Money Saving Tips

Justask

Sorry MODS if this is in the wrong place, had no idea where to park it. Please move it if its wrong or if its been done a million times before.

Got the idea from another thread...

Seeing that most of us are broke....and saving 5 or 10 euro a week even would be great...

Share your money saving tips with us

YFlyer

Buy in the offie and drink in the lounge

squeakyduck

I buy alot of my cleaning agents, shampoos and soaps in the pound shops. Much cheaper than buying in the shopping centres!

It may not be mister muscle but it does the job, hair smells lovely, bathroom sparkling!

Join pigsback.com they do lots of vouchers for food shopping that give a few bob off certain foods/brands!

Student discounts are epic, try and get someone with a student card, or chance your old one. My card has no expiey date so discounts ahoy!

Loyalty cards can give you some money off stuff you buy, I have the tesco card which gives you vouchers like pigs back, the boots card lets you build up points which can be used to get money off stuff you buy there!!

A little looking on ebay you can sometimes bag a bargain that would cost a boat load in the high street stores!

EDIT: Meteor goodie bag give discounts off certain brands such a converse and the body shop

O2 treats gives discounts for different things every day such as rail tickets etc
O2 blueroom aslo releases tickets about 24 hours before general release so you can try and nab a ticket early!

metrovelvet

Learn how to haggle.

I also have standing orders for weekly amounts to pay off my services. I do this for two reasons. One is so that I dont get hit with a direct debit amount at some random time, and I can control what is going out and going in. And also if I am unhappy with the service, I have some leverage in complaining, and in future haggling. If the company can take whatever amount they want, when the want, that leaves me with very little power as a consumer, so I refuse to do direct debit.

Do not fall for THREE FOR TWO specials. That is just a trick to get you to part with your money. Why buy two if you only need one?

Dont fall for tesco's half price nonsense either. A lot of the time they hike up the original price, and then half it. And check the receipt at the till. Shop around.

Cleaning: bleach and soap and water, that's all you need. Brillo pads I cant live without and paper towels either. But everyone is different.

Laundry- get store brand, use 30 degree setting [ save electricity] and add in some Vanish if you have kids - they are filthy.

Buy in the childrens' section what you can, its VAT free so cheaper.

Share the bin with a neighbor.

It doesnt always pay to buy cheap, you could end up spending more by having to replace crappy objects you bought. Another example of this is with food too. I compared the ingredients of a store brand cereal with a commercial brand counterpart. The ingredients were exactly the same. However, when I looked at the nutritional value chart on each, the commercial brands nutritional count was considerably higher, so check those things out too. When buying food, I try to make sure Im getting the most vitamins for my money, so if the potato is the same price as the sweet potato, I'll go for the sweet potato.

Justask

metrovelvet wrote: »

Do not fall for THREE FOR TWO specials. That is just a trick to get you to part with your money. Why buy two if you only need one?

GUILTY.....I do it all the time (Should I say DID)

I got rid of my dryer.....Cant believe my ESB bills have gone down so much.

And got a timer on my hot water heater....I used to turn it on and leave it on by mistake..:eek:

wobblyheadedbob

I'm big into keeping budgets to see where my money goes each week and I stockpile when things are on special offer, if I'm going to be buying them regularly, I might as well get three at half price, rather than kick myself when they go back up to the usual price!

Twee.

Unless you're a total slave to a particular brands, Boots can be great for skincare and haircare. They always have 3 for 2 or half price offers on. You're always gonna need shampoo/conditioner/shower gel so you can stock up cheaply. Also, the Boots card is great. I've about €15 worth of points so far, keeping them to treat myself to some Clinique or Chanel makeup. If you use these brands (and Benefit, Lancome, Clarins etc), best to buy in Boots rather than BT/Debenhams as you get loads of points on your card.

Learn how to make a good tomato sauce. Sorted for pizza base, pasta sauce and spaghetti bolognese. Add some spices and you've got curry, add beans and chili, you've got chili con carne. These sauces freeze very well so you can make a big pot and divide it into freezer bags with two portions in each. Take them out before work/college and it'll be defrosted by the time you're home.

