I’m desperately looking to save money; how do you guys do it?

[Guest]

I get a weekly wage plus a monthly wage? Majority of my bills I pay out the monthly one but I’ve been hit with a £377 a month gas & electric bill (every month).

I’ve already cancelled some subscriptions such as, Alexa music, discovery+ but what else can I do? I tried to cancel my sky TV as it literally never gets used; it’s always YouTube, Netflix etc on my TV for the kiddies but sky wouldn’t let me out of it due to the contract.

I have roughly £200 every speak, that’s without my shopping but I have 2 freezer full to probably last me a few months in advance. I’ve already stopped the fizzy drinks as they was costing way too much & figured it’s not good for me!

I’ve also made a promise to myself to try and cut out as many take outs as possible as it was getting beyond a joke.

I have £750 saved away but I will not touch unless I really have to, but I want to continue to save as well as be able to pay my bills especially the energy bill each month.

Any ideas will be appreciated really,

Thanks xo

[Zoe]

My best tip would be do an inventory of your freezer and plan all your meals around that for a few weeks. Ideally then you could turn a freezer off which will use a couple of kw a day, at current variable that’s about 70p a day and £21 a month plus all the shopping you haven’t had to buy.

[Darren]

I do it by not wasting any energy or water, or food, not buying branded food, making a phone last 3 or 4 years, never eating ready meals, not changing my car until its dead, not borrowing money for anything other than mortgage, not buying loads of clothes or expensive trainers I won't wear , shopping around for internet and not wasting money on sky or virgin. Finally, only insuring my car and home.

[Kathy]

I use wash machine when I've enough for a full load. I'm grateful for learning on this site several yrs ago, about putting white vinegar in pre wash & wash cycle, (& very little liquid detergent) everything softer, colours brighter & someone said it also cleans machine. I don't use fabric conditioner at all anyway. Also modern machines have drain & spin - so useful for removing excess water. Best wishes.

[Natalie]

I've had an email from sky a few weeks ago, about the price increases. The email states if I don't agree with the price increase I can cancel by calling them within 30 days of the email, even if still in contract. It might be worth giving them another call.

[Amy]

The things that save me the most are batch cooking in slow cooker or pressure cooking and asking : ' is there a want or a need' and being very strict about what is truly needed for life and what is a want.

[Carmel]

You sound like you're doing great. One thing I have cut back on and using up instead is cleaning products. Like most women we buy a lot of these for all different jobs but our mums didn't... good old washing liquid, bleach if needed and ajax.. or similar for tough bits... I'm looking forward to having under sink cleared plus my overflow cupboard of products.

See what food items you can swap to cheaper brands,

See if you can do next days meal when doing one.. I don't always want same two days so if making a pie I make three... two for freezer. If you you that one week... you have two weeks prepared. It's great as you can save money buying in bulk too. And try to use just a tad less in shampoo, Con ditioner etc.. eek it out...

I do little things like say I bought mince and making bolognese, I scoop out a small bowl full.. its just me so if more people need bit more, then next day its bolognese on toast, with sometimes a bit of grated cheese on top.

[Sue]

Cooking from fresh is way cheaper than takeaways.

Won't Sky put you on a cheaper package?

Fuel bill sounds expensive, can you reduce what you use? Washing could go outside instead of using the dryer, wash up by hand. Lower thermostat and turn off earlier. It's hard but everyone is looking for ways to cut back.

[Adele]

Use sites like vinted for clothes/Xmas presents/birthday presents etc. Often things are unused or in excellent condition. Have a look in local charity shops/fb Market Place and olio for free /cheap items. I hardly ever buy new school uniform this way. Make a little pocket money using survey sites.

[Rhiannon]

I get paid every two weeks and so I use two weeks wages for all my bills and bulk buy. I shop around for the best deals on things. I also batch cook. I also do questionnaire and make few pennies there but that fast adds up if you do a few a night.

I use airtime rewards which if use card in the shops or line that the shops they have a app you get %back only down side is it has to be used for Money of your phone bill which is fine by me each month from this I get my phone bill to be about £9 to £13 each month from £20.

I also make a big dish of spaghetti Bolognese and put some in tubs for freezer and one night have pasta and another I might to rice or I have hot dogs and put the Bolognese on top with cheese for another meal.

I also do questionnaire as some give you penny's or some give vouchers sometimes I sell vouchers I don't need or want or have use for.

I also have a round up on my account so if say I buy thing for 7.98 to 2p goes in round up pot also I use chase as they have saves account with 3% and there round up is 5% which goes on each month. I also follow Martins advice when he says things like which bank to switch to get the extra £150 for being a new customer.

I always shop around for best deal when my contracts are up.

[Lynne]

Switch swiches off at wall, use led bulbs,put foil behind radiators ,buy cheaper brands of food ,wear extra layers in house wear slippers as u lose heat through your feet and head batch cook once uve emptied your freezer x

[Jane]

Having led lights around the house, like the ones that go on Christmas tree I've put along one of my walls, I use them on an evening instead of lamps. Also stick some battery lights under my kitchen units I use them in evening to make a cup of tea.

I've got some battery lights on TV wall incase of powercuts and got some battery led flickering candles aswell. Washing done on a 30 degree wash cheaper. Use washing line as much as possible. Everything turn off at sockets before going to bed. I only have my heating on an evening around 5.00pm on and off at 9.00pm. if cold in day use my electric throw brilliant and much cheaper to use rather than heating on in the day.

I've put lined curtains up at front door ready for winter. And lined curtains in lounge and dining room also.

I've bought fresh carrots cut them up balanced them and made 5 bags of carrots to go into freezer cost me £1.00.

I am growing as much fresh vegetables I can grow. Which will feed us and my Children and grandchildren also. I buy a whole chicken and that gives us 3 meals, Sunday roast, sweet and sour chicken with rice, chicken tikka masala also , any scraps go to the dog with dog biscuits.batch cooking and freezing is brilliant also.

I made a large lasagna last week, I've still got 3 portions left in freezer to have when we want, and will only need warming up in microwave which is cheaper than using my big double oven on.

Any time I use double oven I put other stuff in so it cooks at same time then it all cools down and goes into freezer. Good luck.

[Pamela]

One suggestion is cancel tv licence if all you are watching is YouTube. If you cancel via the BBC website, you get a refund which you can put toward your fuel bill. I cancelled mine without any problem. Make sure you don't ever watch any BBC or live tv or iplayer. I stopped drinking fizzy drinks and buy a cheap bottle of sparkling water from Lidl (26p) and cut lemon or lime slices to quench my thirst. I turned down the heating too and only use a couple of lamps at night to save money.

[Eva]

I use an app called plum it does my round ups to a pound when I make a purchase I went from monthly to weekly pay so come a Wed what's left in the account I transfer to the plum account I found this easier than setting aside z amount so I wouldn't feel bad if I couldn't make that amount.