With the cost of living going up then a lot of us are looking for money saving ideas. My first thoughts were to delete Fortnite and shower at the gym but then I thought that people may need some serious ideas.
Cut back on your Gas & Electricity Bill
If you aren’t already on a smart meter and paying by direct debit that’s probably the first thing you should change if you can. If not you can still save the money each week or month for a set amount ready for when the bill comes in. It may also be a good idea to check if you are with the best energy supplier and tariff for your needs. Do make sure you look at the long term cost implications. Likewise it is generally best to have dual fuel – that is Gas & Electric with the same supplier.
Here are some ideas on how you can cut back on your gas and electricity usage.
Only put enough water in the kettle for what you need.
Turn things off when not in use – water, electricity at the source (kettle, tv, lights, cooker, washing machine, dishwasher and so on).
Put on an extra layer rather than putting the heating on. We are loving The Oodie – expensive initially but has kept us warm and cut down on washing as it is all the kids want to wear after school/on weekends. With the added advantage that they are cleaned on a cold wash.
Make sure your fridge freezer is full. Make ice in tubs if need be!
Wash at lower temperatures!
Use a washing line and airers rather than a tumble dryer.
Take a cool shower rather than putting the fan on.
Or turn the heating down.
Join in with Earth hour – or consider turning your lights off earlier.
Use a brush/broom instead of the vacuum on hard floors and down the stairs.
When cooking use a pan only big enough to fit what you need and use a lid.
Instead of using the oven try to use a slow cooker.
Get used to the cold by using cold water therapy
Money Saving Ideas for Water
Get a water saver for your toilet. Only flush after a poo (this one really isn’t for me sorry).
Shower rather than bath. Or get your children to share a bath.
Reuse water or get a rain catcher – or make one from an old plastic bottle with the children – to water plants etc.
Ladies get yourself a Mooncup, or equivalent, or reusable pads/pants – it is worth a try at least.
See my previous post on other ways to save water in the home.
Money Saving Ideas with Food
Meal plan & shop online. If you shop around you can get it cheaper & do a quick search for money off vouchers. Use Tesco clubcard vouchers – we use them for days out & just paid for our ferry with them.
Batch cook.
Visit LoveFoodHateWaste – to help make sure you do not throw food away.
Buy in bulk.
Grow your own food with your own home made compost.
You can buy things with short dates/reduced and freeze them (bread is usually 9p a loaf just before the shop closes).
Other Money Saving Ideas
Grow flowers rather than buying air fresheners
Buy reusable rather than disposable – nappies, flannels, wash cloths, etc.
Reuse as much as possible – for example I use plastic containers from food to put my children’s paint in, make pots with etc.
Pay for things like insurance, car tax annually as it is cheaper – then just save up the monthly cost ready for next year. Don’t just renew shop around.
Leave the car behind and walk – the exercise and fresh air will do you wonders too. See if your company has a cycle scheme.
Or drive sensibly. If you can go electric.
Cut back on things like Sky – or ring and say you want to leave and they cut your bill getting you to stay.
Get PAYG instead of contract – consider GiffGaff.
like your post, I’ve got a lot of these in place too, seems like we are quite like minded peeps.
Apart from the outage issue with GiffGaff I’ve be relatively happy with them, do you get good reception?
I also don’t use my dishwasher unless there is a mountain of dishes and rather than doing big washes and having to put them in tumbler at weekend, I do one wash a day and pop it in airing cupboard and on airer to dry. Doing these two things is saving me around £70 a month!!!!!!
Thanks for commenting. My giffgaff is a lot better than orange and the one day it was down they emailled to apologise.
We also rarely have cakes, biscuits, chocolate cereal and the kids then think it’s a real treat to have them.
Wombling! this means pickng up usefull but discarded things you walk past. I womble bags of cut grass from my nieghbours lawn to help my compost bins, or pick up pennies on floor i walk past and put in kids piggy banks.
Water saving, put the plug in as you shower, use that water for watering plants, grab a bucket and walk it to garden.
Cashback sites, big on this myself. I NEVER buy online without checking if what i want to buy is available on othersites cheaper, googling for discount codes, eg 10% off or free postage are very common ones, and login in via a cashback site. (happy to refer you Mrs Oddy 😛 )
NEVER go shopping when hungry, you WILL buy junk, overpriced pretty junk. 😉
Good tips.
Great post with some fab tips, I don’t have the joys of monthly visits anymore so a Mooncup would be a bit lost on me although it sounds like a great product! I have big plans for making savings in 2013 🙂 I am going to be the super scrimper of the super scrimpers! Ha ha! xxx
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