Hand wash your bras, they'll last longer.

wobblyheadedbob

Avoiding putting clothes in the dryer too often also keeps them looking good for much longer

cdaly_

Get familiar with where your cheapest petrol station is. I've seen differences of 5c or more per litre in stations not far apart. Also watch out for 'spend €50 and get 5c off' offers but only if they're for stations that are cheap already.

metrovelvet wrote: »

I also have standing orders for weekly amounts to pay off my services. I do this for two reasons. One is so that I dont get hit with a direct debit amount at some random time, and I can control what is going out and going in. And also if I am unhappy with the service, I have some leverage in complaining, and in future haggling. If the company can take whatever amount they want, when the want, that leaves me with very little power as a consumer, so I refuse to do direct debit.

+1000 on this. Avoid direct debit like the plague. A colleague of mine got hit for €6000 due to a mistaken meter reading. Took a few days to get his money back...

metrovelvet wrote: »

Do not fall for THREE FOR TWO specials. That is just a trick to get you to part with your money. Why buy two if you only need one?

Dont fall for tesco's half price nonsense either. A lot of the time they hike up the original price, and then half it. And check the receipt at the till. Shop around.

Three for two works nicely for families 'cos you'll end up using it all anyhow.

Half price stuff can be genuine but you need to be sure that it is. If it's a regular product you get you should be able to spot a genuine half price. Half price 'special buys' however are likely to be hiked up first.

wobblyheadedbob wrote: »

I stockpile when things are on special offer, if I'm going to be buying them regularly, I might as well get three at half price, rather than kick myself when they go back up to the usual price!

+1

metrovelvet wrote: »

It doesnt always pay to buy cheap, you could end up spending more by having to replace crappy objects you bought.

Agreed on this. A bit more spent on a good quality appliance is well worthwhile.

Asphyxia

When shopping online use cashback sites! You mightn't get the money straight away but if you're getting 3%, 5% or 25% here and there the money adds up After 3 months of it pending you could have a good bit to withdraw into your account

Get your shopping cards!! Dunnes, Tescos, Boots, Supervalue there's loads Lots of money been saved

Buy a stamp after your shopping, Dunnes have a little stamp scheme where you buy a stamp for 2euro and you have a little book when you fill the book up you have 100 euro to spend on anything in Dunnes I've often saved up only 30 euro and they will except it so it's handy when you're stuck for cash

If you don't have a credit union account then set one up they are my ultimate money savers! Set up a direct debit from your bank and when your wages/money get paid into the bank it will take out x amount of money every week/month and put it in your credit union savings account You'll end up getting so used to having so much every week that you'll forget you're saving

If you are going to use washing machines and dryers, put them on after 10pm it's cheaper

Justask

Asphyxia wrote: »

If you are going to use washing machines and dryers, put them on after 10pm it's cheaper

Really????:eek: Never knew that.....

Justask

I rang sky and told them money was tight and said i'd have to think about cancelling sky......They put me on the same package for 6 months for 12.50 a month...

Worth the call

Aishae

is not a money saver right now but it will be if water charges are ever introduced and it will help with people who pay to fill up water tanks: when brushing your teeth turn off the tap until you have to rinse - or a lot of water will escape. same with dishes, use a filled sink and only turn on the tap to rinse quickly (seems obious i know).

keep an eye on citydeal.ie - you might come across the odd great deal to suit you. when you need to buy a birthday meal for someone or that salon treat - they do deals on drivng lessons and not so expensive items too. always worth checking the daily deals.
i havent tried it but ive heard of living social or something like that

watch out for the deals in supermarkets. sometimes it would work out cheaper to buy the products separately (if you could do that) and sometimes the mark down is only a couple of cents. so check the labels.

shaving cream for the ol' legs is pricey. i use hair conditioner, usually some i have left over from an old bottle, or a cheap euro store one - it works a treat and the legs get a bit of moisturing. lovely and silky. even use shampoo or liquid soap in a pinch.

Ayla

Make your own:

• shampoo/conditioner
• animal (dog/cat) food
• laundry detergent
• bread/jam/yoghurt
• cleaning products

Loads of recipes out there, none take much time, and all of them can save you loads!

