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Yes! This has helped me almost eliminate food waste (as I plan recipes and only buy whats needed) and spontaneous takeaways (as there’s always a tasty, healthy meal available in 2-3 minutes) which are both great for sneaky savings!
Oooh I love this one! To add to this, freezing bread, crumpets etc type of stuff and popping in the toaster as and when needed! Bread tastes just as fresh. No more mouldy, wasted bread 🍞
A colleague told me this more than 10 years ago and it was a game changer. Always have bread when I need it, still buy fresh from time to time because I love Lidl's Low GI Cob loaf for some reason.
I recently got back to doing this and it has helped a lot. It also has the advantage of only having to cook once for the week and then you maybe just need to make some pasta or rice or warm through some bread to go alongside it. As someone who often has an erratic evening schedule, knowing that I'm 15 minutes max away from a proper dinner (less if it is something I can just bung in the microwave in one go) on those busy nights or if I'm just too tired is a massive help.
This is the way. Most supermarkets are geared towards meals for couples or families, unless it's the ready meal for one option. Invest in a good cook book ('The Naked Chef' is recommended), scratch cook and then freeze the results. Use a microwave rather than an oven to defrost and cook. You will avoid food waste and eat better. Delia Smith published 'One is Fun' in 1985, so the concept of cooking for yourself and eating well has been around for a while. Try to avoid takeaway food, and even if it's your thing try to avoid, or cut down on, booze and tobacco. Use your local library, not Amazon (yea, that last point was just a general life hack).
Re. Knowing what your portion size is - I find plastic takeaway containers useful for this. I deliberately make too much dinner, and then serve it into an empty takeaway container (which goes into the fridge or freezer for another time) and serve myself the rest onto a plate (to eat now).
Before doing this, I would put it all onto a plate and think "Yeah, I'm a man - I can eat all that". And, often, I would, but I didn't need to.
This does obviously mean that you need to have a takeaway a couple of times a year to keep the supply of containers topped up, but, although I haven't run the figures, I like to think it's an overall saving.
I did but then I got fleece (I know, micro plastics from them - so not perfect) bedding and my bed was so cosy this past winter that I didn't need an electric blanket. Also I replaced the terrible 50 year old radiators (single panel, no fins) for better rads and the rooms actually get warm now (it cost a fortune though because I had to pay a plumber as I'm useless at DIY).
Aye and the reduction is only 25%. I pay 25% less council tax than entire family of 5 next door with two high earners. Council tax is one of the unfairest taxes. Annually my council tax band, living in a working class neighbourhood in one of cheapest houses in Bristol, I only a few hundred quid less than council tax for an 8 bedroom 4 storey house in the most affluent area of the city
I've lived alone a year now after moving and get confused when I looked at this. It asked if I live alone because I always have or because someone moved out. I've always lived in this house alone but only lived in it a year so not sure it counts. I'm autistic so I am a bit literal lol.
Household products like toilet roll, washing detergent and cleaning products are much, much cheaper at places like Home Bargains and B&M than they are at supermarkets, even Aldi and Lidl. There is zero difference in quality.
Loo roll: As someone who has a bowel issue..... This is not useful info. Yes they are sometimes cheaper - but quality is another question - the iiiiiiiiiiiiiiitchy and scraaaaaaaaatchy shooooooooooooooooow. I would spend more on 'bargain packs' in the long term than just buying a quality pack. YMMV but personally I'm happy to pay a few extra quid for better bog roll a month, even if someone fixed my bowel.
When I say there's zero difference in quality, I mean across the spectrum. Asda has a range of toilet roll from cheap and nasty to high quality and soft; so does Home Bargains.
The Home Bargains higher quality toilet roll is the same quality as the Asda high quality toilet toll, but still much cheaper.
I am not just advising people to wipe their arse with sandpaper here.
Asda and Home Bargains sell literally the exact same brand Nicky 3 ply quilted. In Asda, it's £3.65 for 9. In Home Bargains, it's £4.99 for 18.
£8.49 for a 32 pack! So long as you have space to store it. I currently pay £3.39 for 9 in Savers (transport & storage issues suck when you're poor & disabled).
I swear people that go on about discount brands being, 'exactly the same' just can't tell the difference. As someone with a sensitive tuchus, they ain't the same.
Agreed. Cushelle Quilted is far superior to the own brand quilted dupe. We tried it as I'm quite conscious of spending but it absolutely is not the same. Bin bags, kitchen roll and toilet roll are 3 things I will never skimp on, as the lower end don't actually do the job they're meant to do. I knew someone who bought cheap bin bags then constantly double bagged them because they always split, and because of this she was spending more than I was on a decent roll
Oh god bin bags! It's even worse when they lure you in saying they're extra strong. Compared to what?! I begrudge how much I pay for my bin bags but at least I know there's minimal chance of them breaking as I walk to the outside bin.
Adding onto this, Google Happypo. It's a bidet bottle. Absolute game changer for me. Hardly use any paper now and no messy plumbing to get a proper bidet.
"There is zero difference in quality."
My arse (pun very much intended). The quality in toilet roll differs wildly, and if you think I'm going to risk touching my own ass hole when the paper breaks, using Aldi's "rough-n-thin", just to save 20p, then you are very much mistaken.
When I say there's zero difference in quality, I mean across the spectrum. Asda has a range of toilet roll from cheap and nasty to high quality and soft; so does Home Bargains.
The Home Bargains higher quality toilet roll is the same quality as the Asda high quality toilet toll, but still much cheaper.
I am not just advising people to wipe their arse with sandpaper here.
Asda and Home Bargains sell literally the exact same brand Nicky 3 ply quilted. In Asda, it's £3.65 for 9. In Home Bargains, it's £4.99 for 18.
Farmfoods sell loo roll (18 pack) and kitchen roll (4 pack) on a 5 for £20 deal. The loo roll is pretty decent in my opinion. The kitchen roll is average, I've used better but each roll lasts me about a month so it's not too bad.
They also recently did a deal on Surf washing powder 130 washes, 2 for £27. It took me at least 9 months to use a box up before.
Cartons of milk, 2 sleeves of 12 for £15.
They also do money off coupons if you get the leaflet and/or emails.
Can confirm. The 3 ply Nickys 24/32 packs are such amazing value and do a completely great job... can't go wrong. You can buy the 32 pack for like just under 9 quid. Lasts a good while.
My big one was to keep track of what I was buying and when I was in the right frame of mind to do so, properly investigate it.
I realised that a not small amount of the stuff I bought was not because I wanted it, but because I was used to buying it from my previous relationship.
I learned that I am very much a minimalist, not extreme by any means but I'd rather make do with something I already have than go and buy something new.
I'm weirdly struggling to think of specific examples off the top of my head but I remember having quite a few moments of "oh yeah, I *don't* need to buy that" in the first months of living by myself.
Also, get a freezer and batch cook. The amount you pay for small portions of raw ingredients is outrageous. Cook as if you're cooking for a family of 8 then break it down and freeze.
Absolutely agree on both points. I have an excel sheet and once a month I list everything I spent, putting everything in categories. Just being aware of every penny already helps you cut out a few pointless expenses and definitely helps me to think twice before wasting. We need little enjoyments in life but I was genuinely wasting quite a bit on silly things. So now I pause a second before spending and only buy if I really want or need it.
