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Ask for unbranded pharmaceuticals: own brands are exactly the same formulation.

March 27, 2013 at 9:52 am

I find the key to money saving is make it a habit. Here’s my top ten..

1. Allocate The Money You Save Pay it off a debt, put it in the holiday fund, just don’t leave it lingering in your wallet or it will disappear on mundane items such as milk and bread

2.. Watch Your Money Like a Hawk
keep an eye on statements to make sure you are not wasting money or incurring bank charges.

3. See What You Spend
Spending on cards is too easy and many get carried away and overspend. Draw out the money and feel it go out of your hands.

4. Cut the Big Bill: Food
For one week, add up the value of the food you throw away. Plan your meals and only buy what you need to. Stick to your meal plan to minimise waste.

5. Cut the Big Bill: Gas and Electric
It does pay to switch. Being loyal doesn’t pay. Subscribe to the Money Saving Expert newsletter for the heads up on the right time to change.

6. Cut the Big Bill: Fuel
Get fit, walk to the shops, walk to and from school. If you can manage one less fuel fill up every month, that can equate to around £700 savings per year!! (or as I like to call it – a holiday!)

6. Non-Package Holidays
A self catering holiday abroad in a privately owned property is massively cheaper than a package holiday. Ask owners for the very best price on a hard to let week. They need your booking.

7. Be a Go To Spender
All sales people have targets to meet. Get chatty and give them your mobile number and your email address and let them know you will spend if the deal is good enough. All stores have to clear stock and there’s bargains to be had if you ask.

8. Share the (Child)Care
Kids love going to their mates. They love having their mates round. Save childcare costs and So long as you return the favour and each family takes their turn, this is a great solution for everyone.

9. Second Hand Should Be First Look
Don’t spend a penny until you have scoured a site like EBay for a perfectly good pre-owned item. Set up alerts on the EBay app on your smartphone to nab the stuff you want for a fraction of the original price.

10. File Guarantees and Receipts
How many times does something break and you say “What a Waste of Money” and you can’t take it back because you can’t find the guarantee or receipt? Either file, or if you’re short on space, scan your receipts and guarantees.

March 27, 2013 at 11:17 am

1. Save money on your water bill by placing a brick or large stone in your cistern. This will reduce the amount of water used for each flush of your toilet, which can save you money!

2. Save money when listing this on eBay. Every few weeks, eBay treat us to free insertions. So, if you want to list an item with a starting price over 99p, keep an eye out for their free insertions (which are usually over weekends). This will save you money as you won’t have to pay an insertion fee.

3. Save money ordering your personal shopping online. Looking to buy something on a popular website? If you have the patience, wait for a free delivery offer or a money/percentage-off offer. Some discounts are advertised on the website, but some are only advertised on the website’s newsletters. So make sure you sign up for them as you often get sent promotional codes through email, which you add on at the checkout. If you have the patience, wait for this – it could save you a fair bit of money.

4. Often send parcels? Save money on packaging by reusing padded envelopes that have been sent to you by other people. Rip off your address and cover the rip mark with a label or piece of paper with the address you need. Also reuse your clean plastic high street carrier bags that you’ve saved up, by using those as packaging too. Cut the handles off, double them up and stick them securely with parcel tape. You can reuse show boxes too, to save you money on buying cardboard boxes. To save money on polystyrene pieces to pad out boxes, you can use popped popcorn instead (just don’t cook them in oil.. Dry fry them) – but make sure, if you’re sending abroad, that popcorn can be sent.. Some countries are a bit weird about sending certain foods being brought over the boarder!

5. Make some extra money by selling your unworn clothes. If you are attached to your clothes and can’t bare to part with them even though you know don’t wear them, place them in your wardrobe on hangers, but make sure the hangers are all facing the same way. When you wear a piece of clothing, place it back in the wardrobe with the hanger facing the opposite direction. After a period of time (6 months – 1 year), if any hangers are still facing the original direction, it clearly shows you haven’t worn them for so long and are probably unlikely to wear it again. Take them out and sell them on eBay or at a local car boot for some extra money.

6. Save money by buying meat/fish reduced in your supermarket. Most supermarkets have a “reduced” section, which is just food, that has a ‘Use by’ date which ends that day. Most food on their is still perfectly fine. You can always buy more than you need, as you can bung it in the freezer the day of purchase and defrost it when you need it. Near the end of the day, most supermarkets will reduce things even further. I work in a supermarket and I’ve seen good meat go for as little as 40p. It’s definitely worth a look, even if you don’t find anything.

7. Save money on your Christmas decorations, wrapping, crackers, etc. As soon as Christmas is over, shops reduce the price of Christmas items drastically, to get rid of them. So this is the best time to stock up, as you could save a substantial amount of money. If you only buy one thing, buy crackers. If you think about it, you buy nice crackers for £10+, you pull them around the table, wear the hat for your Christmas dinner and then it all gets thrown away. Very often the little “surprise” in the middle is often chucked away too, as nothing in crackers is overly that useful anyway.