Aishae

oh yeah with insurance - car or home etc - when its time to renew, you can ring and tell your provider that youre shopping around, can they do a better deal for you? and if you do get a better deal elsewhere you can ring them and explain that you got a better offer with X for X amount. can they offer you a better price? pays to do a bit of shopping there

you can do something similar in other areas - check out what phone/broadband packages your provider is offering as they may well have changed since you started with them. you can get dual broadband/phone packages these days too. which might work out well for you. our new package is 4p pm for broadband and phone - we used to pay 30 for broadband with another company and whatever the phone bill amounted to (which sometimes went over 100)

Justask

God im learning a lot tonite Thanks everyone

Going to be rich now :D

cdaly_

Asphyxia wrote: »

If you are going to use washing machines and dryers, put them on after 10pm it's cheaper

Justask wrote: »

Really????:eek: Never knew that.....

Only true if you have 'night rate' electricity (two meters, one for day, one for night).

The Princess Bride

Hi gals.
Unless you watch a lot of tv,just get rid of your sky package altogether.
We've had digital receiver(bought in aldi/lidl )3 years and have all the watchable channels.After the inital outlay of €80 it's free.Tv is expensive enough cos of licence without having hundreds of channels no-one watches.
Also,we buy own brand milk/flour/some cereals.Trial and error, some are fine some inedible.
Agree with what earlier poster said about tomato sauces,so easy to make and freeze.Ditto with soup,breads .....
Used to buy a few Sunday papers, at a push now,we only buy 1, if something's important enough,you'll hear about it somehow.
Biggest savings- got rid of stupid eircom account,waste of money and hardly used it-have skype phone now,as do most of our pals,so free calls to those people.

Asphyxia

Justask wrote: »

Really????:eek: Never knew that.....

Only found out about it not so long ago! I'm not sure if it's in every ones area but it's in mine

Justask wrote: »

I rang sky and told them money was tight and said i'd have to think about cancelling sky......They put me on the same package for 6 months for 12.50 a month...

Worth the call

Did the same thing Less than 15 quid a month now for EVERYTHING :D You could also just get a SKY box and use the free to air channels, you're still getting the likes of E4, Film 4 and BBC for free.

Morgase

cdaly_ wrote: »

Only true if you have 'night rate' electricity (two meters, one for day, one for night).

cdaly is quite correct. You can get switched over to a Nightsaver account, which has a small premium added on. It's useful if you set up your washer, dryer and dishwasher to start after the Nightsaver time kicks in.

MissFlitworth

Don't buy anything on impulse. I've had to move myself onto a strict budget because of my profligate ways and my main change is that if I find myself about to buy something (outside of weekly groceries) then I have to put it down and come back for it in a couple of days, no matter how much I want it at the time. Generally after a day I can't remember what it was

ztoical

Learn to make a few simple dishes from scratch rather then buying prepaired stuff. Walking through the supermarket I saw I could buy all my veggie pre cut/diced/peeled etc etc Sure saves time but do you really need to pay extra for that? I shopped around and found a vegg store that sells me a massive bag of veg for soup for under a fiver. It's really easy to make - just vegg, water and stock into a pot. Makes a massive amount which feeds me and my flatmate for 4 days on average and is super tasty.

Justask

ztoical wrote: »

Learn to make a few simple dishes from scratch rather then buying prepaired stuff. Walking through the supermarket I saw I could buy all my veggie pre cut/diced/peeled etc etc Sure saves time but do you really need to pay extra for that? I shopped around and found a vegg store that sells me a massive bag of veg for soup for under a fiver. It's really easy to make - just vegg, water and stock into a pot. Makes a massive amount which feeds me and my flatmate for 4 days on average and is super tasty.

And tastes so much better then that rubbish in a tin

(add butternut squash really nice in a pot of veg soup!) Sorry off topic

Justask

Another tip... Humans dont need to eat meat everyday. Make some meat free dinners, fresh pasta sauce (we worked out that dinner costs about 1.20 euro per peson) Tin of tomatoes, musroom, carrot, basil, garlic onion and pasta.

Justask

Some serious bargins to be had this Friday..... Fiver Friday thanks to Joe Dufey Check out the liveline site...

CnaG

Join your library.

