reduce the number of cars in your family, this was the best one for me

although the best advice I got when I was doing my financial planning/selling quals was ‘either reduce outgoings or increase income’ so have a think about what makes money like getting a weekend or evening job like waiting tables bar job

Bay crazy reduce search distance to 5 miles in city. In Manchester that gave me 5 or 6 times more items than my 10 mile search in Lincolnshire. Money saving expert has a similar site as BayCrazy

If buying loose, peel root vegetables before getting to the checkout.
Likewise removing broccoli stems, trimming celery, removing strawberry & tomato stalks etc.

A small suitcase of car batteries & a battery charger can easily be smuggled into your local library, who even provide free books to cover the plug socket & read, while charging.

If you’ve paid extra for breakdown recovery, you can save hundreds when driving back from the South of France, & all for a few minutes spent removing fuses & draping bits of cam belt around the engine bay.

dhornby – Member
reduce the number of cars in your family, this was the best one for me

although the best advice I got when I was doing my financial planning/selling quals was ‘either reduce outgoings or increase income’ so have a think about what makes money like getting a weekend or evening job like waiting tables bar job when my daughter was at University she worked as waitress the tips were higher than her wage can’t think of the chain she worked for mid market restaurant. Also got card to use in restaurant which got a big discount to eat there when we met in Manchester. Pity none in Lincolnshire.

oh yeah, go to aldi on a monday, buy bag of apples, bananas, multipack of crisps and stash in desk drawer, damn sight cheaper than works canteen

have a bidon on your desk instead of buying bottled water

ride to work !

Be poor you can be better of! £2700 grant for new central heating. Attic insulation free and cavity wall. Suspect you will be hard put to get any of that in these times of austerity. Mayy be better not to take a pay cut. Ignore what I just said.

Benh – is that instead of a pension or something. Seems a bit extreme to save up 200+ k while living like a monk for any other reason.

Yeah, that’s sort of where I was going with my comment. It would take a more intelligent person than me to do the calcs, but is the tax relief/employer contributions on upping pension contributions not better than sticking a load of NET salary into ISAs?

Do you have any other investments? You say you’re in thise for 25+ years. I’d have dumped a load on a deposit for a buy to let, rent it out to cover your interest costs, then keep sticking cash into an ISA if you want.

peterfile – Member
Benh – is that instead of a pension or something. Seems a bit extreme to save up 200+ k while living like a monk for any other reason.
Yeah, that’s sort of where I was going with my comment. It would take a more intelligent person than me to do the calcs, but is the tax relief/employer contributions on upping pension contributions not better than sticking a load of NET salary into ISAs?

Do you have any other investments? You say you’re in thise for 25+ years. I’d have dumped a load on a deposit for a buy to let, rent it out to cover your interest costs, then keep sticking cash into an ISA if you want.

It’s where I was going as well. BenH mentions he’s already paying a wack into pensions.

– pension payments (although my NHS pension is taking the Michael with 13% contribution, state retirement age and no more final salary link).

Wow – I thought I was thrifty until I read this.

Re holidays, I’ve done about 40 house exchanges, mainly through an organisation called Intervac. Costs £49 a year but as we are limited to school holidays for going away saves a considerable amount and last year meant that I got 21 nights of accommodation for three of us for just over £2 per night :-). Also means that you always have decent cooking facilities, which suits us, rather than needing to eat out which we very rarely do.

Blimey Rapha is on topcashback!

peterfile – Member

Benh – is that instead of a pension or something. Seems a bit extreme to save up 200+ k while living like a monk for any other reason.

Yeah, that’s sort of where I was going with my comment. It would take a more intelligent person than me to do the calcs, but is the tax relief/employer contributions on upping pension contributions not better than sticking a load of NET salary into ISAs?

Do you have any other investments? You say you’re in thise for 25+ years. I’d have dumped a load on a deposit for a buy to let, rent it out to cover your interest costs, then keep sticking cash into an ISA if you want.

It’s where I was going as well. BenH mentions he’s already paying a wack into pensions.

– pension payments (although my NHS pension is taking the Michael with 13% contribution, state retirement age and no more final salary link).