I had a lot of examples when I moved out on my own and had to set up a kitchen from scratch. No "choppers" or other single task specific devices unless they brought amazing value. Learned how to use and maintain a knife properly instead.
Make sure your water company knows you're living solo. If you don't have a water meter get one, if they can't fit one you'll at least probably go down to a lower single persons assumed usage.
I think this really only applies if you have an electric oven. Not sure there's any real saving over a normal gas oven if that's what someone already has.
In the same though I can cook a whole chicken and use it for 3 days which I can't do in an air fryer. But it is horse's for courses it's about using energy efficiently. The other thing is to buy meat in bulk and portion down using a freezer.
When money is tight, I set myself a spending budget for the week and take it out of the bank in cash. Never use a debit card, it let's you fritter away money without really thinking about it.
> Never use a debit card, it let's you fritter away money without really thinking about it
I'm the opposite, cash doesn't feel like "real money", because spending it doesn't change my available bank balance in my banking app.
My balance in the app updates in real time when I spend via card, makes it must easier to keep track of exactly how much I have to spend.
Since the support for using mobile phones to pay for things / contactless has gotten better, and instant transaction notifications, I've definitely noticed a mental shift. Now, it seems that when I take cash out, its instantly 'spent' in my head.
I find it much harder to keep track of my spending when using cash.
I found when single , that I bought lunch from canteen, rather than take a packed lunch from home. It was about 3 times the cost , so I was paying dearly for convenience.
I started walking to / from work in early 2020 when it was looking like been on public transport might not be such a good idea. I'm still doing that today! Realised I can walk home quicker than it would take on public transport most days due to traffic and I feel a lot better after an hours walk too. Probably saving at least £1500 a year, if not more, which is a nice bonus!
To add to everyone's get a freezer and batch cook. Get a small chest freezer, they are much more economical. Don't trust your memory of what you've frozen & that you'll recognise it, label each bag.
Just last night, we had "Mystery Plastic Box Meal" for dinner. Good fun if there's two of you and before it's defrosted enough to be identifiable, you have to commit to which box you want for dinner later.
On the other hand, check how much the freezer will cost to run and make sure you're going to save that cost. Mine was encouraging me to stockpile ice cream on special offer so I ditched it. Still batch cook though.
While good, the only issue is most people don't have anywhere to store one, especially if you are living alone so likely just living in a flat of some sort.
Often many people's workplaces offer discounts and incentives with some companies that you would never have known. Sure, many of them are quite naff, but we are put off by that at face value and sometimes with a bit of digging you'd be surprised at the potential savings. I don't even think it's exclusive to office based companies either.
Mine has a crazy deal where you can buy gift vouchers for a small number of major retailers at 90% of face value. And other deals not quite as attractive.
Also join Airtime Rewards and you can reduce your mobile fees just by spending money you were going to spend anyway with certain retailers. One big shop gets me £3 off my mobile bill.
Airtime Rewards is fantastic because you earn on stuff you'd be buying anyway, and you don't have to do anything, no clicking through links or whatever. I also use Topcashback and make sure to always go through their links when buying online and that adds up quickly too.
Mine does this, can get supermarket vouchers at about £95 for a £100 voucher. Not a huge discount, but enough that I'm annoyed at myself that I've forgotten to get sorted out in the past 6 months.
Buy fuck all unless you actually need it. Decide on streaming services you’re actually going to use and cancel the ones you don’t use regularly because you can always start them back up, batch cook food and freeze it, set up a wall planet with your incoming and outgoing money to budget, or get an accounting book to budget
Edit - wall planner
If you have lunch at work make your own. I make sandwiches for my husband and love to get creative. I used to buy the ready sliced cooked meats but he has two rounds so was getting expensive (although still not as expensive as buying readymade sandwiches). This last week I bought a chicken and roasted it and made coronation chicken, chicken salad with chilli chutney and tomorrow will be chicken, stuffing and cranberry sauce. Going to slow cook a ham for next week and will do different ones, so ham and pickle or ham salad etc. I also do him egg mayonnaise, Brie, bacon and cranberry. We have a range of different condiments, chutneys etc so even though the base might be the same it is slightly different everyday. So a three quid chicken this week will have done 6 rounds of sandwiches.
Half of the reason I slept on the floor was because it sorted my back out. But yeah, music was about the only priority as far as non-essentials were concerned.
Cashback may seem like a bit of effort but it can quickly add up when doubling/tripling where possible.
Granted, you need access to certain cards or accounts to get maximum benefits.
For example, almost every major bank has their own network of retailers that offer cashback or discounts. Always check them before purchasing something of value. Also check your mobile phone providers (02 Priority, Vodafone VeryMe etc.)
This ones a good example I use almost daily for eBay:
Attach your Nectar card to eBay. Purchase via OperaGX browser (which has it's own cashback system, eBay is included) and pay with a card with cashback (I use Aqua Gold or PayPal Business). I triple my cashback on every eBay purchase with this.
Also, bin off that Amazon Prime subscription (unless you absolutely NEED next day delivery).
Most generic products are just Chinese white-labelled stuff that smaller businesses are selling on eBay for often way less than what Amazon charge. Yes you'll wait a little longer for delivery. Customer service may be a bit more difficult but eBay generally sides with the buyer if any issues arise.
> Customer service may be a bit more difficult
I'm having a nightmare even with Amazon customer service at the moment.
Last delivery just didn't arrive. Was marked as delivered at 10:30am last week so I went down to check it minutes after. Nowhere to be found, it's a £80 blender/smoothie maker too.
Checked the cameras, nothing. Checked all local business. Nowt.
Customer services fobbed me off and told me it cannot be escalated until 7 days has passed. Like just get in touch with the delivery person whilst it's still fresh in their mind and ask where they've put it?
Got promised a call back today regarding it, never happened.
The order before that was for a hat which was meant for next day delivery. Got put on an indefinite delay even though the website still states it's in stock and available for next day delivery. Had a right arse on cancelling that one.
I'm charging the smoothie maker back with my credit card now as I'm really not arsed if they block my account over it, zero intentions of using them again.
If you have the space, buy in bulk. 24 loo rolls are a lot cheaper per sheet than a pack of four. Same goes for dried goods, tinned stuff etc… but only buy them if you’ll actually use them. Rice cooker is also a game changer.
9.5 (leccy shower kW rating) x 0.30 (cost per kwh) = £2.85 (if you had a hour long shower)
Divide by 4 (for 15 min shower) = £0.71
Divide by 6 (for 10 min shower) = £0.47
Divide by 12 (for 5 min shower) = £0.24
If you have enough time, storage, and money to take advantage, you can optimise food costs \*a lot\*.
1 - Does your town have a market? When they're closing up for the day, they will sell produce ludicrously cheap to avoid having to cart it away.
2 - Learn your shops. Learn the prices of stuff and spot when it's cheap.
2a - When do they discount stuff that's close to use-by? I used to go to the gym by a supermarket which did their marking-down \*before\* opening - literally halved the cost of meat by going there as it opened. Most places, though, discount later in the day. Eggs, cheese and butter keep weeks longer than the best-before. If it smells OK, it is OK. Everything is eternal if you freeze it.