Admittedly, this isn't much of a money-saver unless you read but if you join your library (for less than the price of one bargain-bin book in many cases) you can have access to thousands and thousands of books. On any topic you like. To take a random sample (based on items on my bedside table) Kildare libraries have 292 books on money, 5 on mugs and even 1 on toothpaste. Plus, libraries have CDs and DVDs too now (and they could probably use your cash :cool:)

Someone mentioned pigsback.com. A good website which brings a lot of these special offers pages together is http://www.dealpage.ie/ I check it every few days. I've noticed you get a lot of special offers for restaurants, hotels, hairdressers/beauty parlours, bootcamps and gyms on it. Then occasionally you'll get some random stuff like money off bungee jumping or something. Worth checking out for deals for those kinds of luxuries and treats. Not generally so good on the day to day stuff :pac:

Cutie18Ireland

Justask wrote: »

Really????:eek: Never knew that.....

only if your on the nightsaver tariff

Eve_Dublin

Learn to sew. Have been taking up the helm of a load of dresses and skirts and making simple alterations to old tops make them wearable again.

Don't be a slave to fashion. Buy classic, stylish stuff instead of fashionable stuff.

ztoical

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

Learn to sew. Have been taking up the helm of a load of dresses and skirts and making simple alterations to old tops make them wearable again.

Don't be a slave to fashion. Buy classic, stylish stuff instead of fashionable stuff.

+ 1 I've a friend who works as a costume designer and I hated going shopping with her as she'd hit up second hand shops and sales racks and pick out stuff that might have a rip or a broken zip and get a massive discount and then go home and spend five minutes fixing it. So I took a basic sewing class with the VEC, got a decent machine [didn't get the cheapest machine in the shop but no were near the most expensive] and was away. There are loads of great youtube channels like Threadbanger and a few others that show some great ideas for reusing old clothes in interesting ways that are super easy to follow.

borderlinemeath

We have the lidl freeview satellite box as well, no monthy sky fees.
No house phone, just mobiles and skype.

I make most of my own food at home. Get a butchers special for €20, usually chops, mince, chicken breasts, sausages, bacon. Freeze most of it and it usually lasts 2 weeks for myself and OH. I make stews, casseroles, lasagne, shepherds pie etc Get the veg from my local farm shop.

If you're going to use your oven for casseroles/ cooking a chicken, always stick in bread/scones as well, make it worthwhile for having it on for a couple of hours.

The butcher usually gives me a big bag of bones for our dog which saves on dog treats, they go into the freezer too.

We don't have a weekly bin collection, I separate all our waste and bring most of it to our local recycling centre about once a fortnight. It's €2 in and can get rid of EVERYTHING for that except food waste and unsorted refuse. I compost the small bit of food waste which is only ever tea bags, egg shells and veg peelings as the dog is a hoover for leftovers.

I tend not to buy food that's on offer cos there's only 2 of us but always get things like toiletries, bleach, washing powder when it's on offer and stock up, I rarely use the tumble dryer, only in the wettest of weather spells when there's a build up of sheets or towels or during the winter for puffa coats with a couple of tennis balls thrown in.

I never buy spray deodorant as I find the can runs out so quickly. I always buy stick deodorants (not as icky as roll on!) and I find them great.

I go to the likes of the €2 shop for birthday cards, my local one does 8 cards for €2!! I have lots of nieces, nephews etc so I always like to have a few "in stock" at home.

My OH was a gym junkie, I bought him a bike for a christmas present 2 years ago and he cancelled his gym membership and cycles for free instead.

premierlass

Vinegar and/or baking soda are fantastic as cleaners for kitchen surfaces, oven, bathroom etc. Vinegar instead of fabric softener gives great results. A word of warning - never ever mix vinegar with bleach.

Takeout food can be quite easy, cheap and relatively healthy to make yourself, with no compromise in taste. For example, fish batter is simple (flour, milk, egg and a bit of pepper or turmeric), whiting is cheap and tasty.

Home-made cakes and biscuits are surprisingly easy, taste better and work out cheaper in the long run even if you use expensive (say gluten-free) ingredients. With a lot of recipes you can reduce the butter and sugar significantly because most overestimate what you need.

borderlinemeath

white vinegar is also brilliant for taking out sweat stains and odours from the underarms of clothes.

robertbarry

The insurance idea worked for me just 3 weeks ago. I was busy and didnt have time to shop about. Rang my renewal insurance company and said I could get it €50 cheaper elsewhere. They dropped their price by €44. Was very please. Guessed it just right. Never just pay the renewal price.

robertbarry

its the same with your house insurance as well !

