Less obvious money-saving tips and frugal ideas that actually help

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Can you give me your best money saving tips? Not the most obvious ones but ones that people might not think of. Ingenious ways to be frugal and save money

Cheap rate electricity over night. No washing, drying, long showering before 11.30pm or after 5.30am. We have delay functions on the washing machine and the tumble dryer. It's a hassle having to wait till 11.30 at night to wash my hair but I only do that a couple of times a week, I can still have my quick daily shower at a normal time. As soon as the weather gets nice, dry washing outside, if its been done overnight it's ready to go out first thing.

Board game nights. Turn off TV, computers, phones and play a game. In the summer we often eat outside and sit out and talk/play late into the night, sometimes our neighbour will come over with a bottle of wine.

If you are booking accommodation through air bnb or booking.com always see if the property has its own website as it is often much cheaper to go direct

savers sell a 500g tub of aqueous cream for £1 which is much cheaper than most sensitive skin shower gel.

I bought a second freezer which has more than paid for itself by allowing me to freeze all leftovers and batch cook

I go through my freezer on a monthly basis and write a full list of everything that’s in it and tape it to the front of the freezer.
I pick up a lot of yellow sticker items and do a lot of batch cooking and sometimes would forget what I had in there. First time I did it, I had nearly a weeks worth of meals without buying anything.

I agree. It might not work if there are several in the household.

Stick to the same brand, or if you shift to a cheaper one and it's OK then don't go back to the pricy one. For example, if you go from Fairy liquid to the cheap Aldi one, then go back to Fairy, you'll be using far too much.
Same with bog roll.

I do the opening tubes trick. Trial sizes are the worst.

Buy loose fruit and veg if possible. You buy less and waste less.

Space online shopping deliveries wider - every 8 / 10 days instead of every seven days. Eat out of the cupboard/freezer on the extra days. It cuts food waste too, and stops you buying on autopilot.

Have a genuinely tasty, desirable SOS meal in the freezer or cupboard that you can get on the table quickly if you come home tired, hungry etc, when you might otherwise reach for a takeaway.

I haven't rtft so apologies if it's been mentioned but when food shopping check the price per kg , not the price per item .
There is often a big difference the nightingale peppers at tesco look cheaper but infack the sweet ones are better value.
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I always check price per Kg.

When I was growing up the NDN would weigh pre-packaged grocery items so now I do it too.

Have a week when you don’t shop but use up what you have in your freezer, fridge, cupboard.

Definitely supermarket deliveries. I find it difficult not to buy all sorts when I go to a store. If I can't get it price matched for Aldi prices I don't buy it or I buy it at Aldi.

I keep a list on my phone of things I need to buy as well as a running food list e.g. oven gloves
I include stuff like underwear.

I usually cook meals for two or more days at once.

I'm about to do a freezer check and write a menu plan from the contents.

We don't buy fizzy drinks for regular use.
We only buy supermarket brand toiletries.
We limit the types of cleaning products we use.

I don't go, what I call "recreational shopping". It leads to dissatisfaction with my life and 'needing' stuff.

I only buy coffee out, if I am with someone. I know that the cheapest great coffee is at our local library so I see people there. We are talking less than £5 for two drinks.

We only eat out for celebrations

I tried to focus on things I was spending on regularly so instead of £8 a day on two flat whites, I bought a coffee machine. Instead of expensive branded washing liquid, I switched to supermarket own brand washing powder. The same for shampoo and toothpaste.

We also plan our meals based on whatever yellow stickered items we have in the freezer. We don't plan a meal based on a craving for chicken and go out and buy full price chicken thighs if we have reduced pork in the freezer.

A second freezer is an excellent idea but my friends think I'm mad for having bought one. It has saved me so much money though.

I buy all my fancy loo roll, dishwasher tabs, washing tabs, in fact all domestic stuff ( usually in bulk off Amazon but doesn’t have to be in bulk) - at least 30% cheaper , sometimes more

If you book accommodation via booking.com on free cancellation till close to the date , keep checking prices and availability from a month before every few days and if necessary cancel and rebook - several holidays I’ve saved over£500 just by doing this -

Go back to basics with cleaning products. In particular, white vinegar is both cheap and effective - it gets rid of water marks on showers and is also great for cleaning windows.

