[Closed] Any Money saving tips ?

simple one, do you need it.

and only buy food on the day, don't stockpile perishables.

Write it all down, everything then look for waste.

And do stock pile non perishables, UHt milk, tinned tomatoes, squash, toilet rolls whatever you can.

Use [url= http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/Jaymoid ]Topcashback[/url] before purchasing bike stuff, wiggle, crc, and evans all give cashback.

My total Topcashback earnings is £436.28, just by buying stuff I would have bought anwyay!

Stopping spending money worked best for us.

Mostly we just stopping buying shit we didn't need. Well, I did anyway, the wife still does it. Snacks, coffees, magazines, subscriptions. Going out for a meal became a once a month treat.

We also started buying stuff in bulk from cheap shops. Not eating really well as we were doing (we've always eaten fresh veg with every meal), buying more tinned stuff.

Lots of little things made a difference.

Reviewed our internet/phone/tv package currently £75 a month

I think thats the easiest place to find you're over spending as year on year you can get more for less. If you get complacent and let your existing deals renew for a while you can find after a while you're paying way over the odds for less 'stuff'.

But without knowing what else you spend money on its difficult to suggest where you could spend less

An empty cigar tube full of angry wasps......

Sorry that doesn't help does it. Serious one. Do your supermarket shop at Lidl or Aldi. For branded goods they'll be cheaper than the posher ones. Try their own brand stuff as well. If it genuinely isn't acceptable go back to your favoured brand, you'll have lost nothing by trying. Save Waitrose / Sainsbury for stuff where quality does make a difference.

Going to see a financial advisor made a massive difference. He looks after my folks money so know I could trust him. Shuffled through my monthly payments and once he'd chipped away at it all my planned £300 a month savings plan turned into £400 a month once he saved me money on monthly payments.

jaymoid
I like the topcashback recommendation

Im old fashioned and always pay cash
So getting a credit card and make my cash work
All future purchases will be on the card 0%

Aldi is my biggest tip- 70quid shop became 40 quid.

More fruit and veg - that stays fresh for longer as better meat cheaper- draw the line at their fish - its all rank.

We rarely if ever use ready made meals / jars - raw ingrediants not only taste better but usually cheaper.

Take your own lunch into work. Sandwiches fruit las nights left overs - what ever its all edible i save 20 quid a week doing that

Yep get a cash back credit card, mines due to pay out this month, extra £165. Think I've made £490 through topcashback, best deals are on insurance, holidays and phones. Always always check it before you buy anything online!

for the longer game try and pay down any debt(inc mortgage) early

Non-uk hookers; they accept $ through paypal.
Cut your coke with sherbert fountains.
..and enjoy both with Aldi Cava instead of Bolly.

Just saved £200 per month on mortgage.

Original deal 3 years ago was based on a 10% deposit. With house price increase and some equity paid off, got new deal based on 20% deposit.

Look at your mobile usage. Use Wi Fi where possible. Can you live with a pay as you go SIM. My £20 August top up is still going strong. Three 321 SIM

Use a comparison every year for Insurance renewal

Let the butler go

Probably been said before but just sign up to and read everyhing on Martin Lewis' website

Firstly ignore everything I say unless you have financial discipline. First I moved bank's to 1st Direct paid me £120 for doing so. Highest rated bank in UK. Got a 6% savings with them for 1 year. £300 a month Max for one year. Took out a credit card Tesco 0‰. Third one in 3 years bigged up my income a bit!! And got £3500 So everything I spend on food etc is left over at end of month and goes in 6% savings account with them. Also the equivalent of 3/4% in points. Now up to 6.75%. Before I renewed anything I checked if paying up front reduced the cost. Insurance 2.7% landline rental 23%. The latter I always finding staggering. The card is for 16 months have 7 months to go and have saved £3700 to pay off a £3500 debit My way of doing things. Please don't try this if you have children!

PS approved foods, top scoff see if you can share delivery costs with a friend

If it's brown flush it down if its yellow let it mellow. Water bill £5.50 a month. No mains sewage sceptic tank.

