Any Money saving tips ?

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

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 need 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 affordable (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 Budget Brain 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 exfoliating soap 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?

I have been known to use salt mixed with washing up liquid after a bike fettling…

.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 I live 6 miles from the nearest shop never mind hooker and Morphine (heroin?) Has no effect othet tjan to give me a headache but as a matter of interest 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?

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