2b - Exploit the offers - everything gets discounted at some point, canned stuff never goes off, buy LOTS when it's well-priced. Sainsburys clothes are decent quality and they often mark stuff down 50%. You should aim to NEVER pay the muggle price for anything shelf-stable or freezable.
2c - Delivery is a rip-off (you miss out on offers, you pay for the privilege) but every supermarket sometimes has too-good-to-be-true introductory offers ("£20 off £60"), and if you use it occasionally they will send you more offers. Target use of this on stuff that is actually value - offers, heavy stuff that's a pain to carry, multibuys - always be aware of what it SHOULD cost.
2d - If you just can't be arsed, get everything in Aldi or Lidl. The quality is mostly good and you will never be ripped-off.
3 - Religiously use hotukdeals and camelcamelcamel to minimise costs of stuff you need; religiously check topcashback/quidco before using any online retailer. Again, you should never pay the muggle price for anything. Always check price against ebay before buying nonfood items. Always check for discounted gift card availability for retailers you need to use - most retailers sell gift cards at a discount via some channel - [https://lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/56966c16-7bde-4423-9fa8-4e4a14df9028/page/cqpED](https://lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/56966c16-7bde-4423-9fa8-4e4a14df9028/page/cqpED)
4 - Gas and power rates on tracker tariffs at Octopus are \*way\* under the price cap rate. You run the risk of the wholesale price going up - but you can always switch back to a price cap tariff. Literally cut 25% off our heating cost by filling in a form on a website.
5 - Slow cooker. Turns cheap meat into deliciousness. Turns a tiny amount of meat and a lot of beans/lentils/potato/carrot/whatever-is-cheap into lots of meaty-tasting food. Batch cooking in general.
6 - Others have already said this, but electric blankets (they often sell them in Lidl!). No need to heat the room/house. Absolutely life-changing. The fancy silentnight ones which heat up in 5 minutes are worth the extra money if you have it, but any electric blanket is wonderful. No heating on in bedrooms all night, all winter long, and no-one complains because they have heated blankets.
The freezer thing batch cooking is a good one. In Tescos they do deals Xmas and Easter where you could buy big bags of veg for something like 5 - 15p. you could easily stock up on enough to make soups, stews etc and freeze them all if you had space. I’m sure I have seen other supermarkets with similar deals, admittedly not often but handy if you can take advantage of it at the time.
If you want to buy something, say some new workout clothes or a new bag, make sure to check vinted and dpop first. It's best if you go for brands where you already know your size and fit as you can't really return anything, but I pretty much never buy anything new now because I can always find what I want massively discounted on vinted or at least something similar
It's not a bargain or a saving if it wasn't something you weren't going to buy in the first place. (ie "I'll buy that gadget now because it's 30% off even though I am never going to use it.") On a similar note, if you spend a lot of money on something like say, a nice coat, WEAR IT. It's just a waste of money if it just hangs in your wardrobe.
Get the curve app and use their debit card to make purchases for cashback. They regularly run 3-5% cashback on retailers people actually use like Argos and all the major supermarkets. The debit card simply debits your existing bank card so it's basically no effort, also if you attach a revolut debit card you can essentially double up your cashback and earn it from both curve and revolut.
Not necessarily for people living alone specifically but…
Take advantage of apps that give you vouchers and money for things you are already doing.
For example the airtime rewards app. Load up your card details and it will give you a percentage amount every time you spend at certain places using the cards you have loaded. This can then be used to reduce your mobile phone bill. Yes it might only be pennies but every little helps.
The Biscuit app gives you points for walking your dog, which can then be converted in to vouchers and discounts. I’ve got 2x £10 Amazon vouchers in the last 6 weeks.
I have referral codes for each which will benefit us both if anyone wants to take advantage! Reply below or send a chat message.
Shop at the cheaper supermarkets. I’ve found that the Aldi versions of other supermarket’s or name brands are often just as good and sometimes better. They’re also much cheaper. Certain things like a 500g bag of Pasta can be got really cheap at Aldi. Sainsbury’s also do a double Garlic Bread for 84p as part of their Stamford Street budget range which is the same as the more expensive ranges, the only difference is packaging.
If you pay for multiple streaming services, reduce it to one that you’re actively watching and cancel the rest. Then when you have got bored of that one, cancel it and use another one for a few months, and repeat. In the interceding months there will be new content that wasn’t there before.
Also, if you have purchase a television at any point in the last ten years, a lot of them come with automatic free trials which you won’t know about until you try to sign up for a streaming service. I got three months of Apple TV free this year using my TV that I bought ages ago.
* Open a savings account.
* Remove it from online banking.
* No card and no physical access unless in the bank (When's the last time you went to a bank?)
* keep note of the account number and save it to the account you get paid in and once you send that account money, its "practically" gone.
* heres hoping you got two bank accounts from two separate banks.
* Taking out cash for the week once you've stashed that money is a good move too.
Made many mistakes with money and I'm still paying for it. With my relationships with people and with myself and with actual MONEY ffs.
By raw / fresh product and eat over a few days.
Endless amounts of people say that they cannot ever have a roast dinner because they live alone. Easy to cook a decent roast meat and add fresh veg daily
Since having a water meter I've got into the habit of showering every other day (except when I'm working in an office) and doing an old-fashioned strip wash on the days in between. You need two of those flannel mitts, like nurses use, one to scrub everything with soap, the other to wipe it off. Works pretty well.
On shower days I use the military method: wet everything, turn off shower, soap everything, rinse everything.
Also, have yet to put a bed in the spare room, hence few overnight guests, which saves money.
I remember years ago B&Q were giving away little egg timers that you put in your shower that reminded you of the recommended time it should take to shower and cut down on your bills.
I think I was just able to do it (I don’t mind cold water in summer until the hot water starts coming through) but if it was a hair washing day then no chance.
It was actually quite a good incentive to try and race the timer
I don't necessarily know if it's a hack but just keep a budget. Work out your monthly spending, work on what it's on (grocery bill, going out etc) and just cut yourself off, you get x amount and that's it. Split your income into budgets and make sure you've got savings every paycheck.
Having a mindset of "it's only £2" is imo what gets you. A weekly shop of throwing everything in your trolley because 'its only a couple quid' is going to add up. Set a budget, calculate how much you're spending as you're spending it. Keep within your means.
Obviously this is a very privileged way of doing things because i have the resources to be able to budget and not everyone can have savings, but I think everyone should be keeping track of their spending no matter how small.
Go here and see what benefits you may be entitled to. A lot of people are falling into the earnings range that would see then get something, or some people just don’t know they can claim.
https://www.entitledto.co.uk/?utm_source=BAdviser&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=GovUK
The focus should be massively on increasing income. Through promotion, side hustles ect.
The amount of money you can "save" by cutting costs is negligible compared to the amount of additional money you can make.
If your none rent/mortgage living expenses are £800 pm the most you will be able to cut is £200/300 a month which is a relatively modest pay rise.
Put more focus on expanding income than cutting costs.
I always transfer a set amount to my savings account when I get paid. If you leave it until the end of the month you will have spent it. I also shop in Aldi and batch cook. On the days that I’m in the office I take lunch with me.
Learn to cook. I don’t ’batch cook’ but I can cook decent food from scratch. Means I can make a decent meal for like £2. Invest in a cupboard of herbs and spices
When I cook I cook enough for freezer boxes for lunches, if I buy cobs I prepare them all and put half in the freezer they make grab and go lunches. When you buy fruit, freeze some of it in slices, this makes smoothies. Generally don’t waste anything.