Electric £21 a month. Central heating is LPG - wood. Obviously variable or put another way did farmer Giles spot me...... Joking but cost of free wood low (a bottle of Sloe Gin?). Heat hot water tank 175 litres. Everything in house cold water fill. If I use hot water tank 5 litres Left in pipes to go cold and 100 + litres in tank doing same. Alternative boil kettle nothing goes cold

SD-253 - Member

If it's brown flush it down if its yellow let it mellow.

You wouldn't be saying that if you'd smelt my piss.

When doing a similar thing to yourself we....

Went SIM only on the mobiles, went from £21.50pm to £11pm
Paid the years line rental in one go to BT, think thats £110 instead of £160 over the year
No Sky, just pay the unlimited BB and download things and now the FiL often comes over and watches football on my laptop using his SkyGo
Called the gym and threatened to leave, dropped my membership from £45 to £32 pm
Did confused.com at Car insurance renewal time, that saved about £20 pm
Got a Costco card through family and now do the food shopping all in one big go, buying bulk, portioning food out then freezing.
Prepare Microwaveable stuff for lunches everyday.
Took up running, its just about the cheapest hobby you can have

Just thought of another one, buy a cheap "safety razor" and learn to shave properly, that reduces razor blade costs to about £5 per year

"Got a Costco card through family and now do the food shopping all in one big go, buying bulk, portioning food out then freezing."

No where near as cheap as you think it is - although if you shop at tesco/asda/sainsburys it is.

we buy bogroll , meat for special occasions ,nesquik,heinz beans &theodd box of wine + some times stuff we normally buy in aldi thats on special in costco - but compariabally on normal items even not in bulk aldi wins hands down on cost if you can live without the brand.

SD-253 - Member
PS approved foods, top scoff see if you can share delivery costs with a friend
POSTED 8 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Also due £285 on my annual cash back credit card this month.

If you have savings, an offset mortgage can be a good idea.

Use Topcashback before purchasing bike stuff, wiggle, crc, and evans all give cashback.

Did you ask M&S about raising your excess?

Cut my price daramtically (had made a claim).

Steal bog roll from work
Fill up a thermos flask of hot water at work so you don't have to boil the kettle at home in the evening

I dropped to the medium TV & Broadband on Virgin, and paid the phone up front in one go, saved £25 a month on that. £75 seems very high to me.

Use a co-op credit card for food purchasing, gives vouchers to spend on food in the co-op, they have cracking deals on meat sometimes, can get 2 months meat for 'free' if I'm organised.

Tesco mobile sim only
BT line rental saver (paying once per year saves a load versus monthly)
love film instead of going to cinema.
Costco bulk buying when there's an offer on (careful to restrict it to stuff you'll use anyway - we saved a fortune on bog roll, tissues, washing powder)

Biggest and most important ones:

i) Shopping list, make one and use it!

ii) Stop carrying your cash card/credit card around with you - Either take out £30 (or whatever) at the start of the week and when its gone its gone, or even better start off every day with a fiver in your wallet, and anything left at the end of the day goes in the new bike fund jar

"or even better start off every day with a fiver in your wallet, and anything left at the end of the day goes in the new bike fund jar "

I like this idea.

simple one, do you need it.

I phoned sky to cancel and got nearly everything half price for 12 months. Fibre, multiroom, sports, movies, hd, line rental £63 per month

Shop at Aldi, the quality is very good. They have less choice, so what they do have is good. Our weekly shop is about £60 less than it was at Tesco.

Get meat from a Butcher. Some will do packs for £20-30 with some of everything. Freeze what you don't need immediately.

Buy bigger boxes of washing powder etc. Works out cheaper per 100g

Get dishwasher tablets from Poundland - 15 Finish Tablets for £1

Topcashback too. Currently on £998

Get cash out of the bank at the start of the month, put it in an envelope and keep your cards at home. Take some cash when you need it.

Check your mortgage rates, gas/electric etc.

Shop around for car insurance, don't stick with just 1 insurer. There's no loyalty these days so they will try and match or beat other quotes you get.

It would be worth using the forums at MoneySavingExpert for detailed advice.

I used to type the letters at a big Citizens Advice Bureau when I was at university (and returned as a board member years later!). That was the best financial education I ever had and I've been tight ever since.

My wife was made redundant on maternity leave 4 years ago and is only going back to work next week, so we've learned to save money through necessity.