Guys – that’s right. I’m doing pension, ISAs and hopefully the mortgage will be gone by the time I’m 40. Just gives me more flexibility, that’s all. I don’t have a very exciting life, but I’m no monk. 😀

I’ve got to work until I’m 69-70 to get my NHS pension (whatever’s left of it by then), so it makes sense to lay some more foundations now.

.jms – Member
Wow – I thought I was thrifty until I read this.

Re holidays, I’ve done about 40 house exchanges, mainly through an organisation called Intervac. Costs £49 a year but as we are limited to school holidays for going away saves a considerable amount and last year meant that I got 21 nights of accommodation for three of us for just over £2 per night :-). Also means that you always have decent cooking facilities, which suits us, rather than needing to eat out which we very rarely do.. I like this a lot will definitely give this a look in.

.jms – Member
Wow – I thought I was thrifty until I read this.
Re holidays, I’ve done about 40 house exchanges, mainly through an organisation called Intervac. Costs £49 a year but as we are limited to school holidays for going away saves a considerable amount and last year meant that I got 21 nights of accommodation for three of us for just over £2 per night :-). Also means that you always have decent cooking facilities, which suits us, rather than needing to eat out which we very rarely do.

. Any other firm? Also you say £2 pet night, is that £49 divided by nights or is there some costs that I haven’t spotted. Thanks

Shave your head.

£10 for a set of clippers, never pay for a haircut again.

You’ll save on shampoo and other hair products. Also spend less time in the shower, thus saving on water and heating it up, as well as getting some additional free time.

I reckon you’d average £15 per month in savings.

Make your own lunch or use last nights leftovers instead of buying food when at work.
Make large batches of food.

Both of these for me. Buying sandwiches is horribly expensive and saving the previous nights food saves me scoffing it there and then

Plus use some sort of software to record your outgoing for a few months. A bit like recording what you eat it’s amazing what you spend without noticing it

Mary Hinge – Member
Shave your head.

Guessing from your user name, that you are not an advocate for shaving the whole body ?

.You’ll save on shampoo and other hair products. Also spend less time in the shower, thus saving on water and heating it up, as well as getting some additional free time.

I reckon you’d average £15 per month in savings.. Not sure about the £15 a month, sounds a bit high.
Have you added this to your money savings routine, never use shower gel, very expensive most of it goes down the plug hole before you can apply it. Also bought a timer normally used for cooking but can be used for timing your shower. Set at 4mins now although I had to work my way down to that. As stated earlier electric bill £21 a month everything cold water fill.

My brother uses hotels a lot, asked him to collect all the shampoo and soap. And towels and bathrobes said the latter was going to far.
Is the following going to far: daughter broke up with boyfriend. He left a few things behind namely razors (loads) underpants (I took the stripey ones left flowery ones?) And loads of socks. Now I did wash them before waring them eventhough they were clean.

My brother uses hotels a lot, asked him to collect all the shampoo and soap. Also towels and bathrobes said that was going to far.
Is the following going to far: daughter broke up with boyfriend. He left a few things behind namely razors (loads) underpants (I took the stripey ones left flowery ones?) And loads of socks. Now I did wash them before waring them eventhough they were clean.

..jms – Member
Wow – I thought I was thrifty until I read this.
Re holidays, I’ve done about 40 house exchanges, mainly through an organisation called Intervac. Costs £49 a year but as we are limited to school holidays for going away saves a considerable amount

. Weird I am guessing but I reckon about 60% + are teachers the rest are/were in the “arts”.
Have you swapped with another country? I spotted one I fancy in Norfolk despite not being a fan of the flat country. 99 miles away (road miles not crow miles). A roads in the route which I am not prepared to use so say 120 miles a nice leisurely pub crawl with B&B on the way. Brilliant! Thanks very much for the tip.

Save electricity by charging your solarstorms on your desk at work before your night ride?

Shave your head.

