My tip for frugal living is to make the most of any points/perk situation you might have and to do so strategically to get the best value from the lowest spend.
points - I’ve just started maxing out the Boots recycling points thing. Am careful about my spends there. I now only shop in Boots if a) it’s cost effective and b) I can get recycling points. I’ve banked £32.00 in recycling points. Saving up for Father’s Day gift for DH.
my starting point for frugal living is ALWAYS use the library. I used to get torn apart for saying that on here but now I notice more and more people saying same. I’ve stopped buying magazines (used to spend an embarrassing amount)
I have a Perkbox login and use that for anything and everything. Save money at Tesco, Asda, Marks and Spencer. We don’t have takeaways anymore but will treat our self to a M&S fakeaway occasionally- using the perkbox to save an extra 4% on their meal deal.
I upgraded my Monzo account to the £7 monthly deal to get a better deal on their savings rate and I’m going to make sure I get a free Greggs every week and use the cinema ticket every month.
We bought travel insurance via Meetkat so get a BOGOF cinema ticket every week (Tue or Wed). Next week we’re going to go to the cinema (3 people) and only pay for one ticket. We’ll take cheap snacks in.
I’m soon going to be handing in a bag of fabric recycling to H&M to get £5 of points. DD likes to shop there so I save up fabric to get points. I also have a Perkbox saving for there too 9% at the moment. Over the months/years I’ve saved £170 at Tesco using Perkbox. Saved more than £900 in total over all the different things we were going to buy anyway (across a range of shops) It’s a real faff sometimes but feels good when you see how much you’ve saved!
we joined Costco purely to save money on petrol and that’s working out significantly - we save more than the membership fee every year.
I suppose my frugal tip is a bit odd because it involves spending money, but I think the fact that I’m accepting money sometimes has to be spent and then looking to get the absolute best value out of that is the frugal element.
I use my Veteran’s railcard to save on train tickets and wherever possible travel to get a discount. Unless my ticket is £12 or more I have to wait until after 10.00 to get the discount. Getting the train is cheaper for me than getting the bus OR driving and parking. If I’m going into town for a meeting for work I’ll try and get the time later to allow for the 10.00 thing. Saves my charity money on expenses.
I have gym membership and I max out the classes I go to, to get my money’s worth. (Generally between 5 and 7 classes a week).
I’ve started buying on Vinted. I look specifically for things I need and get those. I used to try charity shops but never had any luck. Vinted is cheaper, better quality and I’m guaranteed to find what I need.