The obvious savings come from not spending money. We don't:

- have any direct debits unless essential (only utilities);
- pay for TV or media services other than TV license, basic broadband and landline;
- take foreign holidays;
- buy any ready meals.

We do:

- "better quality less often" for food - especially meat;
- only online supermarket shopping (no in-store temptation);
- break down the "weekly shop" and buy small amounts from specialists - e.g. organic food from organic specialists (cheaper than supermarket), toiletries from Wilkinsons etc.
- have "rules", e.g. 1 takeaway or meal out per month.

The less obvious savings come from:

- paying more on monthly mortgage payments (compund interest) - will be paid off by the time I'm 40;
- regular saving...£600pcm in ISAs for 7 years is looking good now;
- pension payments (although my NHS pension is taking the Michael with 13% contribution, state retirement age and no more final salary link).

Agree that Costco bulk buying in itself does not save you anything over hitting the supermarkets, but, what you get for that money is definitely better quality than what you would get from a supermarket at that price, mainly talking meats here. Where it does help is that from the start of the month everything you need is in the house so you dont need to keep going to the shops and getting suckered in to buying things you dont need.

I think thats the main saving for me, and something I was thinking about a few days ago. In any given month I think I probably only spend money on 4 or 5 days, the rest of the time I live off my stockpile of things that I bought at the start of the month, like a kind of seige mentality. Once you are out of the habit of spending money all the time is becomes much easier to hang on to it.

Similarly with savings, I dont wait until the end of the month to put whats left over to savings, nor do I save a fixed amount, the fixed amounts are what my bills, and "allowances" are, the rest goes to savings straight away, essentially making me artificially poor

All my loose change goes in a jar at the end of each day, accounted for well over £100 in the last 6 months, took the edge off Christmas. Also make a meal planner for the month, doesnt have to be set days, just a list of meals and then only buy the ingredients you need for these. I found shopping online (MySupermarket.com etc) stops me browsing for stuff whilst shopping and being tempted by offers for things I dont need. Monthly food bill down to around £120 for two of us. Sandwiches for work and leftovers when curry/chilli etc for dinner the night before. Changed my mobile to SIM only deal, over 50% saving made a month, only use the car when necessary and also looking at doing my CBT to take advantage of using a scooter for commuting. Use broadband comparison sites to find cheapest providor, Sky were cheapest for us and also got discount for being a Sky TV subscriber as well. Stopped going to the pub, now have mates over or go to mates houses, buy from the supermarket when on offer and its much cheaper.

Control water costs by getting a meter. Control usage by:

Turn off the tap when not using it (brushing teeth, for instance).
Collecting tap water whilst waiting for it to heat up into a bucket,use it to flush the loo.
Take showers, not baths.
Use a plastic bowl in the sink for the washing up.
Boil a kettle with only as much water as you need at the time.

Save gas/electricity at the cooker by putting a lid on the pan when boiling water up.

Eat more salads in the summer.

Have only essential lights on.

Hoover half as much as usual.

Buy energy-efficient white goods when the time comes for replacement.

Turn down the thermostat and wear warmer clothes indoors.

Switch energy supplier (moneyexpert.com will do a comparison for you AND offer a "cashback club" deal).

Switch to a bank with a better deal (ie: Halifax give you £100 to join and a free £5 month just for staying with them).

Cycle at least part of your commute instead of using the car. Do all of it if possible and avoid rail fares too.

Don't buy new stuff just for the sake of it - do you REALLY need the latest rear mech because it's 2 grams lighter? Or a new jacket just because you've had the current one for a year?

Use half as much toothpaste/shaving cream/sex lube than normal.

And so on...

I do that "saving your shrapnel" thing too. Good way of saving up for the occasional treat. The jar holds about £200 by the time it's full. With cash, I always use the paper and squirrel away the coins...

Wondering why no-one has picked up on this:
[i]After receiving our insurance renewal from M&S £700[/i]?

confused.com ?

Don't buy new stuff just for the sake of it - do you REALLY need the latest rear mech because it's 2 grams lighter? Or a new jacket just because you've had the current one for a year?

Use half as much toothpaste/shaving cream/sex lube than normal.

