When I talk to people about saving money and being thrifty, the most common reply I get is " I don't have time to do that ". Guess what ? We all have the same 24 hours in a day. What we choose to do with those 24 hours heavily impacts our lives.
I've chosen to stay off my phone ( it isn't a smart phone ). I've chosen not to sign up to Instagram and Twitter. I've chosen not to check Facebook every five minutes. Instead I've chosen a purposeful life that allows time for me to do so many money saving tricks every day. These choices mean I don't have to work full time. While none of the 20 frugal tips below singlehandedly paid off our mortgage 12 years ago, they did help stretch our low income and freed up extra money to make extra payments.
Can you spare 1 minute to -
* stick a sliver of soap to the next bar of soap.
* turn a near empty bottle of sauce, shampoo, shower gel etc etc upside down to get every last drop out.
* pour leftover water from a drink bottle into a bucket.
* put a lid on a saucepan when cooking.
* double wrap meat and meals for freezing to prevent freezer burn
* fill a thermos with the remaining boiling water from the kettle.
* use a bread bag as a bin liner.
* cut a flower or small green branch from the garden instead of buying flowers.
* turn off a standby light on an electronic item.
* buy 2 half price grocery items instead of 1.
* grab a blanket for your chair or bed instead of turning the heater on or turning it up.
* turn a light off in a room not being used.
* save a gift bag and reuse it again.
* ring family / friends to invite them over for a cuppa instead of going out.
* pour a glass of water from the tap instead of drinking soft drink, juice or alcohol.
* buy a generic grocery item instead of the dearer branded item.
* pop your leftovers in the freezer instead of letting it be pushed to the back of the fridge and spoiling.
* choosing to be happy with what you have and not buying the latest ' trend '.
* weigh / measure out your pasta and rice for each meal instead of always cooking too much.
* use a squirt of dishwashing liquid in your mop bucket instead of using floor cleaner.
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| Blankets for warmth |
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| Freezing leftovers |
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| Buying generic branded food. |
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| Using bread bags as bin liners |
You are so right! We both work and expected that to be enough.
ReplyDeleteMy husband got us in some serious debt during a job change and I said this is over! We won’t live like this anymore.
We paid the debt by living on little, and now we have a net worth we could only dream about. Financial responsibility is amazing. It changes your life.
Choose what is important and make it happen.
👍
DeleteMy one minute tip is to cut an old cereal packet into strips to make your shopping lists on. No need to buy a note pad, the stiff cardboard doesn't get lost inside your handbag in the way that a paper list does and having a list helps to save money - if you stick to it!
ReplyDeleteExcellent advice. These are things anyone can do . I have a recycling pail in my kitchen, I put all cuttings, peelings,egg shells,tea bags and coffee grounds in it. It gives me lovely rich black compost for the garden. When I am cutting veggies to cook I put the peelings and ends in a freezer bag. When I make stock from a chicken carcass, I dump it in the pot, no waste.
ReplyDeleteI reuse bread bags ,bags from cereal boxes,tin tea containers.
It saves money but it keeps all these things out of the garbage dump.
I use cold water in a bowl to rinse the dishes before actually washing them. It keeps the washing-up water cleaner for longer, so I don't have to replace it halfway through.
ReplyDeleteI've thought of another thing we've done once, that keeps on being helpful.
ReplyDeleteWe live in Belgium, where there is no switch next to the socket. We have added extension cords with an on/off switch, and we have labelled the plugs, so that, even if we can't switch of the extension cord completely, we can still unplug the electronics we don't need.