Money Saving Tips for a Family

[amireallythatsad]

Seeing the current economical climate and the fact that I am lone parent with no money....come on ladies and gents lets share some money saving and money making tips.

Here are a few of the more obvious

Turn heating down
Line dry clothes rather than tumble dry
Energy saving lightbulbs
Shower
Full loads of laundry
Bulk buy

Any more.....any more....

Ooo and here is one, making banana loaf with the bananas that go too brown and mushy.

And I'm growing some veggies....come on there must be more

Check all your direct debits- utilities, mobile phone bills, broadband, contact lenses, etc to see if there are more competitive deals going

Ive said it before and I'll say it again- Meal plan!Cut our shopping bills by a third

Eat veggie at least 3 meals a week- go totally veggie if poss

rethink your make-up and beauty products to see if there are cheaper alternatives. I have just stopped using clinique moisturiser at £30 a go

eBay stuff as soon as you are finished with it whilst it is still current and in good condition.

I need to do the banana loaf thing...just need a good recipe.

Close curtains as soon as it starts getting dark.

Use a quick wash cycle and less detergent for clothes that aren't very dirty.

Walk more places if possible.

Take own sandwiches and drinks on days out even if just day out shopping.

Downgrade a brand on groceries on a few items each week to test what you like, can live with, or hate. Also try Aldi or Lidls (some are same prices as say Tescos own but often quality is very good)

Pack lunch for work every day!

I am also a lone parent and find it expensive cooking for one My DS doesnt eat much (yet!) I find I often make a huge spag bol and thats tea for me and DS, and enough for next day filling a Jacket potato.

Deffo shop around.

I have just got my dad to switch from Virgin TV/Phone/Internet to Sky for all 3 and his bills have gone from £90 to £38.50 a month! (and we both get a free sky+ box out of it!)

Cosmetics - consider Avon. Honestly, they are fab and very reasonable. Even things like their T-shirt bras... £12 in M&S, £6.50 in Avon. Avon actually sell all their lotions and potions on to the companies like l'oreal etc for them to pot them up and sell them at silly prices.

Turn TV off if it isnt being used. Dont just turn the heating down, turn it off! WE only put ours on for an hour or so in the evening if it feels chilly, otherwise, its money down the drain.

We are also growing our own veg this year so hopefully come summer, the food bills will plummet.

Avoid buying drinks/snacks out - take refilled bottles for the kids, and a tupperware box with raisins/biscuits/grapes etc. Doesnt take up too much extra room, and save £££

If you love magazines its somethings worth the extra expense of getting a subscription. Eg 12 issues for £12 as oppossed to £3.60ish an issue!

Magaszines are my weakness!

Also toy library and library are both excellent ways of saving money and you get to give it back when children are bored!

Mix your washing powder with soda crystals to make it go further (or if you use washing tablets, use only half a tablet plus some soda crystals.

shandyleer Is soda crystals any good for sensitive skin as I normally buy non bio.

Taken on board, duly taken on board.

There must be some more. onadietcokebreak, I'll dig out the banana loaf recepie for you.

I've also found at my local library they have a magazine swap box, so you can bring in your old mags and get other ones....kind of environmentally friendly too!

Soda crystals - I've got some in my cupboard..I'll dig them out...

p.s. does anyone else think it's a bit like the Good Life at the moment in the UK - you know with veggie growing, making do, chickens etc? I love it!

Yes it is like the good life. I love it too.

Most of my suggestions are also good for the environment. Which is another good reason for getting back to basics.

The banana loaf recipe would be fab!

If you are really into magazines then swap them around with friends.

Stop buying a paper, you can read them online.

Pay with cash for everything. It makes me put a lot of pretty things back on the shelf.

Keep a money diary and track all the crap you buy.

Right onadietcoke I cant find the entire recipe but I think it is this....

4oz self raising flour
4oz sugar
4oz butter
2 eggs
1tsp cinnamon
2 mashed bananas

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the mashed in banana and eggs and fold in the flour and cinnamon. Give it a good mix.