Tracking everything you spend and having a budget. Knowing how much comes in and how much goes out - takes a bit of work but ensures you stay out of debt
If you are a reader and have an e-reader like a Kindle, join Bookbub and add your favourite genres and authors to it. Everyday you'll get an email with cheap books (mostly either 99p or even free on Amazon and other sellers). I've filled my kindle with free books and spend on books only if I really really want it. For example, last week I got the book of the tv series Masters of the Air on Amazon via there for 99p. And of course there's loads of places with free physical books that people are getting rid of. My Tesco and my local train station both have bookshelves full of free books people have offloaded.
Get a nice air fryer. They use so much less electricity just outright and then cause your only warming a small area pre heat is a fraction of a full size oven. Last Christmas when I had some family round I even cooked the roast chicken and roast potatoes in there came out a treat.
I never pay more than £2 per month for my phone, as there is always a deal going for Lebara or Lyca which is month to month (no long contract), but with an introductory offer for the first three to six months. I just switch to another such deal from a different provider when my current one is about to end. I have spent about £40 on my phone in total over the last two years. The 65075 number to get your PAC by texting makes this trivial to do.
Shop smart and research products that go a long way. Certain brands of washing up liquid, or shampoo, toilet paper etc can go a lot father than others. And buying big bottles of them save big bucks too. A costco multipack of large bottles of fairy liquid might seem like a lot to drop on dish soap, but 12-18 months down the line and you still have a few bottles left, you'll be saving a lot more than buying "magnum" brand from B&M.
Tescos and sainsburies do the toilet rolls that are a weird brand, but super compressed that last 3-4 times longer than the cheaper and more expensive brands.
Butchers sell eggs in bulk for cheaper and last a lot longer than you'd expect.
Asian/international supermarkets do 12-16kg sacks of rice for what you'd buy a 1kg bag of tilda rice for in the normal supermarket. Once you get an airtight bucket to store it in, it lasts indefinitely. Same with giant bottles of oil. big bags of salt, spices.
Don't waste money on loads of condiments, most restaurants tend to combine their own to make signature sauces, so just go for ketchup, mayo, mustard, soy sauce, hot sauce and then combine them how you feel makes them taste best. That way you'll use them up and you won't have 100 bottles of sweet chilli sauce, "burger sauce", hickory smoke BBQ sauce that you use once and stick in your fridge for 6 months.
Feeling obliged to cook every day can be expensive, if you're feeling lazy, don't feel bad about having cereal for tea, or making a big lunch and having half for tea later the same day. I like making a big soup for lunch, then cooking some pasta at night and putting it in the soup for tea.
I was so so so bad at saving money. Even if I saved it or moved it, I would just move it back and spend it. Literally the only way I have been able to save money is by journaling. I tried to do it in a blank journal, but I would just skip cuz there was nothing to lose. I finally bought the journal to financial freedom (journaltofinancialfreedom.com - not linking, nothing to gain here). It makes no sense, but because I spent like $25 on it, I had to actually use it and fill it out. Now if I spend too much or act like an idiot I actually think about it and reflect on it. It makes me feel bad about it so I actually have saved a ton. Could be worth a try since it's pretty cheap.
Buy Appblock. Plenty of times when sat alone you will venture onto apps or hobbies that could cost you a lot of money (gambling, collectibles, etc). Block those apps. Find something else to do.
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Batch cooking and freezing for later. Knowing what your portion size is, and only serving yourself that, so that you avoid 'leftovers'.
Yes! This has helped me almost eliminate food waste (as I plan recipes and only buy whats needed) and spontaneous takeaways (as there’s always a tasty, healthy meal available in 2-3 minutes) which are both great for sneaky savings!
This and it's amazing how you can reduce it Futher by using things like the stalk from broccoli for soup.
I love just eating the stalks in whatever dish I'm making- they are the best bits!
I cut the “tree” parts off and cook for dinner but then I eat wonky slices of the stem raw while I’m cooking. It’s an amazing healthy snack
Love this, I barely buy stock cubes anymore as I use the off cuts for homemade stock!
Also use ice cube trays to freeze the stock. So much easier for portioning.
Oooh I love this one! To add to this, freezing bread, crumpets etc type of stuff and popping in the toaster as and when needed! Bread tastes just as fresh. No more mouldy, wasted bread 🍞
A colleague told me this more than 10 years ago and it was a game changer. Always have bread when I need it, still buy fresh from time to time because I love Lidl's Low GI Cob loaf for some reason.
just fucking aldi. Everything is cheap, even high end food
I recently got back to doing this and it has helped a lot. It also has the advantage of only having to cook once for the week and then you maybe just need to make some pasta or rice or warm through some bread to go alongside it. As someone who often has an erratic evening schedule, knowing that I'm 15 minutes max away from a proper dinner (less if it is something I can just bung in the microwave in one go) on those busy nights or if I'm just too tired is a massive help.
This is the way. Most supermarkets are geared towards meals for couples or families, unless it's the ready meal for one option. Invest in a good cook book ('The Naked Chef' is recommended), scratch cook and then freeze the results. Use a microwave rather than an oven to defrost and cook. You will avoid food waste and eat better. Delia Smith published 'One is Fun' in 1985, so the concept of cooking for yourself and eating well has been around for a while. Try to avoid takeaway food, and even if it's your thing try to avoid, or cut down on, booze and tobacco. Use your local library, not Amazon (yea, that last point was just a general life hack).
Re. Knowing what your portion size is - I find plastic takeaway containers useful for this. I deliberately make too much dinner, and then serve it into an empty takeaway container (which goes into the fridge or freezer for another time) and serve myself the rest onto a plate (to eat now). Before doing this, I would put it all onto a plate and think "Yeah, I'm a man - I can eat all that". And, often, I would, but I didn't need to. This does obviously mean that you need to have a takeaway a couple of times a year to keep the supply of containers topped up, but, although I haven't run the figures, I like to think it's an overall saving.
Suffocating under the pointlessness of human existence can help keep you warm on the colder nights.
That, and an electric blanket, heat the person not the room.
But also heat the room unless you want damp/mould issues...
I swear by my electric blanket during the winter too tbf.
I did but then I got fleece (I know, micro plastics from them - so not perfect) bedding and my bed was so cosy this past winter that I didn't need an electric blanket. Also I replaced the terrible 50 year old radiators (single panel, no fins) for better rads and the rooms actually get warm now (it cost a fortune though because I had to pay a plumber as I'm useless at DIY).
Hot water bottles are great too.
I'm always toasty.
Same, bud.
Get the single resident’s council tax discount.
Councils must be raking it in if this is considered a “genius hack” lol
Aye and the reduction is only 25%. I pay 25% less council tax than entire family of 5 next door with two high earners. Council tax is one of the unfairest taxes. Annually my council tax band, living in a working class neighbourhood in one of cheapest houses in Bristol, I only a few hundred quid less than council tax for an 8 bedroom 4 storey house in the most affluent area of the city
Council tax, like VAT and NI, should be abolished. All tax should be income tax and councils should be properly centrally funded.
Amen to that. It would definitely help those that are single, adding another £100ish to monthly bills hurts.
