Tips on saving money/ cutting spending

[shazney22]

Does anyone have any tips on cutting spending and saving money help plz lol

 

[catty]

I have saved money by changing life and home insurance saved about £15pm, cut back on some thing in my phone contract saving £10pm and cutting back on our sky package saving £10pm

The main way of cutting back was shopping in different shops, I now get alot of things from aldi and then a few things from asda rather than shopping in pricier shops.

I started trying to sell things on ebay but decided its not worth the hassle for me as I was mainly only getting 99p!!
I buy birthday and xmas presents year round so that its not sprung upon me in one pay. We have lodt £600 being on maternity wage and honestly I hardly notice as I was buying so much junk before. ( £5-6 on lunch everyday!) Im still trying to find other ways of saving so willbe watching this thread

 

[Pearls18]

My two tips are meal planning and internet banking. Internet banking keeps me on top of everything going in and out, I also try and work out our finances months in advance looking at what is coming up and if our wages are going to differ (or if like October it is a 5 week month making grocery bills higher) because I don't want to be living to our means every month as that would mean not saving anything and then struggling some months.

 

[R_x]

Stalking

 

[nic18]

stalking aswell

 

[catty]

Another thing I do is whatever I want to save that month I put into another account, on my online banking I can have 'piggy banks' these dont have a card for them u just transfer the money in. So I have one for holidays one for xmas and one for general savings. I attempt to save the £80 child benefit and divide it into these accounts. I find if I do it at the very start of the month I just get used to it not being there

 

[Pearls18]

Another thing I do is whatever I want to save that month I put into another account, on my online banking I can have 'piggy banks' these dont have a card for them u just transfer the money in. So I have one for holidays one for xmas and one for general savings. I attempt to save the £80 child benefit and divide it into these accounts. I find if I do it at the very start of the month I just get used to it not being there

We have this too, we have our personal accounts and a joint account these are the "active" accounts we use and have direct debits coming out of, then I have a "childcare" account I put CB and tax credits in for childcare so we don't accidentally spend it, then we have a "contingency" account we put into every month plus any left over money, this is short term savings for things coming up soon, for instance our Xmas savings are going in there ATM (although we are going to open an Xmas saver this December for next year) this is more flexible and we can dip in and out if needed and then we have an ISA for long term saving which is kept in Wales so we can't touch that lol.

 

[cherrylips100]

Double posting

 

[Scoobys mummy]

Another vote for meal planning/ online shopping. I do a list as things run low and plan my weeks meals before ordering online. It's £2.50 delivery and I would use that in petrol going to my local asda. Plus I always lift extras/impulse buys when I go and dd asks for stuff too.

Buying value doesn't mean scrimping on quality...I now buy frozen peppers/ onions/ sweet corn/peas for pies and omelettes etc,often the value range. Same goes for tinned.

eBay didn't work for me as a seller,I always got less than I hoped or badly predicted the postage!

 

[cherrylips100]

-use ebay to buy clothes, books, toys etc you can buy used or new.
-do your food shop online, you won't have the temptation of picking extras up.
-swap sky, virgin etc for freeview.
- wash and tumble dry clothes at night, its often cheaper.
- I also wash whites and colours together on short washes,never had a problem.
- swap using the bus/car with walking when you can.
- only use mobile internet when in a WiFi zone.
-make sure you've got proper insulation, you might be entitled to it free if not.
-kettles use lots of energy, only boil what you need.

 

[DJJ]

Pressed save too soon

 

[DJJ]

I take cash out at the start of the month for food and fuel and keep it in envelopes and i white on the envelope when,where and how much i spend.then when its gone its gone.

 

[bananaboat]

I think one of the best things you can do is to track your spending. It doesn't have to be anything fancy - just a simple spreadsheet where you can enter where your money is coming and going and add categories. It's pretty eye opening to see how much you spend on daily coffees, dining out, groceries, etc.

When we see a month where we went above and beyond on dining out, we'll try to cut back a bit the next month. Small changes like that make a big impact.

 

[dgirllamius]

I have a little diary where at the beginning of the month I write down all my bills (car, phone etc) and tick them off as they come out. I can then keep track of what I have spent.

I set aside 200€ for food for the month and usually only end up spending about 45€ a week so that leaves me a little bit at the end. I also draw this cash out so whatever money I have left at the end in change I put it away into a money box (I will open an account one day).

I write my shopping lists and have managed to get a list up together of the prices of items (I lead such a sad life lol) and then I can workout roughly what I am going to spend before I go - if I go over the budget then I can work out how I can get back into it. I always try and stick to my list but there is usually one or two items which sneak on. Our shops here are small so there isn't much selection to be picking up loads. I wish we had online shopping here.

About 2 years ago I did none of this and usually ended up being in the red with the bank at the end of the month. Since starting noting my ingoings and outgoings down I haven't been in the red since.