A few things I’m doing to save money

Ginny2kids

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. 

Spendless

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. 

A few years ago having spent several years in a company polo shirt I intended throwing out all my white 'office' blouses. At the last minute I stopped myself and just moved them to another shelf in my wardrobe. Then my next couple of jobs ended, when the places closed down or due to the pandemic and I ended up back in jobs where I needed a smart blouse and was able to dig them out. Earlier this year I also had a sort out and intended getting rid of some dresses all bought to attend a drama event of DD's and worn once possibly twice. For some reason they ended back in my wardrobe. When I got my current job and all the women were in dresses because the weather was so warm, I started wearing them to work.  

tooldle

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.

I'm guessing the tourist attraction will want to continue creating the memories, but using volunteers rather than paid staff. The volunteers may then be 'paid' in 'wages' that cost the tourist attraction nothing, for instance a free cup of coffee every day, 10 tickets for friends, an on-site thank-you dinner at the end of the season, etc.

No, they couldn't really do that. She was an actor there. It's a specialist role, the (acting) staff come from performing arts backgrounds, have attended drama schools etc or work there inbetween better paid 'gigs' including UK tours. . I couldn't work there paid or voluntary. I don't have that skillset. For the ones that do the industry is tough anyway they wouldn't be interested in spending the day there in return for a coffee and a once a season meal. Visitors keep away they will reduce opening hours and staff contracts, the ultimate would be them having to close the attraction. 

The concept of working for free (internship) is increasingly common in the UK. Lots of industries are happy to accept interns and it is indeed happening in performing arts. Roles of 3-6 months are common. 
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. 

London_1

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 xx

baltiqueen

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.  

baltiqueen

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. 

I've started doing this too but have found people try and get a lift off you at the end of the night.  This really puts a downer on the night since I know I've been used for lifts several times.

Redleela

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.

Hi,

Fellow coffee addict here. That's a very good price for beans. Would you mind sharing where you buy them?

Many thanks.

Loubie47

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.

Loubie47

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!!! 

Makingabobor2

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.