Money saving ideas needed.

[cyberunicorn]

So I am trying to save money, (who isn't) but I need some ideas.

They need to be small so that I will not notice them on a day to day basis.

I already sell bits on eBay when I can and am I am going to sort out a proper budget once I get paid this month to see what disposable income I actually have but I was wondering what everyone else does to help save the pennies.

[Luxrayx]

Well, I don't know enough about your expenses to tell you what to cut, but my personal strategy is to only drink water and only buy sweet stuff for special occasions (it's healthy and cheap at the same time!). Additionally, be super meticulous about unplugging stuff you're not using, turn off the lights when you leave a room and avoid all impulse purchases. Make a budget and stick to it! I hope this helps

[Barnacle_lady]

I am used to live very low budget. Think about your groceries and other expenses you really don't need. You really don't need to buy the latest ponies. And maybe cancel some subscriptions to magazines, change phone rate. If you want to do it really small, buy a piggy bank and put your coins in it

[zombienixon]

One thing that can save you a lot in the long run is to avoid eating out, the costs can rack up very quickly.  It also helps to change up your diet for less expensive food- rice, vegetables, chicken, pork and to check for sales on groceries.  For bigger purchases, like appliances and furniture, Craigslist is a Godsend. And when it comes to ponies, patience is a virtue.  I wait for stuff to go on sale and then I get a bunch of stuff at once.  I very rarely pay full price.

[Aadra310]

Pay bills online and save stamps.  If you pay for cable or dish TV and don't really watch much, cut it.  I only do Netflix.  I can't stand commercials on regular TV, anyway.  Turn your AC a degree or two higher.  Maybe not for the summer, but in months that you don't sweat as much, wear pants or shirts twice to do less laundry.  As others have said, plan ahead and cook most meals at home.  Try to turn lights off as you leave a room.  It's a bit of a hassle, but you can also unplug things when you aren't using them.  Leaving computers on, things charging, and appliances plugged in adds to your bill.

I also experimented to see which groceries I liked as the store brand instead of the name brand.  Some stuff doesn't taste the same (like brand X Oreos- gross!) but a lot of stuff does and the difference in price can start to add up quick!

I buy most of my clothes on super sale out of season or second hand. 

Don't know if you have dogs that need groomed but I have two.  I started doing it myself.  The initial investment of a good clipper seemed like a lot but it pretty much paid for itself in 3 uses versus going to the groomer. 

If you use a credit card, you might check if there are rewards points or cash back if you aren't already doing that.  I get a $25 gas card every once in awhile from mine! 

[LadyMoondancer]

When you're buying something, check Groupon.  Often they will have deals.  But don't get sucked into buying things you don't need / weren't looking for.

[scarletjul]

I save my coins up and use credit cards with rewards. 
I also use sign up for any store reward cards (Plenti, Sephora and AMC are big ones for me.)

Additionally, if you have a smartphone, I highly recommend both shopkick and Ibotta. 

Shopkick gives you points for walking in to stores, scanning barcodes and buying certain products.  Two of these are free and they add up to gift cards for places like Target.

Ibotta offers small rebates (anywhere from 25 cents to 5 dollars) for purchases from a bunch of different stores including Target, Costco and Walgreens.  You have to send them photos of your receipt but the money seems to add up quickly.  At $20, you can bump the money into a PayPal or Venmo account.

[Mewtwofan1]

Other than what everybody else has said, I'd advise coupons. Y'know those flyers you get in your mail? Perhaps flip through for coupons. Or wait until something is on sale. My mother claims this as her religious belief: never pay full price for anything. Get your coupons, get your sales and go.

[northstar3184]

Some of these are already mentioned above but here's my list:

Avoid using credit cards unless absolutely necessary.

Save coupons and buy generic products whenever possible.

Buy clothing from inexpensive places like Walmart or second-hand.

Avoid takeout and dining out.

Before making a purchase, consider how much the item is needed, whether it's benefits are short-term or long-term, and whether there's a less expensive alternative that would meet the same need.

Take public transportation whenever possible.

Assess your monthly expenses to see if there are any services you can cut entirely or reduce by switching to a less expensive alternative/plan.

Set budgets and track your spending.

[Barnacle_lady]

I am not sure about the UK but here in The Netherlands we don't have that "extreme couponing"  system (sigh). Most offers are valid for 1 maybe 2 weeks over here and most of the time they can not be combined. So every time I buy stuff when its on sale to save money.

[cyberunicorn]

Thanks everyone for all of the imput. There is alot here to be having a look at. I should be able to get alot out if it.

Pay slips should be out soon so i should be able to see exactly where my pennies are going and budget accordingly

[dragonfly]

Logging every single thing I spend is helpful to open my eyes to what I'm really spending on so then I know where I can cut things out. It's not a money saving trick per se but I find it useful to be like, wow, I spent a lot eating out last month, I can knock that off.

