Here are a few tips I would like to share, just little things I've found extremely useful in saving a few pennies.
BABIES ON A BUDGET
People tell you that babies cost a fortune but so far I've not found this to be the case. With very minimal time, effort or skill I've managed to keep our outgoings about the same despite adding two children and a puppy to our family:-
Traditional Terry Nappies
They worked just fine for most of our Mums, Grandmas, Great-Grandmas etc, and this has certainly been my biggest saver. I purchased 24 square towels off Ebay for £40 when I was pregnant with my daughter. She used them for two and a half years and now my one year old son is using them too. I have purchased several outer-wraps, nappi nippas (no sharp pins required!) and rolls of disposable liners but I doubt the total cost has even reached £100 for two children!
There really isn't any difficulty in using them, I flush the dirty liner down the toilet and place the nappy in a dry lidded bucket. I usually do 2 wash loads a week and just rinse the bucket out with hot soapy water and a couple of splashes of tea tree oil. There are various fold options - have a look on YouTube - I used the kite fold with my daughter but prefer the bat fold for my son!
I've calculate this has saved me a whopping £2500 (if spending £10 a week on disposables x 2.5 years x 2 children).
Do babies really care?
When I had my little girl I was very fortunate to be given everything I could have possibly needed (and more) by family members. Yes everything was secondhand but it was all clean, in full working order and a lot of the clothes were even brand new with tags - and it was all free!
I have never bought any clothes, furniture, pushchairs or toys for either of my children and I can promise you this, neither of them know or care.
If you don't have any family / friend hand-me-downs available then just have a look on EBay, Gumtree, your local charity shop or even carboot sales and save thousands of pounds! Also worth looking if your local area has a Facebook swap or sale page. Unless you are someone who walks around with price tags still attached to your clothes, I doubt anyone will ever know the difference - but your bank account will :0)
Make your own baby food
1) Breastmilk is available "on tap" at the correct room temperature 24 hours a day and is FREE. Why spend £10-£20 extra a week on formula and a possible £100+ on bottles, teats, sterilisers, bottle warmers etc (it's not easy for everyone but there is so much support out there if needed).
2) From the very first spoonful of food there is no need to increase your shopping budget. Easy to make baby food can be done with products you probably already have in your kitchen. I will make a seperate page with recipes which have been tried, tested and taste approved by both my children. All you need is a good blender (I got a secondhand Magic Bullet which has been amazing), a few little pots or lidded ice-trays and some freezer space.
TOILETRIES
The value of oil
Tea tree oil has recently become part of my daily life.
If you suffer from an itchy, sensitive scalp and dandruff then there is no need to keep forking out for expensive shampoos. Using any shampoo, add a few drops of tea tree oil at each wash and you will be symptom free within one week! It has also cleared up my athletes foot by adding a few drops to a small spray bottle of water and applying twice a day. Additional uses are keeping nits at bay, clearing coldsores and limits mosquito bites. A small 10ml bottle only costs from £1.50 and will last ages.
One for just the ladies!
Menstrual cups are not for the faint hearted but on a saving point of view it's worth a look. It sounds worse than it is and is actually very easy to get used to. I bought one in a half price offer for just £8.95 and in just two months its paid for itself - one cup lasts up to 10 years so I've now saving for the next 9 years & 10 months!
HALVE YOUR MONTHLY BILLS
Get to know your supermarket
Anyone wanting to dramatically reduce their weekly shopping bill take note.
Every Sunday morning you will find me waiting for my local big supermarket to open in order to be the first to the reduced section! I have had some brilliant finds - fish cakes reduced from £2.50 to £0.25, full joints of meat reduced by 90% and huge quantities of veg just waiting to be cut up and made into a soup!
Yes, I admit there is a slight catch...the use by dates aren't great but if you can use them that day or have enough space in your freezer it's certainly worth doing.
Also get to know what time the bakery section closes. Between 7-8pm I have found loaves of bread reduced to 8p (got 6 of them in the freezer right now), cookies for 25p and pastries for pennies.
Make a shopping list and shop online
Ever got to the checkout and nearly had a heart attack at the price....if I do my big shop instore I usually end up spending about £80-£90 but using this method I can usually get it down to £60....a possible £1560 a year saving!
Get out some cookery books or do a few google searches for cheap family meals. I write down our weekly menu and then a separate shopping list for ingredients needed plus anything else I need for the week. Shopping online makes sticking to the list so much easier as you are not tempted to pick up the odd "offer".
I also find it so much easier online for comparing the prices by item / weight, for example in store I always used to pick up the pre-packed value bananas which are £1.15 for 8 bananas, but online I can clearly see that the loose bananas are only 12p each (96p for 8).
My biggest saving on a weekly basis due to the clearer pricing online has got to be milk (we use a lot of it). I always used to pick up the shops own milk at £1.29 for 4 pints thinking that it was probably the cheapest, but there is a different brand at just £1 for 4 pints - this is now saving me £90.48 a year based on the purchase of 6 x 4 pints a week.
Obviously there are delivery charges to think about but this can be as cheap as £3 or even less if you sign up to a delivery saver or perhaps have a little google search for a free delivery code?
Shopping online for my big shop every week has been an absolute godsend with 2 small children, it saves money and my sanity :0)
Change were you shop
If online shopping isn't for you then it's worth shopping around. Aldi and Lidl are amazing supermarkets and I've never had any issues with quality. Their fruit & veg is fresh and a lot cheaper then the larger stores. It can take a few visits to get used to the different products and packaging but can save you up to 20%.
If you have a local market, as I do every Thursday, it can be worth a trip down especially later on in the afternoon when the fruit & veg man starts selling to clear.
Also, don't forget your local independent shops. The puppy food I currently buy isn't available in the supermarkets so I was going to one of the larger pet stores were one pack of food was 99p. I am able to purchase online at a reduced cost of 88p a pack but only in boxes of 18 which I dont have anywhere to store. After a few weeks I decided to do a google search for pet supplies in my area and ended up finding a store within walking distance that sell the packs at 80p each! So a saving of £69.16 a year and no travelling costs!
Appearances can be deceptive
Do your kids eat with their eyes and refuse to eat a cheaper brand of cereal? Try keeping the expensive box but refill with a cheaper version.....see if they can tell the difference?
I also like refilling an expensive handsoap or washing up liquid bottle with a much cheaper brand, so no visitor can think I'm a pauper.
Forums
I'll admit not to be the best forum user / searcher in the world as I find them quite hard to navigate. I do however have a link on my desktop direct to the grabbit forum on the Martin Lewis (my idol!) website http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36
I have found so many great deals on there and it's certainly worth a daily browse.
Cashback websites
Quidco and Topcashback are the best things since sliced bread (even my 8p ones!)
There are huge savings to be had on everyday household purchases, mobile phones, insurances, holidays, everything and anything you buy. Don't forget to clear your cookies first to make sure everything tracks ok and also register all your debit / credit cards for any possible instore tracking.
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