Hi
After receiving our insurance renewal from M&S £700
with bikes on policy ( never made a claim )

Weve took a look at our monthly outgoings ( out of frustration )
Changes have been made
So far

House insurance now £180 a year (no bikes on policy )
thinking behind that is a thief would have to break into garage ..bypass the alarm.. cut of the locks

Reviewed our internet/phone/tv package currently £75 a month
Going freeview looking at alternative internet providers

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%

So Question
What changes have you made for the better

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 Topcashback 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%

Do that, but get a card that gives you cash back. Put as much of your monthly spend as you can on the card and settle up in full every month. It’s only going to be a couple of percent but it all adds up. moneysavingexpert has loads of money saving tips, would you believe?

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

Love it – get some great stuff with them.

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.

+2
I’m up to £100 earned now, just for buying things I would normally have bought anyway. It’s a complete no-brainer.

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.

^^ this

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…