Use clippers but don’t shave your head if you don’t want to. I injured my neck in my late teens and for a long time couldn’t stand having my head moved around by the barber as they worked so have cut my own hair ever since. I use clippers, just don’t go particularly short. Anything less than no4 and I look like a bouncer, at no.2 I look like an escaped mental patient, less than no2 and I look like a mental patient who doesn’t even want to escape. So I used clippers but cut my hair comparatively long

Is the following going to far: daughter broke up with boyfriend. He left a few things behind namely razors (loads) underpants (I took the stripey ones left flowery ones?) And loads of socks. Now I did wash them before waring them eventhough they were clean.

going too far is encouraging your daughter into a series short-lived unhappy relationships with boys who are clean shaven and well dressed just save a few bob on pants and razors

dibs on the flowery ones btw

Read “The Moneyless Man” by Mark Boyle. A real eye opener. I definitely don’t fancy cuttlefish toothpaste, but it just shows how many things we could not spend money on, if we chose to.

I find avoiding supermarkets helpful, as it stops me making so many impulse buys. Using my local markets means cheap fruit and veg (even if you don’t get the same wide variety of choice) cheaper meat, especially if you can buy in any quantity, and the butchers will often give me free bones for my dog. Free range Eggs are half the price of the supermarket there too, and I can buy a lot of ethnic foods that I use a lot, like coconut oil and coconut milk. The Asian shops and supermarkets sell cheap large bags of rice.

I use my pressure cooker to cook cheaper cuts of meat like beef shin or lamb neck, always cook whole chickens rather than buying breasts or legs etc, because you get a roast from it plus meals/sandwiches for the next couple of days. I also buy my gluten free flour in bulk which reduces the cost per pack – I got together with other coeliacs locally to do this.

Cleaning – using diluted white vinegar makes a good window and glass/mirror cleaner. Combined with bicarb soda and lemon or orange oil it’s a good toilet cleaner as well.

Give up mountain biking….

Could I also add checking your bank and credit card statements. It may be a statement of the obvious but I used to be careless about this.

Last week I rang and challenged a mobile phone bill. It dropped from £39 to £22 in seconds. I have also discovered double charging for online purchases, being charged monthly subscriptions when I was supposedly on a free introductory period (will never be a Sky customer again).

Bought a new bike trailer for wood and apple collection. Ebay. Gave the seeller a right bollocking. Gave me money back. The trailer (supposedly will Cary 90kilos) had some joints which had been crimped instead of welded. The worse was the part that should have fitted my seat post was to small? Seat post is 27.2mm. Standard? Was going to bin or give away on freecycle, all except the plastic box which was very good quality but decided should be able to solve. So say about a tenner welding and making another part for the seat post. Only to bend a bit of metal and drill some holes. Bought some missing washers £3. £13 all in. Although may only be a pint! Moral of the story don’t let bad seller get away with it.

Ps money saving expert has a link to free nakd bar offer. Some health bar although make your choice from all there products up to 75p. Used 3 email addresses printed 2 for each address. Will use in the only 2 supermarkets in town. Worth trying. Should be the sort of thing people put in theres and there kids lunch box. Not long left on offer 5 days?
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/nakd

.jms – Member
Wow – I thought I was thrifty until I read this.

Re holidays, I’ve done about 40 house exchanges, mainly through an organisation called Intervac. Costs £49 a year but as we are limited to school holidays for going away saves a considerable amount and last year meant that I got 21 nights of accommodation for three of us for just over £2 per night :-). Also means that you always have decent cooking facilities, which suits us, rather than needing to eat out which we very rarely do.

. I like this a lot will definitely give this a look in.

Would you want to stay in SD-253’s house? Is it actually a house?

On a more positive and helpful note I’ve recently discovered Poundland and “family Bargains” or whatever it’s called. Now a lot of the things they sell aren’t essentials – but they do have some great stuff at really good prices compared to the supermarkets. My big bargains recently have been on bird food, dishwasher tablets and fancy loo roll

.maccruiskeen going too far is encouraging your daughter into a series short-lived unhappy relationships with boys who are clean shaven and well dressed just save a few bob on pants and razors

My daughters raped my wallet at Christmas. Its the least she could do. I also got her a lovely mole trap, a hat I found in the pub (I washed it) And something Else which I can not remember but no doubt it would be just as good. The other one got a Dalek alarm which is sending her boyfriend mad. I think I maybe getting some more undies soon 😀

food shopping is a major outgoing, as well as batch cooking and having a meal planner and sticking to it,
eat before you go food shopping, if you are hungry in a supermarket you’ll end up buying crap not proper meals stuff

be careful of the poundstores B&M bargains, a lot of their stuff isn’t necessarily cheaper, lots aren’t – if you have a smartphone then use a price comparator app, get a barcode scanner also for price cross matching

if your SO likes beauty treatments and fancy hair do’s local colleges with qualified beauty / hair stylist students often have vastly discounted treatments on offer.

