I saved £10k / annum during lockdown. What are your best saving lessons?

meanmarie

We filled out car on 15th March which cost E60..........just bought some today, so a saving of around e 600.......happy with that.

Sue14

My main saving has been on petrol.  Before lockdown I was putting in about £25/£30 per fortnight, I put £30 worth in on 19th March which took me to about half a tank, from almost empty.  I was almost on empty again on 29th May so put in another £30, which gave me a full tank, and I still have about 3/4 of a tank.

Danni-R

Like most people my saving has been petrol. Paid on the 17th March for a full tank (£75) and then put £15 2 weeks ago. 
Rough guess is that I've saved about £300 to £400 a month combined between petrol, reduction in shop coffees, work lunches, "tat" and meals out/ socialising. It has been eye opening. I'm buying better quality food and sometimes drink for the full week and still spending about the same/ bit less than pre-lockdown as I'm not heading to the shops to top up as much. 

No £2000 lawn mowers here though, sorry. 

PipneyJane

bouicca21 said:

It’s a windup isn’t it? £200 for a bread maker and £2000 for a lawn mower?  As my mother would have said, wants his bumps feeling.

I did save money, no eating out, no theatre, no concerts, no cleaners and no gym.  But some of those savings went on groceries as I had deliveries from places that were way more expensive than Aldi or Lidl.

I agree with you.  Has to be a wind up.   £200 bread machine?  Is it gold plated?  (As far as I can check, nobody sells a £200 domestic bread machine in the UK.)

My most notable saving has been on diesel for the car.  I filled up a couple of weeks ago, the first time since mid-March.  Just topped the tank up with 25 litres and paid £1.10/litre.  I normally set aside £120/month for diesel so the savings have gone straight to the Car Account.  Otherwise, I've just carried on living MSE Old Style as normal, so no additional epic savings here.  (As a long time MSE-er, virtually all my money gets quarantined into dedicated savings accounts:  haircuts, holidays, crafts, clothes, Fun Fund, etc.  Once it's in quarantine, it's not "mine". )

When I got my haircut last week, I gave my hairdresser a large tip.  It was the best way I could think of to say, "Thank you for reopening.  Welcome back after Lockdown.".  Even though I know things must be really tight for her, she hadn't put her prices up. 

- Pip

mrs_motivated

Another one whose main saving has been fuel for the car and also the doggy day car bills, no eating out etc.  Biggest saving was money back from two cancelled holidays but I don’t count that as used it to have new windows fitted.

lapis_lazuli

My savings were on lunches, bus tickets and my mobile phone.  One of those cases where I didn't really know how much I was spending!

Katiehound

As most folk said- saving on the fuel. I filled the car the day before lockdown and then (thought I had filled it!) 3/4 filled a week ago. That is not normal for me.
Dog walking/running has been more as my runner has taken them every single day instead of 5 x per week but as I don't walk well that has been money very well spent as she sometimes has them out for 2 hoiurs- and I pay for 1/2 hour. They have had a wonderful time.

Less money on food as I only bought what was on my list and didn't even glance at anything else: get out of the shop asap!

No haircuts, no dentist, no osteopath , no chiropodist, no leisure centre! But a touch of getting 'stir crazy!' wearing scruffy 'staying home' clothes until they fell apart... and then they went in the charity rag weight bag.

Two ferry crossings cancelled, cruise deposits refunded.
All a tad tedious!!
(No £2k lawn mower here- no lawn!)- bought a few packets of flower seed)

Rosa_Damascena

lapis_lazuli said:

My savings were on lunches, bus tickets and my mobile phone.  One of those cases where I didn't really know how much I was spending!

I think those that benefit from city weighting and commute rather than live close by probably were the biggest winners in terms of savings. 

VJsmum

I think we must be the only people who've spent more on fuel!!  We generally go everywhere by train and are now driving most places (the train is used a little more now than it was during the spring).  

We've saved by not eating out (we've also only had a couple of takeaways).  Savings on hair, dentist, eyebrows (and other bits) waxing have been donated to various favoured causes.  We had one foreign holiday cancelled but have just spent that on a UK holiday in September (which was considerably dearer!). 

suki1964

No savings here at all really

Living rural a car is a must, maybe saved £40 in fuel when I was on furlough for 7 weeks, but then I also lost £50 a week in wages

The fridge/freezer packed up just before lockdown so that had to be replaced, dishwasher went during lockdown, TV packed up a week later

Only shopping in the one shop meant food/toiletries  shop cost increased quite a lot because I wasn't going to all the shops I would usually go to to buy certain things so ended up paying £5 for preferred deodorant rather then the £3 Id pay in Savers for example and no yellow sticker shopping

We had one take out, but then we wouldn't get take out on a regular basis anyway. I cook daily and lunches are left overs or a sandwich if we are in work or at home

So nope, no savings but a lot of expense when money was already tight