These two and their proximity to each other made me laugh 🙂

I think that's half the battle with saving money, is that you could cut out a thousand things in your life with a bit of effort/discomfort (e.g. toothpaste and shaving cream) but a years saving would be wiped out if you [i]need[/i] to replace something on your bike.

I just had a look at my finances very recently (do it quite often) and to be honest, once I've attacked the big things (car, house, deals on utilities) I rarely go much further because from experience the effort on the smaller stuff is not worth the saving...on the basis that I could save myself a lot of hassle and just not buy one thing I don't need instead!

When I was buying a car in 2012, I had worked out what was [i]affordable[/i] (big mistake) and was ready to buy on that basis. Took a long hard look at the numbers, then got something much cheaper and saved myself a worrying amount of money. It's hard to take a step back sometimes, but I've found that big expenditure areas where I think I've got it right down, actually fall even more with a bit of readjustment of perspective!

Wondering why no-one has picked up on this:
After receiving our insurance renewal from M&S £700?

confused.com ?

Every year my car insurance goes up (despite no claims), every year I spend 15 minutes on the comparison sites, get the best rate (usually the supplier I am with - Admiral), phone them up and they match it. The industry is rife with companies overcharging existing customers who just auto renew. Saved around £600 on my last renewal.

Top cashback here too for internet shopping, plus always check for voucher codes at the same time.

the effort on the smaller stuff

Depends on the size of your income vs expenditure needs.

Doesn't take much effort to make a lot of small savings, just more focus.

Although it COULD get a bit obsessive, but I think it's fun to badger this stuff out.

Depends on the size of your income vs expenditure needs.

Doesn't take much effort to make a lot of small savings, just more focus.

Aye agreed. I lack focus on the mundane stuff, tending to opt for the path of least resistance (if I can't find my nectar card within a few seconds I tend not to bother etc).

One of the major savings I tend to recommend to reasonably well disciplined people is to pay your car insurance up front and stick it on an interest free credit card if necessary.

My last renewal was £800 to pay up front or £100 a month (so a £400 saving by paying up front). Mrs File ended up saving about £50 a month paying up front. Provided you're committed to making the monthly payment, if you don't have the cash at the time, stick it on the interest free CC and pay it off at a set amount each month over the year (instead of your usual insurance payment).

Ben_H - Member

The obvious savings come from not spending money. We don't:
- take foreign holidays;

We do:

- have "rules", e.g. 1 takeaway or meal out per month.

The less obvious savings come from:

- paying more on monthly mortgage payments (compund interest) - will be paid off by the time I'm 40;
- regular saving...£600pcm in ISAs for 7 years is looking good now;
- pension payments (although my NHS pension is taking the Michael with 13% contribution, state retirement age and no more final salary link).

Thinks Ben H and missus has taken things too far.

Live a little!

i used to work with a guy who didn't have the hot water on at home. rode in showered at work. wore the same shorts and 'NY marathon 1982' T shirt every day. with socks and sandals of course. Everything he did revolved around spending as little money as possible.

We did used to wonder what he was doing with his accumulated wealth though?

Cycle to work? 😆

Buy short dated produce and freeze it.

Certain supermarkets do certain things well - I shop at a few, inc. Aldi, & local grocers.

I am amazed at the folk on here who MUST have the latest - 10 speed, tapered steerer, bolt through rear wheel etc. I do go through bikes but it's mostly s/h or cheap, and I'd still on 8 speed, qr, 1 1/8".

Depends on the size of your income vs expenditure needs.

This - matters more to us on crappy wages - mine went down by 2/3 when I hit the ejector button career wise. If you do it all well then the odd slurge isn't such a big deal.

It constantly amazes me how happy folk (generally <30, or well earning) are happy to piss money away on nights out etc - that's one of the biggies. They do have a busier social life than me though!

there is a fine line tbh between thrifty and living like a tramp for a rainy day - you may never see.

i like saving on non essentials to spend it on things like cycling , traveling , home renovation.....

having an older car and doing my own mainatance on it saves a fortune - i cant believe what some of my friends pay a month for their cars before maintaining and fueling them to travel 5 miles to work - coincidently the same ones who are moaning at not being able to save for a house...... it does help that i find it theraputic after sitting at my desk all day.

