What are your thrifty money-saving tips? Share with Scottish Friendly to win a £300 voucher NOW CLOSED

[AmeliaMumsnet]

Scottish Friendly are launching the Great British Savings Challenge to encourage people to think about their saving habits and financial security. For young people in the future, saving for a financially secure family is going to get tougher, so Scottish Friendly want to encourage a positive discussion on the subject, by asking you for your top thrifty money-saving tips.

Here’s what Scottish Friendly have to say: ‘The Great British Savings Challenge will follow 2 families from across the UK spanning a range of family and financial circumstances. Each family will take on a series of challenges; ranging from only using cash for a month to see if they keep track of expenditure more closely, to swapping the brand they buy at the supermarket.

Each family will produce blogs and vlogs each month to be hosted on the Scottish Friendly website. Readers will able to keep track of their progress, the problems each family faces along the way and how they work through these.’

So, whether you put aside percentage of your wages, or just rifle around the sofa cushions every few months for small change.. Maybe you plan all of your lunchtime packed lunches to avoid expensive coffee shop sandwiches or have a cheaper home-made alternative to branded cleaning products.. Share your top thrifty tips for saving money on the thread below and you’ll be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 voucher of your choice (from a list).

For another chance to win, add your money saving tips to Scottish Friendly's Facebook post to be entered into a prize draw for a £10 gift card.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

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To save money I make a monthly meal plan for my family, I then do a big monthly online shop and then only need to buy fresh fruit,milk and bread weekly. I buy my meat in bulk from muscle food which is cheaper and lasts about three months. I have managed to cut down my food bills by doing this.i also buy household goods such as cleaning products frompoundland or savers now instead of from supermarkets as this is cheaper. I will buy children's toys and presents for family and friends mainly from Amazon as I find most of what I need at a much cheaper price and with free delivery too.

I regularly review our outgoings and have a spreadsheet for this plus any incoming's bonuses & renewal dates for insurance so we are not surprised and can always make sure we are getting the best deal.

I regularly review our outgoings and have a spreadsheet for this plus any incoming's bonuses & renewal dates for insurance so we are not surprised and can always make sure we are getting the best deal.

use cashback sites when making online purchases such as insurance

we use cashback websites for online shopping so far this year over £250 paid from it :D

we also meal plan to use what we have rather than buying extra

we buy gifts from charity shops and car boot sales and buy and sell groups - also use these for clothes for kids - you can get a bundle of clothes for £5 whereas buying in the shops would be that for just one item!

Definitely cashback sites and also voucher codes for days out and restaurants. I've saved around £700 in the last 12 months with these

Always use cash, it's easy to lose track of card payments

switch!

Bank accounts - for better interest/incentives.
utilities - for better deals and incentives.
foods - try a few cheaper brands each shop.

I buy most of my children's clothes and toys in the charity shop. They are too young to know they're not new and have saved a fortune. I look for toys throughout the year and when I see a bargain I save it for Christmas and birthday. We have managed to get Brio, Peppa toys, orchard games etc this way. I also tend to look for good quality clothes in charity shops I especially like picking up nice dresses etc, it doesn't matter if they get ruined because they're cheap but to be fair even after trips to the park etc she hasn't managed to ruin one yet.

Always look for the cheapest prizes, I bulk buy my washing up liquid soap powder a toilet rolls.

Haggle where you can. I do my regular grocery shop online and pay an annual fee for unlimited deliveries. The renewal date was approaching so I phoned and asked what deal could they offer and they halved it!
Also always google for discount codes when shopping online and use a cash back site such as top cash back where you can.

Make sure you plan meals and use any leftovers e.g. Bread slightly past it's best makes lovely bread and butter pudding.

Don't look for things you want to buy when you get paid, because then you're so excited to buy them that you don't stop to think if you actually need them!

Check Mumsnet, Netmums and your local face book page for activities. If you 'like' your local newspaper/soft play/leisure centre etc you'll be kept up to date wit what's going on for children at little or no cost.
Consider getting an annual pass for somewhere. They are an expensive outlay but provide a 'free' treat the rest of the year. However, don't underestimate the fun that can be had with a friend round in the garden and some biscuits, homemade for another cheap activity but shop ones are cheapest.
If you're disciplined get a Tesco credit card to get club card points which give you free days out.
Give everyone, adults as well, some pocket money that's totally theirs to spend. I like to go to Starbucks once a week with a friend. That's what I choose to spend my money on, dh saves his for video games but we don't mind because we know we've budgeted for this small frivolous spend.

Always challenge the car insurance quote renewal and the annual travel insurance renewal quotes. They usually try it on and that really irks me. There is no such thing as customer loyalty with these providers and you have to be as ballsy as they are.

Little things really help - ensure you get the last drops out of bottles, cut the end off the toothpaste tube (you'll easily get another 8-10 toothbrushings from the leftovers that usually get thrown away)...

Use coupons for supermarket shopping, use your loyalty points wisely rather than just spending them on shopping, go to your local market it might be cheaper, freeze reduced items with short sell by dates such as milk and bread to save money.
Sign up to Freecycle/ Freegle in your area to offer or receive items for free.
Use a cash back website to make purchases on line.
Haggle with big companies for best price.
Barter with your neighbour, we often get free firewood and eggs in return for items we have an excess of.
Use a credit card that gives rewards or cash back, same with your bank account..
Sell your stuff on eBay or elsewhere instead of taking it to the dump.

We buy a lot of woopsies ( meat that goes out of date that day) and then freezers. It saves a fortune. I also batch cook lunches on a Sunday evening. I make soup, pasta etc and freeze that. Xx

Ask for samples of foundation for upmarket brands like Estee Lauder from places like Debenhams, take a few travel sized pots with you and it will last for ages.

We're currently swapping around three bedrooms and it's involved buying a fair amount of furniture and other items. I have a spreadsheet where I've listed all the furniture I've seen and liked, with the price. I can then see at a glance what the total cost is per room and swap in/out different furniture options to reduce cost or give a bit more of the budget to an item. By doing this I've been able to keep control of the budget.

I also used my spreadsheet to work out the cost for our adjustable twin track shelving. We needed quite a bit so I used the internet to get the costs for B&Q etc, then compared it to online retailers. I was able to save over £100 by buying online.

I bulk buy and sore alot like toilet paper etc. I also batch cook and freeze which saves a lot.

I've saved a lot of money using coupons - its amazing how much companies give away in coupons but people ignore. So from joining Caring Everyday (for Johnsons) to getting the P&G brand coupons from Supersavvy and then using the Boots app to get more points on purchases it's been great and huge savings too.

my money saving tips are supermarket shop wisely own shop brands are just as good as some brands you just have to try them also i find freebie sites are good for free samples of almost anything which you can test also i tend to get samples of perfumes and make up instead of buying them as they can tend to last a while which does saves money i have had a great money saver recently i find if you need furniture a good buy is checking the local charity shops you can find great furniture for a good price instead of buying new furniture as new furniture can be expensive and catalogues where you are spending a lot of money and you feel like you paying for ever more

As the old saying goes "Look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves". I shop around for the best prices, buy sale items I need, use vouchers and money off coupons and don't buy more than you need.

I always check a price comparison site before going shopping and before I buy big price purchases I always look for discount codes as well as best prices.