money saving ideas you wished you started earlier.

Rob_192

Bought an energy meter earlier in the year - we were horified what money we were spending on some things. We had always assumed that since we cook on electric and use the tumble drier regularly, it was inevietable that our bills would be high, not so! some things horified us - Xboxs use 370w and we have 2 kids leaving them on constantly, 50w halogen downlighters (3 in kit, 3 in utilily, 4 in bathroom, 3 in ensuite... you get the picture). Things left on standby, yes even the breadmaker and microwave use 15watts between them on standby! We've now started turning everything off and have changed every light bulb in the house for LEDs or at worse mini flourescents and we've cut our useage from an average of 27kw/day to 20/day, a saving of around £300/year:eek:

Also, earlier in the year we had the cavity walls insulated (£150 on the current grant system) and installed a log burner. I get free wood by tapping up builders and pulling timber out of skips etc - I am a surveyor and spend a fair bit of my time on building sites - I recon we've halved our heating bills - so should save around £400-500/year, plus it's a damned site more comfortable!

R

Catbells

I wish I had started saving in a pension scheme when I was 25 instead of working my way round the Greek Islands washing up for income and singing with other like minded people on the end of fishing village harboursides. Still.....I wouldn't have missed it for the world...only a pension:p

anna42hmr

edinburgher wrote: »

Cheeky beggar :rotfl:

I think points 1 and 4 from the original list were good examples of the fact that a 'saving' isn't a saving until you actually save it!

thanks,

its amazing how quick it adds up and nice to see it banked,(for instance my halifax rewards are in excess of £200 now) I do same with my lloyds vantage interest, and cash back payouts. They all get banked in a savings account and then use it for holiday spending money and / or christmas present money, saves me scraping around to get money together last minute and also dipping into my main savings accounts.

Another money saving idea i have started following is using the card tart alert on this site but instead of using it to remind me a credit card is due to end its deal, i use it to remind me when savings accounts fixed or bonus rates are due to run out, so money is not left languishing in low rate acccounts, also use it to remind me when insurances are due up to give me pleanty of time to shop around to get the best deal.

anna42hmr

bump

any one else got any new ideas??

natman

Hi,
I like this post.
A few things I agree with -
Regular saver was a good idea to get you into a routine, wished I would have done this earlier.
ISA - The same.
Being aware of your saving account APR rates and ditching if they are no good.
Organising my money into ISA's, Bonds, easy access So I get a decent return on my money.....
Changing energy suppliers and being aware of your rates etc.
I too agree with the energy meter idea, I have also changed my plugs to energy saver standby plugs, this allows you to turn off appliances that stay on standby.

The energy saving meter really helps you make sure lights are off and unused items are off too.

Turning down the thermostat 1 degree
Also turning down the thermostat on the hot water cylinder also saves some money.

At the minute I am really watching how I drive, I bought a car with Miles per galon indicated on the dashboard and beacuase the details are in your face it makes me keep aware of how I drive, this must save me easily £5.00 a week.

Restraunt deals 2for1 and 50% off. If someone suggests to go out I look at what deals are around first before deciding where to go and eat.
I also have recently opened up a Sainsburys saving account and obtained a sainsburys Credit card. I now receive tripple nectar points on my points spent at sainsburys.
Cashback and reward credit cards have been helpful too.

anna42hmr

natman wrote: »

Hi,
I too agree with the energy meter idea, I have also changed my plugs to energy saver standby plugs, this allows you to turn off appliances that stay on standby.

We were thinking of getting one of those but havent yet. with the standby plugs does that affect how the sky boxes work etc as they are meant to be left plugged in and on standby when not in use so updates can be received?

Catslovelycats

logging all my spending

looking at how to save more

overpaying mortgage

setting an actual budget

Soubrette

smeagold wrote: »

If you buy a thick sliced loaf and get a really sharp knife you can split the slices down the middle and get alot more toast out of your loaf.

does that help?

You actually have to do this to make melba toast

Barros

I had never heard of Quidco before joining MSE - have now signed up!

1jim

as well as all the cashback websites, the cashback credit card, joining consumer pulse, and using hduk (saved a load for christmas) the biggest thing that I have done that has helped most is to have multiple savings accounts and to fund each one with a set amount every month for a specific purpose.
We used to just pay for things as they cropped up but found we wernt really saving, now we have savings accounts for gas/electric, car tax and servicing, holiday, christmas, glasses. we now also have an account for "repairs" and "replacements" so that if the washing machine breaks we can get it fixed and another account to allow planned replacements. These accounts have standing orders transferred into them every month, every year I look and work out if we need to put away more/less into each account. Maybe a bit anal but now really dont have to worry about picking expensive glasses or if we need dental work doing.