money saving tips

My tip is- before you go food shopping in the first place have a good hard look at your cupboards and freezer! It's amazing the delicious concoctions that can come about if you get a bit creative!

Work out what kind of spender you are and find a method that works for you. If you like to buy lots of things, then shop less frequently. If you find that you buy things and don't use them, you need to make a list and shop that way.

For example - I'm terrible with food shopping and will spend too much on expensive items. Having one big budget doesn't work for me as I just spend it all at the beginning on what I like and end up going over budget later in the month when we run out of money. I don't last eating cheap meals all the time either, I get bored. For me I split the money into a daily amount, so for a month budget of £300 I put £10 a day into the shopping wallet. I can shop where I want, when I want and I can buy what I want, the only thing I have to do is use only what's in the wallet. That way I can go to the shop and blow £30 on one dinner but there will be another £10 in the wallet the next day so I have a few days of cheap meals after the big blowout.

I think that budgets are basically a compromise of what you want and what you need, if you can set it up to get a bit of what you want regularly but not as often as you would like then you'll be OK, but if you have long periods of only getting the necessities then you're less likely to stick to it.

Monkeyballs wrote: »

Freeze your bread and only take out what you need when you need it.
If you need sweets, those own brand bars which are a quarter of the price aint that bad
Use one of those shower scrubby things instead of just your hands, you need a fraction of the shower gel you'd otherwise use!
Don't throw out bottles of cleaning products when there is just a bit left in the bottom, turn them upside down and leave them but if that doesn't work add a drop of water, shake and leave for a few minutes

MB

Also do this with ketchup etc and hand creams cut the top third off the tube to reach what others throw away and then cover with the bit you cut off

If you have a dishwasher, break the tablets in half as it only needs half to clean everyday pots (use a full one if anything is baked on).

Don't use fabric softener, except with towels.

Ask for toiletries for Christmas/birthdays then you don't have to buy them throughout the year.

Shop at Aldi and get the £5 off a £40 shop voucher in the paper each month (think its in the Daily Star, usually on the last Thursday of the month).