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

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

I always write a shopping list and only buy what's on it.
Use any vouchers from the supermarket.
Freeze leftovers for a lunch during the week.
Take sandwiches into work.
Sell unwanted items on eBay
Bulk buy offers and store them away.

since watching eat well for less I have saved £100s, I buy supermarket own brands, I cook from fresh, no more ready meals for us, they take minutes to prep and my children eat the lot. I will double up on some meals and freeze half, so I only need to cook every other day. I now only buy what I need, and changing brands has not made any difference to the taste of the meals.

Coffee is my vice so I bulk buy lots of capsules and ground coffee to make my own at home. Bought an aeropress and it was the best 30 pounds ever spent! It makes incredible coffee. I also do large meat deliveries from MuscleFood and freeze a lot of the food to eat over the next 2 - 3 weeks.

Shop around for bargains only buy certain goods when they are half price, bake and freeze food, draw cash out every week and never use card, and never shop when hungry!

To save money I use cashback websites and discount codes for online shopping. For supermarket shopping I wait until the end of the day when perishable items are significantly reduced - often up to 90% off. I buy in bulk and freeze to use at a future date. I also save money buy avoiding window shopping and browsing, so that I don't get tempted to make an impulse purchase

We just stopped buying stuff! If you think hard about how difficult it is to make or earn money and how much time it takes to earn the things you're buying....arghhhh! We buy essentials, we buy things if they're going to be really worth it. But really alot of 'stuff' that gets bought isn't really needed. We're not missing out or unhappy, we make picnics and go for walks in beautiful places just for the cost of petrol to get there! And for a massive day out that is well worth it!

I make sandwiches for the family every morning. This defintely saves money.
I also have a DD setup on my account to put £50 a month in a bank account i can only access by going into the branch itself.
This means that i quietly save a small amount of money that i have trouble accessing (and so don't normally spend) and i slowly save up some money that can be used for a special treat or a rainy day.

I always search online for the best prices. I even shop for my cleaner, she calls me her personal shopper as I always get the best possible prices, usually either on Ebay or Amazon. Recently she sent me a link to a blouse on a website for £25 which I found identical for just £3 brand new on ebay, she was over the moon. I also just found her a massage belt which my next door neighbour paid £180 for, I paid just £27. Also if you shop through Topcashback or Quidco you can earn cashback on your purchases as well

Shopping around is what helps me stay on budget. managing household expenses using spreadsheets helps also.

If you're thinking of going out for a meal, search online for any vouchers or deals

Shopping online I always check for the cheapest price, then vouchers, then cashback. I also check for vouchers if we are going out somewhere

I bargain hunt through the year and buy presents when I see good deals, rather than spending a fortune in December on Christmas presents

We are vegetarian which saves a bomb and I cook from scratch and double up every me l I cook so I can freeze one. I turn leftover potato and veg into nut rissoles for a cheap and tasty meal.

I buy premium bonds with any spare cash and reinvest my winnings. I also have several different accounts with my bank so I can easily transfer money over to save for different things.

I don't buy coffee or tea out and tend to take a flask with me instead.

I make mine and my daughters lunches every day, shop at lidl as its much cheaper than other places and sometimes make bigger meals that I can portion out and freeze. Helps save money :)

I have found that buying cheaper cuts of meat to slow cook saves a lot of money. If you also cook in a big batch, you can freeze portions to eat as an easy after work meal later

I am a yellow sticker bargain hunter! I buy fresh food (meat, fruit and veg) when its marked down then when I get home from the supermarket I plan the meals for the week around what I've bought and you can easily see what needs using up or any extras you need to buy. I stick the list on the fridge so I always know what to take out of the freezer the night before. Make sure you avoid reduced sticker impulse purchases though, that giant triffle might be cheap but do you really need it!? 😉

Main weekly shop in Aldi with a meal plan.
Try to stretch the weekly shop for a couple more days sometimes.
Use Topcashback whenever possible for online shopping, utility switches, insurance renewals and holidays.
Buy most of the DC clothes in Primark, as they grow out of them after one season.
Use Camelcamelcamel for price alerts on expensive items I was intending to buy anyway e.g. christmas presents

I always make a list before I go shopping. It helps me stick to what I need and not just randomly get things that I may regret later. :)

I use my bank's 'save the change' feature. It rounds your debit card purchases up, and puts the difference in a savings account. You don't notice but it can quickly add up to enough for a day out.

And apart from that, I make my own laundry liquid. It's not much work, last ages and costs about 3-5p a wash! I boil up old soap ends to make hand wash too.

Our biggest saving has been taking packed lunches for days out. It's only me and my son, but it makes a massive difference. Now a meal out is a real treat, and we appreciate it more.

As a family we have started to cycle more saved alot of money on petrol.

Avoid expensive ready prepared food and drink - make your own lunch and cook your own evening meal. Food and drink is one of the biggest items of spend and so easy to reduce

Freecycle is a great resource - I've had some great stuff from there including a table and chairs, watering can, garden pots and cushions. It's also a great way to pass on things you are "bored" with - without throwing them away.

Find out the best time to visit your local supermarket. For us, it's 1730 on Monday at Morrison's. Then buy at the best prices going!

Became a SAHM 8 years ago. Needed to make significant reductions in spending. One of the biggest was to buy a lot of clothes /household items from charity shops. I now work virtually full time and carried it on cos it is so satisfying on many levels. I'm sitting now in NEXT cotton trousers £3 and an M&Co T for about the same. Both practically new when bought. I buy all kinds. Since Xmas, new guest bed, about a third the price of new, an 'as new' hand held mixer, re-conditioned dish washer, clothes for DC. It really does save so much.

My (not-very!) secret weapon for cutting costs is mysupermarket.com. I check 2 or 3 times a week for savvy buys to look for offers where I can stock up on stuff the family uses regularly. It takes a big chuck out of my shopping costs.

Ah what a perfect thread for me right now! I am absolutely fuming at the amount of money I have been wasting on my food shop. I have completely changed my shopping habits, because I was fed up of the high bill and the wasted food. I now carefully meal plan, and only buy the ingredients I need. We always have a sunday roast, so I now buy a slightly larger chicken, so I can then save some of the chicken for the next days meals. We like doing casseroles, risottos and pasta bakes with it. I try to plan my meals so they require similar ingredients too. So I buy lots of carrots for when I want a spagetti bolognaise and a shepherds pie. It really does make a huge difference. I am also bulking out my meals with more veg, because meat is so expensive! this means I can now get 2 meals out of a pack of mince, as opposed to one before.