Your best money-saving tips!

[LaurieLaurie]

Move money into savings on payday. It seems obvious but it’s the only sure way for me to save money.

Keep out of supermarkets. They were draining 99% of my money.

 

[judgejohndeed]

The biggest thing for me is not doing a weekly food shop. I am terrible at meal planning and food shopping - literally never stick to it. So much food waste and it’s expensive. One of us now picks up dinner stuff on the way home, we have all the usual pasta, rice, milk bread etc but we buy the fresh stuff in smaller quantities on the day. Smaller quantities are more expensive than larger ones, but it’s still a lot cheaper than buying larger ones for less when you end up chucking it all out anyway. We are saving a horrific amount of money doing it this way, I dread to think how much we wasted on food before.

 

[Bubblesandflowers]

Bet you are a laugh on a night out haha..... i do get what you are saying though but think you have to have some sort of enjoyment.

That is why I said make sure you budget to have fun still. I give myself a set amount each month. That is plenty for me to do what I like and want to do. I don't ever deny myself anything really.

 

[ChilliBean]

On a mission to save money for a new home, so let’s share our best money-saving tips!

I’ll start

If you go to cancel your NOWTV subscription they will offer you 6 months half price. I do this every few months and have never paid full price for NOWTV beyond the first month I signed up!

Always have a look in the yellow sticker bin at the supermarket, if you’re not going to eat it immediately you could always freeze it. I’ve heard Too Good To Go is also a good app but I think it’s a bit of a postcode lottery as there’s never anything good where I live!

I also have a budget spreadsheet on my laptop that I update every few days just to make sure I’m keeping on top of my spending

What do you do to save money?

 

[Funnifing71]

Meal plan every week and online food shop. Use a supermarket with a monthly smart pass to save on delivery costs. I lost count of the times I went into the supermarket for milk and bread and spent £40!!

 

[Warpaint]

Got a thing with Lloyds called 'save the change'. Every time I pay for something on my card it rounds it up and puts it directly into my savings account. Basically a virtual copper jar.

 

[Oshami]

We do one big shop at lidl a month.
Freeze everything in the reduced section - of you catch it right you can get things for 90p!

top up at coop - they also do some amazing deals in their reduced section - so always grab and pop in the freezer.

I also shop in charity shops, I always get comments on my clothes at work and everyone ways remarks how good I am at finding things. Primark (and I know their ethical issues - but you buy what you can afford) sale items go for £2/3 and it’s often last season so no one


I have a holiday fund - so money goes out on the first each month into an account I can’t touch for a year.It means I know I have a good chunk of money coming each April - it’s money I assume I don’t have and budget my life around having £200 less each month.

then £50 every Friday into “fun/house (plants haha) /bits and bobs” - on a direct debit.

We move the same amount of money into the joint account to pay for bills/days out/food shop/ fun together - and any major house purchases.

we live to our means, we don’t really do presents - Christmas we usually are on holiday - (hence the holiday fund) and we enjoy our time together at home - we’re very happy in each other’s company.

you don’t have to be restrictive - just think if you really need that purchase, make money go out each month and live knowing that’s how much less you have!

So if you earn £1500 - save £300 and live like you earn £1200. (Or whatever you can physically save) That way you don’t dip into your savings and you’re more likely to keep them and they’ll soon add up

 

[Rockin' Robin]

Being a bit of a dinosaur, I periodicaly collect any spare change I have accumulated, and put it into a box or jar. You'd be surprised how much spare change you can collect.

 

[LennyBriscoe]

Don’t have kids!

Only joking. I know you have to spend to earn them but I’m a big fan of the Boots Advantage Card. You get 4 points per £ and they send you coupons to get extra points throughout the year and I use the ones for things I would normally buy. If I don’t need anything like perfume, I’ll save them up throughout the year and ‘buy’ stuff at Christmas

 

[JoeBloggs]

Only buy what you really need/want/can afford. If buying only use cashback sites like topcashback to earn more. Sell unwanted items on eBay/Facebook.

Set a budget and move your savings money out of your current account on payday so it’s not tempting you.

 

[wishiniwasskinny]

I set dates that in allowed to make a “pleasure purchase” - so if I want new clothes/makeup etct isn’t a necessity I only allow myself to purchase 1 thing at pay day and then at the month half way point - and I review my bank account at the time to check I can afford. This means that I can’t just go around getting carried away with pleasure purchases without restraint.
I also don’t buy new beauty products that are needed until I have run out of something. So I won’t buy another hair mask until I’ve used all my current one for example.
I also make meal plans and do a big shop every fortnight and then pick up bits of fresh fruit and veg as needed in between.

 

[Flowergirl14]

Martin Lewis said renew your car insurance 23 days before your renewal date.
I have just done that and it is 40% cheaper than last year!
I did it via gocompare and Quidco, so I will also get £35 cash back...