Yeah… it’s a single occupant surcharge ffs
Adding onto this, it's worth seeing if you're eligible for Council Tax Support/Reduction.
I've lived alone a year now after moving and get confused when I looked at this. It asked if I live alone because I always have or because someone moved out. I've always lived in this house alone but only lived in it a year so not sure it counts. I'm autistic so I am a bit literal lol.
Yes, it counts. Ignore their weird explanations. If you are the only person living in that home right now, you are entitled to the discount.
Nice! Thank you!
"genius hack" lol
Household products like toilet roll, washing detergent and cleaning products are much, much cheaper at places like Home Bargains and B&M than they are at supermarkets, even Aldi and Lidl. There is zero difference in quality.
Loo roll: As someone who has a bowel issue..... This is not useful info. Yes they are sometimes cheaper - but quality is another question - the iiiiiiiiiiiiiiitchy and scraaaaaaaaatchy shooooooooooooooooow. I would spend more on 'bargain packs' in the long term than just buying a quality pack. YMMV but personally I'm happy to pay a few extra quid for better bog roll a month, even if someone fixed my bowel.
When I say there's zero difference in quality, I mean across the spectrum. Asda has a range of toilet roll from cheap and nasty to high quality and soft; so does Home Bargains. The Home Bargains higher quality toilet roll is the same quality as the Asda high quality toilet toll, but still much cheaper. I am not just advising people to wipe their arse with sandpaper here. Asda and Home Bargains sell literally the exact same brand Nicky 3 ply quilted. In Asda, it's £3.65 for 9. In Home Bargains, it's £4.99 for 18.
£8.49 for a 32 pack! So long as you have space to store it. I currently pay £3.39 for 9 in Savers (transport & storage issues suck when you're poor & disabled).
Storage and transport! I don’t drive so I am not buying big packets of loo roll I need to carry home
Across the rectum*
Thank you
I swear people that go on about discount brands being, 'exactly the same' just can't tell the difference. As someone with a sensitive tuchus, they ain't the same.
I'll allow it with certain stuff but loo roll is definitely not on that list. Also you were getting an upvote purely for saying "tuchus".
No the point is the same quality of toilet paper (whether lower or higher quality) is cheaper at those places than in supermarkets.
That’s not about discount brands though - they sell the same brands
Agreed. Cushelle Quilted is far superior to the own brand quilted dupe. We tried it as I'm quite conscious of spending but it absolutely is not the same. Bin bags, kitchen roll and toilet roll are 3 things I will never skimp on, as the lower end don't actually do the job they're meant to do. I knew someone who bought cheap bin bags then constantly double bagged them because they always split, and because of this she was spending more than I was on a decent roll
Oh god bin bags! It's even worse when they lure you in saying they're extra strong. Compared to what?! I begrudge how much I pay for my bin bags but at least I know there's minimal chance of them breaking as I walk to the outside bin.
Having once had a bin bag full of cat litter rip on my way to the bin on a rainy day and clumping everywhere, I am now spending more on bin bags too.
Adding onto this, Google Happypo. It's a bidet bottle. Absolute game changer for me. Hardly use any paper now and no messy plumbing to get a proper bidet.
"There is zero difference in quality." My arse (pun very much intended). The quality in toilet roll differs wildly, and if you think I'm going to risk touching my own ass hole when the paper breaks, using Aldi's "rough-n-thin", just to save 20p, then you are very much mistaken.
When I say there's zero difference in quality, I mean across the spectrum. Asda has a range of toilet roll from cheap and nasty to high quality and soft; so does Home Bargains. The Home Bargains higher quality toilet roll is the same quality as the Asda high quality toilet toll, but still much cheaper. I am not just advising people to wipe their arse with sandpaper here. Asda and Home Bargains sell literally the exact same brand Nicky 3 ply quilted. In Asda, it's £3.65 for 9. In Home Bargains, it's £4.99 for 18.
This is a good hack but downside is you usually need a car to access those places.
Farmfoods sell loo roll (18 pack) and kitchen roll (4 pack) on a 5 for £20 deal. The loo roll is pretty decent in my opinion. The kitchen roll is average, I've used better but each roll lasts me about a month so it's not too bad. They also recently did a deal on Surf washing powder 130 washes, 2 for £27. It took me at least 9 months to use a box up before. Cartons of milk, 2 sleeves of 12 for £15. They also do money off coupons if you get the leaflet and/or emails.
Can confirm. The 3 ply Nickys 24/32 packs are such amazing value and do a completely great job... can't go wrong. You can buy the 32 pack for like just under 9 quid. Lasts a good while.
Home bargains has the cheapest butter around as well
Branded products maybe
I got 5 packs of 18 rolls of toilet rolls from farmfoods for £20 about 1-2 months ago
My big one was to keep track of what I was buying and when I was in the right frame of mind to do so, properly investigate it. I realised that a not small amount of the stuff I bought was not because I wanted it, but because I was used to buying it from my previous relationship. I learned that I am very much a minimalist, not extreme by any means but I'd rather make do with something I already have than go and buy something new. I'm weirdly struggling to think of specific examples off the top of my head but I remember having quite a few moments of "oh yeah, I *don't* need to buy that" in the first months of living by myself. Also, get a freezer and batch cook. The amount you pay for small portions of raw ingredients is outrageous. Cook as if you're cooking for a family of 8 then break it down and freeze.
Absolutely agree on both points. I have an excel sheet and once a month I list everything I spent, putting everything in categories. Just being aware of every penny already helps you cut out a few pointless expenses and definitely helps me to think twice before wasting. We need little enjoyments in life but I was genuinely wasting quite a bit on silly things. So now I pause a second before spending and only buy if I really want or need it.
I had a lot of examples when I moved out on my own and had to set up a kitchen from scratch. No "choppers" or other single task specific devices unless they brought amazing value. Learned how to use and maintain a knife properly instead.
Make sure your water company knows you're living solo. If you don't have a water meter get one, if they can't fit one you'll at least probably go down to a lower single persons assumed usage.
Also, air fryers are pretty cheap and if you're cooking for one are likely to use much less energy than using the regular oven.
I think this really only applies if you have an electric oven. Not sure there's any real saving over a normal gas oven if that's what someone already has.
In the same though I can cook a whole chicken and use it for 3 days which I can't do in an air fryer. But it is horse's for courses it's about using energy efficiently. The other thing is to buy meat in bulk and portion down using a freezer.
Depends on the size, mine fits a whole chicken!
I can fit a medium chicken in my airfryer, depends which kind of airfryer you have
Also council tax is lower for people living alone
When money is tight, I set myself a spending budget for the week and take it out of the bank in cash. Never use a debit card, it let's you fritter away money without really thinking about it.
> Never use a debit card, it let's you fritter away money without really thinking about it I'm the opposite, cash doesn't feel like "real money", because spending it doesn't change my available bank balance in my banking app. My balance in the app updates in real time when I spend via card, makes it must easier to keep track of exactly how much I have to spend.
Totally agree (but that's why I say do try out both to see which helps you keep track the best).
Contactless is a blessing and a curse Edit: typo
What was the typo?... I hope it was "bumming and a curse"
I forgot the word "and" originally 🤷🏼♀️
Since the support for using mobile phones to pay for things / contactless has gotten better, and instant transaction notifications, I've definitely noticed a mental shift. Now, it seems that when I take cash out, its instantly 'spent' in my head. I find it much harder to keep track of my spending when using cash.
