What’s your best tips for saving up (being frugal) and managing money?

[leftorrightnow]

Just that. I’m so fed up feeling my finances aren’t in control. I work full time and earn okay, DH is a freelancer currently without work (have posted about this situation in detail several times and am for now accepting this situation for various specific reasons, so please don’t comment on that).
We’re currently looking to get a mortgage (renting) but it’s hard with DH unstable work situation which is showing no promise of changing.
We’re now looking at getting a mortgage w much solely based on my income, it won’t be a lot and we will likely have to move from where we are. But for now, I’m focused on saving up as much as possible without living a miserable life and foregoing all holidays and fun completely.

What’a tor best tips for saving up, as well as in general managing money? I have a few shares (very few) but through the years I had them haven’t made anything on them.

I have a good pension plan.

We have an old car and bike as much as we can (have a cargo bike too and kids have bikes).

We don’t have expensive habits, except that we travel to DH’s home country once a year, and I spend a bit more than usual likely on my clothes as I have a job which involves a lot of representation.

Any tips?

Yea I would agree but the yearly holiday is visiting DH’s home country which is quite far away (think furthest parts of Europe). It’s the only time a year he sees his family and the kids see that part of their family. We stay w family all the time when we’re there so it’s mainly the flights that cost. We also have the issues that the rest of DH’s family is in another country so we try to visit there too at least each other year. The family is poor and can’t really travel. The kids love visiting and I think it means a lot to us as a family so prioritize it.

DH’s student loan is massive though, that really bugs me, but nothing to do I guess but pay it off

I second the 'give every pound a job' approach of YNAB. I actually find the app helpful, but I guess you could easily do the same with a spreadsheet. Each time I get paid I allocate funds into pots, each time you spend from that pot, it reduces it accordingly, so the idea is that if you check the level of the pot before you spend, it allows you to make an informed decision on if you really want to spend on that thing or not. It was very painful at first because I am not a big earner (less than £30k), and was forever swapping money between pots (which is fine btw) but refined the pots as I went so it gradually got easier. I started in 2018 when I was regularly overdrawn on my current account at the end of each month and was terribly anxious about it. I now have a consistent balance of over £2k and built savings as well. It has been life changing for me and well worth the £7.50 per month that goes into the YNAB pot!

Spend cash not by card or phone. It's far easier to see your wallet emptying that way, and I find that often I'll leave something so as not to break into my last £20 note.

Watch out for the things you think are pennies but are actually pounds e.g. coffee, lunch, bottled water, bits and bobs you don't actually need but buy when out and about.

Your DP needs a permanent full-time job or a side-line. Freelancing is financial insecurity.

The takeaways need to be dialled right down to being an occasional treat. He's not the one paying.

Make small changes like shorter showers, lower the central heating, switch to own-brand food etc.

Use cash, take out a set amount each week and only spend that, it soon stops you buying crap you don't need when you have to hand over hard cash.

Is there something that DH could do work wise that he could sign up to a temp agency to do whether its warehouse work or driving being a supply TA or office admin. Then if he's not got his usual freelance work he could still be bringing in some income. There are other ways of topping up income - look at the £10 a day thread - also is there anything else you could do? I used to mark for an accountancy training college when we were building up a house deposit fund.

Ebay and Vinted are your friend - I did a quick run through my wardrobe a couple of days ago, put half a dozen items on ebay and they've already sold - some of the proceeds have gone to buy a pair of Jigsaw trousers to match a jacket I bought in a charity shop. (The equivalent suit in Jigsaw is about £400 and its cost me less than £100.) Charity shops are also worth a look although some are now quite savvy about their pricing.

The takeaway habit is a good one to break - what is it DH likes about it? Is it that you eat differently/he doesn't have to cook//its a treat in front of the TV? Can you replicate that more cheaply? I tend to have bulk cooked dhaal in the freezer and microwave rice in the cupboard so I'll try and pick up a yellow stickered curry in M&S - curry night in 10 minutes which your DC could probably make. Ditto lunches - DC could help make packed lunches for everyone in the evening and/or to take with you if you're on a day out somewhere.

In order to make things less joyless I also have a good better best approach to treats. So if best is a professional manicure then better is a night with a girl friend and a bottle of wine doing each others nails and good is a nice evening alone in the bathroom doing them yourself. etc etc.

No idea re big money savings but every little bit counts I suppose
As I was a student for a long time I have

• knitted clothes, scarves, presents of scarves
• made my own clothes, curtains, cushions etc
• wood flooring not carpets (the hoover is expensive to run)
• don't use hairdressers, long hair is lovely
• batch cook
• stop eating meat
• don't do takeaways
• make your own coffee don’t pay someone like Costa to make it for you
• make your own packed lunch for work or when out
• walk if it’s not far, cycle if it’s further, leave the car at home
• walking is a great pastime and cheaper than the cinema, pub etc
• keep speed down on the motorway to reduce petrol usage
• turn the thermostat down to 13 and wear thermals (or hand knitted pullies 😁)
• Aldi face creams are marvellous and inexpensive
• Shop in Aldi or / and Lidl
• invite friends for a meal instead of eating out (maybe they’ll invite you back too)
• wash clothes using Aldi detergent with half the recommended dose all at a cold cycle ( ours comes out super clean without the heat )
• don’t use a tumble dryer for clothes…air dry
• don’t use a dishwasher
• vow not to buy any clothes for 6months….NY challenge maybe.
• when you do buy clothes ( in the distant future) buy classics that won’t be out of fashion next year
• see if you can reduce phone, tv etc contracts
• try camping in the uk as a holiday. Most kids love it

@taxguru excellent post thank you, you've reminded me of a few things

Good luck OP. Have you thought about forgoing travelling home to DHs country? I'm thinking make a plan to do a big longer trip back in 3 to 5 years time, and putting all that flight money towards securing the mortgage?

