Thirty Ways To Save A £

Did you realise the Pound Coin was thirty years old this year? The people at Moneysupermarket.com are asking bloggers to suggest ways of saving. Here’s my attempt at a list

1. never shop without a list – and try to stick to it
2. use supermarket ‘loyalty’ cards, but shop around for good deals
3. take your own bags – most supermarkets give you loyalty points for using them – worth pounds over a year’s worth of shopping
4. semi skimmed milk freezes well- so when it is on offer, buy an extra bottle or two and pop them in the freezer. Keep the freezer as full as possible [with a plastic box of ice if nothing else!]
5. barter don’t buy – swap sewing skills for some baked goods, an hour of gardening for fixing the computer.
6. look for yellow sticker reductions in the supermarket [and adjust your menu plan accordingly]
7. mix budget muesli with better stuff in ratio 2:1 – that way you save money but still get a fair amount of nuts and raisins!
8. make milk puddings with reconstituted dried milk
9. use last year’s pretty calendars to wrap this years gifts
10. use last year’s birthday and Xmas cards to make new ones
11. give home made gifts – learn to knit or crochet and make hats and scarves
12. store any leftover sauce sachets from takeaway meals in a jar in the kitchen – and use to pep up casseroles
13. clip coupons and keep them in a small plastic wallet with your purse, that way they are on hand when you get to the supermarket. And mark the items on your shopping list with a C to remind you that you have a coupon!
14. when the oven is on, fill it – put in crusts to dry for breadcrumbs, or a vegetable stew or curry made with the odd bits from the fridge.
15. hang up clothes after wearing, and do not feel you must have a different outfit every day- the savings on laundry will be significant
16. If you use wash tabs, then try 1½ instead of 2 in the machine.
17. skip fabric conditioner altogether – but if you must have the fragrance just use ½ the amount
18. forage fruit and berries in the autumn and make jams and chutneys – for yourself and for gifts
19. read the newspaper online or in your library
20. worn out clothes which cannot be passed on [to friends or charity shop] can be dismantled to provide cleaning rags and spare zips and buttons. Good bits of fabric will make patchwork.
21. If a recipe requires just the zest of a lemon, then freeze the juice into icecube trays. And put the remaining shells into a bowl of water and bake for 2 minutes to clean your microwave.
22. a tube of denture tablets from the Poundshop will last years and provide an excellent cheap cleaner for stained crockery. Drop a tablet down the loo at night and it will clean it more cheaply [and safely] than other chemicals.
23. A pack of cheap disposable nappies can be cut up to line hanging baskets and flower troughs and the granules in them will help retain water in the summer. Cheaper than garden centre granules
24. In many recipes requiring ground almonds, you can replace half the quantity with semolina and ½tsp almond essence.
25. After the date, buy reduced Easter eggs, chocolate advent calendars, Valentine hearts etc – melt and set into small moulds to make sweets for the children- or mix with cornflakes,crispies or broken biscuits to make teatime cakes.
26. stretch cottage pie filling with a can of beans
27. collect small freebies through the year [pens, shampoo sachets, keyrings, balloons] and use them to fill advent calendars or homemade crackers
28. when you hear of an upcoming price rise in stamps, buy an extra book and put it to one side for later.
29. serve food on slightly smaller plates/in smaller bowls. People will hardly notice the difference, but your wallet and waistline will benefit.
30. If you serve fruit juice at breakfast, put an ice cube or two in the glass first, and you will use less juice.

Why don’t you have a go at this one? Those Epic People at Moneysupermarket.com are offering prizes!