Money saving tips

[beckywiththegoodhair27]

I'm really struggling with money lately. I work part time roughly 28 hours a week but it's a low paid job.

I earn enough to cover bills, petrol, food shop etc. But with it being summer holidays I'm finding I have very little left for activities with dc. Even cheap things like going swimming are adding up.

What are your go-to money saving hacks and how do you entertain the kids on a budget?

Shopping in cheapest possible way, Aldi mainly.
It depends on DC age but with primary school age I used to find that baking and cooking was a good and cheap activity, film afternoon/nights at home complete with DC making tickets, programmes etc and cheap sweet pots (made with sweets from Aldi).
There are lots of online guides for free days out in different areas to help families over the holidays.

Hi

Look for any free local things to do. We recently found a free museum, it's actually really good and there's free parking outside and a play park nearby so that's a whole day out for free if we take a packed lunch.

Have you got any woods you could go for an adventure in. A river to play in. Country park. Beach.

Meeting with friends at a local park with a picnic.

Arts and crafts things are pretty cheap from places like Wilko. Baking?

We recently did fruit picking which was great and pretty cheap-only pay for what you pick, plus we needed fruit anyway why not make a whole afternoon of it. The kids loved it.

Have you checked if any clubs/lessons your kids go to have anything like free sessions if your a member eg the swimming.

A couple of years ago we bought a member to a local theme park that my kids absolutely love, we ended up going every couple of weeks and because the amount of times we went the days out only worked out as costing £15-20 for the four of us rather than £100 per time had we not bought the membership.

I have a money saving tip/hack I want to share.
I am super clumsy and broke the glass bowl on my Kenwood K-Mix stand mixer 😟 I wanted a replacement stainless steel one, but even 2nd hand they're over £50! So I took a punt on a cheaper option which was an Andrew James replacement stainless steel bowl for £15. So far so good ... The problem was that the bottom fitment was too large ... Bugger. Ahah! Says I. I put my Engineering hat on and came up with a solution thusly! I cut a circle of Tupperware plastic to fit inside the top recess of the grey screw off base piece from the ex-glass bowl. Glued that into place with superglue. Once dry I glued the ring to the bowl centrally and used some tape to clamp them together overnight and hey presto one K-Mix dupe bowl, that works perfectly! Obviously I hand wash it, but it's a small price to pay to save over £30 at least on a bowl!

I always buy online via a cashback site, when it has built up I cash out a pub voucher and have a free mealand drink.

Don’t assume you have to buy everything new. eBay is your friend.

Depending on where you live, crowd funding a National Trust membership for a birthday or Christmas present, gives totally free family visits for a year. It's a bargain given that family tickets can be about £40 for non members. Obviously, it doesn't pay if you have no properties within easy reach.

Make use of local libraries, parks, etc with Christmas coming up you could ask for annual membership to a local attraction. We find we pop to ours about once a week now. I never mind if we end up going home after half an hour, and it's saved us a fortune. Also look out for those booklets that offer discounts- haven't used one in years, but they always seemed to give you the money you spend on them and more back.

I try to go to the shops with a list of necessary purchases. But I don't always get to stick with it.

Def us, check ebay before buying new