Great 'ways To Cut Back' Hunt

thefin

Great post. Thank you Martin.

ang_babe

Dont go food shopping on an empty stomach!!!!!!

you pick up more food and spend more money.

givememoney

NatterJack_Toad wrote:

What about downloading all your music and movies online from a torrent site, free of charge?

What is a `torrent` site please?

KellyB

givememoney wrote:

What is a `torrent` site please?

BitTorrent is peer-to-peer (P2P) file distribution software.

It allows people to upload and download files and large amounts of data without affecting bandwidth and large costs.

Wikipedia gives more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent

artic_fox_2

this is such an excelent site only found it a few days ago

on nice days send the kids outside to play turn the tv off and read a book whilst out side watching them if they are little

if the cost of a day bus pass is the same as a return always buy the day ticket just incase you need to go out again

ask your parents to buy your tv licence for your birthday/christmas prezzy

cant believe i only found this site cuz i looked up slow cooker recipies after my dad got me one for xmas

You can't get a YES if you don't ask?

spikypixie

Having followed Martin's advice to check all utility providers, use energy saving bubs, switch credit cards and moan about bank charges, here are
10 more moneysaving tips I'm using to help me keep my New Years Resolution to stop spending:

1. Ebay - Phantombidder.com is an auto bidding site that registers the MAXIMUM you are willing to pay, and bids 3 seconds before the aucion ends. That way, you won't get caught up in auction fever and bid more than you wanted to!

2. Stay out of the shops. Shop online once a week for groceries and add items to your list as you run out. Stick to a budget and be ruthless. Also, have it delivered on the cheaper days if they do them, and make sure the special offers are still valid on DELIVERY day.

3. Clawback the money you are owed. Don't take shoddy service or goods lying down. By standing up for our rights, in the last 2 years we have had new garden gates, a new laptop, a new ipod and our daughter's bedroom repainted.

4. Don't use the company's 0870 numbers to complain. Write and send it recorded delivery. Costs just over £1 - much cheaper than being kept on hold.

5. As Martin has already recommended - transfer savings to overdrawn accounts - you can set up a direct debit to drip feed it back into the savings account slowly, and save those horrible overdraft fees and interest.

6.Get a hobby. I shopped online because I was bored. It's too easy. I'm learning to knit and writing a money diary. I also try and drag the family out for a walk on weekends.

7. Write down what you spend when you're out of the house (in a notebook, on a scrap of paper or even your hand). Transfer this to a detailed budget at home to see where it really goes - then cut back.

8. If you live more than 3 miles from the nearest secondary school, many Authorities will provide your kids with a bus pass for free travel. It isn't means tested, and saves us £4 a week - over a school year that's more than £120 saved.

9.Learn to see all these adverts and shop displays for what they are - Brainwashing. These people are experts at getting the money out of our accounts and into theirs. If you're as weak as I am - don't go in. Find something else to do in your lunch break.

10. Use your mobile to call from home if you always have inclusive minutes left over, and make sure you are on the cheapest package you can have for both the mobile and the landline. You can now switch your Vodafone plan online. I used this to save £10 a month, plus, if you have been with your provider for a year, and they are still the best deal, phone up and ask for an upgrade phone (a 'bribe' to stay with them). Even if you don't need it, you can bung a pay as you go card in it and Bingo - an extra phone for the family for emergencies, or .......... flog it (can't see why not??). If you were going to stay with them anyway, you may as well benefit.

spikypixie

Apologies - server posted same thing twice last night, so I've deleted it!

hummingbird

As an alternative to an expensive gateau,buy a cheap fresh cream sponge and fill it with extra whipped cream & fruit, You can put some on the top too.

EagerLearner

Hi all,

Here are the main ones I have picked up over the last 6 months or so:

Never have tv/dvd/pc on standby - if you are using it, fine, if not - switch them off. Takes only a few times to get into the habit.

Make a list before entering a supermarket and stick to it. We used to spend £40 a week and throw away alot of unused items, we now spend around £25 a week for the two of us by only buying what we need, still enjoying it, and getting veg etc from market and meat from butcher - this supports the local smaller stores plus saves us money.