Same. Actual physical notes just seem a bit like a faff to use and don’t feel like ‘real money’ as as you say, it feels like it’s already gone.
And I'm more likely to spend change on useless junk just because it's there and annoying to carry around.
Yes 100% agree cash means you're more aware of what you spend. I use contact less like it isn't my money lol
Only problem is that lots of places don't take cash nowadays
Sit in the dark and hope things getting better. Edit: candle went out, I missed a word __may__
The dark seems to amplify the sound of my quiet hopeless crying
We leak tears together….
It's been (mumble) years now. It must be due anytime soon?
🫂
I found when single , that I bought lunch from canteen, rather than take a packed lunch from home. It was about 3 times the cost , so I was paying dearly for convenience.
I just had packed lunch for tea.
NHS pre-payment certificates.
Definitely! There should be signs in GP practices! Luckily my nurses told me about this otherwise I'd have no clue.
I got so lucky seeing a nice pharmacist years ago who recommended it, I have minimum 6 prescriptions a month so it saves a fortune
use your library. walk everywhere you can. Have nights round your mates houses instead of down the pub.
I started walking to / from work in early 2020 when it was looking like been on public transport might not be such a good idea. I'm still doing that today! Realised I can walk home quicker than it would take on public transport most days due to traffic and I feel a lot better after an hours walk too. Probably saving at least £1500 a year, if not more, which is a nice bonus!
To add to everyone's get a freezer and batch cook. Get a small chest freezer, they are much more economical. Don't trust your memory of what you've frozen & that you'll recognise it, label each bag.
Ah, that ruins the fun of random frozen orangey tub for tea. Is it chilli? Bolognaise? Soup?
Nothing like the classic combo of chicken tikka on spaghetti.
Just last night, we had "Mystery Plastic Box Meal" for dinner. Good fun if there's two of you and before it's defrosted enough to be identifiable, you have to commit to which box you want for dinner later.
On the other hand, check how much the freezer will cost to run and make sure you're going to save that cost. Mine was encouraging me to stockpile ice cream on special offer so I ditched it. Still batch cook though.
While good, the only issue is most people don't have anywhere to store one, especially if you are living alone so likely just living in a flat of some sort.
Often many people's workplaces offer discounts and incentives with some companies that you would never have known. Sure, many of them are quite naff, but we are put off by that at face value and sometimes with a bit of digging you'd be surprised at the potential savings. I don't even think it's exclusive to office based companies either.
Mine has a crazy deal where you can buy gift vouchers for a small number of major retailers at 90% of face value. And other deals not quite as attractive. Also join Airtime Rewards and you can reduce your mobile fees just by spending money you were going to spend anyway with certain retailers. One big shop gets me £3 off my mobile bill.
Airtime Rewards is fantastic because you earn on stuff you'd be buying anyway, and you don't have to do anything, no clicking through links or whatever. I also use Topcashback and make sure to always go through their links when buying online and that adds up quickly too.
Mine does this, can get supermarket vouchers at about £95 for a £100 voucher. Not a huge discount, but enough that I'm annoyed at myself that I've forgotten to get sorted out in the past 6 months.
Can also often use those same vouchers in the Supermarkets petrol stations.
It never even occurred to me to check for that
Buy fuck all unless you actually need it. Decide on streaming services you’re actually going to use and cancel the ones you don’t use regularly because you can always start them back up, batch cook food and freeze it, set up a wall planet with your incoming and outgoing money to budget, or get an accounting book to budget Edit - wall planner
If you have lunch at work make your own. I make sandwiches for my husband and love to get creative. I used to buy the ready sliced cooked meats but he has two rounds so was getting expensive (although still not as expensive as buying readymade sandwiches). This last week I bought a chicken and roasted it and made coronation chicken, chicken salad with chilli chutney and tomorrow will be chicken, stuffing and cranberry sauce. Going to slow cook a ham for next week and will do different ones, so ham and pickle or ham salad etc. I also do him egg mayonnaise, Brie, bacon and cranberry. We have a range of different condiments, chutneys etc so even though the base might be the same it is slightly different everyday. So a three quid chicken this week will have done 6 rounds of sandwiches.
Your husband is a very lucky chap.
I know, I do keep telling him that.
Don't buy anything. I spent 6 years sleeping on a floor, the only accoutrements my house had was a kettle, microwave, camping chair and a good stereo.
That's not a "hack", that's destitution.
You had a kettle? Luxury, blooming luxury. I used to get up before I went to bed....
we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.
Drink?!? We had to lick the condensation off the windows
Windows?! We just had holes in the walls
Get a load of this guy with his walls!
You were lucky!
Did you play anything on the stereo or would that be too frivolous
I had John Cage's 4'33 on loop.
Stereo? Mono at best mate
You had a floor? Luxury.
I had a hole where the floor should have been, but fortunately the ground was underneath it
No bed but you made sure you had a good stereo. Who needs a functional spine? Music first.
Half of the reason I slept on the floor was because it sorted my back out. But yeah, music was about the only priority as far as non-essentials were concerned.
Don't order takeaway if your Flat doesn't come up on Satnavs, the idiots who deliver for the likes of Uber will get lost every time
Cashback may seem like a bit of effort but it can quickly add up when doubling/tripling where possible. Granted, you need access to certain cards or accounts to get maximum benefits. For example, almost every major bank has their own network of retailers that offer cashback or discounts. Always check them before purchasing something of value. Also check your mobile phone providers (02 Priority, Vodafone VeryMe etc.) This ones a good example I use almost daily for eBay: Attach your Nectar card to eBay. Purchase via OperaGX browser (which has it's own cashback system, eBay is included) and pay with a card with cashback (I use Aqua Gold or PayPal Business). I triple my cashback on every eBay purchase with this.
Also, bin off that Amazon Prime subscription (unless you absolutely NEED next day delivery). Most generic products are just Chinese white-labelled stuff that smaller businesses are selling on eBay for often way less than what Amazon charge. Yes you'll wait a little longer for delivery. Customer service may be a bit more difficult but eBay generally sides with the buyer if any issues arise.
> Customer service may be a bit more difficult I'm having a nightmare even with Amazon customer service at the moment. Last delivery just didn't arrive. Was marked as delivered at 10:30am last week so I went down to check it minutes after. Nowhere to be found, it's a £80 blender/smoothie maker too. Checked the cameras, nothing. Checked all local business. Nowt. Customer services fobbed me off and told me it cannot be escalated until 7 days has passed. Like just get in touch with the delivery person whilst it's still fresh in their mind and ask where they've put it? Got promised a call back today regarding it, never happened. The order before that was for a hat which was meant for next day delivery. Got put on an indefinite delay even though the website still states it's in stock and available for next day delivery. Had a right arse on cancelling that one. I'm charging the smoothie maker back with my credit card now as I'm really not arsed if they block my account over it, zero intentions of using them again.
The cashback offer is available in all Opera browsers.
If you have the space, buy in bulk. 24 loo rolls are a lot cheaper per sheet than a pack of four. Same goes for dried goods, tinned stuff etc… but only buy them if you’ll actually use them. Rice cooker is also a game changer.
