10 Ways To Save Money!!

Ten Ways To Save Money, Very Simple, Useful Tips that You Can Employ Effortlessly Every Day. Put the Cash You Have Saved Each Day Into A Moneypot/Piggybank....You'll Be Amazed At How Quickly It Mounts Up!!! Pay Off A Bill With It, Or Simply Treat Yourself or Your Family to Something that Would Have otherwise Gone On the dreaded Credit Card!!!

Number 1:
Do you spend money every day on your lunch at the local cafe/bar/canteen? DONT!! Go to your local supermarket and stock up on bread, cheese/ham whatever it is you like in your sandwiches. You can easily make your own sandwich fillers, eg: egg mayonnaise, very easy to make and it's fairly cheap too. Make your/your families lunch up at night to save rushing in the morning. Stuck for lunch boxes? Get down to your local pound shop and you can pick up lunch boxes/food storage containers for a few quid. Potential saving per day for a family of 4: 15-18 pounds!!! Savings for a single person: between 3 and 6 pounds, depending on where you eat!!

Number 2:

Cut out the morning latte/cappaccino, buy a flask and take your own. Or if you have a kettle in your workplace, take in your own tea or coffee to make up at work. Potential saving per day: 1.50-3 pounds

Number 3:

Ditch the Friday night chinese takeaway and make your own from scratch. Ingredients can be bought from any local supermarket, butchers and greengrocers. If you make a bulk load up, using your handy food storage tubs you bought earlier, you can put next Fridays in the freezer!!! Check my blog later for a economic chinese recipe. Potential savings per week: 20-25 pounds.

Number 4:

Shop around for the best deals on the high street. DONT impulse buy!!! Go away and think about the new dress/ jeans/ shirt you just seen...give it an hour at least...if it's meant to be, you'll still want it. A good tip would also to check to see if you can get it cheaper online...but try it on in the shop first!!!Potential saving per week: anything from 10 pounds to 200 pounds!!!!

Number 5:

Online auction sites..a great way to shop and save pounds at the same time. Generally 10-15% cheaper on new items. Check sellers feedback first, including their returns policy. Potential savings per week: 10-40 pounds, depending on what it is you are buying.

Number 6:

Baby Clothes-recycle!!! Young babies are often deluged with lots of lovely new outfits...which unfortunately do not get the wear deserved as they grow so quickly. Alot of the time, you have so many new outfits for the new addition that some of them shamefully never get to have the tags removed!!! Sell your unused/unwanted baby clothes through your local paper, on online auction sites or to me at my shop!! Mamas' Baby Shop, Causewayhead, Penzance, Cornwall. Recycle your money to buy things you now need for your baby. Potential saving per week: 10-20 pounds depending on how often you need to re-clothe your little bebe!!

Number 7:

Buy second hand!!! If you look, you will find, apart from in my shop, good quality, hardly used clothes, some designer labels for a few pounds each. Local charity shops and Car Boot Sales are a goldmine for brands such as Gap, Next and Quiksilver. Even Online Auction sites have a great selection of preloved, good quality clothing. Don't be proud-once they are on you or your child, it is only you that knows they were second hand, or preloved as I like to call it. And, you'll be dressed to impress on a tiny budget with those pounds in your piggybank and not someone elses!!! New pushchairs are one of the biggest money drains. You pay big money for the latest trendy pushchair, only to find it has depreciated quicker than a Rover once out of the shop. Go for good, quality makes, under 2 years old and in good condition, nine times out of ten you will be able to get back over half of what it cost you, if you come to re-sell it, whereas brand new at 600 pounds will give you a return of only 150 pounds when you sell it. Think COST PER USE!!! Do ensure that the pushchair is safe and all parts are working correctly. Look for the safety registration, this should be both the european safety standard as well as the British Safety standard for Fire retardant material on UK pushchairs. You will find this on a label usually underneath the pushchair seat. Potential weekly saving: 10-60 pounds on clothing, 400 pounds on pushchairs.

Number 8:

Try to shop only when you have to. Make a list and stick to it. The best way to plan ahead is to plan all the meals for the week. List all the ingredients that you will need. Buy some of your shopping in places like a weigh-inn type store, where grains, sugar, flour etc is all bought loose, ie you scoop what you need into bags, so this limits packaging also. Go to your local greengrocers towards the end of the day, some do quite alot of reduced veggies/fruit, things like mushrooms which are expensive, you can pick up a bag for 20p or so, but you'd need to use them that day/next day. Buy supermarket own label-often as good as the branded lines and usually 10% cheaper. Never shop in just one shop, hunt around for bargains, end of day clearances. NEVER, EVER, shop when you are hungry!!!!Potential saving per week: single person-15 pounds, family of 4: 20-25 pounds.

Number 9:

Check that your electricity and/or gas supplier is currently the cheapest/best deal. This also applies to telephone and broadband supplier. Shop around, use the internet, comparison sites will be able to give you the low down on the cheapest suppliers based on your locality. It may only be a few pounds but it all adds up!!! Keep checking periodically as prices do change often. Make sure you are getting value for money.

Number 10:

If you have a car, ditch it and walk to work!!! Take a train, bus or cycle. Check to see if there is a car share that is either running within your university/workplace, if there isn't, then create one!!! Car sharing can also be incorporated into the school runs, if there are 3 or 4 mums/dads together. You don't need to do this every day, but small changes such as walking on the school run 2 days a week, walking to the local shop, small trips that really could be done on foot, should be done on foot. You use more petrol on short trips than you do longer ones. Try and incorporate a series of trips into one long trip. Make changes where you can. If you are able to, sell the car and get a scooter instead. 15 pounds per year road tax!!! 5 pounds to fill the tank. Potential savings per week: 10-15 pounds or more.

And Finally.....

whatever you do to save money, enjoy the experience and be creative!!! Be sure to treat/reward yourself and your family for being thrifty and nifty!!! Penny pinching doesn't have to be boring!!!