Changed my whole way of thinking about money! 23 January 2006 at 11:10PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in How much have you saved? 8 replies 4.3K views

sa1nt

Hi All
The most important thing I have got from this site is just to become more aware of what we spend & when.
Not just a question of saving, its just not throwing money away on frivolous things.
We are writing everything down that we spend & its a real eye opener!

Savings so far per month:
Changed ntl to SKY £25
Hubby taking sandwiches to work £50
Kids taking packed lunch £50
Food budgeting £150
Less take aways £50
Less at the bookies on a Saturday £20
Car breakdown £5
Car insurance £12
TOTAL £362 to pay off mortgage! YEHAAAA!

Those things above, just didn't think about how much could be saved -amazing!
We used to take a chinese/indian up to very recently widowed father-in-law, as mum-in-law was bed-ridden for last 4 months so got into the habit of taking a take-away up there every Sunday. We are now cooking our own rice & wedges & just getting the separate dish to go with them. Also getting him down to us for roasts instead.
Simple things that can soon add up to big savings.

ALSO:
Opened new bank account paying higher interest linked to high savings account.
Got skycard to stooze with.

SO THANK YOU MARTIN for a great site :T
Best wishes
Julie

Quasar

That's the spirit, sa1nt!! When I joined a few months ago, although I was not in debt, I immediately saw ways to save money without making any substantial changes to my lifestyle (not jet-set anyway...).

Amazing what can be done just by tinkering here and there and just watch the money staying in the bank!

tomstickland

Great stuff, it's actually really satisfying, and dare I say it, fun.

Less at the bookies on a Saturday £20

Have a look at the "matched laybetting" in the gambling introductory loopholes and turn your gambling into a risk-free money making activity.

sa1nt

Right Quasar, we aren't in debt either other than the morgtage which is going to go down faster now & its great to still be able to do a bit of naughty stuff, but be aware of just how much & not get carried away.

Thanks for that Tom, I had a read of that thread just the other day, will get hubby to look as he is the gambler & a bean counter so he''ll be able to get his head round it better than me.
Best wishes
Julie

RevKev

I have just phoned Sky as it was something I kept meaning to do when I read one of the posts.
I have managed to get my package from £36 to £18 for the next 3 months without losing any of the channels - it was easy, I didn't really try that hard.
I also phoned AOL and complained and I have managed to get the Gold service for £19.00 a saving of £6.99 a month

Also over Christmas I did my research on the price comparison sites when looking to buy some electrical goods - I then printed off the best prices and went into Comet - They matched the price and took off a further 10% as I asked the manager a direct question - 'Will you beat this price or I am off to Currys'.

Happy Days

SAP_Saver

That's Great, I also do this with most big purchases. I enjoy the haggle with these people and I think that they do too. I normally start with, how much can you discount off of this product? I have got a £675 TAG watch from Goldsmiths for £475 and a £599 Sony Handy Cam for £499 recently just by saying that I can not spend that price they are advertising! They run off to the manager and come back with a puny 5-10%
then you look upset at this and they run off again this normally end up with a further reduction, then once you have a better price start getting accessories thrown in...! At the end of the day you are only haggling and you are not obliged to buy anything just for asking... go for it, it is fun! and satisfying when you walk away with the item cheaper than advertised

Linda32

I've only just joined up as well, and we've started to think differently about money. we are making quite a few changes and its really inspiring to think of other ways as well.

Harvs98

In conjunction with this site and reading 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad'.... my attitude towards money has been completely overhauled. Great work MSE.com, keep it up!!

Edinburghlass_2

Welcome to MSE both of you.

Now you need to have a read of The Money Diet for all of Martin's tips