Fittle

I always think making homemade bread/pasta sauce etc is a bit of a false economy, if you're doing so ONLY to save money. By the time you'd buy the ingredients, and use the electricity to cook/bake them, you would have easily bought a jar of sauce or sliced pan in your local aldi/lidl for less than the total price of the above, wouldn't you

Ayla

Good question, let's put it this way:

As an estimate (I can do exact calculations if required) I can buy good quality flour for about £1.50 for 2kgs. I use about 3 cups to make bread, bringing the cost of the flour to about €0.30/loaf. The only other ingredients that you have to buy for a standard loaf would be baking powder, bread soda or yeast, and maybe some sugar and salt none of which would cost over €0.10/loaf. If you do the baking while cooking your dinners, there's no additional electricity costs. So that brings a cost of making a loaf of (good quality, wholewheat) bread for approx €0.40.

borderlinemeath

The mistake most people make with their house insurance is the "rebuild value". A few years ago I noticed on my renewal form that the rebuild value was higher than the value of the house!! The rebuild value is what it would cost if your house needed to be totally rebuilt.

My OHs cousins (engineer) gave us the rebuild value (it's not just as simple as square footage by €)

Also, premiums cover for things like bicycles, freezer contents etc..no point in having these on the premium if you don't have a bike in the household or a packed to capacity freezer.

I would never claim on my house insurance for small amounts, it's like your car insurance, premiums will rise and all insurance companies have access to an all claims database so hopping from one to another and not disclosing isn't the best idea.

borderlinemeath

Fittle wrote: »

I always think making homemade bread/pasta sauce etc is a bit of a false economy, if you're doing so ONLY to save money. By the time you'd buy the ingredients, and use the electricity to cook/bake them, you would have easily bought a jar of sauce or sliced pan in your local aldi/lidl for less than the total price of the above, wouldn't you

Cheap bread is horrible and uncomparable to home baked bread. There's no flavour in a tesco value/lidl/aldi cheapy pan. And it's sweeter or something, like it's packed full of preservatives.

ztoical

Fittle wrote: »

I always think making homemade bread/pasta sauce etc is a bit of a false economy, if you're doing so ONLY to save money. By the time you'd buy the ingredients, and use the electricity to cook/bake them, you would have easily bought a jar of sauce or sliced pan in your local aldi/lidl for less than the total price of the above, wouldn't you

For things like pasta and bread most of the ingredients you would buy would make up for more batches then buying a one off. You can make up several protions of sauces and freeze them. Things like flour, sugar, salt etc keep for ages. I made a massive bowl of soup yesterday that cost me about 4 quid and I made enough to feed me and my flatmate for the next four days [with both of us taking seconds]. I'd have found it hard to get the same amount of soup for the same price...or if I did it would most likely have been the cheapest soup going which would not taste anywhere near as nice as my homemade soup.

Also with homemade stuff you can make it to your own taste so my soup is about 50% mushroom soup [three different types of mushrooms] to 50% mix vegg.

Fittle

I agree on the taste and quality of home made bread of course - if you read my post, I said that it seems like a false economy if you are ONLY doing it to save money (and not to add nutrition).

Ok, well maybe I'm just lazy - but the actual costs associated with baking one sliced pan don't appear to me to be a huge saving, compared to the cost of a shop bought one.

ztoical

Fittle wrote: »

I agree on the taste and quality of home made bread of course - if you read my post, I said that it seems like a false economy if you are ONLY doing it to save money (and not to add nutrition).

Ok, well maybe I'm just lazy - but the actual costs associated with baking one sliced pan don't appear to me to be a huge saving, compared to the cost of a shop bought one.

Did you not read the first half of the post? If your making things like bread, which my mum does, she buys everything in bulk - bread is pretty much just flour, salt and yeast. All these keep for a good while and are cheap food staples most people would have in their kitchen anyway. She would get several loaves from 1kg of flour which you'd get for a euro if you shop right.

