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..

Try to go for as many days a week only spending money on bills and petrol. Don't buy any food, clothes, magazines, don't pay for parking etc. Everyday you do that is one day closer to next payday without spending money, it becomes quite addictive and habit forming.

It's just a change of mindset really.

Find the pleasure in the simple things that don't cost money or cost very little.

Don't feel a pressure to keep up with others - those who are living glitzy lifestyles (new cars, top end brands etc etc) are spending a lot of money to achieve that (and possibly getting into a lot of debt as well). And the gloss of new things always wears off!

I cut the ends off tubes of make up and toothpaste to make them last longer. I buy cheap moisturiser, shampoo, conditioner and body wash, it all goes down the drain anyway. I unblock sinks with boiling water, repel ants and pests with vinegar spray, clean the oven with brillo pads and no other products, so many household products are all about the marketing and not actually necessary.

I mend everything I can, clothes, toys, the more I do this, the more I see how things are designed to break. This helps me be a savvy shopper to really see the quality (or lack of it) in things I buy.

I walk rather than drive, wear glasses rather than contacts if I am staying home, watch free TV channels, read library books, swap children's books and try to live in a zero waste way, which is actually much harder than it should be.

I am happy to spend money. But I resent wasting it. Everything that goes in the bin is wasted money to me. It is a mindset and in not buying endless stuff I have ended up buying freedom and time instead, because I am not working endlessly to 'keep up'.

We went Florida in 2018 and to save up I started:
Menu planning and shop at Aldi to keep food bill down
Fill car with fuel and when it was getting low question whether I really needed to use it
Look at all my online bills and cancel unnecessary ones
Phone sky and get the price down
Shop for toiletries and washing powder in home bargains rather than buy in supermarket
When I went into town try and park somewhere for free rather than pay £3 or £4 to park, all adds up over course of 2 years it took me to save for Florida

Can you set a budget and stick to it?

Separate your income into bills, food and other ( clothes, entertainment, gifts, petrol, health, beauty, Pets children). Set an amount for each m don't exceed it.

Then write down everything for a month or two. I did it in excel. Now I have starling and that is great too as transactions show immediately and has saving spaces in it. I transfer a set amount of spending each month to it.

Also a car boot sale - as much as you can live without and sell it. I'm a selling well used baking tins for 50p.

For food meal plan and eat as cheaply as possible.

Aldi cola Zx is quite nice (one of the things I gave up)

Shop only on charity shops! I did all the surveys on receipts to win vouchers and entered any competitions going.

Don't take the kids to expensive activities I. e. soft play. The park is free.

Buy clothes in charity shops and eBay
Food shop in Aldi and Lidl
Use leftovers - veggies become soup, fruit becomes cake
Don’t buy things you don’t really need e.g fabric conditioner
Sell unwanted stuff at car boots or on eBay
Less meat, more pulses and rice etc

An initial outlay but what about getting a soda stream for fizzy drinks? We invested in one about 16 years ago (mainly to save on plastic bottle waste) but I think it's saved us a fortune on fizzy drinks too.

Use your library lots. I think using my library saves me at least £1000 a year! (Books, ebooks, magazines, newspapers, box sets, music, films, audio books)

Stretch everything by a day. So if you shop normally on a Friday, do it a Saturday the next week, then a Sunday. After 7 days you've saved a week! Do the same with things like washing. Stretch by a day. It'll save money. If you normally change your bed linen after 7 days wait 8, then 8 again. After 7 goes you've saved a week of time, electricity and laundry powder.

Make your own laundry powder (I make mine from equal amounts of non bio powder and soda crystals) use less than advised (that's a con anyway!). Stop using fabric conditioner.

Do save the change, switch pet food ( used to have purina one, switched to Aldi same type, delicate tum).
Eat more veggie meals.
Do less washing if you can, used my washing machine a lot, when it was humid, by washing my limited summer wardrobe, and using dishwasher extra, folks coming round.
Use a heated airer, rather than tumble drier, saves loads

There’s some good frugal YouTube channels that might help, debt free Dana is American but she has done super frugal videos for when you really need to save. Cut any subscriptions you don’t need, any monthly outgoings like insurance you might be able to get down further ( I saved heaps doing that ), frugal people drink water! not fizzy or juice... maybe cut down on meat and replace with some bean meals... I bulk buy cleaning ingredients and make all my own stuff except toilet cleaner & laundry liquid... you already meal plan so that’s good, food can be a good place to shave money off but sounds like you’ve done that already.

Oh and I don’t buy new clothes, I just ask for clothing for gifts. I did one year of it years ago and never went back. I get charity shop stuff occasionally.

I’m in debt up to my eyeballs and am often penniless for 3 weeks of every month (before paying off any debts!!!!!!)

I just want to say, I think the amounts you are able and willing to commit to paying off the debt are already pretty incredible and I don’t think you should be worried about pushing yourself any further than you already are! If February is more realistic than go for it, who knows what might happen i unexpectedly in the mean time x

@user1497207191 Can I ask how you manage to online shop with different supermarkets all the time (delivery costs)? I’m on a Tesco midweek delivery plan, which is approx £4pm (so £1 each weekly shop) but would shop elsewhere if my actual groceries were cheaper.

Watching thread for money-saving tips.

My husband is self-employed but his industry has shut down entirely because of Covid so we've had to cut back in a big way.

I've halved our food bill by menu planning, reducing the number of times I visit supermarkets (extras always fall in the basket), cooking from scratch, cooking vegetarian meals, batch cooking and using recipes from websites like:
www.thriftylesley.com
www.budgetbytes.com

I've also just significantly reduced our phone and broadband costs by switching online via www.fasterbroadband.co.uk

Also, little things like using less laundry powder, not using fabric conditioner, cutting the dishwasher tablet in half, not using the tumble drier etc etc can really add up.

Listen to free podcasts for motivation: e.g Dave Ramsay, Rachel Cruze, cait Flanders.

[quote Osquito]@user1497207191 Can I ask how you manage to online shop with different supermarkets all the time (delivery costs)? I’m on a Tesco midweek delivery plan, which is approx £4pm (so £1 each weekly shop) but would shop elsewhere if my actual groceries were cheaper.

Watching thread for money-saving tips.[/quote]
Click n collect is usually free. Iceland delivery free if you spend over £35. Main supermarket deliveries are cheap outside peak days/times. I can usually get a delivery for £1/£1.50 or even 50p for a 10pm slot.

From reading through if you want to achieve your target you have to make more money between now and Xmas rather than save. Anything you could sell?