8. Save money on children’s clothing. Children grow so fast so a lot of their clothes don’t last very long at all. I know all the baby designer clothes are very tempting, but are they really worth it? Why not buy baby clothes in charity shops, supermarkets, boot sales (where you can normally find bundles).. They’ll only grow out of them anyway. That way you can save the money up so you can buy something nice for them when they’re older, that they’ll appreciate much more.

9. Save money on your expensive creams, shampoos, conditioners and toothpastes. Always store them upside down and, if possible, cut the ends of the tubes/bottles off with scissors to make sure you use every last drop – you will be surprised how much is actually still in there!

10. Save money on special occasions by hand-making your own gifts and cards. Although these can be quite time consuming to do, it’s often cheaper than buying shop bought gifts or cards and also are loved far more by the recipient. Also bake your own birthday cake/cupcakes for friends and family instead of buying one. This is WAY cheaper and often tastes a lot nicer than supermarket bought ones too! You can keep them as simple or make them as creative as you want, and you can make any flavour under the sun. You don’t need to buy cookbooks, just search online for recipes – there are hundreds out there for free, which often come with reviews!

March 28, 2013 at 11:51 am

1. Recycle, Reuse and Regift: If I get a present in a lovely bag or wrapping paper I keep the packaging to use again for someone else. It’s such a waste to just throw it away. I am also happy to regift items that would be better suited to someone else – just make sure you remember who gave them to you!

2. Make your own bread: It is easy, therapeutic and costs about half the price of a supermarket loaf. Here is the basic recipe I use.

3. Take advantage of cashback: This is essentially free money just for taking an extra click through a cashback website before buying something you would have bought anyway. I use Quidco but Topcashback is also highly rated

4. Don’t skimp on insurance: Insurance always seems like an unnecessary expense, until you need it. Breakdown cover and pet insurance are two that seem extravagant but always work out to be cheaper in the long run.

5. Plan meals around special offers: Check out what’s on offer at your local supermarket on their website before you go and plan your week’s meals around these money saving deals.

6. Get your Swagbucks on: I’m usually a bit wary of rewards and survey sites but I have made £20 from Swagbucks in the past few months just by spending a few minutes a day on there. Well worth it.
7. Don’t be a brand snob: Try out the value range items before automatically deciding they are no good. Shopping in the basics ranges saves loads of money and often you really can’t tell the difference, especially on essentials like tinned tomatoes, kidney beans or rice.

8. Hold a swap shop: Clothes, cook books, bags or makeup can all sit languishing in your home when someone else would love to have them. Set up a swapping evening with friends, grab a glass of wine and breathe some new life into old items.

9. Join the library: Sounds simple but many people, like me, have spent hundreds of pounds on books and dvds which are free, or very cheap, to borrow from the library. I am a convert!

10. Be a voucher vulture : I never go out to dinner, to the cinema or on a day out without first checking to see if there is a money off voucher or discount code available. Always get free store loyalty cards – especially Tesco and Boots – and find the savviest way to use the points you collect.

March 29, 2013 at 11:51 am

1 Incorporate pleasant and cheap rituals into your life, e.g. cut some twigs to make an Easter tree at home, decorate it with anything you have, I saw one blog using buttons. Boil some eggs with onion skins, or beetroot or turmeric to dye them.
2. Have a few recipes which can use up tiny amounts of leftovers. Some friends make pizza every Friday, putting the dough ingredients in the breadmaker before going to work, and then in the evening using up anything possible for the topping. Then they have an empty fridge for the weekend shopping, and have slices of pizza for snacks.
3. Use a blender to make soup with leftover cooked vegetables, or to make baby food. You can also use it as a way of making sauces for pasta, etc.
4. If you buy expensive fruit like grapes or cherries, wash them and divide the bunch into smaller servings with scissors if necessary. This is useful when you have people in the house who can eat an enormous bunch at a sitting. It can also be useful to pre-peel oranges for children, if they have tough skins, pour a little very hot water from the kettle over them and let sit for a few minutes.
5. Portion-control the most expensive ingredient, e.g. the meat if you eat it. If you have enough left over to make something else, hide it short-term, e.g. in the microwave, so that family or flatmates don’t casually finish it off. They can fill-up on cheaper ingredients. Plan the other meals, so you can prepare them as soon as possible, and freeze if necessary. e.g. use bolognese sauce to make a lasagne, or pie.
6. If you share with someone who raids the kitchen after a night out, make sure that they can’t do too much damage to the budget by preparing for it. This is easier with partners and family than flatmates. A friend’s teenage son once ate a whole cooked chicken, intended for Sunday lunch, having decided it was leftovers. He had to go and buy the family a replacement, and now leaves himself a pile of sandwiches in the fridge, (he toasts or fries them when he gets in)
7 If you buy fruit at supermarkets, check carefully, sometimes the exotic stuff is cheaper than apples or other basics.
8. When you’re stuck for something to cook with whatever you have available, try websites (the BBC is one) which let you enter some ingredient names and then find you recipes based on those.
9. Dried fruit can be used instead of sugar to sweeten many recipes, and is healthier and more nutritious. Try cutting down on the sugar, e.g. in flapjack recipes, and substituting any dried fruit you have. e.g. chopped up apricots, or raisins.
10. It sounds obvious, but use things up. If you have things which seem under-ripe e.g. plums, then cook them Over-ripe bananas can be frozen until you have time to make banana bread (lots of recipes for this online)

March 30, 2013 at 2:06 pm

1. Plan your meals.
I plan our meals each week on my calendar. I know this sounds basic but it does save so much money as I don’t know about you but a) its easy to forget what you have left in your cupboards/freezer and b) I often forget a vital ingredient for a meal and this single ingredient often costs twice as much in the local store.Honestly this saves me a fortune!!.