Anglican Water just reduced my water bill to £4? From £6 a month. Sure I washed last month I don’t have mains sewage before you get overly surprised.

Ditch your insurance.

Pay off loans / debts sensibly. Look at moving debts around to reduce the interest payed.

For the wife and I, the best thing we did (began a few years ago as newly-weds) was, withdraw your money for the month on pay day and put it in envelopes.

For example,

week 1 fun
week 1 food
week 1 petrol
week 1 taxi money
week 2 fun
week 2 food
……………………
month elec.
month water
month car insurance

etc

When you can see it, you appreciate where it’s going. You also understand where your spending can be cut back. For example, I bought a can of coke most afternoons after work. That was £120 a year; it all mounts up!

i dont owe anybody a penny and have a simple outlook.. LIVE. your a long dead.. i ve spent time in intensive care and high dependency.. focus on the here and now

.My daughters raped my wallet at Christmas. Its the least she could do. I also got her a lovely mole trap, a hat I found in the pub (I washed it) And something Else which I can not remember but no doubt it would be just as good. The other one got a Dalek alarm which is sending her boyfriend mad. I think I maybe getting some more undies soon

now I remember what else I got my daughters for Christmas. The one that got the mole trap also got skiing gloves. For padding I put those Heinz squeeze and stir soups in the parcels. 20 for a £1 from car boot sale. Also from the same car boot bought 3.5 kilo bag of ready made crumble mix for £1.50. As I froze at least 2 dozen cooked apple portions. So a good purchase.

.totalshell – Member
i dont owe anybody a penny and have a simple outlook.. LIVE. your a long dead.. i ve spent time in intensive care and high dependency.. focus on the here and now

I would suggest not reading bike magazines. Not only do they cost £4 a go but they convince me that I need a new bike or bike parts 😀

Join a cash and carry like Booker or Costco. Not everything is cheaper but the stuff that is (especially stuff like toiletries and cleaning/laundry powder) will save you a lot of money. Check tarrifs and move things as appropriate cards, utilities, TV, broadband etc every 3 months or so just to be sure you’re paying the least you can. Speak to customer retentions as most companies will do a lot to hang on to you, for example I pay around 30 quid for a full HD sky package. Look into grants for insulation and so forth make sure your cash isn’t going out of the roof. Don’t buy pre prepared food cook from scratch as it’s much much cheaper. Finally get the mortgage paid, I don’t save, I just pay extra on that on the basis that the mortgage interest is more than the return on investments right now the quicker I clear that the happier I’ll be.

quote].totalshell – Member
i dont owe anybody a penny and have a simple outlook.. LIVE. your a long dead.. i ve spent time in intensive care and high dependency.. focus on the here and now

Give over totatshell think forward so you can enjoy the future just as much as the present. Before you mention the intensive care when I was nine my right leg was crushed by a truck (I was eating a wagon wheel at the time never been able to do since). In the end they had to graft another bone to the break to make it knit. A parachute accident put me in hospital for 2 months. 3 compressed and fractured vertabre. I am partially deaf due to being in close proximity to explosions, although the person in front of me lost both legs an arm and the left hand side of his head so can’t complain. 4years ago I spent about 10 days in hospital with bad bout of epilepsy. When I got out I had poor balance slurred speech and probably bit of brain damage (my memory is crap) OK now apart from memory problems. 2 years ago I some how managed to get an infection in spine (6 weeks in hospital and 5 weeks of home help washing me in shower (didn’t need it but pretend I did)which has left me with septic arthritis in one knee. I can’t play rugby any more and I am only 57 (I think I am). You should aim to enjoy the present and the future. PS your debts die with you 😀