Save all your pennies and silver/gold coins if you can too. Maybe even stick a picture of what you are saving for onto the money tin to motivate you more. Last year we saved £130 in the £2 club, it hurt very little and not too regularly, so we were shocked to find we had saved so much. This went towards our 'extra buffer holiday spending money at Christmas'. Mr EL was so impressed that I got him a money tin from the £1 store and he started saving in December all hs change towards a new camcorder (which we will buy on a 0% purchases card and save the money into a high interest account, the MSE way!).

Transfer / skim any 'extra pennies' from your bank account online into a high rate savings account like ICICI. For example, if I have £137.15 in my bank account, I will 'skim' that £2.15 to ICICI leaving me a rounded £135 - it's painless and really builds up.

Once you have used Martin's Budget spreadsheet, use the 'Part II' Frils Budget spreadsheet below and customise it to what suits you. This spreadsheet will help you analyse your 'frills' spending - ie - what you have left over when all the bills and essential costs are accounted for. This has saved me loads of money too.

Do, do, do definately start a money spending diary. It takes 2 minutes a day to note down what you took out at ATM's and how you spent it. Then you can enter it into the spreadsheet below. For example - lets' say you got £10 out at the ATM today - you would note that down in your money diary. Then you would note what you spent it on - say £4 on lunch, £3 on travel and £3 on something at Superdrug (beauty). When your bank statement comes in, you can easily not put £10 into the 'cash wthdrawal' section and instead put each amount into Lunch, Travel and Beauty categories instead. This way there will be no more hundreds of pounds a year on 'ATM' withdrawals that you can't remember what that money went on.

Join Quidco.com and pigsback.co.uk - I earn at least £20 a month from Quidco and £10 from Pigsback. Mr EL also makes £10 a month via Pigsback. We then convert our points into real vouchers which get posted to us. For 2007 we already have £50 in vouchers (some from end of last year) which we will save for xmas 2007.

Reduce the cost of birthdays - Ask your friends and family if instead of 'passing round £20' on everyones' birthdays throughout the year (let's face it, the £20 you get on yours, you have to give away on your brothers/sisters etc). Why not all have a nice dinner for each birthday, at someone's house? Ideally not the birthday persons, so they don't feel they have to host it. Then you will get to catch up and also celebrate, at a fraction of the cost and there's no 'stress' when someone's birthday is coming up and you have to 'find' that £20 (again).

Sell stuff - yes, an abvious one but E-bay really is a great place to sell your unwanted bits. Or, go to a car boot - but you can make more on E-bay. For books, I like to sell these on Amazon Marketplace as you can often get more than E-bay.

Make your own greeting cards - some blank cards, some holiday snaps or creative photos you took, or collages from magazines - pics from the net - anything really, saves that £2.20 you spend begrudgingly in Clintons and your friend/relative will be far more impressed.

Stop wasting money on 10 different cleaning products - buy StarDrops instead. At £0.69p for a huge bottle, which is condensed so you just need to water each capful down, you will save loads. As far as I can tell there is almost nothing this wonderproduct won't do. I spray my kitchen counters and oven with it and also tables/shelves etc. Bathrooms also. Plus put a capful into hot water to mop the floor. Apparently it's excellent on stains too. Lasts ages!

Whew - sorry for waffling and hope this list helps someone!

artic_fox_2

spikypixie wrote:

10. Use your mobile to call from home if you always have inclusive minutes left over, and make sure you are on the cheapest package you can have for both the mobile and the landline. You can now switch your Vodafone plan online. I used this to save £10 a month, plus, if you have been with your provider for a year, and they are still the best deal, phone up and ask for an upgrade phone (a 'bribe' to stay with them). Even if you don't need it, you can bung a pay as you go card in it and Bingo - an extra phone for the family for emergencies, or .......... flog it (can't see why not??). If you were going to stay with them anyway, you may as well benefit.

or say because you dont want a new phone can you have free rental i did this when i renewed my contract and got 3 months free saved the hassle of selling the other phone