Hit me with your best money saving tips

[Savvyshopper81]

Right, I need to save/make money pronto. I can’t take on a second job as wages would just be eaten by childcare and DC is already in all the wrap around care/holiday clubs going, so I need to find a way to cut back and/or make some extra cash ad hoc.

I already shop in Lidl (it’s my closest supermarket and I drive passed it twice a day so most economical for me as I’m not making extra journeys), I do the Ocado thing where they send me free stuff to review, and both me & DC do market research for cash in hand when we can. Utilities are all with cheapest suppliers & I buy what I can second hand. What else can I be doing? I’m not entitled to benefits and not exactly on the breadline but outgoings are creeping up and I need to feel more in control. Any advice greatfully received.

Switch to a new bank to get the bonus every year or so (around £100)

Get in the habit of alway taking snacks, drink, packed lunch

Write a list of cheap or free outings, and keep it on the fridge, suggest one of these instead of paid for things

Decrease meat & increase vegetables beans or grains in every meal you cook.

Buy big packs of meat, then split into small portions before freezing

Rotate your TV subscriptions.

Don't buy alcohol.

Do the odd no spend weekend.

Avoid food shop top-up's.

Don't food shop when you're hungry.

What are your current outgoings? Where are you possibly wasting money?

Go through the last six months of your bank statements and highlight every unnecessary spend. Add those spends up, often it’s not the big splurges that trip us up but the constant drip, drip of seemingly insignificant amounts. Life would be miserable without occasional treats but resolve to make them treats you truly appreciate going forward.

Go through this and do everything that is relevant. Better than people on here trying to guess with no information about where your money is currently going - there could be endless things other than groceries that you're spending it on that could be cut back on if needed.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

Use a cash back site (topcashback or Quidco). You click through as you buy online (I'm up to about £3k and you can get particularly good payments for insurance and broadband).

Use camelcamelcamel. It's a price tracker for Amazon and you'd be surprised how much their prices vary daily. You put in your target price and it emails you when it falls to that level.

Sell old stuff on Vinted. EBay has become expensive fee wise but recently scrapped final value fees on clothes at least.

If you have Sky tv, tell them you're going to cancel. You should get 50% off at least. (I had 75% for a while but those days seem to be gone).

Always price check home and car insurance using comparison websites.

buy clothes from charity shops
dont replace your wardrobe so readily
make cheaper meals, use lentils,
go down a brand, shop's own
dont buy soft fruit/or buy it frozen

Use a cash back credit card and pay it off every month.,

menu plan and on line shop so you're not tempted to go off plan.

take picnics and drinks out with you.

sell any unwanted clothes/toys/books

don't pop into b&m or home bargains if you'll buy stuff you don't need

What do you currently spend excess money on and how much do you need to save?

The best tip is to treat it like a game and flip your focus to being pleased with every penny you save - MSE have forums devoted to frugal living and it is amazing when you get going.

But the key figure is the difference between your essential bills and your income - realistically you can't save what you haven't got.

Go back over bank and credit card statements and complete a spreadsheet of literally every single penny you have spent over the last 3 months, and analyse where you could have saved money. Make changes.

Time consuming but worth it.

Are you absolutely certain you're not entitled to any benefits? Are you claiming child benefit at least? Use a calculator like the Turn 2 Us website - you might be surprised.

Bank Switches are very lucrative, upto £250 a time. Have a donor bank account ready (easy to do from the bank you are with) set up 2 DDs, I use PayPal and an empty credit card.

I use receipt apps: Zipzero, shoppix and storewards. The last 2 give PayPal or Amazon vouchers, not a lot but get £2-5 most months. Zipzero pays out to your bills, so I use this for my Gas / Elec or council tax, although they are having cashflow issues at the moment and havent paid out in 3months.

Cashback credit cards, debit cards and reward bank accounts. Get paid for every £1 you spend. If you are going to spend it anyway, might as well get paid for it. My platinum Amex pays me £200pa, really useful as it is deducted from my Jan statement so is knocked off my Xmas spending.

Every penny you are not currently using should be in an interest bearing account, easy access savings so can transfer it if needed in a second.

Store loyalty cards, I have them all. I'd say the only 2 that really pay off are Nectar and Lidl but becoming more needed are the dual pricing is coming into most chains. I keep them all on an app, Stocard so no hassle keeping hold of physical cards. Even keep my library cards on there.

The main thing to buy "only what you need" as cheaply as possible. Get to know if Amazon is cheaper than B&M for that shampoo you like. I buy stickered food and freeze. Yesterday, I picked up 3 packs of co op deluxe Cumberland sausages that were reduced, separated them and froze them, I'll bag them up today. Easy to airfry only a few frozen sausages at a time, no waste.

Hey!

You can save money by getting free samples of the stuff you usually buy. Loads of companies offer them and you can nab really decent stuff without paying for it.

There are some excellent websites out there for finding freebies - including the Latest Free Stuff and Latest Deals websites.

The Freebie Alert Chrome extension can help you find freebies if you shop on Amazon: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/freebie-alert/mofblmaoeamfpdmmgdahplgekeijbaih.

It lets you know if the Amazon product you're looking at is being offered as a free sample by another company.

(Disclaimer - I created it and run Freebie Alert. We've always got lots of free samples coming through.

Instead of grocery shopping weekly, shop every 8 or 9 days for a few weeks.

Those extra days are good for using up freezer food or doing something with store cupboard ingredients. You can make some really lovely (and cheap) meals.

Pay yourself first. Whatever your savings amount is, whether it be $5 or $100, put that amount in your savings account before you do anything else! Then, Whatever else is left, divvie that up for food, bills, expenses etc. But always put money into your savings first. If you pay bills etc first, then you may not have money "left over" to put into savings, thus you won't save... so save first. But make it a manageable amount. Even $10 over the course of time is better than $0.

Could you do rover / advertise to look after peoples pets? Lots of easy cash to be made there and can fit around your free times.

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