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A few things I’m doing to save money
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Nowadays I never buy anything for my home without researching all my options first.
I used to think nothing of buying (usually on credit!) a new cupboard or settee. Now If I need something I will keep checking my local TrashNothing/Freecycle or Next Door. I have so far got a double mattress; an Ikea sofa bed and cat scratching posts. Of course, I have listed lots of my unwanted items and even food parcels as well as I hate waste, and if it helps someone else, all the better.
My only exception to this would be if I needed a new fridge/freezer,washing machine or laptop as these would be needed quickly. But again, I would check places like Amazon Outlet if I couldn't wait for the sale at argos or suchlike. Always remember to use a cashback site such as Top Cashback or Quidco. If you're not signed up yet a mate or relative can usually earn a few quid for referring you. It all adds up, the hardest thing is remembering to use it when buying.
I recently changed jobs and after wearing a uniform for years I needed to buy smart work clothes. I have so far bought about 6 tops at only a few pounds each after a couple of visits to my local town's charity shops. I have saved myself quite a bit whilst also helping charities.
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Ginny2kids said:
I recently changed jobs and after wearing a uniform for years I needed to buy smart work clothes. I have so far bought about 6 tops at only a few pounds each after a couple of visits to my local town's charity shops. I have saved myself quite a bit whilst also helping charities.10 -
Spendless said:Siebrie said:Spendless said:Thanks for the post.. As more people have to do this, the knock on effect will be that people working in those industries will have their hours cuts/lose their jobs. DD's seasonal job at a tourist attraction finished earlier this month and she moves to drama school this weekend. I'm glad she has her Uni place because the job she had is likely to be something people cut down on going to as they stop having mini breaks/visits. The customers there weren't just the 'holiday-makers' during her time there she had hen parties in and a lot of school trips, because it complimented the history/English/Art curriculum. DD saw her job especially for the children as 'creating a memory' for them.
Seasonal attractions have the advantage of aligning their busy time to the period when most students are on holidays, this positions them perfectly to offer internship positions to FE and HE students.5 -
I have just redeemed 5000 points on my YouGov surveys which takes around 10 minutes to do when they send them to you. not a problem to do them and its just earned m £50.00 which is tucked away into my next year holiday fund.Probablt taken around 9-10 months altogether but for the odd 10 minutes at a time when I log on i'm happy to get a nice little £50.00 now and again
JackieO xx14 -
Interesting reading everyone's comments and good to hear all the common sense ideas.
Regarding socialising, I'm now of the mindset of if it's something I probably wouldn't enjoy then I'm happy not to go. Previously I'd accept things out of obligation then waste lots of money and feel bad the next day.
As for the occasional treat like a coffee out, that's what its become rather than a habit, something I was buying most days mindlessly.
Spending on things that are enjoyable such as gym and golf memberships I don't regard as a waste of money since I'm careful in other areas. Obviously if things got too tight then these luxuries would have to be cut.
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Bluegreen143 said:If you still want to go out socially but don’t want to spend so much, I find that choosing to drive saves me a fortune. Means I’ll buy a maximum of two soft drinks (you can only drink so many before you get bored!), saving on drinking cost, and no taxi fares to pay. I’ll tend to leave earlier, get more sleep and feel fresh the next day (so no chance of a hangover takeaway!!). I haven’t given up drinking 100% but have reduced loads.
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Doom_and_Gloom said:We bulk buy our coffee in bean and grind it ourselves for a fresher taste, usually using the French press to brew (says it is 8 cup but we get 3 of our large mugs out of a pot). Last time we bought them the beans were £22.52 for 4 1kg bags so £5.62 a kg bag.
That means that for a full pot with 4 coffee scoops (we find this enough usually), it works out to less than 20p a pot. Doing this is much cheaper than coffee pods and in my experience much better coffee than the pods too.
We both drink a minimum of 2 large coffees a day, 3 each is usual, and I already think our coffee spend is rather high but it is something we both enjoy.
Fellow coffee addict here. That's a very good price for beans. Would you mind sharing where you buy them?
Many thanks.
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I've started making a flask of hot water in the mornings rather than boiling the kettle too much as the smart meter lets me know how disgustingly expensive it is to keep boiling it.
Also I dragged in the mini camping stove in from the van it takes the little small canisters and we have quite an excess of them and I managed to batch cook a couple of cottage pies for the freezer and one for last nights and nights dinner, all without using the extra expense of running the electric cooker. I was averaging around £4 per day in electric and have managed yesterday being extra frugal to get that down to about £3 so I'm happy. God knows what it will cost when the heating needs to be put on as its that ground source heat fan thing and I hate it, ridiculously expensive, so I'll be hot water bottling it and heated blanket and then straight into bed whenim feeling the chill.6 -
I feel have to mention this as my partner thinks its hysterical, I also have a portable Jackery power bank that I use for our travels in the van, and rather than the usual plugging it in at home to charge it up which takes a good few hours I wait for the sun to come out at the front of our south facing bungalow and then place my portable solar panel kit out the front which then plugs into the Jackery ad charges it, my hubby and the neighbours think I'm a bit carney but I don't care, I use the jackery inside for charging up phones laptop etc, so why not let the sun charge it rather than paying for it... The aim is to be as frugal as possible... pennies equate to pounds eventually eh!!!16
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Well it nice to know so many people are trying to save money where they can. I am now batch baking/cooking whenever I can, and only make cakes if I have to put oven on for dinners...which is not that often now. I use the slow cooker a lot more and am going to invest in an airfryer as soon as I can work out which is the best one.
Trying to cut down on how much washing I do and making OH wear his clothes more often....lol. I have always been good at this, but I can't stand it in the winter when he puts out a work shirt & a thermal vest/tea shirt every day.
Don't use tumble dryer unless absolutely essential and have invested in several large airers & as soon as he can, OH is going to make an undercover area outside the back door to dry washing out there in the winter so we don't have it hanging around the house all day.
He has just put some LED strip lights underneath the kitchen cupboards so we don't have to put the main lights on....even though they are LED, they are still more to run than the strip lights.
Only go shopping with a list, and stick to it. Our luxury item is now a packet of tea cakes a week. We don't really drink and never go out in the evenings, so that's a big saving. I also do all my main shopping at Aldi now with veg from the market....can't abide veg in plastic and I buy a lot of meat from local butcher.
We have fleeces to put over while watching Tv, to save on heating in the winter & I do a lot of online exercise routines to warm up, stopped going to my pilates class ...so getting healthy & staying warm....lol.
We have gone back to caravan holidays, which we hadn't done for a long time, but if it means being able to go away more often, then that's fine.
There are loads of other things we are doing, but don't want to hijack this thread.
Oh and my main one is to start doing surveys/studies...started last month & its going well so far.Making the debt go down and savings go up
LBM 2015 - debt £57K / Now £28,744....its going down
Mortgage Free December 9th 2024! 18mths ahead of schedule. Since 2022 we paid over £15K in OPs.Challenges
EF #68 £410/£3000
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Fiver Friday '25 #10 £15
Studies/surveys July £58.64
Decluttering items 748
Books read 12
Jigsaws done 8
My debt free diary...https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6396218/we-will-get-this-debt-d£own-the-savings-up7
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