What little things do you do to save or stop wasting money

[DidSheReallySayThat20]

Wrote down our debts that's on cards as I want them clear. Dh had a little winfall that helped and cleared a chunk. Now I can see an end in sight.
Card 1. Down to 350 this will be gone by Sept ( awaiting on a 275 refund so that's coming off that, plus 75 payment in 2 weeks time.)
Card 2.. £1600 all being well and no expenditures on cars etc. I can do
£100 next week
£200 Sept
£300, Oct
£300 Nov.
And £200 Dec prior to Xmas

So leaves 500 extra to find before Xmas

Even if there was only 200 left on there if be made up

What little things all add up..

I’ve saved a fair amount from not grabbing a sandwich and coffee when out and about... can easily add up to a tenner a go!

I’ve also started weekly meal planning so spend a lot less of food and less wastage

As above. Take sandwiches, bottled water & even a flask of coffee to work or on a trip out with DC’s.
We had drive through coffee for two of us the other day & it cost over £6!

We do these things :
Take our own lunch to work, and don't buy a coffee on the way in / back home.
Don't impulse buy clothes. If you see something you like, walk away and only buy it if it's still calling out to you in a few days.
Likewise buying online, keep it in your basket at least 24 hours before buying.
Stop / or at least cut down on takeaways.
Batch cook and freeze meals .

Plan your weekly meals before you do a shop then you won’t be popping to the shops other than for milk and bread
Shop in Aldi or Lidl makes a big difference
Only buy cosmetics/toiletries that you need - I used to spend loads of money on new cosmetics/perfumes I didn’t like
When any contract that you are in expires always look for a cheaper one
Budget your expenses, put money aside for birthdays/holidays/Christmas so you don’t use credit cards

I’m sure other posters will have loads of other ideas

Should have said I'm a sahm so don't spend on Lunches out.

My downfall is fizzy drinks. I stopped buying cans as was £30 a week! I now buy bottles at £5 a week. (I don't drink or smoke this is my only vice) I am trying to cut it tho.

Take lunch to work rather than going to staff canteen/coffee shop.
I also once watched a programme about how we are on automatic pilot in the supermarket and always get the same stuff. The chap presenting it suggested going down one price point with everything (unless you already buy the cheapest) and see if you can taste the difference. It makes a difference financially over the course of a year.

Sell unwanted stuff on eBay or Facebook. It’s generally more profitable in autumn and winter. I just use the free listings and then only have commission to pay. I think I made about £500 last winter on eBay.

Take drinks and snacks/food with you on days out

Shop around before buying things. Usually check eBay/amazon/independent website/ shops even for things like printer paper

Make sure you use up what you’ve got before buying more. For me this autumn winter that’s clothes

I meal plan. Do Aldi but do a mid week top up as I have a teen and a toddler with a teen appetite. And fruit etc don't last. Top up is sainsburys or tesco as aldi is a fair drive away.

We eat a lot of meat? Maybe could change that a bit.

When I get paid I transfer all the money into a savings account and only transfer into a currant account each time I want to buy something. This made me justify each transaction and I began to hate money leaving my savings.

Current not currant. There's no currants in it.

I tend to marketplace what kids have out grown.
I was pregnant last winter and had got rid of my previous winter clothes as I'm bigger. So I do need to get that sort of thing but I tend to get asda or peacocks etc anyway.

Xmas we already save for in a seperate account along with birthday s

The cards have that on there as 2 yrs ago dh had shit job luck. Then his car blew up. Then my gear box went. And once there was a few 100 on there I thought sod it what's a bit more and very stupidly brought random stuff for the kids they didn't need. Nor prob want.
The cards have been cut up for 2 months now and I've not thought about needing them.

Could you post what you typically eat in a week and we could see if we can think of ways to reduce your food budget?

When we have mince based meals like chilli I bulk them out with lentils and extra veg which saves a bit.

Reading these maybe I'm already thrifty.?
I don't Impulse clothes buying either.. Or maybe a bit for the kids.
Maybe I need to set a Feb goal? Rather than Xmas.?