2. Cashback websites- BUT ONLY WHEN BUYING WHAT YOU WERE GOING TO BUY ANYWAY- some people think these are a rip off I totally disagree as long as you use them carefully. I always search through my cashback sites for any online purchases remember if you start using them for additional purchases your not actually making money just spending it. I us it often for groceries and baby items and since January have made about £100 from joining 2 sites:
topcashback:
http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/natk_barlow?source=tellafriend
quidco:
http://www.quidco.com/user/2873886/

3.Reusable nappies 🙂 I know this may sound like a lot of hassle and very old fashioned. However you can save soooo much money. I am at home with my little one so find using reusables no problem to wash or dry. In fact If you estimate your baby will probably go through £10 of nappies a week until they are 2 1/2 years thats a cost of £1300 yet my nappies in total have only cost me £60 so far and they are birth to potty and I only need to wash every 3 days as I have so many. I brought these from ebay and preloved sites and they are not what most imagine!!. They are not the old terries muslin cloths anymore. They are shaped and easy to do up with poppers or velcro come in all kinds of designs and colours. Yes they are more bulky but they can be pretty, cool and stylish. Also think if you have 2/3 kids thats a saving of £3840 for 3 kids (minus cost of washing which isnt high)

4. Baby food- make your own- Again this does not mean buying extra things its using what you already have and are using for your own meals. Simple purees such as apple, carrot, sweet potato and as they get older bolognese, mild curry, shepherds pie. Why buy jars of baby food (probably spending £10 a week) when your baby can eat healthy foods just buy blending what you already have in for yourselves.

5. Swap clothes/sell- I don’t know about you but do you find your baby/toddler is only in clothes for a short space of time?. The best saving tip is to find a few friends that also have children and do a swap you get a nice lot of hardly worn clothes(I found that I have about 4-5 friends all with babies of different ages). Another option is ebay them or sell them on another site. There’s another even easier option if you can’t be bothered with all the creating an advert and sorting out p and p. In your area there are often clothes bank/second hand shops that buy old clothes in bulk.These pay you by weight so you are likely to get less per item but its still money rather than having them sitting there at home!!.

6. Online Surveys/Mystery shopping- These are easy money. Some can take some time to complete but some are quick and easy. They also don’t pay vast amounts of money however if your at home and have a spare few minutes each evening it can soon mount up. The only thing to bear in mind is this is classifed as income so you will need to ensure you declare any income you earn.

7. Learn to live off less than your minimum income.Especially those whose wages vary. My partners job is very seasonal and in the winter his hours can be half of what he earns in the summer. This means the winter months can be very tight. We’ve found the best approach is to always plan your budget based on your lowest estimated income. This means even though my partner earns twice as much in the summer we still try to live off his basic winter wage and save the excess. This means we are always living within our means and not over and we are creating a little nest egg.

8. Freezing bread, milk and of course meals. We were finding every week we were throwing away so much bread milk and left over food. Why??? we thought what a waste. So Every time we order the food now we freeze half the loaf leaving out just what we need for a few days. Again with the milk rather than ordering 1 large and the milk going off we order 2 small and freeze one so it doesn’t go off. The same with meals we have saved a few cartons from ready meals and every time we cook too much food we freeze the excess for another day.

9. Know what your entitled too- Benefits. I read somewhere about how much benefit entitlement is not claimed each year. I believe that some people do not simply know what they are entitled to i.e Healthy start vouchers for new parents, uniform allowance, how to claim a tax rebate when entitled?. Its really important to know your entitlements so get on the phone to the tax office, council, job centre or crb and find out everything your entitled too. One example is tax rebates me and my partner checked through our last few years tax and discovered we were both owed over £400 each!!

10- Grants- There are so many grants out there for people suffering hard times, starting a new business, expanding e.t.c But people don’t know they exist!. I went on the turn to us website when I had to leave my job due to ill health during my pregnancy and we were sharing a house with my parents and struggling to afford our own house/ furniture etc and they recommended a few possible trusts/grants that could help. After several letters of application we did get help to furnish our house with the basics (Cooker, Bed, Fridge freezer). These places are here to help you when you need it the most, without them we would have been sleeping on the floor without an oven!! So don’t expect money unless your in need and the funds are for the essentials. However I myself would personally like to thanks Retail Trust for their help.

I hope all these tips are useful particularly to new families.

April 2, 2013 at 4:59 pm