Ways That I Save Money, Part 3

It’s been a while my friends… the January blues hit me like a ton of bricks when the realization of exams being just a week away rudely awoke me from my festive slumbers.  Exams are over now though – so I’m ready to return to my weekly blogging mojo and social media once again!

One of the easiest things that I do every day to ensure that I’m not splurging unnecessary cash is taking a bottle of water with me to work, uni or a shopping trip to town so that if I need hydrating, I don’t have to pay for it!  Martin bought me a Hydratem8 water bottle for Christmas which I absolutely adore as it keeps me up to date with how much water I should be drinking to the exact time of day.  I’ve been using water bottles for months now, but before I started taking one with me I wouldn’t think twice about spending 50p-£1.50 per day on juices. 

Every month now without fail I like to work out my expenses down to the penny, which covers everything from my bills, dog food for the month, petrol money and anything that I feel like treating myself to.  By doing this, it gives me an idea of how much I can afford to put away into savings, and what I have left over.  I then like to break this down into weekly amounts, and then work out the expenses regularly throughout the month to try and keep on top of what I’m spending.  By doing this, it normally helps me to ensure that I’m not completely stranded the week before payday… Normally!

Now we all know that there are not many months that go by when I don’t feel the need to treat myself to some Lush goodies.  I spend a lot of money in there, and in return I tend to get a lot back too!  Every time you buy and item from them in one of their pots, be it a scrub, cleanser, conditioner or shower jelly – make sure you keep the pot!  Clean it out and pop it aside for when you have five in total.  Lush have a scheme where you can exchange 5 clean pots for a fresh face mask.  You get to choose the one you like, and they all retail at £6.75 – making it a great freebie!  I tend to get a free face mask every two to three months, as like I said, I spend a lot in the place!  I think I’ve tried out all of the masks now thanks to this scheme, with Cupcake, Love Lettuce and Don’t Look At Me being some of my faves! 

One of the best things that I’ve discovered that has helped me save HUNDREDS of pounds a year is the Trainline best fare finder.  This fab little tool helps you find the cheapest train tickets on the market, and will let you book up to three months in advance, which can help turn a £70 train fare for two into £40 no problem!  The best bit about it though is easily their email reminders to let you know when your journey is going to be it’s cheapest.  For example, Martin surprised me with tickets to see Avenged Sevenfold back in August if I remember correctly (we saw them on Tuesday and it was an insanely amazing gig!), and so when he told me about it, I set a reminded for the train tickets.  In October, exactly three months before the gig, the Trainline sent me an email to let me know that I could travel from Aberdeen to Glasgow for as little as £5!  Not only that, but I could book two first class return tickets for £40!  Needless to say I booked there and then, saving nearly £200 pounds alone on that one journey!  Although it takes a little planning, setting reminders is definitely the way to go when you know you’re gonna be travelling by train – I’m already looking at dates for this years music festivals so that I book them well in advance too.

I hope you find some of these little hints and tips helpful, as once again these are the things that I swear by to ensure that I’m getting the most for my money every month.

Do you swear by any of these tips too?

Until the next one,

Ways That I Save Money, Part 1

One of my favourite days out of every single month is the 28^th, payday glorious payday.  Not to sound superficial or anything, but I like it when my hard earned pennies gets put into my bank account, so that I can figure out what I can afford to spend and what I can treat myself to.  I’ve got a few rules that I abide to every month in regards to my spending, and a few techniques that I use to ensure that I get the best possible deals on my purchases.  I hope you find these as useful as I do!

My Supermarket App

I discovered this app way back in January during exam time.  Some people binge watch TV series when they’re not revising, I binged watched extreme couponing.  A little odd for a 21 year old to be spending their spare time, yes, but I did learn a lot about saving cash during my crazy obsession, which has helped me a lot this year to be able to treat myself and keep extra pennies in the bank too.  My Supermarket compares prices of all of your groceries in all major supermarkets – helping you get the best deal for your money.  I like to use this any time I’m buying anything a little pricier than normal, for example dog food, spot on, shampoo and conditioner etc.  It breaks it down to where is cheapest, who has offers on etc, so when you do need to go out and buy, you know where to go to get the best deal for you.  I love it!

Loyalty Cards and Apps

I am one of those annoying people who has a loyalty card for every single shop that I go to, much to Martins disgust.  I like getting my money’s worth with every purchase, so when there is a loyalty card to be had, you can guarantee that I’ve probably got it.  Most loyalty cards give you points, which over time will either equate to you being sent out a voucher or money off your next shop in store.  The ones that I use the most often, but not limited too, are Tesco Clubcard, Nectar and Boots, which all have great money saving or enhancing purposes.  Tesco send you out a voucher four times a year to the value of what you’ve earned during those months – and print you off money saving coupons at the till.  Nectar allows you to build and spend your points in denominations of £2.50, and if you download the Nectar app there are normally pretty good bonus points offers that will help you build up your points faster.  Boots give you four points per £1 right now, as well as sending you out vouchers every 3-4months and printing them off at the tills.  The app has fantastic offers all the time that you can load to your card to help you build your points faster all year round, sometimes I’ll get £3 of points for spending £3!  My favourite one right now though for doing all my Christmas shopping is the Superdrug card – as you get free delivery EVERYTIME you order online, regardless of what you buy and how often you use it. 

This year I used my Nectar points to pay for a birthday present in October, my Boots points to buy a Christmas present and my Superdrug points to get money off of a Christmas present.  So in my eyes, loyalty cards are SO worth your time, even if they do take up a little more room in your purse. 

So these are just a few tips that I swear buy for saving cash every month.  I plan on doing a miniseries on all of my tips and tricks – but in the mean time I hope that this gives you an idea on how to make some small but effective changes to your spending.

Let me know your tips and tricks below!

Until the next one,