How are you money savvy? What deals do you find?

[Closingtime94]

Hello,

This is intended to be a more light hearted thread than an actual scrimping and saving thread as I've seen loads of posts like "I only have £1600 disposable a month" or "I only have 750 a month left, am I struggling?" Etc and I know a lot of people cope on a lot more and cope on much much less so I don't want to get anyone's backs up and thought this could be a bit of fun and who knows maybe help those who are struggling and those who think they're struggling.

So I've got a lot of new born baby things second hand but my all time favourite thing was I got a sleepyhead delux pod for £20 on eBay when they retail for £130! It was in such good condition too and had everything included I was over the moon .

Another example is my cousin starts university next week and she wants an Apple iMac and she found one in curry's for something like £1164 so I told her to let me check and it's a bit of a cheat but on one of my student discount websites I found the same model for £896 with free AirPods so saved her a bit of a her student loan (because being 18 with no bills to pay is so hard work )

Being everyday savvy I shop at Aldi a lot as I find a lot of their stuff to be on par with Tesco, I check online and charity shops before buying new clothes as it's surprising what people will sell for dirt cheap brand new. I use eBay a lot.

I can't think of anything else but I'm hoping to nick some of your ideas 💡

I try to only buy stuff I actually need and not get things I can get by without. So we never had things such as sleepyhead just a Moses basket that DS slept in at night and I took downstairs in the daytime. I think our laptop was £300. I never sign up to any emails etc to avoid being tempted by ‘stuff’.

I always weigh up, is it a want or a need. If it's a want I'll give it a week, if I still cannot stop thinking about it then it goes onto the maybe list. If it's a need then I look at the best price for it.

I very rarely buy anything unless I absolutely need it. So I wouldn't have bought either of your items (baby doesn't need fancy sleep pod; much cheaper devices available). I guess that's a different type of money savvy though. If it was a need, I'd be very impressed with your level of bargain hunting though!

@RedskyAtnight

I very rarely buy anything unless I absolutely need it. So I wouldn't have bought either of your items (baby doesn't need fancy sleep pod; much cheaper devices available). I guess that's a different type of money savvy though. If it was a need, I'd be very impressed with your level of bargain hunting though!

I know the pod wasn't a need but I saw all the cute babies on my social media and I couldn't help it haha, I wasn't willing to spend £130 though - I just saw it on auction on eBay and won it

Interest free credit. Always. If you buy something and there’s the option, take it. Including checking for credit cards.

Stick the money in an interest bearing account. Not so great these days, i have switched to premium bonds if I may need the money, or an Isa if I have more flexibility to wait for an increase in value. Now I’m old I have also started putting it into pensions.

For example i recently bought furniture. Paying it off at £40 month over 4 years, while the 2k has gone into my pension, so tax relief as well.

I also don’t buy anything unless needed. I like looking at bargains still even if I’m not after anything.

That’s a good idea @bluebluezoo. I might do that and top up the pension

For the last two years I have had a challenge with myself to not buy anything new (apart from some obvious things like underwear) and to have a one in one out system.

What I've found is that I can buy much better quality things second hand, is better for the environment, we really don't need a lot of stuff, and I can sell on the things that I no longer need.

I've just bought my two DC second hand polarn winter coats and sorrel winter boots for about the same as or would cost me new in h&m, and I'll be able to sell them on one they've outgrown them.

Placemarking

Money savvy things I do are really boring. I use cashback sites like kidstart and top cash back. I always switch utility suppliers and insurers. I but things in the sales throughout the year and save them for xmas and birthdays - decent stuff, just at a cheaper price, I'm not a total tight wad! I budget every month as soon as I get paid. And like a lot of people I shop around. I tend to buy only needs and not many wants. I haven't had a holiday in 3 years, I've been focusing on sorting my house instead.

Buy things out of season. So in January, look at the outlet sections for summer clothes.

I use Quidco for everything. From a new phone contract to a Dominos to Ebay purchases. DH started off mocking me but now is in the habit of checking whether cashback is available before any purchase we were going to make anyway. And then I cash it out when we go on holiday. We've had thousands back over the last five years.

Also, I haunt Ebay for specific things - I got a £140 Baby Bjorn bouncer that was barely used for £1.29 because the seller was expecting a bidding war on a local pick up only item.

If I buy anything online I always google first to see if there are any voucher codes- it's amazing how often there are.

If I'm making a large online purchase I often phone to ask about latest deals and discuss what I want specifically. We've been renovating our house and by doing this I was offered a 10% discount on flooring that I'd already decided I wanted (apparently they had been sending out flyers with the discount but not in my area, so they let me apply it anyway) and bought a furniture bundle (which was cheaper than buying the items individually) but by asking nicely was able to swap an item included for one I preferred. Being polite and friendly goes a long way!

Access via employer to buy a pre paid card for some places like super markets get a percentage free

When the card is used then receive points as well

Hotels.com & other travel sites
Deals
Book X amount of hotel stays
Get some nights free

My bank offers cash back on some purchases & utilitiy bills

Some insurance that I've purchased have offered money back or cinema tickets or vouchers for petrol

Bought something recently & the deal included a voucher for money off food

One employer offered a "refer a friend" payment for job vacancies
The person had to be employed for a certain amount of time

I received a good payment

I suspect people who love a deal end up spending more than those who just buy what they need/want when they need it.