It helps to be mindful about the cost of whatever you're purchasing - if an item costs £xx, add on tax/NI, and work out how many minutes/hours you have to work to buy it.

Always compare 3 options so you naturally pick the cheapest without feeling deprived.

Use dried beans and lentils to bulk up meals.

Water down washing up liquid and put in a spray bottle rather than a squirty bottle to make it go further

If you chew gum, only use half a piece at a time - pack lasts twice as long.

Buy surface cleaner (antibac) in concentrate and dilute to fill up an old spray bottle for cleaning surfaces rather than buying a new bottle every time.

I have noticed this too! And if I don't want three red peppers, I buy loose ones which come in all colours. They are 70p a piece (same as the sweet peppers) and are significantly bigger than the Nightingale peppers.

Many of my recipes only require one or two peppers, so I only buy what I need.

Pack away winter / summer clothes so that when spring and autumn come you unpack new clothes and it feels like you've got a new wardrobe, people compliment you on your new clothes etc. Reduces the feeling of boredom and wanting new stuff.

Get on offer bread and keep it in the freezer for toast for the kids or yourself if you're still young enough to look bread without putting on half a stone.

Buy frozen berries for smoothies or deserts.

Make blackberry jam in autumn.

If you have sliced meat in sandwiches Buy your own and cook it rather than overpriced packs of chicken or ham.

Regrow your lettuces - chop the bottom off a little gem and put it in water and it will regrow. Or just grow lettuce leaves from seed.

Use your freezer a lot, freeze batch meals like spag bol, curry and soup. Freeze left over fresh herbs in ice cube trays with oil - or grow your own herbs from seed so.you can just use what you need.

Think about what you can repair / refurbish to save buying new. E.g turn old jeans into denim shorts. If you can sewing, adapt or alter clothes.

Make diy greetings cards and edible gifts like fudge or biscuits, or even home made soap or candles. Wrap in a cellophane bag with some ribbon. Rather than having to shell out £3 on a shop card, £2 - £3 on a gift bag, £12 on wine and £6 on chocolates for example which you could easily do going to visit someone in their new home / new baby / birthday / dinner party etc.

Cancel gym memberships and buy weights to use at home - get cheap used from market place.

Go food shopping in person and have just a rough list of what you need for each day's meals and buy what is on offer or is more budget-friendly. You can also check the quality and freshness of the produce which you can't do with online shopping.

Invest in some Lakeland stayfresh longer bags. They are reusable - seemingly ad infinitum - and really make veg last for ages in the fridge.

Chop up leftover veg & potatoes and freeze ready to make soup. You can use leftover mash in soups as well.

Leaving a room? Turn out the damn light (looking at you DH)!

Lose your taste for fancy coffee and all the other paraphernalia that goes with those machines. Get used to instant Nescafe instead and save a fortune.

Don't go food shopping when you are hungry.

Go blackberrying in autumn and make friends with people who have fruit trees.

Get used to instant Nescafe instead and save a fortune.
Get used to Aldi or Lidl coffee instead. The Alcafe 'gold blend' is nicer than Douwe Egbert gold blend.

I put my washing up liquid into a small handwashing soap dispenser which helps me use only what’s needed. Also, I buy cheap bubble bath to top up my liquid hand soap. And cut toothpaste tubes open to get all the expensive toothpaste ( same with hand cream).

Yes! I buy that aoili in the yellow tub from HB as well. It’s so good. Can’t find it anywhere else. Co-op used to do it.

I do this around every 5 weeks- basically I see what I have in freezer ( and we don’t have a huge one in this rented house) and that week I actually write a list and plan properly every evening meal - so I still buy that week but probably only £55 as opposed to around £115 .

I like a coffee, but can't be bothered faffing, so I bought a L'Or, Nespresso comparable machine. Check their website, they have regular offers for the machine plus a bundle of capsules, much cheaper than the Nespresso brand. I buy the capsules, in bulk from L'Or and usually pay 25p to 27p per capsule. You have to buy a fair amount to get free delivery, but keeps the cost down. Some supermarket own brand are good too. Just try a few to find the ones you like.
Use the Petrol Prices app to find the cheapest fuel, and buy when you are driving past, not making a big detour. We used to budget for our business annually, and have carried that into our personal life. So, if you save £2 a week on say petrol, that is worth £100 a year, but you have to earn £150 before tax and NI to have £100 net.