Great 'ways To Cut Back' Hunt

EagerLearner

I love the idea of the PAYG phone - Mr EL is on a contract and rarely uses the phone for calls.

When his contract expires I may convince him to switch as I got a free Orange SIM via MSE boards (so I could watch FREE 241 movies on Orange Wednesdays ). This saves me £13 on movies per month as I go with a friend who is a paid up movie goer (she has monthly Direct Debit subscription = she is the paying movie goer > she therefore presents (my) Orange phone code on a Wednesday to the cashier as if it's hers, therefore I get the free ticket!)

If he doesn't do the same, Mr EL will get a new contract and we will then flog the brand new phone on Ebay as he is happy with his current one - this would pay for half his line rental for the next year at least.


I am on contract too, with T-Mobile FLEXT tariff which is the best tariff around in my mind as for a fixed cost of £20 I get £34 worth of calls & texts and it shifts with your usage, rather than constantly worrying how many minutes/texts do you have left. One month I can use it mostly on texts, one month mostly calls, sometimes it will be half and half - doesn't matter. So long as the overall cost of the calls/texts doesn't exceed £34, I only pay £20 quid. This saves me £10 a month compared to my old tariff.

Use my spreadsheet below to help you start 2007 in style and tackling savings / frills spending!

oopalah

Sorry if this has already been mentioned but I use a microfibre cloth with plain water for cleaning. It's brilliant and you don't need any expensive chemical cleaners. Better for the environment too.

pyrorus

suzialwaysbroke wrote:

I go along with that. I always buy from local greengrocer & butcher for exactly the reason of buying the amount I want & not what is prepacked. Also our local butcher & greengrocer is miles cheaper than any of the big supermarkets

Also I find food from grocers and butchers stays fresh a lot longer than the supermarkets and therefore you throw less away.

Nelle_2

Hi
Called SKY yesterday to tell them that I wanted to reduce my package from the full works (£43.50 per month) to 6 packages (£21.00 per month).
They have offered me 3 months at a reduced fee of £30.00 for my existing package.

angela110660

EagerLearner wrote:

Hi all,

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.

I have joined Quidco and have £18 earnings for the whole of last year! Am I missing something??

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).


Think this is great idea. Just to say my son and his college friends are all chipping in for their pal who is nearly 18 to buy him an IPOD for his birthday. Thought that was really brilliant idea and better than giving him little prezzies that he may not want.

EagerLearner

Hi Angela,

In my job I do book travel / hotels / stationery orders and some personal stuff via Quidco, so the money builds up.

Also, few people take advantage of the 'free' money-earning clicks on Quidco - in the shopping section you can click on 'price comparison'. Kelkoo, High Street Web and Shopping.com are the 3 I think, and can earn you £0.28 a day which is over £8 a month, plus if your other half has an account they can earn over £8 a month too, from these free clicks.

The rest I earn via normal shopping at Quidco. Pigsback is easy to make money from without spending a penny - see the Freebies board and read up on the Pigsback thread, page 1, to see how to make it work for you...

EmmaJay

make your own birthday cards etc. have you worked out how much you spend on those per year, only for them to be thrown in the recycling bin after a week!!! homemade ones are appreciated more and may even be kept.

Little_Star_3

EagerLearner - could you pm about the cashback sites...I tried pming you but your in box is full!
Thanks

Sarahsaver

I am saving at least £3 a week by walking into town instead of bussing there and back.
Also being disciplined and not getting the 'next one up' if the economy/value range is out of stock.

vandanfc

Little_Star wrote:

EagerLearner - could you pm about the cashback sites...I tried pming you but your in box is full!
Thanks

Sorry to butt in, but have a look at this thread: .

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=333116