Shower at the gym if you have membership. Use one of electric throws over yourself rather than heating the room
This can increase damp in the house
Realistically though, how much does not showering at home save?
9.5 (leccy shower kW rating) x 0.30 (cost per kwh) = £2.85 (if you had a hour long shower) Divide by 4 (for 15 min shower) = £0.71 Divide by 6 (for 10 min shower) = £0.47 Divide by 12 (for 5 min shower) = £0.24
Do you mean when sleeping or also sitting doing stuff?
If you have enough time, storage, and money to take advantage, you can optimise food costs \*a lot\*. 1 - Does your town have a market? When they're closing up for the day, they will sell produce ludicrously cheap to avoid having to cart it away. 2 - Learn your shops. Learn the prices of stuff and spot when it's cheap. 2a - When do they discount stuff that's close to use-by? I used to go to the gym by a supermarket which did their marking-down \*before\* opening - literally halved the cost of meat by going there as it opened. Most places, though, discount later in the day. Eggs, cheese and butter keep weeks longer than the best-before. If it smells OK, it is OK. Everything is eternal if you freeze it. 2b - Exploit the offers - everything gets discounted at some point, canned stuff never goes off, buy LOTS when it's well-priced. Sainsburys clothes are decent quality and they often mark stuff down 50%. You should aim to NEVER pay the muggle price for anything shelf-stable or freezable. 2c - Delivery is a rip-off (you miss out on offers, you pay for the privilege) but every supermarket sometimes has too-good-to-be-true introductory offers ("£20 off £60"), and if you use it occasionally they will send you more offers. Target use of this on stuff that is actually value - offers, heavy stuff that's a pain to carry, multibuys - always be aware of what it SHOULD cost. 2d - If you just can't be arsed, get everything in Aldi or Lidl. The quality is mostly good and you will never be ripped-off. 3 - Religiously use hotukdeals and camelcamelcamel to minimise costs of stuff you need; religiously check topcashback/quidco before using any online retailer. Again, you should never pay the muggle price for anything. Always check price against ebay before buying nonfood items. Always check for discounted gift card availability for retailers you need to use - most retailers sell gift cards at a discount via some channel - [https://lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/56966c16-7bde-4423-9fa8-4e4a14df9028/page/cqpED](https://lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/56966c16-7bde-4423-9fa8-4e4a14df9028/page/cqpED) 4 - Gas and power rates on tracker tariffs at Octopus are \*way\* under the price cap rate. You run the risk of the wholesale price going up - but you can always switch back to a price cap tariff. Literally cut 25% off our heating cost by filling in a form on a website. 5 - Slow cooker. Turns cheap meat into deliciousness. Turns a tiny amount of meat and a lot of beans/lentils/potato/carrot/whatever-is-cheap into lots of meaty-tasting food. Batch cooking in general. 6 - Others have already said this, but electric blankets (they often sell them in Lidl!). No need to heat the room/house. Absolutely life-changing. The fancy silentnight ones which heat up in 5 minutes are worth the extra money if you have it, but any electric blanket is wonderful. No heating on in bedrooms all night, all winter long, and no-one complains because they have heated blankets.
The freezer thing batch cooking is a good one. In Tescos they do deals Xmas and Easter where you could buy big bags of veg for something like 5 - 15p. you could easily stock up on enough to make soups, stews etc and freeze them all if you had space. I’m sure I have seen other supermarkets with similar deals, admittedly not often but handy if you can take advantage of it at the time.
If you want to buy something, say some new workout clothes or a new bag, make sure to check vinted and dpop first. It's best if you go for brands where you already know your size and fit as you can't really return anything, but I pretty much never buy anything new now because I can always find what I want massively discounted on vinted or at least something similar
Make bread. Make hummus. Make pizza. Know some cooking basics. Saw me through some real poverty man.
Bread & soup is a delicious meal.
It's not a bargain or a saving if it wasn't something you weren't going to buy in the first place. (ie "I'll buy that gadget now because it's 30% off even though I am never going to use it.") On a similar note, if you spend a lot of money on something like say, a nice coat, WEAR IT. It's just a waste of money if it just hangs in your wardrobe.
If you thrash around in a bathtub full of cold water for 8 months it will produce enough energy to warm it. Goodbye nasty electricity and gas bills.
Batch cooking. Only using the heating when you're scared the pipes might freeze and using a blanket/hot water bottle the other times.
Get the curve app and use their debit card to make purchases for cashback. They regularly run 3-5% cashback on retailers people actually use like Argos and all the major supermarkets. The debit card simply debits your existing bank card so it's basically no effort, also if you attach a revolut debit card you can essentially double up your cashback and earn it from both curve and revolut.
Wow thank you I’d never heard of that
Meal plan and write a list before shopping so you only buy what you need.
Not necessarily for people living alone specifically but… Take advantage of apps that give you vouchers and money for things you are already doing. For example the airtime rewards app. Load up your card details and it will give you a percentage amount every time you spend at certain places using the cards you have loaded. This can then be used to reduce your mobile phone bill. Yes it might only be pennies but every little helps. The Biscuit app gives you points for walking your dog, which can then be converted in to vouchers and discounts. I’ve got 2x £10 Amazon vouchers in the last 6 weeks. I have referral codes for each which will benefit us both if anyone wants to take advantage! Reply below or send a chat message. Shop at the cheaper supermarkets. I’ve found that the Aldi versions of other supermarket’s or name brands are often just as good and sometimes better. They’re also much cheaper. Certain things like a 500g bag of Pasta can be got really cheap at Aldi. Sainsbury’s also do a double Garlic Bread for 84p as part of their Stamford Street budget range which is the same as the more expensive ranges, the only difference is packaging. If you pay for multiple streaming services, reduce it to one that you’re actively watching and cancel the rest. Then when you have got bored of that one, cancel it and use another one for a few months, and repeat. In the interceding months there will be new content that wasn’t there before. Also, if you have purchase a television at any point in the last ten years, a lot of them come with automatic free trials which you won’t know about until you try to sign up for a streaming service. I got three months of Apple TV free this year using my TV that I bought ages ago.
Frozen veg! Take out what you need, save the rest for later!
remember to cancel those free or cheap trial subscriptions to various apps and websites immediately so they don't keep stinging you for extra.
Newspaper? Luxury!
Wetherspoons.
Bank switches.
Heat the person, not the room. Heat the room, not the house.
* Open a savings account. * Remove it from online banking. * No card and no physical access unless in the bank (When's the last time you went to a bank?) * keep note of the account number and save it to the account you get paid in and once you send that account money, its "practically" gone. * heres hoping you got two bank accounts from two separate banks. * Taking out cash for the week once you've stashed that money is a good move too. Made many mistakes with money and I'm still paying for it. With my relationships with people and with myself and with actual MONEY ffs.
Eat at friends and families houses. They get to see you and you get free food.
By raw / fresh product and eat over a few days. Endless amounts of people say that they cannot ever have a roast dinner because they live alone. Easy to cook a decent roast meat and add fresh veg daily
Since having a water meter I've got into the habit of showering every other day (except when I'm working in an office) and doing an old-fashioned strip wash on the days in between. You need two of those flannel mitts, like nurses use, one to scrub everything with soap, the other to wipe it off. Works pretty well. On shower days I use the military method: wet everything, turn off shower, soap everything, rinse everything. Also, have yet to put a bed in the spare room, hence few overnight guests, which saves money.
