saving some cash

r3nu4l

I don't feel this belongs in the money/investment/market forum but don't mind if you Godly mods choose to move it

So about six months ago I decided to see what I could do to save more cash. Myself and the gf switched bank accounts to avail of high-interest savings (and will be switching to an even higher-interest account this week ) We were spending about £150-180 (€218-261) a month on our Tesco shopping.

We were buying pizzas, jars of bolognese sauce, packets of mixed veg, some ready made dinners etc.

So we decided to ditch pizzas and jars of sauces, instead we buy tins of tomato puree or chopped tomatos and make our own sauces using mushrooms, red onions, peppers, garlic etc.

We also buy tons of vegetables and cook up stews that make two days worth of dinners:) I also ditched the corn flakes for porridge oats (2 mins in the microwave ).

So the upshot is we now spend roughly £100–120 (€145-174) a month on our shopping and are eating healthier.

This saves us a whopping €63-87 a month
I also now make my own lunch everyday and don't buy lunches any more, saving about €100 a month.

So now I have an extra €140 or so every month to save.
Eddie Hobbs eat your heart out

Anyone else got any suggestions?* What do you do to try and save extra cash.

* please refrain from the old "Wash, dry and re-use your condoms" or "Forage in bins for hardly-used food" type of rubbish I'm actually serious about this:eek:

biko

Save on the smilie account. Use max one (1) per post.

pclancy

I know its an obvious one but quitting fags has saved me well over €200 a month. Also Its again obvious but worth noticing how if you just change a few habits when driving like always keeping engine revs as low as possible, smooth starts and smooth braking and avoiding overtaking people you can get a huge amount of more economy out of your car. Less fun, but easier on the pocket.

r3nu4l

Funny man biko :D:D:D:D:p

The day they start charging for them is the day I'll stop using them:D

Incidentally did you know?
You are limited to using 15 images so please go back and correct the problem and then continue again.

Images include use of smilies, the vB code [img]tag and HTML <img> tags. The use of these is all subject to them being enabled by the administrator. Forgot to mention, I also use Skype a lot these days and that's saving me cash too I've changed my broadband supplier as well. Overall I'm saving about £250 a month at the mo. Thankfully I don't smoke but I have cut back on the beers. Not a lot but enough to save me about £20 a month.[/img]

skywalker

Out of interest, who did you switch your bank account to? and are you talking about a current account or savings?

takola

Seems like ye have it in hand. It's the bills that cripple myself and my boyfriend. Stupid ESB and Bord Gais sending bills out the same bloody week and taking all our money!!!!!! :mad:

galah

switching off light bulbs/electric devices in rooms not occupied will help and save a little on the bills. Same goes for the stand-by mode of TV, DVD player etc etc - just switch it off completely.

Switch off all devices not needed. Turning down the heating thermostat even just by 1 degree will make a difference! Turn down the oil burner thermostat as well.

Only leave the immersion on as long as you need it, not all night...

(don't want to sound rude, but I find that a lot of Irish people kind of think electricity comes out of the wall, and is free - I have never seen so much waste of electricity. Outdoor lights burning well into the day, lights left on in every room, tele not switched off, computers running...it's unreal! I can't wait til they introduce water charges - it'll be quite entertaining...)

Also, cooking a little more one night and have the leftovers for lunch will save some money. I also go shopping once a week in Tescos/Dunnes, and buy everything that I need (also check for specials, especially things like washing powder and stuff like that!) - avoid trips to convenience stores like Spar/Mace/Centra, as they are usually way more expensive. Plan ahead, so you don't need the "convenience".

Quitting smoking has helped me as well, saving around 200 bucks a month. Oh, and curbing your alcohol intake will save an awful lot (I'm a "cheap" drunk - I need 2 glasses of wine to be off my head - so there!)

I'm sure I can come up with more tips throughout the day...:D

r3nu4l

skywalker wrote:

Out of interest, who did you switch your bank account to? and are you talking about a current account or savings?

Well we're living in the UK at the mo' so we changed from Natwest e-savings to FirstDirect e-savings and this week we will change to Icici e-savings as their interest is higher. Probably not much use to you but definitely shop around for savings accounts as there are some good ones out there!

Takola wrote:

Seems like ye have it in hand. It's the bills that cripple myself and my boyfriend. Stupid ESB and Bord Gais sending bills out the same bloody week and taking all our money!!!!!!

Yep that's why we started looking into our spending! We haven't noticed a drop in our quality of life and yet we are saving lots of cash It's so annoying to watch all the money you've worked hard to earn disappearing every month!:(

galah, dead right about switching off lights etc. Every little bit helps. Great tips there As for the thermostat, I remember a friend of mine walking around his new house in his shorts on a freezing cold winters day and saying to me "Why should I put on something warm? That's what the heating is for". The look on his face when he told me about his gas bill was priceless.