£600pcm in ISAs for 7 years is looking good now

£50k in ISAs? Are there not more effective ways of making £50k work for you or do you prefer the easy access to that amount of cash?

It constantly amazes me how happy folk (generally <30, or well earning) are happy to piss money away on nights out etc - that's one of the biggies. They do have a busier social life than me though!

+1

I used to go out every weekend (whether for food/bars/clubs/), probably spending around £100-200 each weekend.

For the last few years though we've been heading up north on a friday after work, climb/bike/snowboard/relax/walk/ and our costs for 2 people are about £30 in fuel and the money we would have spent in the supermarket on food anyway. Far more enjoyable, quality time together, healthier and much much cheaper.

Thinks Ben H and missus has taken things too far.

Compared to this???

Control water costs by getting a meter. Control usage by:
...
Collecting tap water whilst waiting for it to heat up into a bucket,use it to flush the loo.

Paid the years line rental in one go to BT, think thats £110 instead of £160 over the year

I was looking at this only yesterday. It's £141 up front, or £191 over twelve months.

I had cause to review it as BT charged me around sixty quid for my "free" talk plan this last quarter. This was surprising for a number of reasons, but mostly because my telephone billing has been with Sky for the last five years.

Why spend your money on water, gas and electricity that you're not actually using for anything?

Oh - and get the Post Office for your land line. Cheap as chips compared to BT...

+1 for the post office, they paid my BT connection charge, I could get through to customer services in seconds, they gave me £40 cash back AND I wasn't tied to a contract. No brainer.

Cashback redemption on your mobile phone line rental.

Always reduces my £20odd/mth bill down to about £11/mth over the contract period (with 600min, unlimited txts, 750mb data)

Here's something I never really got to the bottom of; if you change broadband providers and you're paying line rental to someone who isn't BT, does that complicate the issue when they require a "BT line" to provision the DSL?

No shouldn't do as long as its a line that on the bt/openreach network (i.e. anything that is not virgin I think)

what i have found in the past with orange at my parents after much ranting at them (having been previously reasonable)after my parents business was left without a land line for 3 weeks is (during which i was reasonable.)

BT openreach have 30 days to close a complaint on a line from a provider.

with orange 29.5 days later we had our land line reinstated.

with BT when i have had issues(live in the country and wind has hammered our lines recently) they have been sorted usually within 24 hours but never more than 48hrs

orange are no longer my parents provider - BT have sorted further issues within 24/48 hrs of registering.

Nixie - yes, you're right, I just found it.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/home-phone-calls

The term "BT line" doesn't necessarily mean your home phone service is provided by BT. All providers - apart from Virgin Media, which has its own fibre optic network - use BT's copper wire network (overhead phone lines from telegraph poles to your home).

So even if you pay line rental to Primus, the Post Office or others, behind the scenes the actual line is provided by BT.

Groovy, I shall tell BT to go forth and multiply.

What not to do:- sell something on Ebay and then help the local community out by using the mobile post office. I got there at 1.30pm left at 9.30. Postage costs £4 beer cost £25. Or put another way don't use post office's in pubs.

I have total discipline on takeaways. I never buy them, never ever. Well just once It was the nearest one in a pub about 5 miles away. I got rat arsed and the food was cold by the time I had cycled home. Only owning cycles in a rural area makes going to a takeaway quite pointless. You can make it and eat it in less time. One day though I will. There is one that will deliver but hefty charge. I will wait till my daughters come over and get 3 as that is more efficient and better still get them to pay

I think I would describe my thriftiness as a redistribution of resources from things you want to spend less money on to ones you want to spend money on. With a large dollop of investing to save. Bought a Rohloff equipped Thorn with disc brakes. Minimal maintenance and if you use a bike a lot you will make some big savings. My favourite bike was an old Saracen with disc front and a rim brake on the rear. Am now on the 5th rear wheel worn out 4 since 2001. Front wheel/rim immaculate like new. Estimates are that your chain, chain wheel and rear cog will last at least 6 times longer than with derailleur. God knows how many times I have broken my derailleur. And of course good old Marathon plus no punctures in ..... Who knows? And I never forget that old maxim "pennies make pounds pounds buy beer"

For those who live in Lincolnshire and parts of Yorkshire who are on meter and are low users. There is a "hidden" tariff basically you pay the same for your water but no standing charge. £7.50 a month bills goes down to £5.50. I am not on mains sewerage.

