Daily saving ideas for D.F. Wannabees?

lindsayg_2

Keeping up with money-saving, penny-pinching thriftiness day after day is a bit of a full-time job, I'm finding.

I thought it would be really useful to get ideas from other debt-scrunchers, so when I run out of things to do I can be inspired! :A


Yesterday I paid for parking with a handful of change from the penny jar, instead of breaking into a tenner and making it all-too-easy to spend... Actual 'saving', £1.50. :rotfl:

Today I'm feeling very virtuous. With some help from my mum I made a sofa cover! Thus reducing the cost of fitted covers from a couple of hundred pounds to £31.

Can anyone suggest anything to help an aspiring penny-saver?

tearose

My top tips/ideas:

Cycling to and from work and to get about generally is definitely the best money saving activity I do. I know it's not possible for a lot of people because of the distance/type of road, but if you can I would definitely recommend it. It also makes me happy :T, even yesterday morning when I cycled in the pouring rain! I have a five mile each way commute and cycle in my normal clothes. I have a pannier which clips on an off and I just pop my handbag and lock in there and off I go. My local council also offered a free cycle maintenance course, but - touch wood - after over a year of regular commuting, I haven't had one puncture!

Making birthday and other cards for people. I love receiving home made cards. So I sort of assume other people must do too! (and they are made with love so even if they don't like them they can hardly complain:D !)

"Growing" presents for people. This year for my friend's son's birthday she planted lots of sunflower seeds in mini pots a few weeks before so the plants had appeared and were a couple of inches tall. They were given away instead of a party bag at the end of the party with a little "how tall will your sunflower grow?" card attached. I have a money plant (hmm...but not much actual money ) that I decided needed some pruning earlier in the year. I used all the bits that I took off as cuttings and now have 7 baby money plants. One is going in a pretty little plant pot and saucer (which I got in a charity shop for 75p a while ago and couldn't think what to do with) for a friend's birthday next week. We just usually get other little things but I'd normally spend about 5-7 quid, then a card would take the total to closer to £10.