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

[Difissimo]

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

What's the wfh £7 a week tax thing? Is anyone who wfh eligible?
Thank you!

Unsubscribe from emails if you’re susceptible to an impulse purchase. Leave something in your online basket for 24 hours to make sure you really want it - and sometimes you will get sent a discount too

If you shop at Tesco, do the maths on the clubcard plus scheme. It costs £8 a month to save 10% on two shops with a max £20 discount each time and also gives you 10% off home and clothes at any time. I typically save around £16 on each fortnightly big shop and use Aldi or Lidl for the in between weeks.

Surpringly, Waitrose is good for baked goods after 6pm. Though less good for my waistline.

Given the current price of fuel, drive efficiently to max out your MPG. If you can, travel at quieter times to avoid queues and reduce breaking and acceleration as much as you can.

Wanted a new pair of trousers but didn’t want to spend the fuel costs going to the shops. Instead went and looked in my wardrobe and found I’d forgotten I’d bought pretty much what I wanted last year. Saved me about £75 and had a nice afternoon off relaxing at home.

Running the gas boiler for hot water for an hour in the morning and the same in the evening keeps the tank warm enough.

Just be a bit careful with this as I do know a family who ended up with Legionnaires Disease in their water tank from cutting water heating windows. It needs to be hot enough to keep on top of that, not just hot enough to be bearable to use.

This is a good tip and I do it lots.

I also do something similar with my dc when out shopping. I say wait and see which thing you are still thinking of in 24 hours. It's amazing how your ardour can dim!

Only problem is AI is all over this tactic and now flings up images of basketed items to appeal to the part of our brains that uses familiarity as an aspect of falling in love!

Excellent point but aware of that one.

Cylinder temperature unchanged so it peaks at that 2*daily.

The saving is in not keeping it at that all day and probably more cutting out the number of times we fill 20 metres of pipe with hot water.

👌 Good!

Taking lunch and a thermos flask into work. Never bying cheap brands of clothes (Primark, H and M etc), I buy quality clothes (also good brands from charity shops) and wear them forever. Looking for deals on pretty much everything. Home baking. Running in the park istead of going to the gym. Reparing clothes and shoes instead of buying new ones. Going to Lidle for groceries. Never buying take away. Dying my hair myself.

Yes, me too @Iwiicit. Came here to say this.

My top tip is to have your children grow up and leave home.

Still waiting for that one 🤣

When using the oven try cooking the rice/potatoes/veggies alongside the main.
I have three metal stock pots in different sizes so might batch cook a chilli in the large one then use the small one alongside it to cook the rice.
It has taken a while to work out cooking times, I always use boiling water but for example white rice only takes about 15-20 minutes in the oven so saves using the hob.
I also use steamer on top of the potatoes in the oven for the veggies.
Takes some adjustment but worth using every part of the oven when I can especially when it’s on for over an hour with the main.
Works really well with casseroles, curry, chicken breasts etc.

The details are here www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home

Thank you for this Squeaky. I don’t suppose anyone knows if it covers hybrid roles when your contract says base is at home and you get paid mileage for the days you go into the office? I will check with HMRC but sometimes real world experience is worth its weight in gold.

Probably obvious but I’ve only recently started doing this!
I have a fair amount of herbs in my garden that I regularly use in cooking but hadn’t thought of using them to make a tea.
Mint and lemon balm are great for this and are prolific in the garden. Simply cut and rinse off and crush into a ball or roughly chop and place into an infuser or tea pot. Saves ££ if you normally buy those pricey individually wrapped fruit teas!

I check prices of higher priced food/drink/toiletries that I buy at trolley.co.uk to see where is cheapest.
Only works for main brands and shops but I have saved a lot by doing that. Cat food, alcohol and beauty products vary a lot.

The olio app. Saves food waste and your shopping bill. Need a big freezer though

My frugal tip is to replace using kitchen roll with reusable cloths. I bought 24 dark grey flannels (face cloths) from Amazon for about £10, I fold them into squares and keep in a little basket, I use them for everything I would have used kitchen roll for, unless it’s overly greasy, or unhygienic, then just wash and reuse.

I used to get through 3-4 rolls of kitchen paper a week now it’s only 1/2 roll a week. I estimate I save £3 a week, so £156 a year plus it’s better for the environment win/win.

Rags or old newspaper instead of kitchen paper. I rarely use kitchen paper.

Using Youneedabudget has saved me a load of careless spending. The app shows you how much is left of your individual budgets on travel, food, eating out etc so you feel less inclined to spend on something that's not budgeted for. Whereas previously I had muddled from payday to payday. It also shows you the big spends every month so you can focus on the worst of them. Like, don't worry about Netflix. But do renegotiate the pet insurance.

Mix cheap cordial and sparkling water to make our own fizzy drinks.

I thought the work from home tax relief had been phased out, then discontinued?

I claimed it in COVID, then last time I went to renew it I noticed I was no longer eligible as it changed to only people who had to work remotely with no option to go to the office.

Then I thought I'd seen that the government were scrapping it all together ?

Transferring marriage allowance if only one person works and pays tax is a good one though. As is reclaiming tax on professional fees, including some union subs, if not paid by the employer or through payroll.

We don't use reusable cloths, but we also don't use anywhere near half a roll of kitchen roll a week, I'd estimate that each one lasts about a month. What on earth were you doing with it to use one every 2 days?

Which reminds me of another tip that must be less obvious to many on here - look at how much you use. As well as the kitchen roll comment, I often see on here people talking about using what seems to me to be alarmingly high amounts of things, common examples being shower gel and fabric conditioner.

I use what feels like enough, but I'm sure that we only use a tiny fraction of what people on here seem to use, eg fabric conditioner being bought regularly (ours lasts months) or a bottle of shower gel per person per week (ours lasts at least a month and yes we do shower regularly).

I fill up my watering can with the cool water while the tap is running. Obviously only useful if you have plants!