Saving Money tips by making a shopping list, home phone bills, buying consumables, mobile phone and installing a water meter!

6 – Home Phone Bills / Internet

In the olden days, British Telecom had the monopoly on the home phone market. Today there are many phone companies including cable companies, even internet phones such as Skype etc can dramatically reduce a cost of a simple phone call. Try and include your internet/broadband and phone to make the most savings.

Some useful links:

7 – Make a Shopping List

I do this, it sounds stupid but it is really effective, I only purchase what we need (see item 1). Adding up all the things you buy that you have already have can save you money.

Own brands – Look at what you are paying for, Tesco own brand Baked Beans cost £0.18 a tin, while named brands could be as much as £0.54 a tin, and to tell you the truth I think Tesco own brand tastes better! Supermarkets sell allot of own brand goods and buying these can often save you allot of money.

Special offers – Be tempted, but only buy what you are going to use. If you use an item often buy allot of it to save money over the long run. i.e. I buy Head and Shoulders shampoo, and Lynx deodorant I always have, and I think I always will, they never let me down! Anyway if Lynx or Head and Shoulders is buy one get one free, I buy 10! Yes 10, I have purchased the items I always use for half price saving me at least 50% of my money. If I purchase the last special item off the shelf, I also complain to customer services, Tesco give a rainy-day voucher allowing me to purchase the item at a later date (when the offer has ended) at the special offer price.

Tesco give you 1 point for every £1 you spend, allowing you to get valuable points which equate to money (1 point = £0.01). The trick is only purchase the things you need and use. We also purchase petrol at Tesco, so every three months we get about £20 back, for nothing! You can increase you points even more by using a Tesco credit card, so you get points wherever and whenever you use credit card (Note: you only save money if pay off your balance each month). With Tesco offers you can exchange your points for up to three times their value on special offers, so your £20 can get up to £60 a hotel room or a ferry journey etc..

Sainsbury’s give you Necter points. I do not really know too much about Necter points, but I believe it works similar to Tesco.

Don’t just use big supermarkets, the greengrocer, butcher or even local markets etc often has better prices and better quality, with Tesco’s credit card you can even get points here and get better prices and produce.

Some useful links:

8 – Buying consumables / electrical items

Look on the internet, check out the shops write down what you want need and then purchase it on the internet. Although you may have to wait for the item you can save allot of money.

This works on items such as vacuum bags, ink cartridges, most electrical items etc. Before you spend your money in the high street take a look on the internet, you can even purchase meet directly from the farmer.

Some useful links:

9 – Mobile / Pay as you go

I fell in to this trap, wanting a new up to date mobile phone will all the latest features, I opted for a contract phone. On pay as you go, I used to spend £20 every three months. I now spend £30 every month loosing £70+ over the three month period. My foolishness has cost me a staggering £280 a year!

Take note how you use your mobile phone, if I had placed £30 credit on my pay as you go phone, for just three months, I would not have need to put and credit on the phone for over a year, without having to be tied in to a contract!

Look around for pay as you go deals, do not just look at Orange, Vodaphone or O2. Shops like Tesco also have pretty good deals!

Some useful links:

10 – Installing a water meter

We take water for granted, we run taps, flush toilets etc and just expect the water to be their. In winter water in abundant, but mid summer water could be short and at a premium. Water companies adjust their prices to suit the availability of the water they are supplying.

Without a water meter your water supply company takes a rough guess at what you are using, this could be a benefit to you, if you have four people living in a one bedroom flat

If you have a large four bedroom house with one person living their, you will be paying more than you need to. Installing a water meter will save you money and could easily half you water bill!

Take a look at uswitch.com, who has a water calculator. It should give you a good idea if you are spending more than you need.

Some useful links: