards/freezer that I have to use up. One item at least a week. I.e. that half packet of rice noodles, jar of artichokes. We are getting rid of stuff, saving money and trying unusual things.

On your Christmas spend, rather than buying wrapping paper (which is often not recyclable anyway if it has glitter or metalic elements). What about a roll of brown parcel paper - or even cheaper a roll of lining paper (for walls from B&Q), and make it an activity for your younger ones to potato print - holly and berries are nice and easy to create. If you do it over half term that's cheap, eco-friendly wrapping paper AND a cheap activity for a rainy day.

Unfortunately, a lot of money saving can be time 'expensive' - eg I make my own samosas which work out cheaper igredients-wise, and I know exactly what goes into them, but, because I'm not very good at rolling the cases, it does take a while - I'm hoping practice makes perfect - and with four children to wrangle, I appreciate some of those sorts of suggestions won't cut it!

And to follow on from @Lalanbaba what about once a week having a buffet dinner with things from the store cupboard that need using up - some of the combinations might be a bit random - but the children might get a kick out of a homemade world-buffet!

@SweetLathyrus I actually did that the other day when I cleaned out and defrosted our chest freezer ready for Autumn batch cooking.

My children loved it!

I agree with the suggestion of the first poster. Track your spending for a month or two and you might be able to identify where you can trim it down. It's hard for strangers to give such advice when we can't know what you're buying. Open up an Excel spreadsheet and put in all your spending in October and total it up according to categories (a category for groceries, for transport costs, etc.). Further, you can break down your food shop into categories, but that may be too much faff.

Of course some of it will vary from month to month (e.g. you are probably not buying yourself new clothes or your children presents every month), but it should give you some indication and even the practice of having to list your spending in this way may motivate you to keep it lower.

The other £100 sounds a lot for top ups, parking, days out. Can they be reduced at all? Can the teens work and contribute or not old enough yet?

If you have a kid in college do they not qualify for Prime Student. It's only 3.99 a month.

I agree with pp, put an extra £100 in savings each month and have on average £23 less each week so around £177 on average each week

i shop every 8 days, that means i reduce trips to supermarket. Get children to pop up shop for milk bread - that way you eliminate expensive top up shops

taming twins has some great bulk recipes

When I receive a pay increase I automatically pay more into pensions, savings and investments - what you haven’t had, you don’t miss. I would rather save a relatively conservative amount that is never touched than an ambitious amount that you end up spending. Likewise, on shares, just use any profits to buy more.

I think you are spending too much on Christmas vis a vis savings for a family of six. Keep your eye out for special deals such as 50% off cinema membership for Black Friday, free theatre tickets for children etc., and good deals through your trade union and / or professional body.

Stop or reduce your meat consumption.