Part of my ongoing mission to save money this year, these things have saved me money this month…
1. Bought tinned beans
Like most parents of small children, we buy baked beans. They’re good for emergency meals when Isabel is so wiped out from nursery or is feeling under the weather and we need to get something into her before bed. For the convenience factor, we have been buying the ‘snap pots’ which you just bung in the microwave. However, I recently realised that the snap pots are not only more expensive than tins, but contain less too.
I could make my own baked beans for the ultimate in cheapness but that would add significant prep time so is not ideal.
2. Timed my showers
We have an electric shower. It’s the biggest drain on electricity we have, second only to the tumble drier (the shower uses more but the drier runs for longer). I’ve been really careful to keep my showers to 2 minutes this month, as well as not turning it on until I actually want to get in (I have a habit of turning it on then going to the loo, sorting clothes etc).
Now just to persuade Karl he doesn’t need 15 minute showers…
3. Recycled envelopes
I’ve been selling off old nappies and books etc because I’m poor now. To save me money on post and packing, I’ve been saving jiffy bags and packets from parcels etc that have been delivered recently (hence why I’m poor now). Jiffy bags are quite expensive; this is a simple step that saves pounds!
4. Chose paint on offer
You may be aware that we’ve been decorating the front room. Well, it turns out that decorating/paint is expensive. How handy, then, that the weekend we decide to go look at paint colours we notice that the Homebase own brand one coat paint is on buy 1 get 1 free. We found the closest matching shade in the paint on offer and went with that. And not a bad colour, too.
5. Volunteered to review some Ecover Zero samples
More on this in another post, but short story: I agreed to review some Ecover Zero range samples expecting some mini packets of soap powder or something. They sent me a big box with full size bottles of washing up liquid, laundry liquid, fabric conditioner etc. Bargain.
Did you see the 5 ways I saved money in July?
01 Sep at 11:54 pm
Wow its been such a long time since I’ve visited this site, I hope you really aren’t ‘poor’, have you made sure you’ve claimed every benefit you possibly can? My best tip on saving money is looking at how much stuff costs per gram or ml which is often written below the actual price of product. It’s a good way to compare prices, then I simply look at the nutritional value to see if one has too much fat in it or salt. And try my best on making a reasoned decision. I’ve been redecorating my room and I did the same thing you did, picked up a near-identical colour from B&Q at a fraction of the price.
02 Sep at 7:22 am
Well, it was a bit of an exaggeration ;) I’m currently on maternity leave which means my income for this year is over £10,000 less than usual!
02 Sep at 9:49 am
I bought the snap pots once too. So much more convenient but it was the only time I bought them because of the extra cost.
02 Sep at 11:06 am
Instead of always shopping at Tesco try popping to Lidl one of the times you are out neck of the woods, I think you will be very surprised at how much you can save.
02 Sep at 3:34 pm
My mum recycles envelopes.
05 Sep at 9:24 am
(How has no one mentioned this yet?) I am reeling over the TWO MINUTE SHOWER. How is this even possible?! Once you step in and get your whole body wet, your two minutes are up! No time for the washing or conditioning of hair, much less washing of other bits.
I am a bit of a shower hog (15 minutes in very hot water) so I admit that I am biased, but seriously… TWO MINUTES?! Shock! Awe! Suspicion that you are not sufficiently cleansed! How do you do it?
Also, I am now googling what an “electric shower” is and it sounds like a mini version of our “tankless water heater.” It’s not a device to heat all the water in your house/flat/apartment/etc., right? Just the shower?
05 Sep at 9:37 am
Hah, 2 minutes is longer than it sounds :) Although I admit to having been in there much longer this week because I’ve been feeling crap and omg there’s nothing like a hot shower to get rid of flu aches.
Yeah, basically the water is fed through the shower and it heats just the water you’re using. I guess it’s more efficient than heating a tankful but uses a lot of power to heat the water so quickly. Karl’s always moaning about the cost (but then spends 20 minutes in the shower!)
05 Sep at 12:08 pm
I’m bored, new blog post :P
05 Sep at 12:10 pm
gtfo, dying of flu :p
(plus feeling emo about being so boring now that it’s only ever you and my mum that read my posts ;))
06 Sep at 8:50 pm
This site has changed so much since I last visited. Now you’re a mommy. Congrats! I love the new layout. Are the images digitally painted? They look a lot like watercolor. These are great ways to save money. Thanks for sharing.