June Penny Pincher Challenge

1. Keep a change jar
2. Set up an auto-payment to put money in your saving(s) account
3. Give yourself an amount each week/Month to spend on yourself.
4. Get / find cheaper insurance
5. Create a budget for each month
6. Keep an expense log
7. Pay off your debts first
8. Pay with cash only / use envelope system
9. Have a monthly goal of a certain amount of No Spend Days
10. Have nights in / a set amount of nights in each week/month
11. Buy own brands or cheaper items
12. Take your meals to work
13. Buy lunch items in bulk from the poundshop or on sale
14. Take your own water bottle
15. Keep yourself a holding pot for change that you may need in the week or month
16. top up store cards such as starbucks/boots/asda with £10-£20 monthly
17. Use loyalty cards or loyalty apps always - Keep receipts for those times that you forget to bring them so you can get them added next time
18. Limit take-outs and fast food chains
19. Walk/bike/carpool to work or buy cheaper tickets
20. Don’t buy branded clothes or only buy branded and non-branded clothes in sales
21. Go on a clothes shopping freeze monthly/for a certain amount of time
22. Find cheaper or free ways to listen to music or watch films
23. Use voucher codes
24. Stop ordering coffee from coffee shops / coffee machines
25. Attend free events in the city
26. ONLY use free-to-use ATMs
27. Make a shopping list & stick to it!
28. Reuse your shopping bags
29. Cancel memberships that you don’t use
30. Check best before dates on things like bread & milk and get a longer date
31. Buy beauty products on deals or in discount stores like Primark
32. Maintain a healthy lifestyle & take care of yourself
33. Don’t get paracetamol or ibuprofen from the NHS
34. Check your bank account(s) regularly
35. Sell unwanted items
36. Do any overtime that you can
37. Find cheaper or free hobbies
38. Find a hobby that you can earn from
39. Only go “luxury” shopping when you have 5+ items on your list or buy everything you need in one trip so you don’t have to make multiple trips to get 1-2 things.
40. Get cheaper Water/gas/electricity/phone/internet bills
41. Swap / borrow / Say yes to items from family & friends
42. If there’s an item you want, put it on a list then after 30 days, get it if you still want it
43. Move to a different bank that offers more for you
44. Repair things if you can or buy second hand
45. Only buy computer games / DVDs with replay value
46. Quit an expensive bad habit such as drinking a lot or smoking etc.
47. Make extra dinner for the next day
48. Turn off things you don’t need on such as lights, computers and plug sockets when not in use
49. Switch to energy saving lightbulbs / lightbulbs that lasts a long time
50. Layer up in winter or use windows to cool down / Have a programmable thermostat
51. Use price comparison sites
52. Holiday shop/Gift buy in the sales
53. Create a visual reminder of your goals or debt snowball
54. Use work benefits
55. Do regular maintenance & cleaning on appliances and tech
56. Make bills & important payments online and on time!
57. Internet shop
58. Organise a finance ‘day’ or hour to check through all financials and to do tasks such as couponing etc.
59. Meal plan
60. Have a minimal wardrobe or a few items for each occasion
61. Leave your card at home for a certain amount of days each month
62. Don’t sign up to gyms. Watch Youtube for home exercises or utilize green areas & streets
63. Limit microwave meals and sweets
64. Wash clothes less - rewear clothing that isn’t dirt or smells & air dry when you can
65. Eat less meat
66. Create an inventory list of what’s in the freezer, move stuff that has to be eaten first at the front of the freezer and things with longer dates at the back & cross off as & when you use them
67. Find a easy side job / side hustle
68. Stay in the loop with news about financial things; New currency, House prices, Bill costs shifting etc.
69. Check your pay & taxes
70. Grow your own veg & herbs
71. Only order tap water at restaurants or buy refillable soft drinks if there is the option
72. Check for whoopsies first when shopping but only get things you need or what’s on your list
73. Buy multipacks of household items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste,wet wipes etc.
74. Sign up for freebies
75. Set up an emergency fund and or keep an emergency stash of money,
76. If you don’t use it in that month, put it in savings/piggy bank
77. Check emails for offers/vouchers/discounts & purge unneeded emails
78. Sign up for cash back sites but only use when needed & check offers/vouchers
79. Use sites like swagbucks/click sense to boost money
80. Stick to reliable , fuel efficient car
81. Go pre-paid NHS
82. Do your own nails & hair or find a friend/family member to do so for you
83. Cancel the cable TV or Satellite channels you don’t watch

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84. Use charity shop donations bags as bin bags
85. Empty purses of change at the end of each week, keep bank coin bags and when they are filled, take them to be cashed in or when your pot is full/ after 3-6 months etc..
86. Use boiled water from the kettle to use for washing up
87. Use food up by the USE BY date and not best before date
88. Have a free or cheap date night
89. Use sites like gumtree, ebay for second hand things
90. Use apps to make free calls, picture messages and text such as skype, whatsapp
91. Make the most out of apps that gives you free stuff - freeprints enables you to 45 6x4” prints, Amazon for free kindle books
92. Download an app to create a budget, each morning & evening look at it and add expenses or just check if you’re in budget or not
93. If you want to have a nice evening out or a day trip ect… use voucher sites or discount code sites
94. Buy presents in the sale or use cheap / clearence sites like everything5pounds.com or only look in the £0-£10 sections during online shopping websites such as boohoo.com. You can use the filters usually to select your prefered price range


[Challenges to save money]
* - are from other challenges on MSE
1. Save all £5/£10 notes / £2 coins *
2. 52 week saving challenge
3. £100.00 Spending diet - Only have this amount for you each month
4. Sealed pot *
5. No Spend Month *
6. 1% challenge (save percentages in savings account) *
7. 5% challenge (save percentages in savings account)
8. 10% challenge (save percentages in savings account)
9. put £1/£2/ in your savings for how ever amount of times you've done the tasks from this challenge
10. £100 summer / winter / christmas / school holidays challenge - found on instagram
11. Envelope challenge
12. 1p saving challenge *
13. Bi-weekly saving challenge
14. Monthly saving challenge
15. Transfer a small amount of money to savings for 1,000 steps, Jog a mile,
16. £10 weekly savings
17. Decluttering week *
18. Freezer Inventory week *
19. Sort budget out week *
20.Mindful purchasing week *
21. No spend week *
22. 18. Take lunch to work week *
23. Cash only week *


Ideas from members;
"If I don't use all of my monthly budget then I will pop the remainder into a savings account" - Simmo2207

Hello hello.
Great work on those goals, Simmo!

I've :
Take your meals to work
Take your own water bottle
Check your bank account(s) regularly daily


I also moved my wages into a savings account now titled "Holding account" so when ever I have bills to pay for or shopping, I only transfer the amount I need into my current account so I only spend what I need to so hopefully I spend money more carefully - especially since June is a busy month and also I have a lot I wish to save for.