Put into a greased loaf tin and bake. Now this is the problem I don't know the temp or how long. I normally do about 180 degrees till light brown and cake is coming away from the edges so about half an hour....but dont quote me!!! Otherwise look at the Organic Self Raising Flour in Tescos - that's where I got the recipe from!

Thank you. Will need to take a trip to Mr Ts to get butter so will have a look.

Re interest amount

amount of mortgage x 6.0% divide by 52 equals weekly interest payable.

However only house purchase and certain other eligiable home loans are ok. If you put soem debt consolidation or car loan onto mortgage that wouldn't be met.

eg £100,000 mortgage is £116.93 per week (you round up)

The new upper limit is £200,000

Does that make sense or have I just confused you more?!

posted on wrong thread for mortgage help...ignore and will repost on correct thread! whoops!

Hi there -
a money making tip from me:
check out this website:
getenergized.co.uk, I've been doing this for a while and it actually works! It's also very flexible and can work on various levels, whether you just want a bit of an extra income or make a living from it.

Good luck with it!

If you use less detergent in your washing machine (I have found you can use less than half the recommended amount), you also will find you don't need fabric softener, thus saving you even more money.

If cooking with meat, use less than the amount in the recipe - eg for 2, we only ever use 1 chicken breast between us, it's plenty.

Couldn't agree more about menu planning.

Making a soup or pasta sauce towards the end of the week is also a good way to ensure you have no vegetables rotting away in the back of the fridge before you do your weekend shop.

For health rather than economy, I've started using 50/50 lean mince and green lentils in things like cottage pies. Tastes much lighter but is also substantially cheaper.

Make sure you don't leave charges for mobile phones in the sockets.
Don't leave equipment on standby - unless you really need to.

Join your local Freecycle - you'll never know when someone else's junk could become your treasure! My SIL got a crib and a changing station from freecycle and I got a safety gate!

Try visiting supermarkets late on - you'll find a lot of fresh stuff reduced such as bread and meat which can be frozen. Dh does this a lot and we've bought bread rolls for his lunch at about 6p for a pack of 6!

I use soapnuts for laundry - don't use fabric conditioner. Just add some nappy fresh in for whites and nappies, and I put white vinegar in with the nappies to kill the ammonia smell.

Do you really need Sky? Plenty of channels on Freeview!

(BTW I sell soapnuts!)

I used to use soapnuts - are they the ones you can boil down at the end and add essential oils and make hand soap from?

onadietcokebreak - sorry for not replying to your question about soda crystals and sensitive skin, posted and went away again. I don't know how people find them generally, but my daughter has quite bad psoriasis and I have eczema, and neither of us have noted our skin getting any worse (nor better sadly) since I started using them so I would guess you would be ok.

Pad out meals with red lentils.

I make the Jamie Oliver chicken and white wine stew and used 2 boneless thighs, value wine and loads of lentils and it has made dinner for 2 nights for 4 of us!

I have a bag on standby with drinks/crisps/wipes/sun hats/camera for the easter holidays so that I am not tempted to buy food. Will just put sandwiches in each day.

Mumsnet do a lovely banana bread. Search recipes.

Make your own bread. Fresh yeast is free at Tesco.

We eat little meat now....chicken and mince really and a bit of bacon. We always meal plan. This week we are having

Bacon and mushroom pasta with creme fraiche

Mixed Bean fajitas

Pea soup

Chilli con carne

Duck legs with mash (DH got them from work)

Fish and chips (DH cooking)

Veggie curry - HM naan bread/rice

Cook from scratch and just buy what you need.

Shandyleer Thanks think I will give them a go. Am also going to give Eco balls a go at some point.

Gossipmonger going to try that Jamie Oliver variation. Sounds lovely!

amireallythatsad - yes, that's right. Apparently you can pop them in the dishwasher as well!

BouncingTurtle -

casseroles are fantastic and pad out with lentils and pearl barley

used to shop online and actually go to the supermarket now - saving 30% per week by taking time to see what the offers are, and also look on reduced section

as someone else said - meal plan - it's the way forward

check deals regularly for all utilities

check discount code websites for relevant codes and also restaurant offers - there are sometimes loads of 2 for 1's that mean you can eat out for a lunch with the children on a weekend