Justask

Fittle wrote: »

I always think making homemade bread/pasta sauce etc is a bit of a false economy, if you're doing so ONLY to save money. By the time you'd buy the ingredients, and use the electricity to cook/bake them, you would have easily bought a jar of sauce or sliced pan in your local aldi/lidl for less than the total price of the above, wouldn't you

Nope...I posted a pasta sauce in 'food and drink' which works out at 6 euro and would easily feed 3 adults...and so much nicer.

Justask

Ok lidi/aldi TV dishes, i've seen this posted twice now...who has one??

Can ya tell what channels you get?
Is it had to instal? Im a technophobic

Can you get it on more then one TV?

How big is the dish?? (remember those massive once the size of the house, no thanks)

Ayla

I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but I'll give another example. Right now, I have in my fridge a batter I made in about 3 mins out of flour, water, dried yeast and a pinch of salt. This one batter will sit in my fridge for at least two weeks, and during that time I can take out a handful a day, round it off, and bake it into a fresh round (soda bread sized) loaf that will feed my family for that day. I guarantee you the ingredients for this batter cost no more than €1, and that's at least 14 days worth of fresh baked bread.

Doesn't get much better than that!

Neyite

Dont buy your spices in the supermarket - they generally represent terrible value for money. Instead get the packets from health food shops /Asian shops and markets and refill the jars you already have. Waaay cheaper!

solerina

Justask wrote: »

I rang sky and told them money was tight and said i'd have to think about cancelling sky......They put me on the same package for 6 months for 12.50 a month...

Worth the call

My OH did this too and 2 years later he is still only paying 12.50 a month, they have never put it back up !!!

cdaly_

Ayla wrote: »

I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but I'll give another example. Right now, I have in my fridge a batter I made in about 3 mins out of flour, water, dried yeast and a pinch of salt. This one batter will sit in my fridge for at least two weeks, and during that time I can take out a handful a day, round it off, and bake it into a fresh round (soda bread sized) loaf that will feed my family for that day. I guarantee you the ingredients for this batter cost no more than €1, and that's at least 14 days worth of fresh baked bread.

Doesn't get much better than that!

Ooh! Any chance of the recipe?

Ayla

cdaly_ wrote: »

Ooh! Any chance of the recipe?

Sure, I'll PM you (and anyone else who wants it let me know)

tsoparno

And got a timer on my hot water heater....I used to turn it on and leave it on by mistake..:eek:[/QUOTE]

i know people who never turn it off they swear the bills aren't high.
i quizzed a guy who works for an efficency company he reckons it could be true based on the that it might cost more to heat a full tank of water from cold than it would to just keep topping it up as the thermostat would auto turn off when it reaches the set temp

Stheno

Ayla wrote: »

I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but I'll give another example. Right now, I have in my fridge a batter I made in about 3 mins out of flour, water, dried yeast and a pinch of salt. This one batter will sit in my fridge for at least two weeks, and during that time I can take out a handful a day, round it off, and bake it into a fresh round (soda bread sized) loaf that will feed my family for that day. I guarantee you the ingredients for this batter cost no more than €1, and that's at least 14 days worth of fresh baked bread.

Doesn't get much better than that!

Do you mean dough or the rising agent?

tsoparno wrote: »

And got a timer on my hot water heater....I used to turn it on and leave it on by mistake..:eek:

i know people who never turn it off they swear the bills aren't high.
i quizzed a guy who works for an efficency company he reckons it could be true based on the that it might cost more to heat a full tank of water from cold than it would to just keep topping it up as the thermostat would auto turn off when it reaches the set temp[/QUOTE]

Apparently that's true as it's constant energy as opposed to the burst needed to get it up to temperature, like boiling a kettle.

One thing to do is plan, and know what you are cooking and need to buy, another is to find a good butcher.

tsoparno

Justask wrote: »

GUILTY.....I do it all the time (Should I say DID)

I got rid of my dryer.....Cant believe my ESB bills have gone down so much.

And got a timer on my hot water heater....I used to turn it on and leave it on by mistake..:eek:

Ayla wrote: »

Sure, I'll PM you (and anyone else who wants it let me know)

i'd like a copy of that please