Having a budget of your monthly income and expenses can help tremendously. Even if it's bare bones.

When possible I buy in bulk and split with other family members, we each pay half of the bulk price and get more (paper towels, TP, household supplies, mostly)

[Taffeta]

Thanks everyone for all of the imput. There is alot here to be having a look at. I should be able to get alot out if it.

Pay slips should be out soon so i should be able to see exactly where my pennies are going and budget accordingly

Inflation with the crash of the pound hasn't helped anything in terms of shopping and trying to keep a low budget. I think people have given great ideas, but if you don't already have a loyalty card for whichever supermarket(s) you shop at, maybe look into that and the points/coupons they might offer you. Changing where you shop or shopping around might also help. I find it really bizarre but some stores are more expensive for some things and less on others. And also maybe look for new introductory offer prices or special offers on things you would normally use. Maybe buy two packs of something when they are on offer so you don't have to spend full price when they are not (Best Before Date permitting).

UK does not really have extreme couponing as an option, but store loyalty cards do send points and such. I know some stores also allow you to buy stamps over the course of a year so that when it comes to Christmas your shopping bill is essentially paid for already. Morrisons do this. Not sure about others but maybe worth finding out.

And finally, as regards toys - don't buy from TRU. They don't discount half as much as other toy stores do.

[Pokeyonekenobie]

One of the things that I do is to not count change in my checkbook.  What I mean by that is to round down to the nearest dollar when I am paid and round up to the nearest dollar when I spend.

For example:  If I get paid $62.58 I write down $62.00 in my checkbook.  If I spend $7.27 I write down $8.00.  Just from that I've got an extra 1.31 ($0.58 from my income + $0.73 from my spending) floating around my checking account. I like to have extra in my account in case my math in wrong so I don't overdraft by accident.

I've had people tell me this doesn't work for them, but it works great for me.  Every so often I'll go in and balance my checkbook and put the extra into savings.  I've saved up over $5,000 doing my checkbook this way for the last ten years or so--I've "cashed in" some of my savings to go to Disney World and New York.  And that's not even counting money saved doing any of the other tips that everyone here has already posted.

Also, I would check out Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover.  My brother used to spend money so frivolously it made drunken sailors look like Ebeneezer Scrooge.  After reading Ramsey's book he has learned how to get his spending under control and he and his wife are saving to buy their first home.  Save yourself money by checking it out from your library.  Dave Ramsey also has a website you can check out and there are lots of budgeting and money saving tips on there as well. 

Also because I am less likely to spend coins than bills I will take large bills to the bank and exchange them for coins, which I put into a cute piggy bank.  When I do decide to spend that money (usually I use it for vacation spending money) I take it back to the bank and exchange it for paper money.  While I can exchange bills for coins at any bank (even without having an account there) the bank that has the free coin counter is the next city over, which means that if I want to spend it, I have to put a lot of effort into getting bills (who wants to carry around $50 in quarters?) so if I'm going to do it, I'm going to keep it for something I really want.

[Stormness_1]

We have a really flexible interest account, so if we have savings that aren't going to be spent that month, we put them in the account to earn interest. It's never much, a few bucks here or there, but you never know when it might come in handy, and it accumulates, so if you leave it there, that's interest on interest.

My husband has a bucket behind our bedroom door, and whenever he comes home from work, he empties his pockets into the bucket. When the bucket is half-full, we take it to the coin counter at the bank, and deposit it into our interest account, it usually amounts to $60-$100, depending on what kind of coins are in there. I tend to accumulate coins in the bottom of my handbag, too. If I get a $1 or $2 coin, I'll drop it into my bag rather than my purse, so I'm actively saving money whenever I get change, but I still have smaller change to help out a shop assistant if they need it. Sometimes I'll pull $20-$30 out of the bottom of my bag to add to hubby's bucket, it all helps.

I also have a separate account for bills. (only do this if it's not costing you extra fees!) I transfer a rounded off amount, (say $100 instead of $70) into a different account, where my direct debits all go from, and any extra goes to the interest account at the end of the month. In my head I have $100 in bills, so I'm not noticing the saving. You can round off smaller amounts too, like to the nearest $10, or $5. Personally I was paying a large amount in bills when my hubby wasn't working and couldn't contribute for a few months. It was tough, but I found I could manage with the little disposable income I had left over. So when hubby got a job and was back sending money for bills, and we finished paying off things, like our car, or a credit card, I left the amount transferred to the bills account the same, and just sent the extra to our interest account at the end of the month. It saved my butt last year, I wouldn't have been able to afford Christmas if not for that little saving trick.