With Christmas credit card bills enroute, Little Dimples birthday one month away, and hubby still looking for a job having been made redundant, my money saving tips are definitely relevant for me, so I thought this one might help you too.
I call it the ‘Use everything up month‘! It’s great when combined with a good de-clutter, and if you want to make a bit of extra money a quick take back of presents that didn’t fit, or selling on Ebay or Car boot sales, and a look at what expenses can be quickly cut.
We often go out and buy things that we didn’t really need right at this minute, don’t we? My particular downfalls are lipgloss, and face products. I’ve basically banned myself from Boots from this time forward! So it’s time to take a good look at what is in your cupboards and use them all up before you go out and buy more stuff.
What’s your downfall? …
Food
- Anything you got in a BOGOF (mine are pasta bake sauces which seemed like a good idea at the time)
- There are those tins at the back of the cupboard that you keep just in case (my mother had ones that were 20yrs old!)
- And the old bags of stuff so that you can bake things that you didn’t bake (that’ll be hubby’s job as he’s the one that can cook in my house)
- The FREEZER! (mines not too bad actually, but it’s small, so it can’t be. But that Tuna needs eating!)
- Jars off stuff to be used up in sauces (We got a free risotto one I haven’t used yet)
Beauty Products
- Body moisturiser (I keep saving it for a special day, so I have way more than I need)
- Shampoo (I have a friend who has so many bottles, I can’t believe you need more than one type surely?)
- Presents from relatives (heh it might be useful, and who cares if you smell a bit weird!)
- Face wash/masks (you might as well, they’ll go off otherwise)
- Make up (don’t let yourself get tempted by the pretty colours until you’ve finished what you have)
Other
- Books (another of my problems, especially now I have a kindle)
- DVD’s (have you watched everything you have, before you need to buy another or go to the cinema)
- Children’s magazines (Curly Headed Boy is under instruction to use up or bin the 6yrs worth of magazines he has)
Think about how much money you can save in a month. If you don’t have to buy much for 5 meals, you could be drastically reducing your food bill. If you don’t add any beauty products to the list, I bet you’ll save a fortune. And even though I thoroughly recommend my book as it’s only 99p (and btw you can read kindle books without a kindle), those 99p’s can really add up.
Got any tips or blog posts about using stuff up, feel free to add them below!
My big tip is to use all the food you cook. If I make too much pasta then I freeze the rest and so on. I check the best before dates on cheese, bread and milk and if its about to go off, then I freeze that for a day when I know I will use it. This has saved me a fair bit of cash.
The library is a good place for free books and cheap DVD’s.
Really good point about the library Claire, as Max thinks it’s a huge treat to go there!
How do you know what you can freeze and what’s safe or not – I’m a child of a woman who thought everything was ok unless green and mouldy, so I get a bit worried ;o)
I don’t have so much as a “use everything up” post but I do have a money saving tips and tricks post here: http://www.thebreastestnews.co.uk/2011/01/money-saving-tip-tricks.html
One of the biggest things we should all do when we do a food shop is to make a list of what exactly you need and stick to that list religiously. It’ll save you so much money just doing that as you won’t be tempted by impulse buys and “special offers”.
Very true Breastest! I go one step further – don’t step foot in a supermarket, that way you can’t be tempted! I’m a big fan of online shopping and because Ocado let you order as often as you like for one monthly fee, I literally just press go each time I reach £40.
I have stopped buying food and beauty products for the duration. The problem is that you still need to buy fresh fruit and veg, milk and cheese so I go to the supermarket and see all these bogofs for e.g. pasta which I already have about 10 packets of in the cupboard but silly not to buy them on offer…..
OMG @MidlifeSingleMum we might have to have an intervention and never allow you back in a supermarket!! NO MORE BOGOF’s!