Could your dh do any overtime?

No he works 6 days and they're set opening hours
It's not that they need to be clear I was just hoping and wishing by Xmas. Maybe an u realistic goal

To be honest reading your replies, it doesn't sound like there's many areas in which you could afford to save.
Could your phone bills be less? Could you get rid of tv devices (sky or bt etc) could you walk places instead of driving to save money on fuel?
If not I think you potentially need to push back your ideal deadline date.

We meal plan as above. We go out with a shopping list and stick to it. I shop in Lidl’s. We change service providers regularly using uswitch. We look for food with reduced labels on. We put money in our savings at the beginning of the month. We write down our bills and mark them off as paid. We don’t buy sandwiches and snacks at work we have them from home.

If you're in a position to change your current account, Halifax is offering £100 to switch to them. I've just done it and the payment came through in a couple of days. Ironically, in June last year, I switched from Halifax to RBS and got £175 (£125 initially, then £50 after a qualifying year). Was happy to switch back as RBS online banking is shit!

Here's the link:
www.halifax.co.uk/bankaccounts/switch-to-halifax.html

I also regularly review our gas & electricity supplier and have recently switched to British Gas on a 1 year fixed rate deal which is saving me around £10 a month compared to the previous supplier. I also got £25 cashback as I switched via the Moneysavingexpert.com cheap energy club site. Will do the same when the broadband contract is up for renewal in December.

Meat is bloody expensive. Look at cheaper cuts if you can (chicken thighs are way tastier and cheaper than breast) or try to go meat free a couple of days a week. Definitely meal plan as this will help you stick to a budget and avoid unnecessary food waste.

I buy birthday cards in advance. Recently used Whistlefish following a MN recommendation- really nice cards at about 80p each.
Use the same generic wrapping paper for everything.

Fizzy drinks possibility - try getting cheap bottled carbonated water, and work out which cordial / squash produces a result that you like. Or even, try diluting a little bottled lemon juice and adding a spoonful or two of sugar.

Making meat based meals cheaper is a combination of reducing the per kg price you pay, and spreading a smaller amount of meat into more serves. Some dishes lend themselves to this more than others, so for example pork or chicken that might do two serves cooked straight, sliced or diced in a stir-fry or curry is likely to be an easy three serves.

Fruit - if you buy the cheaper options week to week, within the bounds of adequate quality and things that your family actually enjoy, you will tend to eat more seasonally which often means tastier.

Well done for getting on top of things and being able to pay stuff off, keep it up but don't beat yourself up if it does turn out to take a little longer than you hope.

There is no substitute for understanding where every penny goes. For month write down everything you spend money on and look at that.

Also can you increase your income. Even if that is online surveys, coupon cutting etc. Can you swap insurances, utilities etc, You tube is full of frugal videos.

If you are cooking a stir fry, curry or casserole add 3/4 veg to 1/2 meat.

Check out TopCashback- you sign up and click through the site to the site you need. They offer a % or set amount of what you spend.

Since 2008 when I started using it I've earned £2k free money. We bought a shed recently and got £25 cash back. Insurance pays out well as do utilities.

I also do surveys - Opinium is the best one and takes a few weeks to earn £25 plus I sometimes do online market research where you can get £40-50 for an hour online zoom interview

Research and shopping around saves us a fortune. Even the small stuff like groceries. We do our main weekly shop online and rotate between 4 supermarkets. For the non perishables, we just wait for the offers and then buy extra from whoever has them on offer that month. Whether it's fizzy drinks, crisps, washing powder, loo rolls, cereals, tins, etc - most of the main brands are discounted every few weeks by each major store, so you can stock up when reduced.

The old adage is true "look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves". If you get into the habit of shopping around, waiting for offers, for the smaller/cheaper things, you'll do it automatically for the bigger, costlier things too.

Also take full advantage of credit/debit card cash back deals, loyalty cards, etc - again, small in isolation but over time, they build up. We've bought a microwave from Nectar points and had loads of days out/attractions with Tesco Clubcard. Not to mention a steady £5-£10 per month from cash backs on our cards.