Great 'ways To Cut Back' Hunt

wisewoman

Look after your shoes...polish them, replace laces, and take them on a jaunt to the cobblers for new heels every so often.

squeaky

Which reminds me - wear slippers in the house. My shoes last a lot longer now that I wear slippers at home.

budgetflyer

use Tesco "value brand" disposable twin blade razors. (37p for 10)

Sofa_Sogood

Philip624 wrote:

If you want to hire one of those steam cleaners for your carpets do so on Easter Saturday for a 24 hire. As DIYstores are closed on Easter Sunday you dont have to bring it back until Easter Monday and you will therefore get a full weekend hire for the price of a day hire.

This works on Christmas Eve as well if you want to spend Christmas Day cleaning your carpets.

And if you do hire, don't aim for the 'big name' companies.

You can hire a lot of things for a 10th of the price if you shop around.

And, as an afterthought, I was told by a decorator friend, that steam strippers that are used to strip wallpaper can actually cost more long term because of the damage they can cause to certain wall finishes.

SidB_2

budgetflyer wrote:

use Tesco "value brand" disposable twin blade razors. (37p for 10)

Grow a beard. Even cheaper.

Smiley_Mum

With regard to looking after your shoes etc, relace your shoes every so often. That way the points that are stressed on the laces is changed so they won't snap quite so soon as if you don't relace them.

JGroats

Hi,

I haven't read through all the posts so my apologise if I repeat anything!

As your reading this on the net, check your service provider, are you getting the best deal?

Learn to cook - it's so much cheaper and more healthy than buying 'ready meals'.

Learn to accept help, it's not charity and if you say no, you may not be offered again, debtors can't afford to be proud (I know!).

Don't bother with the lottery, your highly unlikely to win and it won't solve your problems!

Change your hobbies to more affordable ones, e.g., walking, even gardening can be done on the cheap as friends and neighbours are often willing to split plants and give them to you as freebies.

Ban the pub, if you really must have a drink, you can get a four pack from the supermarket for what a pint in a pub costs!

Remember, charity shops are the high streets answer to eBay, without the hassle of having to wait and see if your the highest bidder!

By a cautious eBayer, set your limit and don't change it. If you didn't get it this time, the chances are it won't be long before something similar comes along.

Change to a basic bank account. A no frills account won't have (or have any option for) an overdraft. However, you can still set up direct debits, standing orders and have a cheque book (although no guarantee card) and a debit card (e.g. Solo, which will only allow you to spend what you have in the account!).

Never carry cash, the temptations to great. I always pay for things with my Solo card (the beauty of Solo is, if the money's not in the account, you can't buy it!). How many times have you had to take £10 out of a cash machine to buy an item for £2, and where does the change go? It just gets flittered away! Pay for the £2 item with your solo card and you only spend £2, it's amazing the difference this simple change has made to my finances, I sometimes even have money left at the end of the month!

Get your bills in order, buy a decent expanding folder and start to get your life in order, 'cos lets face, if you've get debt, your no doubt (like I was) in a bit of a mess. Knowing where you are, what you have to pay and to who really helps. My bills were all over the place when I was in debt (mainly the bin!) but now, as each new bill comes in I just add it to the folder, where I can easily find it again when needed.

Finaly, in order to cut back, buy a pen and a pad of paper! Write down ALL you outgoings and incomings per month. Get as much as possible on monthly direct debit, this means you'll never have to worry about another bill! Also, you'll know exactly how much you have left and can then budget that amount for the remainder of the month.

Don't Panic! Ask for help and don't bury your head in the sand...if I can do it, you can! Good luck.

Ken68

If you are in the Anglia Region, change your water tariff to SOLOW...Save £100 at a stroke. The cut off point is 75 cu metres p.a. Most people use less than this.

Munki_2

Ultimate way of saving money - Move to a cheaper country... I hear Spain is quite cheap... and Romania... :-)

Let's be honest, we're ripped off in this country... even when we money-save our little a**es off, we're still being ripped off. I doubt you see many other moneysaving websites like this one in other countries.

My sister, brother-in-law, niece & nethew are moving to Australia because they simply can't afford to live here any more (plus they want a decent climate)... so I think we should all uproot and emigrate :-)

Munki.

Xbigman

JGroats wrote:

Hi,


Never carry cash, the temptations to great. I always pay for things with my Solo card (the beauty of Solo is, if the money's not in the account, you can't buy it!). How many times have you had to take £10 out of a cash machine to buy an item for £2, and where does the change go? It just gets flittered away! Pay for the £2 item with your solo card and you only spend £2, it's amazing the difference this simple change has made to my finances, I sometimes even have money left at the end of the month!

Totally agree with this. I have had £1 in the car (for unlocking supermarket trollies) and 50p in change for 7 weeks now. I need a tenner next month for a haircut and 6 postage stamps.
Regards



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