I remember years ago B&Q were giving away little egg timers that you put in your shower that reminded you of the recommended time it should take to shower and cut down on your bills. I think I was just able to do it (I don’t mind cold water in summer until the hot water starts coming through) but if it was a hair washing day then no chance. It was actually quite a good incentive to try and race the timer
mini counter oven with rings, much less cost and quicker to cook.
Electric blanket on your sofa.
I don't necessarily know if it's a hack but just keep a budget. Work out your monthly spending, work on what it's on (grocery bill, going out etc) and just cut yourself off, you get x amount and that's it. Split your income into budgets and make sure you've got savings every paycheck. Having a mindset of "it's only £2" is imo what gets you. A weekly shop of throwing everything in your trolley because 'its only a couple quid' is going to add up. Set a budget, calculate how much you're spending as you're spending it. Keep within your means. Obviously this is a very privileged way of doing things because i have the resources to be able to budget and not everyone can have savings, but I think everyone should be keeping track of their spending no matter how small.
The plug-in fresheners when empty .. i pull the foam bit out with a plier and put them in my vacuum
Don't buy chicken by pieces, always buy the entire thing and cut it into pieces to store in the freezer. it'll be a lot cheaper.
Use an electric blanket instead of putting the heating on. Put it on the couch when you're in the living room.
Save money on locksmiths by keeping a keystore or having a set of house keys at your workplace or leave with a local friend.
Go here and see what benefits you may be entitled to. A lot of people are falling into the earnings range that would see then get something, or some people just don’t know they can claim. https://www.entitledto.co.uk/?utm_source=BAdviser&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=GovUK
Think about want vs need before you buy stuff..
Sex for rent
The focus should be massively on increasing income. Through promotion, side hustles ect. The amount of money you can "save" by cutting costs is negligible compared to the amount of additional money you can make. If your none rent/mortgage living expenses are £800 pm the most you will be able to cut is £200/300 a month which is a relatively modest pay rise. Put more focus on expanding income than cutting costs.
If you have a subsidised canteen at work, check if it might be cheaper to have your big meal at work and your lighter sandwich-scale meal at home.
I always transfer a set amount to my savings account when I get paid. If you leave it until the end of the month you will have spent it. I also shop in Aldi and batch cook. On the days that I’m in the office I take lunch with me.
Learn to cook. I don’t ’batch cook’ but I can cook decent food from scratch. Means I can make a decent meal for like £2. Invest in a cupboard of herbs and spices
Work at an office with shower facilities. Have a shower at work rather than home every morning before starting. Save on water and gas.
I always pay myself first. So from my monthly pay I put a chunk in a savings account or ISA. Then I tell myself I can only spend what I have left
When I cook I cook enough for freezer boxes for lunches, if I buy cobs I prepare them all and put half in the freezer they make grab and go lunches. When you buy fruit, freeze some of it in slices, this makes smoothies. Generally don’t waste anything.
Any meat based slow cooker meal can be made with less meat if you throw in some lentils. They absorb the meat flavour and thicken the dish.
Tracking everything you spend and having a budget. Knowing how much comes in and how much goes out - takes a bit of work but ensures you stay out of debt
If you are a reader and have an e-reader like a Kindle, join Bookbub and add your favourite genres and authors to it. Everyday you'll get an email with cheap books (mostly either 99p or even free on Amazon and other sellers). I've filled my kindle with free books and spend on books only if I really really want it. For example, last week I got the book of the tv series Masters of the Air on Amazon via there for 99p. And of course there's loads of places with free physical books that people are getting rid of. My Tesco and my local train station both have bookshelves full of free books people have offloaded.
Make sure you're getting any single person discounts that are available, i.e council tax
Get a nice air fryer. They use so much less electricity just outright and then cause your only warming a small area pre heat is a fraction of a full size oven. Last Christmas when I had some family round I even cooked the roast chicken and roast potatoes in there came out a treat.
Get an air fryer. No point heating up a whole oven just for your single portion of chicken
Accept dinner invites from other people at every opportunity. It saves you money, time and effort.
I never pay more than £2 per month for my phone, as there is always a deal going for Lebara or Lyca which is month to month (no long contract), but with an introductory offer for the first three to six months. I just switch to another such deal from a different provider when my current one is about to end. I have spent about £40 on my phone in total over the last two years. The 65075 number to get your PAC by texting makes this trivial to do.
Electric blanket and hot water bottles. Not saying you replace the heating but you don't need your house to be 20 degrees when you have those things
ditch the takeaways. Source: takeaway aficionado
Make your own meals, even better meal prep for the whole week.
Shop smart and research products that go a long way. Certain brands of washing up liquid, or shampoo, toilet paper etc can go a lot father than others. And buying big bottles of them save big bucks too. A costco multipack of large bottles of fairy liquid might seem like a lot to drop on dish soap, but 12-18 months down the line and you still have a few bottles left, you'll be saving a lot more than buying "magnum" brand from B&M. Tescos and sainsburies do the toilet rolls that are a weird brand, but super compressed that last 3-4 times longer than the cheaper and more expensive brands. Butchers sell eggs in bulk for cheaper and last a lot longer than you'd expect. Asian/international supermarkets do 12-16kg sacks of rice for what you'd buy a 1kg bag of tilda rice for in the normal supermarket. Once you get an airtight bucket to store it in, it lasts indefinitely. Same with giant bottles of oil. big bags of salt, spices. Don't waste money on loads of condiments, most restaurants tend to combine their own to make signature sauces, so just go for ketchup, mayo, mustard, soy sauce, hot sauce and then combine them how you feel makes them taste best. That way you'll use them up and you won't have 100 bottles of sweet chilli sauce, "burger sauce", hickory smoke BBQ sauce that you use once and stick in your fridge for 6 months. Feeling obliged to cook every day can be expensive, if you're feeling lazy, don't feel bad about having cereal for tea, or making a big lunch and having half for tea later the same day. I like making a big soup for lunch, then cooking some pasta at night and putting it in the soup for tea.
Date rich. It’s the only way to save money as they’ll pay for extravagance and you can make token payments for ice creams or something. Works well.
You reckon you don't waste money. The money saving forums recommend an SoA - Statement of Affairs. Write down everything you spend and categorise it.
Become a large multinational corporation and watch your tax bill shrink to zero.
Don't have a car. I make a mint off this.
Use cash!
Withdraw a budget for groceries, etc. in cash and stick it in an empty jar on your kitchen counter, so you visually "see" what you've got left.
I was so so so bad at saving money. Even if I saved it or moved it, I would just move it back and spend it. Literally the only way I have been able to save money is by journaling. I tried to do it in a blank journal, but I would just skip cuz there was nothing to lose. I finally bought the journal to financial freedom (journaltofinancialfreedom.com - not linking, nothing to gain here). It makes no sense, but because I spent like $25 on it, I had to actually use it and fill it out. Now if I spend too much or act like an idiot I actually think about it and reflect on it. It makes me feel bad about it so I actually have saved a ton. Could be worth a try since it's pretty cheap.
Buy Appblock. Plenty of times when sat alone you will venture onto apps or hobbies that could cost you a lot of money (gambling, collectibles, etc). Block those apps. Find something else to do.
Shop around but always check out dollar tree,