 

[Melian]

Got a thing with Lloyds called 'save the change'. Every time I pay for something on my card it rounds it up and puts it directly into my savings account. Basically a virtual copper jar.

Nationwide have a thing where you can move spare change (i think you have to do it manually) into your savings account.

 

[Saddlesoap]

Definitely see if your bank account offers 'save the change'. Made a big difference for me and I don't really notice it's gone.

 

[Onecandream]

Don’t get sucked into buy one get one free or buy one get second half price unless you definitely need the second!! Look for something on a half price deal

 

[hrh89]

Find out when your local supermarket does the final yellow stickers. It’s a game changer and a life saver. Money is very very tight for me and has been for a while and tbh before this i never even thought about reduced foods just used to buy everything full price.

I hate being one of the “regulars” but I’m respectful of staff and not a pusher or a shover I promise
some of the regulars are a bloody nightmare though! It makes me cringe

It has honestly helped us get by the past 6 months and at least the food is not just being thrown out.

if you have a Morrison near you their reductions are incredible. My local tends to do their final reductions about 6.30-7pm and I pop round 2-3 times a week and manage to get a good variety of stuff to last us. When I say cheap I mean cheap. Their bakery items go to like 10-20p. Fruit is always less than 30p and ready meals and meat generally between 50-70p.

also apps like Shopmium and checkoutsmart are good. You do have to buy the initial product but all you have to do is scan your receipt in and they pay you back the money in a day or so.

when I (rarely) buy clothes I only shop in the charity shops now. My local YMCA is awesome and nothing is over £3

 

[rlouisep9]

Do your food shop using scan as you shop if they have it, that way you can see the total as you go round and don't get a shock at the till

Also on that note if you use Tesco get a clubcard and you get clubcard prices/offers/vouchers

Look at the world food aisles for rice/pasta, it's generally more in bulk and much cheaper. They also reduce stock, I got a 1kg pack of spaghetti for 10p last time I went!

As a few others have mentioned, move money into savings as soon as you get paid so you don't touch it

Google discount codes or ask anyone you know who may have a student or Blue Light card for a discount code whilst online shopping, usually ASOS, Boohoo etc will have codes around

Sign up for newsletters on websites if you've never ordered them before as they usually send a welcome voucher code

If you're saving for your first house open a Lifetime ISA and the government will give you 25% of what you put in, up to 4k bonus a year

Sell clothes on Vinted rather than ebay/depop as they don't take any cuts of what you sell

 

[Hope96]

I think moving money into your savings as soon as you're paid is the best thing you can do if possible.

I agree with the Lifetime ISA suggestion - you can download the Moneybox app and open one through that. I have a weekly direct debit leaving my account and you can change the amount depending on your outgoings for a particular week.

I try to have a savings goal for each month and a long time savings goal too. I write it down which helps me but I know it can be difficult especially when you have more pressing priorities. I doing, however, still think it's good to have a savings goal as it makes it more appealing to save.

 

[DCICassieStuart]

In terms of food shopping for a family what do people find is the cheapest main supermarket or do people find that buying in bulk is cheaper? Really need to tighten our belts as husband is changing jobs and I’m going to university in September and we spend so much money on food.

thanks in advance

Personally I think Aldi is the cheapest but I still need to go to Tesco (purely because that's the closest supermarket to me) for the few bits that I can't get in Aldi.

You mention food, but are you spending a lot on toiletries? I buy whatever bits I can in Aldi, and then just buy whatever stuff is on offer in Tesco if I have too.
Poundland, B&M etc are definitely the best value for toiletries and household cleaning products.

I have a big Asian supermarket not too far from me and stock up there too. Miles cheaper than buying the branded stuff in Tesco.

The only problem I've ever found with meat, fish etc in Aldi is that it tends to be short dated, but I just freeze it and it's fine.

Fruit and veg doesn't last too long, but that might be a good thing. A friend of mine is a supermarket manager for one of 'the big four' and he said the reason that Aldi f&v doesn't last as long is because it's not treated with as many pesticides and chemicals.

 

[Hertfordshire_home]

I work on a zero based budget. This means that every single penny has a purpose. I will make sure every part of my money has a purpose and gets sent to the right place on pay day. Make sure you do budget to have fun because that way you won't feel so guilty and you are less likely to go off the budget rails.
As others have said - pay straight into savings on payday! Pay yourself first.
For me I put money into savings in two points of the month. 1) Payday (22nd) 2) 1st of the next month. I have a lot of regular savers which I fund and rotate so they always get paid on 1st. I will hide the money I'm due to save into a different pot for the week or so.

In terms of saving money I am trying to use more supermarket own brand products.

Cooking from scratch and freezing. I also have some birds eye chicken boxes in the freezer for the busy/lazy nights to help resist a take away.

I will always have left overs the next day for lunch.

Bet you are a laugh on a night out haha..... i do get what you are saying though but think you have to have some sort of enjoyment.