101 Ways I Personally Save Money - From a Mans Perspective

MrsCautious

If you want to find out about best bank accounts etc, don't assume an Isa is going to bring you better rates than a current account, have a look at the savings and investment board on this forum as well as articles on the home page, Lloyds, TSB and Santander all have current accounts that are better than Isas, current advice is if you can put £1,500 a month in, have a Lloyds club account, which pays 4 per cent (plus magazine subscription or 6 cinema tickets) then see if Isas have improved after 12 months.

I opened a Santander 123 which pays 3 per cent interest plus cashback on bills through Top Cashback so I was £45 or something better off for that.
I can see how brilliantly passionate you are and I can see how these things can bring you joy but time available limits money saving so much -- I'd be shattered if I did half of these things on top of working and looking after a family. My very limited spare time is precious so I'd like more of it so rely on supermarkets for speed and convenience.

I can understand why people would throw accusations that this is a limited way of living, sitting in the dark, pouring hot water on toothpaste, sparing the loo paper...

Mostly I'm shocked at the notion that a 15p tin of rice pudding is a treat

Good luck to you, you will have inspired many and I may just buy a travel kettle.

The thing I don't buy is clingfilm/sandwich bags, using the ones you can put fruit and veg in instead.

xJOJOx_2

Cheers some really good ones on here from me xx

LittleMissGiggles123

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

Just out of interest. If you don't mind which are you thinking of implementing?

Thanks. Glad I helped.

These are the ones I am going to implement immediately.:)




10. I use 1 tablespoon of washing up powder to wash clothes. NEVER EVER just pour it in!

11. One tablespoon of softener is sufficient as well.

12. One teaspoon of baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) in the washing machine.


21. Sports drinks... make your own healthy electrolyte drink. Half a lime juiced, an orange juiced, 1 teaspoon honey, pinch of salt in a normal sports water bottle... top up with water and shake it well.


26. We have a spray bottle which has quarter distilled vinegar and the rest water with a few drops of lemon essential oil in it. We use this to clean everything in the house and it costs us pennies compared with other cleaners... also uses much less space!


46. When you 'think' you have finished the toothpaste run some warm water over the tube and more will come!

47. Cut open the toothpaste tube with scissors and you will be able to scrape out 2-4 more lots of paste


61. Start using cash again. We have a 'living pot' we put in X amount of money into this pot every single month on pay day. This is for odds and sods that aren't really bills and for fun things we want to do. Only we write everything down we buy and ledger what goes in and out. By doing this we can see if we buy too much crap of one thing to reduce it the next month if we need to.


67. When getting hot water put a big pan under the tap while it's heating up. Keep this and then use it for watering plants or cleaning with.


70. Holidays. You don't need to go the other end of the world to have a good holiday. www.holidaydiscountcentre.co.uk best thing I found! We got 3 weeks in Turkey, flights, in meals, luggage, reserved seating, hotel 4star, transfers all for £550 May 2015! That's not each by the way that's full price for 2 They also let you pay monthly with no interest. This makes it feel much more manageable. Spread over 10-12 months it's not a lot.

mavvymoo

78. GUYS - again... those of you who dye your hair don't buy mens hair dye. It costs loads more and you get less stuff! Stop being so vain! Buy the womens at cheaper price, halve the ingredients in each and mix in separate bottle. Use it and store the other half for your next treatments. It's all the same ingredients. It's just a marketing technique to exploit men who don't want to be seen wandering about with a box of dye with a womans face on it!

Hilarious :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:Looking forward to seeing you on the make £10 a day thread or maybe we should call it save £10 a day for you.
Some great ideas and very good luck to you

Mav x

faithcecilia

I do quite a lot of these but have a few to add


* Make your own bread, nicer than shop bought and far cheaper.


* Most fast food places/coffee shops give you far more paper napkins than you need. Take them home and use as loo roll.


* Use fabric handkerchiefs, especially at home - I keep tissues in my handbag but hankies at home, save a fortune and can be gentler on a nose sore from a streaming cold.

bugslet

98 - the avocados - i swear they are my biggest expense......:rotfl:

can't live without them though!

JasX

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

4. If you drink juice buy store brand or no frills and then use 50% water and 50% juice. Even better if you have your own fruit trees like we do in autumn store up on fresh juice.

Since fresh juice is pretty loaded with sugar too this is also a good health tip

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

5. Herbs are easy enough to grow.....

I get mine cheaply from the local market (50p for a huge bunch) and simply chop up/dry out the large excess to top up my dried herb jars

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

8. Have water with porridge instead of milk.

+1 and also works perfectly well for museli and a few others

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

10. I use 1 tablespoon of washing up powder to wash clothes. NEVER EVER just pour it in!

I should start doing this...

