Has anyone got any tips on living below your means.

[ScarboroughFairy]

I don't mean setting a budget I mean tricks and tips. This could help anyone if you want to chip in. my idea is bar soap instead of bottles. I don't have a problem with frivolous spending but I am living above my means. I am OK with the cost of my food and bills etc which are reasonable. It's just everything else.

Before buying books, magazines and newspapers check your library catalogue, BorrowBox and Press Reader.
Reduce the cost of cleaning materials - white vinegar, soda crystals and washing up liquid will meet many needs.
Grow your own herbs. Cut and freeze them as ice cubes for use in winter.

Don't upgrade your phone when your contract expires. Keep your old phone and get a cheap SIM only deal. I've gone SIM only for £3.90 a month.

I did this, along with tracking my spending for 3 months. In the savings I had auto deposits I budgeted for rehular ssvings, b-day presents for a select few, Xmas, and car expenses. I've managed to pay all of that without dipping into my savings. I upped it this year. It was surprising how much I saved in one year. I may actually be able to go on a "real" vacation of my choice this year.

This. I contribute a lot to pensions and I never see that money. So even though I theoretically earn £8k/month, I only ever see about £5.5k. If you have a problem spending more than is in your bank account, that’s a different issue! For me, if I can’t see it, I won’t spend it.

I also use a budget app that tracks everything and I preset buckets. I don’t have to stay within them obviously but I always feel disappointed with myself if I go over. You can commit to saving discretionary purchases for late in the month when you’re sure it’ll be extra.

Cook from scratch. Ingredients are usually cheaper then prepared food

Chicken thighs are a lot cheaper then skinless / boneless ones and it takes 30 secs to bone and skin one

Learn to look at the price per kilo rather than the headline price. The end aisle "special offers " may not be the best value

Dont be feared to yellow sticker shop, or use the community fridge, Olio , too good too go - they are there to avoid food waste , not just for those on low incomes

Use cash back sites for purchases - esp things like broadband , insurance etc

Look at who you have accounts with. One of my bank accounts have cash back offers on loads of places which you get automatically just by tapping - but you have to activate the reward . My electricity company also has rewards for hotels , eating out etc

Have a couple of accounts and move the money around if you are getting something for nothing. We moved the same 1k around for years between a couple of accounts so we got the benefits of a paid account - without paying - free travel insurance, cash back, interest etc

Use club card points away from the store. I use mine to pay for ferries or hotels

Look after your clothes. Polish the shoes, get them heeled , hang the coats instead of draping over the bannister. De bobble knitwear , keep the weight steady so you dont out grow ( obviously that doesnt work for children ;) )

Only buy the clothes you really need , not the ones you fancy, wear once and hide at the back of the wardrobe. Anything that doesnt fit or you dont like or will never wear again, in good condition - sell on

Unless you are on your complete uppers, tip your purse out every day and put any change into piggy banks. I save all coins because I do carry some cash and we saved over £2k in two years ( we also threw in any tiny lotto wins that we got )

Commit money to savings on pay day. If its not there in your every day account - it cant be spent

Use comparison sites for big spends - and cash back

Haggle on insurance quotes - go to a comparison and find the cheapest like for like and ring your insurer and say I can get it this price - they will match

Look for discount vouchers if going to a chain resturaunt , there's usually some offer or another available

Use the Library for all reading material. You dont need a Kindle, the library have an app and there is a kindle app for phones

Only pay for the channels you watch and wait for special offers. I like a few on apple for example, but I wait till the seasons have dropped and then wait for £1 a month for 3 months or similar, and then binge

Know the price of everything and expand where you shop. Buying everyday toiletries and cleaning products in the supermarket is really expensive Try Savers or Home Bargains

If you drive, think about the journeys you make - do you need to drive? I have a bike now that I use for local journeys - ie within 5 miles during daylight

And we make do and mend. Not for everyone I know but DH is good with his hands and I can repurpose / refurbish items

We have also done the veg growing - too much time wasted for little results , we do keep hens though , the eggs are priceless

Never buy a drink or snack when you're out. Coffees and bottled water all add up.

This. As well as bar soap, people have mentioned not buying fabric softener and hair conditioner. We probably spend around a fiver a year on fabric softener, maybe double that on conditioner and not such a massive amount on shower gel and hand wash that the saving by swapping to bar soap could possibly more than £10/20 a year? And I don't want to stop using any of these, so I'll carry on buying them.

