Your biggest money saving tip?

[Rorschach]

Stop using credit and debit cards and use cash only very wisely. Spending cash is more real than waving your card or phone to pay for items, and very few people check statements these days too

That's not really money saving is it, that's just adjusting for bad habits. I mostly use my credit card, I always check statements and because I am earning interest on my savings while I use the credit and I get cashback I am actually saving/making money by using my card. I don't make any purchases using my card that I would not make using cash if that was my only option.

Managing your expenditure carefully can be more rewarding than cost savings .......... but seemingly few people actually do it

Certainly, our expenditure is carefully managed by simply buying what we need as opposed to what we might want and trying to find the best price for the things we do buy. A good life though needs treats as well, of course as long as you can afford them. We just treated ourselves to a new car, I am sure we could have pushed the old one on for a while yet but taken a whole it made more sense to replace it even though it won't necessarily have been cheaper to do this. The improvement to our lives from the new car though has been more than worth it.

[dewaltdisney]

I have a Tesco Clubcard and belong to the Big Shop scheme. You pay £8 a month but get 10 percent off two shops in a month. This plus the ordinary Clubcard savings invariably sees a big discount at the checkout worth having. Mrs D would prefer to shop at M&S and Sainsbury's (being pretentious) but I refuse as they are overpriced by comparison. I like to pop into Aldi when passing to buy a few things I like in there plus I like to look at the middle aisles. With these savings, I would say that our weekly shop is still about £15 more than it was before the Ukraine War.

DWD

[Argyll]

I've recently just applied to join The Company Shop. Apparently they sell stuff off cheap that's soon going out of date. I'll keep you posted after my first visit.

[Matt.Br]

My son and I downloaded the TooGoodToGo app and most weeks we get a lot of food cheaper that otherwise would be thrown away by various food outlets, anything from greggs bakers , Costa coffee, spa supermarkets etc. the other app that is worth having is the olio app , so what happens is that at the end of a day ‘ food heroes ‘ collect bread , cakes and the like from the major supermarkets and take it home and display it on the app and folk come to the person’s house and collect the items for free. They also have a section for non food items that are available for collection for free.

I hate waste when there are folk out there struggling to make ends meet and good food gets dumped.

Mike

I love this! I used to use TooGoodToGO when I lived in a city, but there isn't anywhere around here that partakes in it I don't think.

Maybe I should set something up. A small town here with plenty of food producers who I am sure hate food waste.

[Matt.Br]

The Company Shop

Yes please - keep us up to date, I'd 100% use this if it is good.

[Matt.Br]

Crime, but don't get caught.

...I heard it doesn't pay.

[Matt.Br]

I never understood the number of people who have Deliveroo type takeaways, are they so lazy they pay out for a meal rather than make it themselves? It used to be an occasional treat for some but it is big business now. We were in Mcdonald's where we have a Happy Meal, six quid for two and cheaper than 2 coffees at Costa, and I was amazed at how many delivery guys were waiting with their insulated bags. The burgers can be tepid by the time you get from the counter to the table so I am thinking they must be well cold after the delivery journey. Incidentally, the Happy Meal suits us as we get a coffee and a hot chocolate as well as a cheeseburger and fries, just enough for us at lunchtime and convenient if we are passing.

DWD

For me, any sort of take away is a luxury. So I don't worry too much about the delivery fee if it just adds a few quid.

But yes, I know plenty of people who get Deliveroo basically every night. It must cost them a damn fortune.

[Argyll]

I never understood the number of people who have Deliveroo type takeaways

Side topic but many years ago I was a delivery driver for a local Chinese. A woman used to order about 5 nights a week. Her order used to come to £9.80 and she never ever gave me a tip. She used to wait for her 20p. I always made sure she was last on my run even though I drove right past her door

Another guy worked in a garage and tried to con me out of £300 for a CV Joint (long story). He used to order a special curry from this takeaway and I used to take all the prawns out of it. He always complained. I think the owner caught on so sent a different driver. I told the driver what I was doing so he took the prawns out as well. When the guy called to complain the owner said he was trying to scam him out of a free meal and banned him

[Grendel]

We even put a carrier bag of milk bottle tops on ebay and sold them.

And we got a bit over seven quid for them..
We use the too good to go thing , generally been ok although disappointing from Subway which was just bread. We have used Approved Foods which sounds similar to that Company Shop and nearby to us we have a place called bag a bargin which is again similar , warehouse full of stuff on pallets . My wife is pretty savvy when it comes to internet shopping , she always looks for discounts , cashback or free delivery. We've brought bog roll 200 at a time and on that subject if anyone works on a site or event when the blue plastic toilets are used take the part rolls out before they are collected as they tend to get dumped anyway.

[wine~o]

Keep the Mrs away from Garden Centres!

Love this, no chance with mine, she'll buy a couple every week to replace the ones she bought a few ago that are now dead...

[wine~o]

When doing your shop at a supermarket (or whereever) plan your meals ahead until you need to go again. Make a list and stick to it (add ons are allowed if there is a particular offer on a product that you use frequently)

For instance for the two of us I can make 500G of minced beef last three days, day 1 chilli, day 2 Lasagne or spag bol of sorts, day 3 a spicy cottage pie. OBVS other ingredients involved...

[Bob225]

Credit cards are evil, unless you pay them off in full every month - condoms - will save you £20-40K a year for 18+ years*

If you want something, save for it, 8/10 times you change your mind on that purchase

[Someone-Else]

Credit cards are evil

They can be, but if you are clever, (as you said"pay them off in full every month") if it gets "lost" in delivery, if it cost over £100 the credit card company are liable for it.

[big-all]

Credit cards are evil, unless you pay them off in full every month - condoms - will save you £20-40K a year for 18+ years*

If you want something, save for it, 8/10 times you change your mind on that purchase

i fully agree if you cant pay it off in full
one thing worth noting since the banking changes for overdrafts where interest on an over draught can be as much as 40% so now where as before overdrafts used to be cheaper than credit card interest and charges they can be more expensive

[Rorschach]

My credit card is paid off in full every month, I get protection on large purchases, earn a bit of interest between purchase and payment and I get cashback on all purchases too.