Way back in April 2013 lots of bloggers, including me, wrote their list of 30 ways to save £1 and sent it off to Money Supermarket to earn £30. I remember being so thrilled that my list was included. Sue was wondering if the list was out of date or still up to date so I looked back for mine to see what I had written, because I could not remember. Here is the first part of my list with my notes in a different colour print. I would be interested to see other people's lists too.
I've enjoyed reading other people's ways of saving so I thought I would write down some of mine too. It would be very easy to go on and on as ideas creep into my mind whilst writing down others. As I have a bit of a butterfly mind, they are not particularly logical in order but here goes anyway:1 THINK before you buy anything. Is this a want or a need? If it is a need, can it wait a while or not?2 If it is a need, then is the item on offer somewhere? Internet comparison sites and google can help here whether it is food or non-food. If you are buying this needed item on the internet, don't neglect sites like Quidco and Topcashback. They give cashback which mounts up to a little bit extra by the end of the year. Both of these sites had lists of groceries that qualified for cashback. Topcashback seems to have stopped this but have occasional offers eg for Halloween. they offered £2 back on a pumpkin costing at least £2. I got my £2 pumpkin at Sainsburys where I needed to go for something else and the pumpkin cost £2 so it was free. The groceries on Quidco used to be really good but lately they have been weird and wonderful things that we don't eat. I still check every few days, though, just in case... 3 3. 3 Before you buy clothes or other non-food items, do look in your local charity shops several times just in case what you need is on sale there. If you need a tool or gadget, then can you borrow it from a friend rather than buy something that is not going to be used very often?
I seem to buy very few new clothes these days other than shoes and underwear. And certainly our family are firm believers in checking what mum and dad have before spending their hard earned cash on new tools and gadgets.
4 I shop for food knowing what I have in the cupboards/fridge/freezer and I also have a vague menu plan in mind. That way, I buy what I need to fit in with what I already have but I can also be flexible enough to swap one item for another that is on special offer and cheaper than the one on my list.
Definitely still do this.
5 I put some items that I don't buy very often, like Marmite for example, on my shopping list when I open the last jar/pack. That reminds me to check for offers so I don't pay full price unless there hasn't been an offer on that item by the time I run out. If I find a really good offer, then I will buy a supply to last several months or even longer. When Tesco had an offer of 3 for the price of 2 on dried fruit, I bought enough sultanas to last us a year.
Still do this
6 If it is possible, always check the price per 100mls/100g in the supermarket. Don't assume that the larger "economy" size is automatically cheaper. A smaller size on offer may well prove cheaper per 100g so read the labels on the shelf. I had to buy baked beans for a church meal recently and was required to buy a top brand rather than my usual own brand version. At the supermarket, I found that the individual tins were on offer but the 4-packs were not so that 4 individual cans cost just over half the cost of the 4-pack.
Still do this
7 The cheaper own brand items are usually on the bottom shelf at the supermarket whereas the most expensive ones are placed at a level where they most easily catch the eye. Always look around the shelf before choosing which brand to buy.
8 Reduce, recycle, repair, reuse.
This bears repeating over and over again. And I love things that help the planet and my purse.
9 Don't neglect the pennies - they do mount up. There are always a couple of opportunities in a year to save (ie not spend) £100 or more when it comes to buying insurance or a necessary large item for the house. However there are literally thousands of opportunities to save 10p or even 5p. Make use of all these opportunities and the pennies will mount up to a sizeable sum by the end of the year.
10 Learn some very basic sewing skills. It is not rocket science to be able to sew a button back on a garment. I spotted that my shoe laces were starting to show signs of wear. I spent 5 minutes just reinforcing them with some black thread and using a basic in and out running stitch. Nobody can actually see the stitching because it is hidden in my shoes but the laces will last another year or two now. A new pair would have cost over £1 so that is one way of meeting the criteria in the title : )
11 Reuse things for another purpose - my hand towels go over a rail in the bathroom when in use and everybody tends to dry their hands on the end bits while the bit over the rail remains unused. I cut off the worn ends and hemmed the middle section so I now have a new kitchen towel and two floor cloths from those worn ends. I also patched my cotton oven mitts with the best bits from a very elderly tea towel. When finished with, cotton items like these will end up in my wormery.
12 Can an item be mended easily rather than thrown out? Many things can be put back together with a bit of glue or some tape and a few minutes work. My son was once heard to state that just about anything can be mended with a bit of thought and some duct tape : )
My son has been known to mend his slippers with duct tape so that he could get some more wear out of them : )
13 Grow your own. Not everybody has the time or inclination to work an allotment but most people can grow a pot of herbs on the window sill. How about a tray of lettuce seedlings too? Ours (lettuce and herbs) are outside but in two tubs beside the back door so it is not far to go even in the rain. The lettuce don't need to be as far apart as the books say because they don't grow to full maturity. I pick a leaf or two off each plant when they are big enough to eat but still young. Lovely! And how about some pea shoots too? Just soak some overnight and plant whole dried peas in the same way as the lettuce. They'll be ready to eat in just a couple of weeks.
14 You don't have to spend lots of money on pots for growing things - just recycle and reuse what you have. Cut off the larger bottom section of a milk bottle; use yoghurt tubs; use butter/marg tubs. For larger seed trays, I use the large, flat tubs that mushrooms come in. Just use a skewer or something sharp to poke a few holes in the bottom for drainage. If the trays are going by an indoor window, then they won't mark the sill if the trays are used double. I put the tray with the drainage holes inside one without holes but with a few flat pieces of polystyrene packaging (or gravel) in between so that the top one drains into the lower one and not on to the window sill. If the trays are particularly flimsy then I use them double anyway because two together is so much stronger than just one.
15 By extension, I use the clear plastic tubs that fruit often comes in to keep drawers tidy. Used double, they are great for keeping things visibly in place and to stop the drawer becoming full of mere clutter.
I don't do this so much now because I try to buy loose fruit where I can but I still have some double tubs in use that have lasted for years.