On a related note, look at how much cleaning products and toiletries you use, the amounts people talk about on here seem alarmingly high to me. So much must be getting rinsed uselessly down the drain.

Agree with the suggestion to shop in Aldi. But we regularly shop in M&S too - some of their basics are very good value and as I've said below, I get quite a few M&S vouchers via various special offers, so it's a good way to use those.

But if you shop in other supermarkets, always use their apps and loyalty cards, to get the discounts (but be wary about buying things that are still not that cheap after the discount/offer).

Avoid anything made by Heinz, a complete rip off and performs poorly in blind taste tests. But if there are any non perishable branded items you buy, never pay full price, always buy on offer and keep in stock so you don't run out.

For many, prepared food and drink will be a big area to concentrate on. Much more expensive than home made or supermarket alternatives to takeaways (pizzas, curries etc). Co-op are currently doing their Irresistible sour dough pizzas for £4 each with a members card, so would be a good saving compared with a takeaway.

Get the Moneysaving Expert weekly newsletter and look out for extra money to increase your means as well as offers to reduce what you spend. Recently I've had a free £25 just for putting £100 in a savings account, changed my broadband to a much cheaper deal and got a £155 M&S voucher. I've also taken out an Amex card which earns £250 points just for using for normal spending for a few months (the points can be used to reduce the bill or buy a gift voucher, so equivalent to cash, must cancel before the end of the first year as there's a big fee after that).

Also do the money makeover to systematically review your finances to see what you can get for less.

If you like visiting museums, art galleries etc, think about a National Art Pass. There's a 3 month trial for £20 or it's about £80 a year, you can get in loads of places for free and get 50% off paid exhibitions. But the big advantage for me is that I can get into the Yorkshire Sculpture Park for nothing, which is somewhere I go a couple of times a month at least.

We only ever have one or two TV subscriptions at a time and always try to get a deal on these - for example we currently have Paramount Plus and Now TV, both half price for a year on a Black Friday deal.

Once you get into the swing of 'living below your means' you can save huge amounts that really add up and a big factor in how some people can make their money go a lot further than others. Two people could have the same income and circumstances but one could be in debt and the other have a good amount of savings and the only difference is whether or not they shop around, look for the best price, always get a deal, or just buy without thinking.

But bar soap doesn't use plastic and is better for the planet. Fabric conditioner is totally unnecessary and again is single use plastic.
Please think of the environment ❤️

These are mine:

• use the library (me and kids)
• change banks - I earned £575 in rewards last month for switching my current account and our joint account
• sell second hand clothes - I don’t do this as I can’t be arsed and prefer to give to charity/friends but might change my mind if skint.
• reviewed all bills - just got a 50% reduction on internet bill
• cancelled unnecessary subs - papers, Disney etc
• stop buying coffee (struggling with this as it’s my favourite weekend treat!)
• buy basics liked tinned coconut milk, oat milk from Amazon - it’s always cheaper!
• Aldi for a set few favorite things that I buy in bulk, like organic oats
• meal plan, and Gousto when they offer 60% off then cancel immediately
• have a ‘use stuff up’ plan and clear the cupboards every now and again

stop buying coffee (struggling with this as it’s my favourite weekend treat!)

For coffee, you can get it free if you shop in Waitrose, also Octopus I believe give a free coffee every week/month. Then McDs or Greggs are half the price of Costa etc.

buy basics liked tinned coconut milk, oat milk from Amazon - it’s always cheaper

I find that hard to believe, Amazon is pretty expensive for grocery items. But in any case, if you buy coconut milk, swap to block coconut and dilute as needed with boiling water - it's about a quarter of the price.

Buy Asian branded packs of spices and store in old jars - much cheaper. Also buy prepared frozen garlic and ginger cubes, again much cheaper but also no prep required.

On the environment, we're talking about a relatively small number of plastic bottles compared with many. We don't buy bottled drinks, use reusable cups on the rare occasions we have coffee out, we don't use a tumble dryer, we eat hardly any meat, we don't have DC, so many things that many other people buy/do, our annual plastic bottle use is probably comparable with what a lot of people get through in a week to a month.

