Any other money saving tips? Have just come to the conclusion that we're BROKE!

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Help! We've just come very close to arguing, big time, about money but then realised that it was better to sit down and talk about it I reckon we've spent over £2.5k in the last month due to computer packing up, lots of people here, Christmas presents etc. So we're trying to work out how to cut our expenditure. I know people have just put a lot of money saving tips on the Wanting the best vs affording it thread but I thought I'd start a new thread for any others anyone has got. So far we've got:

Make gloop instead of washing powder (thanks PamT, we're going to try it)
Give up smoking (me)
Stop buying bin liners, re-use carriers instead
Stop buying magazines/newspapers
Turn off lights/TV when not used
Grow some veg (yeah right, but we did manage 2 carrots last year!)
Shop once a week only and stick to a strict list
Give up meat and fish, be veggie for a while (might help with my weight loss too)
Use less olive oil (ditto)
No going out
No huge invitations or offering to feed lots of people (have done this soooo often in past 6 months)
Shop around for fruit
No extras like yoga classes etc - have a video and will do at home
Wine only at weekends (weight also)
Change our mobile phone contracts (currently have a bill of £150+ a month)
No video rentals
Lidl for basics
Take food in car don?t buy at service stations
Try to sell some stuff on Ukparents or ebay.

Any others? I'm also going to put my credit cards away and pay off more than the minimum every month to try to reduce the enormous balances. We don't have a mortgage as we rent, so that's not an option. No-one's about to sue us or anything, so it's not that desperate but we have been living beyond our means for ages and it's got to stop NOW! Any and all ideas welcome. TIA.

I've been thinking and I've decided that all those of us who are using budget brands are actually also being environmentally friendly because in general they use less packaging. And personally I would definitely like to save money on packaging.

Being lazy now, sorry if already mentioned.

CANCEL the gym membership (esp if you don't use it). and walk (helps environment). Recently realised been paying 70 quid/month for gym and only been twice in four months. Gaaaad, How I kicked myself.

Loopymum - which sites are you referring to?
Thanks!

Took my first trip to Lidl tonight and I am a convert As someone who used to mock these places, I realised I'd never actually been. Obviously, you can't get everything there but the booze is very good value. Got 750ml of extra virgin olive oil for £1.99.

I love Lidl, Tinker! The fruit juice is great, tinned fish is good, also much of the produce (esp tomatoes on the vine, they smell like an English summer greenhouse) - I looked at the olive oil last week but I already have a bottle in the cupboard and I don't use that much (they had 2 kinds, a tall thin fancy bottle with less in looked very classy but cost more.) They also have some "very interesting" sausages - mini bratwurst, pale and speckled with herbs, they don't look much but are over 90% meat and very good. Agree about the booze though am always slightly dubious about the wine.

Mind you it is annoying to hear from a friend in Germany how much cheaper Lidl is there. We bought a Z-bed thing for £45 (thick mattress, wooden slats, seemed a good deal) only to be told they were c. £20 in Bavaria!

Have you tried the biccies? DD2 went on a German exchange 2 years ago and is always filling my trolley with choccy wafers etc (she recognises the packaging).

Yes, I saw both types of oil jan, went for the common looking one (but made by the same people) Why is the wine iffy? I just got montepulciano, must admit, wouldn't go for Bulgarian stuff anywhere really. But now I know what it's like I'll definitely go more often It's only like being on holiday when you don't know any of the brands really.

Oh, Tinker, I don't want to say the wine's iffy! Just that you never know what you're getting if you haven't had it before, and in my case Lidl is a 12 mile drive and it would be a right pain to go back and complain (compared with eg Sainsbo's, half a mile away) if you didn't like it.

Also, DD1 got some naan bread, vacuum packed with a Feb date, to take back to uni with her and when she was packing up at the weekend it was mouldy - and again with the 12 mile drive it's a performance!

If you have a really local branch then it's not a problem.