The deals are there to suck you in and encourage you to buy something you don't want. Far too often, a bargain has turned out to be a mistake and better to buy the thing I really wanted rather than the one I can get a deal on.

However, before I buy or book anything I do do a search for a voucher code, amazing how often you find one.

For groceries and toiletries, if you can't get to Aldi or Lidl, keep in mind what non perishables you use regularly and only buy them on special offer. Buy enough to last a few weeks/months and check supermarket websites etc to find offers when you need to stock up. I've never paid 'full price' for toiletries, cleaning products, tea, coffee, canned tomatoes or many other products that are frequently on offer.

Look at Black Friday deals, last year I found cat flea and worm treatment on buy one get one free so bought a year's worth.

I also got a really good mobile phone from Giff Gaff for £75 after quidco cashback. The normal price was £140, but they were selling it for £100 and quidco did £25 cashback - and I sold my crappy old Huawei on ebay for about £60. Nearly a year later, it's still a brilliant phone and I really don't understand why people would pay 5-10x more for something that does the same thing. I won't be changing it in the short term either. So instead of paying £40/50/60 pm for the latest handset, buy one outright for £100-200 and pay £5-10 a month for a sim only plan. Saves hundreds of pounds a year.

I suspect people who love a deal end up spending more than those who just buy what they need/want when they need it

Not true at all, no-one's buying more, they're just paying less for the same stuff by careful timing of purchases and shopping around.

I am a yellow-label fan in supermarkets! I always look for things that we would eat anyway at a cut price, and then throw them in the freezer. I then meal plan around what I've got, bulked up with pulses and in-season fruit and veg. Recently, for example, I popped into M&S food hall at the right time and they had reduced packs of organic sausages to a pound. Seeing as we eat these anyway it was a good deal, and I bought quite a few to freeze. I find this approach, along with meal planning, helps out my wallet immensely.

I do little things like shopping in Lidl and using their app. Using up leftovers eg threw sweetcorn in my soup the other day as it would just have got binned otherwise. Blended the soup and no fussy kids were any the wiser

Buy only what you really need.

Also I always calculate how long (how many hours, days, weeks, month, years) I have to work to earn the amount that thing costs. Works for me.

I did Martin Lewis tip that was on his money saving programme. If you buy insurance though Compare The Market, you become eligible for 2 for 1 on tons of restaurants, take aways, etc around the UK.

On the ML programme, Martin said if you want to take advantage of the 2 for 1 deal eating out for 12 months, buy the cheapest insurance you can on Compare The Market website that will get you the deal.

The cheapest insurance I bought was travel insurance for a day to travel in the UK. I bought it for £1 even though I didn't need it. As soon as I purchased it for 12 months of 2 for 1 dining.

Not sure CTM are doing this at the mo with covid - probably not,but I haven't checked.

I've tried to use nectar properly this year. So if I have had to buy something checked it and gone via nectar, now have about 100 pounds of points. Can double that up hopefully. eBay great for bonus and triple points.

Christmas shopping via the bargain threads on here, had some great deals. Same for kids presents.

I buy a lot of clothes out of season and put by.

Ds's next size in school uniform, I got 2nd hand from someone who bought theirs in Feb half term, lockdown came in March and then they moved away in August, so I paid about 20% for very nearly new.

I have hot water panels on the roof and a log burner in the sitting room. I stack prunings from the garden all year and burn them in the winter. (I'd have to take them to the tip otherwise). Not exactly a deal but my first quarter gas bill for this year was £37.

I'm trying to reduce our meat consumption so padding out with lentils and veg. Much healthier and less expensive but ds hasn't noticed.

This week I've bottled 20 jars of free blackberries. We have them for dessert with creme fraiche

@icedaisy

I've tried to use nectar properly this year. So if I have had to buy something checked it and gone via nectar, now have about 100 pounds of points. Can double that up hopefully. eBay great for bonus and triple points.

Christmas shopping via the bargain threads on here, had some great deals. Same for kids presents.

I don't shop in Sainsbury's much as have most of the other supermarkets closer and find them expensive, but we do collect the points on ebay purchases.

A couple of years ago I had a decent amount of points so used them in the November double up event and got a few bottles of really nice fizz for Christmas. I picked mostly those which were on offer, so got something like £60 of wine for £20 worth of points, by combining the reduced price and double up event.

So a tip is 'double up' where you can. Every so often my Waitrose card sends me vouchers for £8 off £40. I don't routinely shop in Waitrose, but if I have one of these vouchers, I will go there on a Saturday and see what good offers I can find.

I get my normal Saturday Times newspaper for free and £40 worth of items on special offer, usually including a really nice bottle of gin, and get the £8 off, so making it quite good value instead of the usual extortionately expensive compared to Aldi.

@KooKooKachu

I did Martin Lewis tip that was on his money saving programme. If you buy insurance though Compare The Market, you become eligible for 2 for 1 on tons of restaurants, take aways, etc around the UK.

On the ML programme, Martin said if you want to take advantage of the 2 for 1 deal eating out for 12 months, buy the cheapest insurance you can on Compare The Market website that will get you the deal.

The cheapest insurance I bought was travel insurance for a day to travel in the UK. I bought it for £1 even though I didn't need it. As soon as I purchased it for 12 months of 2 for 1 dining.

Not sure CTM are doing this at the mo with covid - probably not,but I haven't checked.

I'm not convinced. Most of the deals aren't available at weekends and if you find yourself going out midweek to take advantage of the offer, you haven't saved anything.