A coffee from Greggs or McD wouldn’t be a treat @Bjorkdidit ! I like being in a nice indie coffee shop and a coffee that’s better than one I can make at home!

I buy Oatly whole from Amazon on subscribe & Save for less than £1.50 a carton. It’s never cheaper than that in the shops.

Agree to have a look and see where the money is currently going and target that category. We are all different and value different things so make sure your money is being spent where you want it.
And 100% savings first. I save 20% on payday. That’s for renewing my car every 6 years and for house maintenance. The two big things that people get into debt for.

Freeview tv
payg mobile
Cook from scratch
Take lunch to work
Washing powder, not tabs (better results too)
Parkrun instead of gym membership

Freeview tv
payg mobile
Cook from scratch
Take lunch to work
Washing powder, not tabs (better results too)
Parkrun instead of gym membership

If you can afford to buy / store in bulk I get dishwasher and washing tabs off Amazon. I just recently bought 48 tablet size packs of persil for £7.59 - currently £10.98 in Asda.

Agreed.

Same. It sounds really basic and obvious, but if it isn't in my account I know it isn't available to spend. I like having different pots for different things too.

I use a safety razor, how do you recycle the blades?!

Have a list of contents of freezer on exterior. We have this do we don't duplicate buy. This is even more relevant if you have a chest freezer- what is lurking in there ?!!! This is helping us plan meals.
Don't buy drinks or food out- take something. I don't mean never go out for food, but if you might need a snack or drink- have it with you.
Buy a water bottle and take with you. No disposable bottled water.
Cut tubes of any cream, when almost finished. There is always a lot of the product lurking at the top.
Don't buy anything at garage or service stations. Take a packed lunch on journeys.
If buying snacks for home make sure everyone knows once they have had their share that's it.
If you don't use a room, have heating on minimum.⁶

Take a look at what is actually in your cupboards that you can avoid buying. Very often you'll find two bottles of half used bleach, shampoo or whatever - use them up before you buy anymore. This stretches your money.

Just make sure it's wrapped or tucked inside something else you're recycling in the metals bin. Tin foil, or a crushed can for example.

Set up a standard order to take money to a savings account the day after you’re paid. That way when you look at your balance you’re working with a lower amount and so are hopefully less likely to spend more.

Cancel subscriptions to Netflix etc and try using iplayer etc. If you work full time then you probably don’t have that much time and can find good things worth watching.

Packed lunches and drinks from home. Buying lunches out add up.

No regular snacks, well apart from fruit, unless you have a specific medical reason nobody needs them, not even little ones and certainly not beyond 5 years old. Piece of fruit mid afternoon being the exception, if you are really hungry have a piece of toast. Snacks are what makes shopping expensive

Go through cupboards and use up what’s in them. I would buy another shower cleaner for eg and have 3 in the cupboard I’d forgotten about. Same with toothpaste and shampoos.

Meal plan and shop accordingly.

Batch cook & freeze some, that’s a free meal next week.
Slow cooker is great for this, curry’s, soups, Bolognaise etc and costs pennies in lecky.

Psychology, lie to yourself. “ I’ll buy that next week/pay day”, I forget the majority of what I was going to buy when next week/pay day comes.
“do I NEED that item or just want it”?

Bar soap instead of liquid is a good one. That goes for shower gels as well as hand wash liquid. Use a bar.

If I wear something once, it goes back in the drawer/wardrobe not automatically into the wash.

I try to wear one pair of trousers for 4/5 days with a different top each day (wfh on Zoom meetings so top seen only) Tops back in the drawer/wardrobe gets around 2-3 wears over the course of the month.
End up with socks & underwear only hitting the wash basket each day.
Clothes dry on radiators in winter, don’t use dryer, on the line in the summer.

Have at least 2 days a week eating what’s in the freezer to use it up.
Minimise meat to once a week in meals.

No alcohol, maybe once a month but otherwise cut it out.

I use any gift vouchers I get for birthday/Christmas to buy birthday/Christmas presents for close family for the coming year, in the sales on line. Never use them for me.

Charity shops for clothes especially for work clothes. I got a smart Next work shirt and trousers yesterday for £4.95 yesterday. (For both not each)

I could go on…

I love the "save the pennies" trick in my banking app. I use it for birthdays and Christmas, it soon adds up.