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

17. We book trains AGES in advance.

I find there is usually a sweet spot 3 months in advance when rail companies *just* release the discounted tickets, trying to book 4+ months ahead can also prove expensive

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

19. Get rid of your gym membership. It's so expensive. Try doing squats, lunges, push ups, pull ups, sit ups and planks at home. Of course the best exercise EVER is to walk a lot! Everywhere as much as you can!

meh, there is a brand new chain rolling out in London that's £16 a month with top notch equipment, seems a reasonable compromise

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

21. Sports drinks... make your own healthy electrolyte drink. Half a lime juiced, an orange juiced, 1 teaspoon honey, pinch of salt in a normal sports water bottle... top up with water and shake it well.

...or just drink water

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

24. When underwear runs out (especially mens not womens silk stuff lol). Cut it into a cloth and use it for your dishes. When it becomes dirty then pop it in the washing machine and reuse it!

I do this with old shirts but underwear seems a bit ewww

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

25. SCOURS!....

Industrial hard wearing variety bought in bulk here

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

26. We have a spray bottle which has

ok, I bought the £1 branded spray cleaner when it was on offer in sainsburys but whenever it gets down to 1/3 full i simply dilute it up -does the job fine still and saves me worrying about how damp my cloth is... on it's 4th 'refiill' now

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

28. Dry clothes on a maiden and if it's ever over 12oC get your clothes outside they will dry a little. If it's windy even better! They will dry faster!

I use a plastic rack, hiring a maiden seemed expensive ;p

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

38. Charge your phone everyday at work lol.

and ipad

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

43. Keep the spare bits from candles

Humm, more of a fire risk than most people realise (candles in general, not what you're up to)... ditched completely here

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

49. If you are not in debt never leave excess cash in your standard account.

...or get a current account paying 4%

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

56. Stop going to expensive bars.

...or just do more socialising having people over / going to theirs, especially if they rave for weeks about how good the chilli you cook is ;p

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

58. Cook all your own meals from scratch.

see above item 56. ;p

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

63. When starting out on the property market go cheap..

Humm, my advice here is do a lot of legwork to find a good one -> I went with a 2 bed and rented out the spare room to cover 2/3rs of the mortgage whilst I overpaid. Different things work for different people but the really good value places you need to go look for.

Newfoundscotty wrote: »

65. Markets may be cheaper sometimes but be careful.

Key is get used to giving things a squeeze / having a good look at em before you buy them

bugslet wrote: »

98 - the avocados - i swear they are my biggest expense......:rotfl:

can't live without them though!

Depends, I have a local market stall that does them 3-5 for £1 depending on how ripe they are.... if you really need to use some up avocado + feta on toast is awesome (season slightly to taste)

its_maths_not_magic

Just had to add, I don't use shampoo. In fact I don't actually wash my hair. Or get it cut for that matter. It seems 'dirty', but its actually the best thing I ever did for my hair. My daily routine consists of brushing it. Simples.

I have hip length, thick, curly hair and for most of my life washing it only made it dry and frizzy then greasy a few days later. So I decided to experiment with only brushing it daily. It worked so well that I haven't washed my hair in about a year or so. Its been about that long. And the strange thing? It doesn't smell bad, in fact it kind of smells like faint flowers. I don't have frizzy hair at all but I do have long, big, defined curls (sometimes waves depending on the weather) that would take me hours to do normally.

Truth is, your body balances out things naturally. Now my hair is not getting striped of its oils, my scalp doesn't overproduce oil and make it oilier. I don't need product either. It sounds insane, but I wouldn't go back to washing it now. And if you have thick, curly hair, I'd recommend you try it as well, its so much easier than washing it, drying it, straightening it and adding defined curls back into it.

bugslet

jasX avocados with strawbs and blackpepper is gorgeous too. Will try with the feta.

I often wondered about not washing my hair, it goes pretty manky after the third day - I'd ahve to try it away from work. I don't wash my dogs fur and they actually smell lovely and their fur is beautifully soft and fluffy.

its_maths_not_magic

bugslet wrote: »

jasX avocados with strawbs and blackpepper is gorgeous too. Will try with the feta.

I often wondered about not washing my hair, it goes pretty manky after the third day - I'd ahve to try it away from work. I don't wash my dogs fur and they actually smell lovely and their fur is beautifully soft and fluffy.

I should add it does take time to settle in. It took me about two to three months before the oils completely balanced - luckily my hair is pretty long so I just kept it in a bun. It went oily, oilier, horrid, then back to normal where is pretty much stays.