I’m on a mission to reduce our outgoings over the next 12 months. We’re not massive consumers anyway, which I think makes it harder to make significant cuts. Nonetheless, these are things I’ve done this month which I know has saved us money.
1. Cooking thrifty eats
I don’t recall who shared the link to The Resourceful Cook, but using the Frugal Favourites and Super Cheap Eats I’ve been able to knock up batches of meals like the Chorizo, Sausage & Bean Stew which have lasted us several days. I’m going to use the site when I set out my meal plans for next month.
2. Air drying
Common sense one: we’ve had some dry days, so the clothes and nappies have been on the washing line.
Days like today when it’s peeing down with rain I’m using indoor airers propped over the bath.
3. Cloth wipes
It’s so easy to spend a fortune on baby wipes when you’ve got kids; wiping bums, faces, sticky hands… then of course you get into the trap of using them to wipe up spills and even for dusting and before you know it you need another packet.
I have enforced a no-baby-wipe zone and for the past few weeks we’ve relied on a stack of cheeky wipes bought when Izz was in nappies and cheap flannels. IKEA do a 4 pack of wash cloths for 79p.
4. Watering down my orange juice
I started doing this when I was pregnant because I missed the taste of OJ but couldn’t handle the acidity with my constant heartburn. Watering down a glass of juice — approx 2 thirds juice to 1 third water — saves me over 1 litre a week which can add up to ~£12 by the end of a month (I drink quite a bit of orange juice)
5. Bought through a cashback website
We had reason to buy a new TV this month (you may find this odd, given that we don’t watch TV in itself but I’ll explain some other time); after having searched high and low for something that met our needs Karl discovered a cheapy Technika on Tesco Direct. It was already on sale, down £20 to £80, but clearing cookies and navigating to Tesco via Top Cashback meant we got back £3.23 too. I’ve made over £200 using TCB:
How have you saved money this month? I’m going to need all the tips I can get if we’re to survive on one income for the next 12 months…
Ps. You can now follow my blog with Bloglovin’
30 Jun at 7:42 pm
Last night I saved money by buying a $7 bottle of wine instead of good wine. I mean this stuff was good too, but it kind of tasted like fizzy kool-aid.
… Otherwise my credit card bill that includes entries such as $140 at Sephora and $90 at ModCloth suggest I wasn’t as thrifty as I would have liked.
30 Jun at 7:45 pm
You’re no use :P
30 Jun at 9:35 pm
My mum always puts a drying rack in the attic. You can even dry sheets and stuff if you put a drying rack in the stairwell. (For us it’s possible, might not be for you)
We haven’t used the dryer in months, it’s currently used as a place to store delicious things. :P
30 Jun at 9:38 pm
Karl and I have been talking about getting an over the stairs airer… something like http://www.castinstyle.co.uk/product.php/285/302/clothes_airer – is that what you mean?
01 Jul at 12:18 pm
Not really, ours is just a regular old airing rack, but that one looks really nifty too :)
It’s more like this: http://www.action.nl/upload/thumbs/105231-500-500-fit.png and it hangs over the bannister. It works really well, especially in winter because heat rises.
30 Jun at 10:57 pm
I totally agree that it’s harder to find ways to cut back if you’re not a huge consumer already.
I’d like to air-dry more stuff (diapers especially, since they take FOREVER in the dryer) but our apartment isn’t very big and our drying rack is GIGANTIC and takes up a ton of space in our kitchen, which is really the only place to put it. I wish we had a better solution but with no backyard in which to have a drying line, it’s kind of our only option. :\
I never did transition to cloth wipes. I meant to, and then… I didn’t. No good reason why, either. Do you like them okay? Or are they more annoying than disposable wipes b/c you have to wet them?
01 Jul at 9:55 am
Well we bought our cloth wipes to use with Izz but never really made the transition, it’s only since Oliver that we’ve really gone for it. I am not finding them inconvenient – especially since I started taking a bottle of water to bed and just use that to wet the wipes if I need to change Oliver overnight. (Same goes for out and about.)
The good thing about cloth wipes is you only need 1 or 2, even for big poop explosions. They actually clean instead of smearing like disposable wipes.
01 Jul at 1:55 am
This hasn’t been a good week for me in terms of saving money. I did a lot shopping, bought an expensive plane ticket, etc.
However, I did manage to save money by being friendly (cute?). I broke my glasses in pieces but got them repaired for free (and not at the place where I bought them) and scored other free things as well. I think it helps to have a good relationship with people who sell stuff – even if it’s just a cashier because they might offer free things or tell you about deals you’re unaware of.
01 Jul at 9:56 am
Haha, I don’t think I have the right kind of personally to score free stuff from cashiers ;D
01 Jul at 11:23 am
Baby wipes didn’t exist in my day, instead we took the terry nappies that were wearing thin and ripped them into 4 and used them in just the same way. Jumble sales were great – so many bargains there, ditto charity shops. You’d be amazed at some of the things people throw out. Grow your own tomatoes and cook them up, strain them and hey presto, your own pasata :) Buy a couple of pull out indoor clothes lines and put them into the utility so even on wet days you can have stuff drying.
03 Jul at 9:40 am
Done that Jo! A bit slow, but it does work..
02 Jul at 6:07 pm
Another good cheapy recipe site is budgetbytes.blogspot.com!
03 Jul at 7:26 pm
The batch cooking is a good way to save money on food costs – if you don’t feel like eating the same thing for a couple of nights in a row you can freeze it.
Otherwise depending on your shopping habits look to down shift your shopping items – go one brand lower. Look for vouchers and coupons that you can use to reduce the price of shopping and look for the clear out items.
It can also be a good idea to take a look at what is leaving your account each week/month and see if that can be cut back.
05 Jul at 8:37 pm
I am seriously thinking about getting a dry soon airer from Lakeland – expensive, but so is using the tumble drier all the time – and don’t get my started on stuff I can’t tumble dry. I have a lovely washing line outside, which is used weather permitting. Mind you, this month has been expensive, involving a new car (fork out loads to keep old one running or trade it in) and the work trolley service…
05 Jul at 8:47 pm
Oh cripes, that reminds me of something I’ve forgotten AGAIN!
08 Jul at 12:40 pm
I signed up to Top CashBack on your recommendation before – but I must confess – I always for get to use it! (and then kick myself afterwards). What do you do to remind yourself to detour and go through TCB, as opposed to straight through a checkout?
08 Jul at 7:12 pm
Oh, I forget all the time too. I’d have earned double what I’ve had if I remembered for each purchase. I have it in my bookmarks bar and then just hope I spot it before checkout. (I frequently start buying something, then remember TCB so have to clear cookies and start again.)
08 Jul at 12:45 pm
Before I forget, when it comes to air-drying, my mum swears by her Sheila Maid (http://www.sheilamaid.com/)
An old (orginial!) one hung in the laundry room when my mum first bought her home 20 years ago and when it finally bit the dust, she searched far and wide for a replica.