London Money Saving

Soundgirlrocks

Gettingtherequickly wrote: »

Get an Oyster card ... if I lose it, while I wouldn't be happy, I would have saved that anyway in the reduced fares gained from the Oyster card.

If you lose it and you have auto top up / or its registered on line you can cancel the card and transfer the balance over to a new card

kateweb

Some good suggestions here. Definitely get on Oyster card, but if you're going to be travelling regularly/commuting to work, a Travelcard will save you more - paying for single journeys is quite pricey. Once you know what your route is, do look at whether it's practical to take the bus instead of the Tube. A weekly/monthly bus pass is a lot cheaper than the Tube equivalent, and you can always put credit on your Oyster card for occasional Tube journeys.

Avoid Metro/Express supermarkets like the plague! Much more expensive than the bigger ones and often a rubbish selection as well. Work out where your nearest decent-sized supermarket (i.e. big enough to have the full range of products and offers) is and go regularly, even if that's once a month to stock up, rather than weekly. Corner shops can be really useful and open very late/24 hours, but vary in price; mine has eggs, fruit/veg for less than supermarket prices, but tinned/frozen food's much more expensive.

On the theme of free things to do, sign up for alerts on the BBC ticket website www.bbc.co.uk/tickets - they have free tickets for lots of TV and radio recordings, which are all free (other sites like SRO Audiences and the Applause Store are also worth a look). You can see great shows and some big names for free, and some of the funniest things are the bits that will never be broadcast... The Londonist website does a weekly round-up of cheap/free things to do, and Time Out's listings also show what's free; there's a LOT. If you're a comedy fan, there are some great nights around in small venues for £5; Edinburgh previews are particularly worth looking out for from May to August.

Packed lunches for days out are a good idea and always worth taking a bottle of water with you. Useful on packed/hot Tubes and much cheaper than having to buy drinks when you get there - even bottled water's often £1.50-£2.00. If you're not already in the habit, taking your lunch to work is a big money saver. True everywhere, but central London has such a big, tempting range of places to spend £5+ every on a sandwich/coffee/cake/sushi etc, it's very hard to stop once you start.

Enjoy your move - have lived here 10+ years and really love it.

Gettingtherequickly

Soundgirlrocks wrote: »

If you lose it and you have auto top up / or its registered on line you can cancel the card and transfer the balance over to a new card

Oooh, didn't know that! Just goes to show how often I use it:)

zippychick

as this isn't Old style and it's dropped down the board, i've moved it to a more appropriate board where you should get loads more suggestions



Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com"]forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Zip

autumngirl

You'll probably find most of the central London cinemas very expensive, so if you enjoy going to the cinema then definitely subscribe to the Free Cinema thread over on the Freebies No Spend board. It's also worth checking out the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square - it's an independent, low cost cinema which shows a mixture of older films and new releases, with various prices. If you become a member (regular annual membership is £10 or it's £5 for concessions) then the ticket prices start from just £1.50 for matinees and from £4 for eves, w/ends & hols. As well as discounted tickets, membership also gets you 10% discount in the bar. It's definitely worth a look if you like film!

http://www.princecharlescinema.com/html/about.php

Bright_Eye

Browntoa wrote: »

avoid the tourist buses , its cheaper and easier to jump on a Red bus and travel the same route

buy travel cards if planning to jump on and off buses/tubes all day

:AI agreed With Brow, Travel card is a most common and very cheap way to travel inside and outside London. Best wishes from me.... :money: