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,

Early Bird Subscription Box

After cancelling my graze boxes last year after I found them to become a little repetitive and a tad expensive for the contents, I was keen to try out a new snack subscription that was relatively healthy and wasn’t going to cost me an arm and a leg.  I came across Early Bird after their adverts had been popping up on my Facebook for a few weeks.  I thought that the subscription was very similar to Graze to begin with, but after further investigation I discovered that the snacks were completely different and each box came with a unique tea bag!  I do like a tea, and I’m trying to be better with my snacking, so I signed up for a box to try out.  What I really like is that from the get go, they let you know that there is no commitment.  Early Bird had an offer on when I subscribed, which made the first box half price for £2.48 – and you can pause or cancel your boxes at any time before your next one is sent out, fab!   I’ve paused mine for now as I wanted to try it out before I made the commitment, but I have a feeling my next box may be in the post sooner than I had anticipated…

Flat Pack Brownie

I’m a sucker for a brownie, so this one caught my eyes first!  It’s made from three ingredients: pecans, dates and chocolate buttons – all foods which I very much enjoy!  The best part about this snack was that when you eat all three together, it really does taste just like a chocolate brownie, and a good one at that!  The dates were super soft and caramel like, and the pecans were chopped up nice a fine so that they didn’t over power the taste or texture.  The mylk chocolate was daily free, but still super creamy and delicious, I could easily eat them on their own!  I’m definitely rating this snack, and I seriously wish that I could order a box full of them!

Raspberry Coconut Jelly

I’m mad about coconuts, but not a great raspberry lover – so I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to feel about this one when I opened up the pack.  I’m happy to report that it was really delicious and actually pretty filling.  Made up from raspberry fruit drops, coconut chips and raspberry coconut chips, the three work together incredibly to make a delicious crunchy-fruity treat.  The fruit drops tasted just like little sweets, I think I could quite happily eat them on their  own in bulk if I’m honest!  The raspberry coconut chips were to die for too – not too fruity, but enough flavour to make them stand out and to make me wish I had a bag of them alone to munch on!  My fingers are crossed that I will be getting this one in my box sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, after I received my Earlybird box, I went to visit a nutritionist and had an allergy test done (I will share more later, when I know what I’m doing… haha) – anyway it turns out that I need to cut gluten and dairy out of my diet for at least six weeks.  So despite how delicious it looks, and how much I was looking forward to trying it out – I was unable to try the Cacao Chia Pud!  My mum is however very excited by this, and I’m sure she will fill me in on how it good it is when she gives it a go!

My final snack was a punnet of ABC Nuts, which consisted of cashews, almonds and brazil nuts.  I’m not a great nut lover, unless they’ve been seasoned by my mother (chilli or salt and vinegar are my faves), but these will not go to waste, as now my diet is so limited that I need to make the most of the foods I can enjoy.  In the future, I will remove the nuts from my preference list, as I would much prefer to receive a more unique snack sent to me in my boxes!

And as for the tea - mint is my thang!  I'm saving this beauty for when I'm in need of some freshening up.  I find that peppermint tea is really good for when I'm feeling bloated or crappy - so I can't wait to try this one out.

Overall, I am really impressed with the great selection of snacks that Earlybird have to offer.  I’m really happy to find that they offer dairy and gluten free snacks – and I look forward to trying out some more over the next couple of months!

If you fancy trying out the Early Bird snack box, you can get your first box half price by using my friend code:

laure-7409

Until the next one,