Great 'ways To Cut Back' Hunt

sickasachip13

Excellent stuff Firemunchkin.

On the moisturisers etc - I hacked into my previous tube of moisturiser when it stopped dispensing and found it was only pretending to be empty, in fact, it lasted me another SEVEN weeks! I now hack everything open and take great delight in how much there is in those pots, tubs and tubes.

On shopping, we have a co-op near us that always reduces its fresh produce after 5.30, so I make sure we try and get there a couple of times a week. Chicken breasts reduced from £4.00 to £1.00 the other day. I frequently get a whole meal from the reduced stuff alone, and cook to fit with what's available. Also, bulk meals out - like stews, sauces, soups etc - with lentils, red, green or yellow dhal lentil things, filling, cheaper and healthier too :-) If you pasta or rice left etc from one meal, make sure the next one can use them up.

Also, on shopping, services, bills etc, don't be afraid to complain if something isn't up to scratch / what you paid for. My mum-in-law came to visit recently, she paid for 1st class as it's a long old journey on the train, on the way back there was no food and a door was jammed open between the carriages so she was cold. I complained to customer services without any response so I found the email address of the CEO, complained and we've got a free first class return for her next visit :-)

oldtractor

Use Freecycle

blackberrycurved_2

I bought my meet online last year via Hugh Fern witty thingies website 1/2 a pig was £120 from some organic type farmers in the north east and lasted a year 1/2 a sheep from the welsh hills £90 also lasted a year comes cut up and you can ask for what you need sausages or bacon paid £80 for beef lasted about 6 months saved us at least £600 over the year. I do have a roast every week and make pies etc in the week and it was fantastic meet.

shebrett

Take your travelcard and your lunch to work, leave your cash and bank cards at home.

If you overspend at certain places such as supermarket, take the amount you want to spend in cash and leave your cards at home.

Firemunchkin

blackberrycurved wrote: »

I bought my meet online last year via Hugh Fern witty thingies website 1/2 a pig was £120 from some organic type farmers in the north east and lasted a year 1/2 a sheep from the welsh hills £90 also lasted a year comes cut up and you can ask for what you need sausages or bacon paid £80 for beef lasted about 6 months saved us at least £600 over the year. I do have a roast every week and make pies etc in the week and it was fantastic meet.

Been trying to find this online but can't - could you post a link or the full name of the company please? Thanks!

MissPMA

1. Keep a spending diary for a month, then put all your different 'spends' into categories and work out the monthly or weekly amounts you spend on each, e.g. 'food', 'travel', 'entertainment', 'petrol', 'clothes', 'toiletries' etc. Then try and beat it by a set amount or percentage each month! Then you can set yourself a realistic and very specific budget to stick to!

2. This one is a bit cheeky but I think its OK....Several supermarkets do price guarantee offers where they'll refund the difference/give you a voucher if your shopping would have been cheaper elsewhere. This is great in itself, but you'd be surprised how many people don't know about it, and worse, don't keep their receipts! Over Christmas (and I still do this now..) I collected all of the left behind receipts from other people's shopping, the ones on the floor, in baskets/trolleys, left at the end of the tills etc. You'd be surprised how many there are! I normally average about 3 a trip, then you compare their shop online and pocket the savings they didn't bother to find! This was especially good over Christmas at ASD@ because they did a £5 bonus for every £40+ shop that you compared, so even if there were no savings it was a guaranteed fiver for every £40 receipt I picked up!

3. When selling on eBay re-use old packaging from things you've been sent, or wrap stuff up in first a plastic bag, then a brown paper one - primar* ones are especially good for this!!

MissPMA

another quick one, complaining pays! I complained about noise and bad language at sainsburys a couple of weeks ago, just on the off chance, and got £10 of nectar points as an apology! :cool:

rubytuesday

Thanks for the tip about Columbia Road Firemunchkin - don't know why but haven't been for years - will definetly be doing that again - got some great bargains Sunday.

Wasn't impressed with the charity shops in West Hampstead though - generally very overpriced in my opinion and nothing that really caught my eye unlike round my way.

brokeinwales

Fitness related money saving tips I've discovered:

Even if you're a total fitness freak, there isn't much you can do at the gym that you can't do at home with the aid of a set of dumbells/barbells, a Swiss ball, the internet and your own bodyweight.

The equipment can be bought secondhand or obtained off freecycle/ relatives that no longer use them. Even if you for some reason feel the need to buy brand new top of the range stuff, it'll still pay for itself in saved gym fees within a year or so if you're using it regularly.

There are thousands of free workout videos available on youtube and the specialist fitness sites: everything from total beginners to super challenging HIIT routines and bodybuilders' stuff. There's also lots of information on how to use equipment correctly, how to do bodyweight exercises, how to design workouts etc, and nutrition (I use the Mens Health website a lot, even though I'm female) - you can essentially become your own personal trainer. And, of course, there's always running.

If you enjoy the social aspect of the gym, or you have no room at home to workout, then activities at your local council run leisure centre will be a cheaper option than the fancy privately owned gym.

I also know of a village community centre where a group of guys who were into their weightlifting clubbed together to buy some equipment and pay for use of a room twice a week.(This approach could actually apply to all kinds of hobbies that you might be struggling to afford but not want to quit: get some like minded people together and pool your resources.)

AmeliaDebtFreelia

Your tip of adding water to shampoo and conditioner etc is genius!! It will save me a fortune, thanks!