-Like others have said do the savings at the beginning and anything left over at the end.
-If you have a credit card, designated a thing that you're going to use it for and that is all. For example, I use mine for petrol/transport every month and for any big day out. So if I'm going to a concert I'll use the money for the trip (e.g the petrol to get there and the meal out) and that is all. Also set yourself a max limit. I don't go over £150 even though the limit is above that. Really easy to fall into the trap of 'ah I'll stick it on my card'.
-If you can (I know some can't) do your grocery shopping online and have it delivered. I find that when I go to supermarket I see stuff and just throw it in the trolley. If I do it online I only order what I need and I can check the cupboards while I'm doing it if I need to.
- Try to extend the time in between shopping by doing 2 big shops a month instead of weekly. I will say this may not work for bigger families but as I live alone I find that it works much better. It means I actually buy what I need instead of just stocking up and I find I actually use everything up instead of wasting things as it's still x amount of days until my shopping.
- check your bank account every day. Helps you spot those random outgoings that you may not know of, and gives you a chance to save the pennies.
- Don't deny yourself things if you really want it or at the very least, replace it with something else. I find that if I go to hard and say okay I'm not buying any drinks I'm just going to drink water, I end up running to a shop half way through my week to buy something which is normally fizzy drinks costing a fortune. I buy fruit juice or squash now and the supermarket value ones are cheap but still nice.
- crazy vegan here but try and reduce the amount of meat you eat. Meat is so expensive and it tends to only make 1 meal whereas lentils which cost £1.65 can last for months! I once bought a big bag of lentils for £4.50 in Asda and they legitimately lasted me a year. Think about what you can do to your meals to bulk them up. Chickpeas, lentils, frozen veg, different varieties of beans, sweetcorn, etc all bulk up meals for significantly less than what meat would cost.
- reduce the amount of washing powder/liquid you use by around a quarter or half. You don't actually need to fill it to the line. Your clothes will be as clean as they will be with the full amount unless they are absolutely stinking which they usually aren't, but you'll stretch the amount of time you need to buy more. Also wash them on a lower temperature with a reduced spin.
If you really want save money invest in a wash ball which is like £15 but you can wash for months with it. I don't have one but my mum does and she reckons it's fine.
- try buying clothes etc when you need them from eBay or places like that instead of in store. I find that you can buy branded things, especially hoodies and stuff like that which will be much cheaper but also probably end up lasting you longer as the quality is better.
- leave reviews and complain, especially if you don't like something. I never think to send stuff back if I don't like cause I just think oh well that's life, but I've often left reviews when prompted via email and the company have commented on the reviews saying "phone this number to arrange to post it back to us and we'll give you a refund".
I'll be back with more but that's all I can think of right now
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