For us at the moment money is tighter than ever after being self-employed and having to take time off after an operation.
Add that to Ollie’s unpaid leave to look after me and it would be fair to say money has never been tighter. However we are in the throes of trying to save money where we can round the house and although I am no expert we have certainly saved a few pounds so here is what we have been doing to save some money over the last few months:
Decide If you Really Need It
I have to hold my hands up to this one. I am dreadful at declaring I need something but by stopping and asking myself if I really need it or just want it makes me rethink and by rethinking its very often the case that I then don’t buy.
Meal Planning & Shopping
By meal planning we have saved a small fortune on not wasting food and throw out probably 1/10 of what we used to and its reduced our month bill by about £60 a month which is amazing. By writing up a meal plan it not only saves money but also sanity too.
Batch Cooking
This is something I started a while back, by spending an extra hour in the kitchen I can cook 12-18 portions of our family favourites which I then freeze in recycled takeaway containers. We then only use what we need re portion sizes and we have healthy home cooked food to hand so before bed we take our the following days tea and pop it in the fridge to defrost.
Sell Unwanted Items
Although I fell out of love with eBay a few years ago, I have to take it all back over the last 6 months.
Instead of selling single items for pennies I have taken to selling stuff on bulk. Selling Jacobs baby clothes has been wonderful. With around 100 items in an age range bundle the last bundle I sold (12-18 months) after offering with free postage sold for £65, out of that postage, eBay fees and paypal fees left me with around £47 profit for this bundle alone. We then have reinvested this money into buying things he needs like the next age range of clothing.
We have also sold trainers, DVD’s books and furniture, if it aint nailed down it has been sold.
Avoid Takeaways
Takeaways used to be a staple in our house but even one can cost us £25 so if you start totting them up through the month its a scary figure.
Although we still like the convenience of a takeaway we swapped it to a supermarket style takeaway bags and in most cases they freeze down. Giving you the convenience of takeaway all be it chucking it in on the oven trays with half the price tag.
Check Your Utilities And Other Household Bills
About a year ago we upgraded our external TV options with firesticks and netflix, however a few weeks ago we discovered we were still paying for a XL TV service meaning we were doubling up on the services we received for the most part and were paying out twice!
We cut our home TV providers package and saved £25 per month so it can pay to keep your eyes open to what services you have and which you have twice!
Keep The Household Diary Up To Date
This might sound odd but keeping up to date with whats coming in and going out can save a pretty penny especially if bills and payment receive a late fee if not paid on time. A clear calendar of due dates for things means you may just save your sanity and money.
For more in-depth ways to save money this article from The Telegraph, On Saving Money has some great advice on saving money with bank accounts and some interesting tips from This Is Money about clearing debt and boosting savings.
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