I don’t know if there’s much you can do as you seem to be doing really well so far and as you say, you have to have fun. I think try using cash only for all purchases and no food shop top-ups for a month and see how you get on with that.

There’s a BA sale in at the moment try getting your flights during sales?

Have you got your mortgage agreement in principle?

Ah I see flights home are important; is there any wiggle room just to delay and do a bigger trip say in 2026?

Check out advice on paying off Student loans based on what plan it is. If DH not earning enough can leave it alone.

look at snoop dot app

Money Saving Expert
So much amazing advice on there.

If you live like that though consistently you have surely given up on life.

Skim your current account and out it in to a savings account. Say one day you have XXX.51p you would skim the 51p. It soon adds up

I dont think I could live like that. I take my hat off to you if you do. I feel that you work to save a little money, but still have fun as well. Otherwise, why bother?

I set up an account with lots of different pots; general save, food, holidays, Christmas. Then have a bills account. Do all your spending on a cash back account or card like Chase. Move the cash back straight into one of your savings pots. Try and get monthly interest on the savings.

Sell things on Vinted and withdraw the money into your savings and also set up an account on Prolific and get paid for surveys. I’ve earned about £400 since July doing them adhoc. Again, put this straight into your savings so you are constantly making money.

You could also switch your current account and earn a switching bonus.

Be savvy and keep on top of things. Good luck.

There’s a savings app called Plum- you link your current accounts and it uses an algo to determine what you can afford to save that week. You can also set savings goals in the app etc. Once you have set it up it’s automatic.

Save into a LISA for your house deposit (if you’re eligible). The government gives a 25% top up. You put in up to £400 per month and with the top up it becomes £500 per month.

Have a good clear out and sell old clothes and other bits on Vinted and EBay.

Skip the annual visit to DH’s home country just for this year.

You can replace the meat in most “saucy” recipes like bolognaise, shepherds pie and chilli with beans or chickpeas.

My food shop runs away with me. This year the plan is to have a jacket potato and beans night each week to try and curb it.

Shop around for your energy suppliers to get the best rates.

Check your mobile and broadband deals too.

Go through all your subscriptions and set yourself a target of cancelling at least one.

A firestick is cheaper than a TV package like Sky.

Go onto Compare The Market and check whether you can make any savings on car and house insurances.

Get a keep cup - a lot of coffee shops do discounts for using it.

Get rid of any gym memberships, NT memberships etc that you don’t make use of.

Also check your roadside recovery. The RAC are buggers and mine goes up by about 30% per year. I need to keep cancelling and rejoining for the best deals!

Track your spending
I track everything on a spreadsheet with categories so I can see where my money is going.
It's made me think really carefully about things like takeaway coffee and buying a sandwich for lunch as I can see it all adding up.
I've been doing it for 12 months and I feel much more in control of my finances and I make better choices with spending.

On payday I transfer money to a higher interest account as savings and then if it's been a low spend month at the end of the month I move more across to the higher interest account.

We still eat out/have treats but I'm far more mindful. about my spending

Another vote for YNAB. It’s a great app and has transformed my relationship with money. The podcast is also good.

Look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves.
Basically waste nowt as a basic principle.

Giving every pound a job means setting exact budgets for eachh category some are easy it's the same each month and not realy changeable. Others can be changed but setting an exact food budget ie. £400 a month and this weeks shop is £98.47 you have 301.53 left when it comes to the last week of january you just have to only spend what is left you can't go over same with every other pot ( you must include every single item even if you go a buy a lemon for 36p)
so everything you buy comes out of a definite pot, if you get coffee out you deduct from entertainment/takeaway pot, you buy new light bulbs it is out of house maintenance pot ( or out of supermarket budget if you buy from supermarket my supermarket budget is food but also covers basic toiletreis cleaning materials loo roll batteries etc) so you absolutely don't overspend on anything normal

if something breaks before replacing ask can i repair it, do I have a spare, is there something I have already that will do same job? is it possible to just manage without? will depend on what it is, if your one and only potato peeler breaks you could use a vegetable knife you then may decide knife is fine or you may decide a peeler is better, a t shirt with a hole may not need replacing as you may have plenty of others etc etc

Emergencies have to come out of your savings but most emergencies are not emergencies but foreseeable events like needing new car tyres / brake pads etc every couple of years, however if your brand new tyre gets a nail in it, then that's an emergency but routine parts are not

I think you have to visit DH's family as that is not just a holiday it is good for your kids to see grandparents cousins etc regularly, however apart from flights don't feel you have to buy expensive gifts for them, though if they are really struggling useful gifts are good and also ensuring they are not out of pocket when you are staying there.

but i would definitely broach a takeaway every 3 weeks and the money for the two missed weeks goes to the flight fund, maybe considered instead of ordering dominos getting decent pizza from supermarket, or an indian meal for 2 from M and S is about £13 still much cheaper than takeaway though more than cooking from scratch

I do save the change with Halifax, roughly £300 a year