Economy drive!

[irongirlof12]

It's that time of year when my thoughts turn to making my hard earned cash go a little further. I am facing a reduction in hours and other terms and conditions which means we will be worst off this year with a holiday to pay for and VAT and petrol price increases it's just crazy.

What are you all doing to reduce your costs?. I am planning on making meals go further as Mr Tesco has far to much of my doh. i.e. making veggie soup from the left over veg that i would usually throw out

I have also introduced my gals to the term 'make do' jeez you would think I was asking then to amputate a leg

Any tips would be welcome!

 

[cherjp]

cashback sites, boot sales and no spend months! seen this on one of the US threads no spend january or whatever month you are in .
good luck with your quest. forgot to add what about mystery shopping? grassroots, retail eyes and tns-global are legit.

 

[scottish mum]

we are using cashback sites, searching for the best insurance deals, previously i just renewed with the insurer now i search for the best deal. Today i save £130 and got £70 cashback on my car insurance. Also not going shopping constantly, even if you just pop in for bread and milk I spend £20. I try and get dh to buy milk or whatever on his way home from work as he won't buy extras.

Also stopped eating out every week, really don't need it and now only eat out if its a birthday or something.

Another thing which I keep saying I'm going to do but haven't yet, is to take a set amount of money a week out of the bank and this has to pay for everything, shopping, school lunches, clubs etc. Its too easy to use a switch card, makes you think more about what you buy if paying with cash.

 

[joolz1910]

We're still saving £2 coins. I like the idea of sending DH to get milk etc. I always spend extra when I go shopping for basics!

 

[princess jackson]

Bulk Buy my small bottles of pop, rather than buy from shop or vending machine, £6 for 12 or £1 each from vending machine so £6 saving

Make packed lunch for meals at work rather than joining the rest at mcds or curries etc

DS baby milk buy more when on offer at min 2x£12 or £7.63 each, so stock up

 

[scottish mum]

I forgot that myself and my dh do online surveys, don't get much money but every little helps

 

[hildasmuriel]

When I'm on an economy drive I always plan my menus for the whole week, then make a shopping list and try to stick to it. The only time I deviate from the list is if there is a really good special offer on, then I make a substitution.

 

[wickesy]

When I'm on an economy drive I always plan my menus for the whole week, then make a shopping list and try to stick to it. The only time I deviate from the list is if there is a really good special offer on, then I make a substitution.

My Mum did that for a couple of years before she died and I have carried it on ever since. It makes the shopping so much quicker and easier as well - especially if you can remember the order of the aisles and do your list in the same order.

Now that the American Football season has almost finished I have cancelled my Sky Sports subscription and Sky Movies as well because I hardly ever watched them. That should save me about £30 a month straight away.

 

[jen_uk]

We go to the cinema on Orange Wednesdays, plan a weeks worth of menus, we have a cashback card from Utility Warehouse and that money comes straight off our gas and electricity bills.

 

[buzz for boys]

I seem to be on a permanant economy drive...

My best tip is to plan a weeks worth of meas and be strict when you go shopping. If i know im going to falter when im shopping I do an online shop and steer clear from the offer section. That way yo only buy the offers that you really wanted and not the ones that the supermarket tell you you want !!

I too have a no essential spendig policy. Its amazing how much we waste if youre not making an effort not too !!

I second the stop using a debit card! We recently had our card cloned and could only get access to our money via the cashpoint. We saved £300 that month because if you need to get cash out you quite often go without !!!

Check how your electricity and Gas supplier is ranked on Uswitch - I thought I was with the cheapest but a search showed me I actually paid £500 more than I needed to!

Louise x

 

[alisonbestford]

We're so lucky....as an NHS employee I'm eligible to shop at the nearby "Company Shop" - they sell supermarket foods close to it's sell by date

M&S, Waitrose, Sainsburys, Asda, Tesco, Morrisons........

It has some really good bargains and different things every week.

We save an absolute fortune

 

[Rohais]

I'm getting rid of the clothes I've shrunk out of on Facebook and eBay...and my Mom! I only started sorting out earlier today and have made £23...to go towards the holiday spending money fund

As DF and DM are both joining me on WW now, I'm going to write out a meal plan for the week - including lunches, snacks etc - and then do a joint shop. Should save our money and our waistlines!

Other than that, DF and I don't really spend a lot to save in many places Probably to do with the fact that we're living in the conversion at my Mom's

Any change that we have at the end of the day goes into the savings tin, else we'd just spend it on rubbish. In a few months, we've managed to save £70

 

[Chilly]

I forgot that myself and my dh do online surveys, don't get much money but every little helps

I do them for Virgin Airmiles.

 

[stba2006]

It's that time of year when my thoughts turn to making my hard earned cash go a little further. I am facing a reduction in hours and other terms and conditions which means we will be worst off this year with a holiday to pay for and VAT and petrol price increases it's just crazy.

What are you all doing to reduce your costs?. I am planning on making meals go further as Mr Tesco has far to much of my doh. i.e. making veggie soup from the left over veg that i would usually throw out
I have also introduced my gals to the term 'make do' jeez you would think I was asking then to amputate a leg

Any tips would be welcome!

I started doing that in the new year. I have made all kinds of soups now and most of them taste so much better than the canned stuff. I'm saving a fortune on dinners at work, and not to mention throwing less away

 

[Ware Bears]

I also plan menus for the week. I'm also only trying to buy bargains if they are what I need and not just because they're cheap! Got carried away with the Asda 3 for £10 Blossom Hill at Christmas and although it's very nice having a bottle every weekend it's not doing my waistline any good!

I'm lucky in that I've got two major supermarkets very close to home and another only 10 minutes drive away so I check out prices online on My Supermarket and if an item is on offer I can buy it where it's the cheapest.

 

[Verity Chambers]

I have started making a big batches of my favourite meals in my slow cooker, bulking them up with loads of veg, then freezing half, so we have another meal fo the next week.

 

[Louisebshp]

Involving our son was the best idea - he has slight special needs so keeps fixed on ideas. So woe betide anyone who doesn't put coppers in his moneybox, £2 coins in my terramundi, and who might be wasting money we should be saving for Disney!

But more seriously, I have a child who grows and grows - he grows out of clothes & toys quickly - we Ebay, or Gumtree, or ask around friends - we make some money and we spend some money, and at the moment we're a little ahead on the next round of clothes. Of course lovely US clothes bought last visit in Orlando sell better than anything UK bought!!