Soap or shower gel? One costs 4 times more than the other and most of it goes down the plug hole before you can wash yourself with it.
BUYING BOTTLES OF WATER ARE SOME PEOPLE MAD?

Loving these posts....

My boss at work ages ago used to brag about never going to the wc (no2)at home. Not just the saving on paper/water/cleaning but time!

I still smile about it now, poor guy was almost exploding driving to work. 1st place he ran to was the toilets.

You know who you are if you are reading this!!!

Make your own lunch or use last nights leftovers instead of buying food when at work.
Make large batches of food.
Get a low cooker and buy cheap cuts.
Buy meat from the reduced (near use by date) in the supermarket and freeze it.

Use this [url= http://www.budgetbrain.com/budgetplanner/edit/383497 ]Budget Brain[/url] to work out where you spend money and therefore where to save it.

Okay not for evertone
A top investment a £120 air rifle, scope and bag included. Late spring early summer go out about 20 mins after day break there is always a couple of plumb wood pigeons intially on the roof going shoot me shoot me (my translation of coo coo). Same again about an hour before sunset. Depending on what farmers crop they are feeding on you can actually have meat and one veg from the evening ones. Alas by late summer the only ones around are the wary ones. There gone before you lift your rifle. Even the ones 40 yards away can see or hear you open your window. Even oiling the hinges doesn't help. But the following year there are plenty of shoot me shoot me pigeons around again! Excluding capital costs and allowing for an occasional miss 2.9p a pigeon. I should ask the farmer to pay me after all I am doing him a favour?

My boss at work ages ago used to brag about never going to the wc (no2)at home. Not just the saving on paper/water/cleaning but time!

I love using the bog at work. Thriftiness aside, there's something immensely satisfying about being paid to have a poo.

Hi SD-253

Just been perusing your posts.

With all the money you save by eating pigeons etc, it would amuse me greatly if you then blow it all on crack and hookers.

🙂

Just thought of this [b]exfoliating soap[/b] drop a bar of soap in a bucket of sand?

Just thought of this exfoliating soap drop a bar of soap in a bucket of sand?

.peterfile - Member
Hi SD-253

Just been perusing your posts.

With all the money you save by eating pigeons etc, it would amuse me greatly if you then blow it all on crack and hookers

Groovy, I shall tell BT to go forth and multiply.

Do that..!

The "line rental" charged to you by your ISP/phone provider may be cheaper than BT as well - most sell to you with a slight margin on the line rental.

Note also that as of February, the termination rates for phone calls between telcc carriers is going to fall through the floor. It will take a while to cycle through to consumers, but start looking for better deals later in the year.

+1 for the post office, they paid my BT connection charge, I could get through to customer services in seconds, they gave me £40 cash back AND I wasn't tied to a contract. No brainer.

Used to be provided by BT and now TalkTalk (Post Office are just a giant reseller).

if I cycled to a hooker would she care if I was a little smelly or can you order one on the internet and have her delivered?

I doubt the street hooker will be "shower fresh" either, so I wouldn't worry 🙂

Every time I browse certain websites I'm presented with a number of quite attractive girls "in my area". Perhaps you could click on one of those and pop some pigeon pie in the oven. Saves money on hookers and food in one! Martin Lewis should know about this! 🙂

I moved the bird bath to a post about 15 foot from the window to improve accuracy only works at beginning of summer. Trying to think of away to save on carrots for the rabbit trap? They love carrots and they don't rot to quickly but I have to remember to buy them as well?? Got me beaten this one!

Buy one carrot, varnish it, use it time and time again

I love using the bog at work. Thriftiness aside, there's something immensely satisfying about being paid to have a poo.

Bonus points for surfing STW using work WiFi while you're at it 🙂

WOW
wasnt expecting this much response
im lovin how some save money

Were going to
Changing banks soon ( been with lloyds for 30yrs )
Getting a water butt to catch rainwater to clean car etc
Selling all stuff i havent used for ages or dont necessarily need
Never just carrying on with policies again