alyxzandra

Just thought it would be nice to have a thread where we can exchange ideas on saving money in a time where it is predicted we may go into a recession. Here are my tips:

I never signed up for extra features on my phone line with BT. I have a basic service. However, to call abroad, I am signed up with http://www.18185.co.uk/index2.php I pay .05p/minute to call the U.S. and during the day, I use this company to make calls to landlines in the U.K. And that just costs a connection charge of .4p and 0p a minute. I also have free evening and weekend calls with BT.

Every year I always renegotiate my mobile phone contract. A little over a year ago I signed up with 3 mobile for 500 minutes for £15/month. Once this contract is up, I will see what else I can negotiate. And I always monitor my calls to ensure I do not pay extra.

I have credit card debts and I keep my eyes open for 0% interest offers and keep swapping my debts. This way, they get paid off faster. You have to pay a fee for this, but it is usually cheaper than the interest charged. However, my bank offered me 0% on balance transfers with no fee. If you do this, you have to keep on top of things, but it is worth it in the end. And always see what your other credit cards offer if there is enough credit to do a balance transfer and negotiate.

We buy the supermarkets own brand stuff quite often. We also eat at home and have limited take aways to a rare treat. We also make our own chips (in the oven - lower fat), veggie burgers, soups, etc. We also try to buy our fruit/veggies from local green grocers or street markets.

For our baby, we scoured the local charity shops and picked up new clothing (with tags on them) for a fraction of the cost when new. For example, I picked up a Boots snow suit for 6-9 months, new, for £1.50. I was told that for a new one it is £22. Friends who no longer needed their baby items gave us theirs. We received a baby walker, cotbed (originally £200 in John Lewis), door swing, play gym, linen, blankets, baby bouncer, moses basket, etc from friends. The only things we bought new were the mattresses, car seat, carry cot and pushchair.

We are signed up with Freecycle and through that we received reusable nappies, still new, with the wraps.

Websites I am signed up to are http://www.moneysavingexpert.com and http://www.motleyfool.co.uk

So, what ideas do you have to save money?

Linzi

Great tips there

When we go shopping now I usually make a list and just go to what I need rather than walking up and down the isles because we usually just look at things and think 'ooh, we could do with that' and it ends up sitting in the cupboard for the next 6 months.

Also I try and set a budget for shopping in my head and try not to go over it.

Probably sounds a bit silly but it works for us.

xxx

alyxzandra

Not silly at all. I try to plan our meals for a week in advance and make a shopping budget around that. I am so grateful to an old friend of mine who showed me this website and helped me out with my budget years ago.

Freya

Great idea for a thread!!!! Here's a few ideas from me....

I use freecycle too - great to spread the word. I managed to get hold of tomato, pepper and cucumber plants for free through the site. In fact, I know it's old-ladyish but this year I have started to grow my own salad and veg, bit of a trial run this year, but learning lots already. Lots can be grown in pots on the patio or in window boxes if you don't have a veg patch. Have a neighbour who is growing some veg too, so we said we would swap our produce with each other.

Home made bread - cheap flour from aldi, about 38p!!!

Since most use EBAY to buy and sell.... why not 'go vintage' and buy a 'Bargain Pages/ Ad Mag' and look through the sections for items you may be after..... usually items are cheaper and you can haggle prices down.

Looking forward to reading other tips!

xxx

cupcake

we make a shopping list before going shopping and plan meals for two weeks in it ( excluding extra fruit, veg , bread and milk)
we dont have the credit system most countries have, where we live your credit card is paid in full at a designated date in the month directly from your bank account- which means no credit card debt and we dont have an overdraft either.
we try to never divide up purchases into payments and rather live by the philosophy if you doint have the money- dont buy it.
id like to recommend the book smart couples finish rich, we are really enjoying using it.

smartie

We buy xmas and birthday presents throughout the year as we see bargains to spread the cost. I also keep a watch on http://www.hotukdeals.com as great deals often crop up!

Freya

oooo... also haven't bought too many maternity clothes as friends have passed on their clothes. Really saved me a fortune buying lots of clothes that I'm not going to be wearing for long.

Sarahkka

Meal planning has saved us a fortune.
We make big batches of two or three different meals and portion them out into plastic containers for the week's lunches. Saves time and money and you're never tempted to splurge on a lunch because you always have something really good to eat!
We also have focused on eliminating debt (just one little student loan left for us now - yay!) and building up an emergency fund. So if the car does break down, we don't have to rack up a huge credit card bill - we have the emerg fund to take the blow.
The trick to getting out of our debt was to keep living like students even after we had graduated and had good jobs. We put the new higher pay cheques to work on the debt and then kept that up with the savings.
The one piece of advice regarding the current global economic upheaval that I have read over and over from many sources?
You can't go wrong with eliminating debt. This also isn't the best time to be taking on any new debt if you can help it (real estate, in particular).

ryder

I usually go grocery shopping once a week and only use the grocery basket, I dont get a cart anymore. And then I just buy necessary things... Its been working good, and I only buy extra stuff if it is on sale. Once in awhile we do one big shop.

Ummm I also buy flouresecnt energy save lightbulbs to try out.

scrubgrub

I like www.fatwallet.com, but it is probably more of a US web site. But great deals. We're moving to the Sprint unlimited minutes, data and messaging family plan for $99 a month.

We also don't upgrade our cell phones every year, but buy the new model and immediately sell it on Ebay to get a few bucks.

Diddo on all the food saving ideas.