Money Saving Ideas
Here are a few money saving ideas that may be useful. Please, if you have any tips then contact BFP so that they can be added to the site.
New: Have you run out of rusks for your baby? Is he/she teething and desperate to chew on something? Toast some bread, cut out a rusk-sized piece (even add a little honey for taste), your baby will love it. Mine does!
1) Buy fresh produce from local markets if you have the time. At the time of writing, cherries, for example, are approximately £1 cheaper from the market than from Asda, for the same weight. If you go at the end of the day, they will be literally paying you to take the fruit and veg off their hands. It is possible to get a whole bag of soup veg for 50p. Pureed up with a bit of love and affection, thats not bad for countless baby meals!
2) If you use disposable nappies then Aldi Mamia nappies are extremely decent both on the price and function fronts. They cost about £5.19 for 56.
3) Try to use plastic bibs. They are great for use at home and can be cleaned with a quick wipe. Using a minimum of three cloth bibs a day for seven days results in an extra two machine washes per week. Also, try to remember to use 'half load' functions and 'quick wash' functions where appropriate. Most detergents these days wash really well at 30 degrees too. A great deal of money, energy and water are wasted every day through the way we do our laundry.
4) Have a bath with or immediately after your baby. Its lovely for both of you and will save the energy and water of another bath.
5) Pay close attention to what can be bought in discount stores such as poundland and pound stretcher. Currently,
Organix cereals and fruit purees and some Plum foods are all one pound in poundland. This is a saving of at least one pound per item. If you use them, then buy in bulk (check dates as they may not have as long left to go as if you
purchase from another store).
6) Start buying Christmas presents now. You can buy one a week, spreading out cost and getting bargains. You will have time to buy really thoughtful gifts and will not be in a mad panic on 23rd December, only to go and get ripped off
making last minute purchases.
7) Buy the yellow label stuff at the supermarket, especially if it will freeze. Its easy to get carried away buying lots of cheaper items which may end up being wasted so ask yourself if all the items that you buy will be eaten within the next 24 hours. Regarding Quiches, meats etc - Freeze them!
8) Buy own brands. Lots of own brands are very good indeed except for some. Some own brand washing up liquid etc is
false economy as you need three bottles to wash up one pan. Consider it, though. Own brand biscuits, fruit, kitchen roll, tinned tomatoes etc are fine. Watch out for things like eggs. They may be cheaper in some instances but beware of battery hens etc.
9) Use supermarkets like Lidl and Aldi. You may not be able to get everything you need there but its worth a trip every
couple of weeks for tea, instant and fresh coffee, olive oil, tins, cereal etc. Often, these products are of very high quality. Many of the brands will be very expensive indeed in other countries. For example, Uncle Bens products are widely sold in
Lidl in France and Germany and are much cheaper than they are here. Aldi has a great deli meats range with some nice things like Frikadellen and Bratwurst which make a change to omelette and salad!
10) Take your own lunch +/- a flask of coffee to work. A baguette, piece of fruit and drink at lunch time cost approximately £3, hence £15 per week and hundreds over the year. Its really easy to spend lots this way.
11) Check your tyre pressures and empty your car of junk. Also, remove the roofrack if its not in use. With flat tyres and an empty roofrack, fuel consumption will be increased by 8%. Not to mention having to buy new tyres quicker as they will be susceptible to damage more quickly.
12) Visit www.approvedfood.co.uk. This company sells food that is near it's Best Before date but before it's Use By date. It mainly sells non-perishables in larger quantities, i.e multipacks of crisps, packs of 10 cereal bars etc. Five packs of Jammie Dodgers cost 99p versus £4.40 RRP. Ideal to do once a month for many essentials. Also ideal pre-party.
13) Lastly, if you have the guts and time, there is always Freeganism?!?! Not everybody's cup of chai but interesting! Described as Urban Foraging (people's legs poking out of bins under the cover of darkness to only to emerge victorious with a cabbage and two steaks - good on 'em). Obviously, this is more of a philosophy than simple bin raiding. Find out more on www.freegan.org.uk.
14) Child Care. Child Care vouchers may be offered by your workplace and by your nursery. If this is the case, apply for them NOW! This is a salary sacrifice system, whereby you will receive your tax back from your salary and this will pay for child care. For example, for one parent, an amount of approx £240/pcm maximum may be counted. Of this amount, you will get, for example 23% back towards child care. Two parents are able to do this. Obviously, if you pay higher tax rates, you will get a higher percentage back.