I must try Lidl now as we have one just up the road, but my complaint is that they seem to do a lot of things in bulk. We don't have cupboard or freezer space to buy every month, so our shop is weekly, but a lot of stuff Lidl sells, such as meat and cheese, comes in huge blocks that we would never get through! Also I get really, really fed up of the advertising leaflets they shove through my door every week.

grommit - the sites are www.tapanda.com, www.dailyfreebies.co.uk, MagicFreebiesUK to name but a few - sometimes I just do a search for 'freebies' or 'free samples' and see what comes up!

must speak up in support of the wine at Lidl, it is generally far better value than at other supermarkets. We've had some excellent wines from Lidl, which would have been twice the price anywhere else. In contrast, I recently bought a half bottle at Safeway, from a famous company based in London which should have been some guarantee of quality, it was completely disgusting with such a strongly chemical taste that I had to pour it away down the sink! Though judging by the flavour it could have come in handy for de-icing my car.

Nobody criticised the wine!!!! I have also had disgusting wine from Tesco and Sainsbury's but I can walk there to take it back!

Fortunately my nearest Lidl is about 2 minutes away so can test all their range of alcohol before I have to give a verdict.

Recommendations then, please, Tinker! (After you have given them a thorough testing of course.)

Being a little sad, I've just compared the prices of my Aldi shop with Tesco's equivelent, leaving out the wine as it's difficult to compare like for like. Aldi = £26.50, Tesco = £48.00. Would have saved even more if I'd needed washing/dishwasher tablets etc. Lidl is just as cheap but with excellent veg.

And we don't have either around here

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I agree with you Robinw, -our Lidl has grotty fruit, but you pick and choose on other things like the fruit juices/crisps/tinned food/soap. But my MIL swears by Aldi, but she has the advantage of geeting there when it opens.

looking at your utility bills try ...saveonyourbills

Well, I've just been again - 3rd trip this week, I'm getting a little evangelical about the place now, but the fruit and veg looks very good. Must just depend on the area, I guess.

Something I thought of this morning, while I was getting money out from the cash machine in Spar. All the £1.25s I get charged by machines like this in shops (the bank ones don't seem to do it any more) must add up over the years - if I was a little bit more organised, I could get the money in town (there every day at work), and save myself that charge.

I think the fruit and veg in Lidol depend on what day you go and how early. I think sometimes all the OAP's beat me to, the best of it.
Aldi does seem to be a bit better for F & V and wine, though.

Long live Lidl!!!!! I buy all my fruit juice, loo paper, W5 cleaning products, dustbin liners, chocolate milk drink powder, sausages, German hams & salami, various goodies, - I could go on forver!! One thing though - HATE their tinned goods. Used to buy them in Spain, and they were gross there too - went to the nearest supplier of Brit (usually Heinz) tins. My DH and nanny won't go near the place because they think it's common!!! This is coming from a man who was brought up on one of the vilest council estates in London!!!

One other thought - if you've got life assurance policiers which were set up quite a few years ago, it's worth checking out current rates for the same cover, as rates have come down quite a lot in the last few years.

Talking of insurance/assurance...anybody who has a fairly long-standing endowment policy (boo hiss) on their mortgage, check its surrender value and also see how much one of the companies who buy them will offer you for it.

You can possibly (depending on its age, company that issued it etc) surrender/sell it for a nice lump sum (probably not worth hanging on to it for the terminal bonus with what's happening lately), and then remortgage your house on a repayment basis without paying much/any extra a month, and use the lump sum to pay off any outstanding loans, credit cards etc which will also save you the monthly payments on them.

Obviously there are a lot of ifs and maybes in there but it's worth considering and also would get you out of the awful endowment hole.

(Of course somebody may have suggested this already, I haven't read the whole thread!)

I have Powergen and British Gas fighting over me at the moment. They both claim that their "dual fuel" schemes are cheaper. We have only lived here a few months and haven't had to pay utility bills for several years. So, how can I tell which one is really cheaper? I tried the site helenmc suggests but it wasn't available.

Xausted, I just googled and got :

www.cheapest-gas-electricity.co.uk/

www.about-gas-electricity.co.uk/

www.moneynet.co.uk/partners/unravelit/ saving/index.shtml

www.thepowerswitch.com

www.ukenergy.co.uk

www.myuk.com

www.uswitch.com

There are lots more but that's probably enough for now...