Money Saving Tips

CountryMimi

Unfortunately many of us are having such a horrific time with the cost of living increasing. I only hope that at some point we will recover from this.

A personal interest of mine is learning to manage my finances. A couple of years ago, I went from being in a horrifically abusive relationship, where part of the abuse I received was financial to escaping that manipulationship and having a much better ethic with regards to managing my money and financial independence.

Regardless of the abuse, in terms of the financial side I can't put all the blame on this as I wasn't great with my finances prior to, but this really was the tip of the iceberg. I was going into my arranged overdraft every single month, but it's now been about 18 months since I went into my overdraft and I'm building up a small pot of savings to support me in the future.

As I continue my money management journey, I'd love to hear your tips as well.

Food / Eating out

Brewers Fayre

If there's a Brewers Fayre that's local to you, there's currently an offer that's being sent out to people subscribed to their Bonus Club. Offers are sent out regularly, with this one being a free meal up until and including 31st December 2022 - my Mum and I have booked for New Year's Eve, so we'll split the bill from the other meal in half which'll save us both some money! 

✅ There's no fee for subscription. 
✅ You'll need to use your unique code that'll be generated once you receive the email.
✅ Includes ONE free meal or up to TWO free courses from the festive menu per party.
✅ If your local Brewers Fayre is anything like mine, it'll be absolutely roasting inside, so if anything, a free meal and a warm & toasty place are a complete bonus here! 

❌ Doesn't include Christmas Day & Boxing Day.
❌ Don't count on the offer being e-mailed quickly as when I first subscribed I waited a while until I received my first subscription, but it is worth a try!
❌ Voucher can only be redeemed once.
❌ One voucher is valid per party.

Ollyoyster

Thanks for tip off ref brewers fayre😁,, looks great. 
I have  a natwest app, and it has a thing called round up on it, so everytime you spend it rounds up to the nearest pound and puts the change in a savings pot, you hardly notice the difference and in one month I've got 20pound!!!!  So I'm going to forget about it and try and build a little emergency fund 🙂

CountryMimi

You're more than welcome!

That's brilliant re the round up pots! Little changes certainly do add up!

CountryMimi

Christmas

Christmas Presents

So many of us enjoy giving at Christmas, but don't feel pressured to give! So many people have either had to reduce their Christmas gift spending or have just chosen not to give.

My Mum, sister and I all have a mutual agreement that we have a set budget to spend on one another. Last year was £30, this year £20. However, 2020 was a different story altogether as we had all just relocated and thought it would be too much of a financial burden, so we did a no spend Christmas. My brother is a uni student and we don't want to put the financial burden on him either, so we've agreed a no spend with him - just for reference, don't want to sound like we're being tight, we share the same dad, but have different mum's, so it's not like there's any favouritism going on and nobody's being left out 😅.

If you do want to spend, but don't have a huge budget, there are ways of giving nice gifts, but without having to spend massive amounts!

Last year I made these little sweet treat Mason jars, which cost £1.83 per gift!

I also made some little hot chocolate stations using the same Mason jars.

Also, use the January sales to your advantage - you can often get some absolute BANGER bargains!

✅ Don't feel compelled to spend. 
✅ Set a Christmas budget that is affordable for you.
✅ Shop around for bargains and reductions.
✅ Set up a pot of money that you put cash in, like @Ollyoyster where you're rounding up the change. If you don't have that facility on your bank account, there are tons of apps that can safely do that for you! Or alternatively, if you're like me and have a Monzo account, use the pots to your advantage where you can put a set amount of cash aside.
✅ Make a note of what you've bought - I have a cheap little notebook that has all sorts in it including this year's Christmas budget and presents I've bought.

❌ Don't set an unrealistic budget.
❌ Don't spend for the sake of it.

durhamjaide2001

My money saving tips are:

try to get as many points cards as possible 
If you can get discounts cards 
Switch of plugs 
Don't get groceries delivered because it costs £7 to get delivered 
Shop at charity shops 
Buy from local business

CountryMimi

@durhamjaide2001 thank you

Sheesh, it costs £7 for a delivery?!

CountryMimi

Came across a Burger King offer earlier

janer1967

My online delivery costs £1.50 I go for out of busy hours bur I could get s delivery pass like woodbine for a monthly fee 

CountryMimi

I'm currently having to stay with my mum who lives in a different town as I'm really struggling post op. We've discussed me trying to go home at some point after Christmas - I would struggle with shopping independently as I can't carry and mobility isn't good at all, so it's working out the practicalities of it all. Did have a quick check online and I was surprised to find that there were some £1 slots available, others were around the £5 mark. I suppose it might depend on the region in some areas as to the price of delivery costs.

L_Volunteer

It sounds really positive that you have your mum @CountryMimi. It sounds like this is really helping you with the post-op recovery. 

It sounds like there is a lot of fluctuation in online shopping delivery! Hopefully, you can find a good discount and make shopping more accessible for you 

CountryMimi

L_Volunteer said:

It sounds really positive that you have your mum @CountryMimi. It sounds like this is really helping you with the post-op recovery. 

It sounds like there is a lot of fluctuation in online shopping delivery! Hopefully, you can find a good discount and make shopping more accessible for you 

Thank you, my mum has been amazing 🥰

CountryMimi

I've got another money saving tip here. This time it's an app to help you save money on your bills! 

Zipzero - snap your receipts & you can save money on your bills. So after using it for a few weeks, it seems that for every £10 you spend, you'll receive 1p towards your bills.

Cashout threshold is £5 & all you do is put the details of your bill provider in the app & the money goes directly to them.

Not going to help massively, but any help is better than no help, right? 

durhamjaide2001

My money savings tips are:

Make use if loyalty cards and discount cards 
shop small business 
Bring your own carrier bags in to stores
Shop in Scopes charity shops 

L_Volunteer

Glad to hear this @CountryMimi. Thank you for sharing your extra money-saving tips with us. Every little helps 

Thanks @durhamjaide2001 for sharing your tips too. Between you both, you have covered quite a few tips 

CountryMimi

durhamjaide2001 said:

My money savings tips are:

Make use if loyalty cards and discount cards 
shop small business 
Bring your own carrier bags in to stores
Shop in Scopes charity shops 

Yes, carrier bags! I worked out that based on Morrisons 60p bag for life, if you buy 5 every single week for 5 years, you'd be spending £780!

CountryMimi

L_Volunteer said:

Glad to hear this @CountryMimi. Thank you for sharing your extra money-saving tips with us. Every little helps 

Thanks @durhamjaide2001 for sharing your tips too. Between you both, you have covered quite a few tips 

I find it really interesting 😃 there are so many little ways that add up to make quite a big difference

L_Volunteer

Oh, definitely @CountryMimi. I really benefit from threads like this too - all the handy tips 

CountryMimi

@L_Volunteer they definitely are! The more you put into the practice, the more money you can save and just by making little changes, a massive difference can be made.

Another one I use - I know some banks have the ability to enable a round up feature and say you spend £1.56, it'll round  the unspent change to the next £1 and put it away for you in a little pot. I set up this feature at the beginning of the year and I've been pretty frugal this year, but I've already managed to save over £10 with the roundup feature! 

L_Volunteer

I completely hear you and agree with what you have said @CountryMimi. The more 'small' actions you can make, the more they add up and the more you save.

Please note, well done on your saving of over £10 already with the roundup feature!