How do you spend less?

B

Breeze

Guest
Hi, Just looking for any pearls of financial or common sense wisdom. Thanks to someones suggestion in one of the forums I've cancelled my rental of my phone from eircom and am switching to their options scheme. I think this should save me about €100 a year.
Just wondering if anyone has any other suggestions for taking small practical steps to keep the money in my pocket instead of theirs?
 
Re: How do you spent less?
 
Re: How do you spent less?

if you are living or renting with someone buy all teh household stuff and things like Pasta together

if you head out a lot go a bit later, have the first few drinks at home saves a lot?
 
Re: How do you spent less?

Shopping around for all your annual insurance policies will save you a lot of money every year.
 
Re: How do you spent less?

Doggedly pursue an agenda of heat and electricity efficiency in the household. Switch stuff off/unplug it as opposed to putting it on standby. Only boil the amount of water you really need. Turn the thermostat down 5 degrees or reduce the CH timer by 10/20 mins. Don't by a newspaper unless you read more than 60% of it's content. Watch less TV and listen to the radio more. Bring a packed lunch to work. Try a yellow-pack brand of item a week.

Communal baths/showers. Don't put carpet down - just buy enough for the soles of your shoes and tape it on. Push your car/double-decker bus/DART to work. Brew your own beer. Make your own bread. Build your own house.

Maybe I should listen to myself more. Or maybe I shouldn't ...
 
Re: How do you spent less?

From last nights classic episode, I'd say to dont listen to yourself more Fr. D
 
spending less

If you want to take this on as a competitive sport then have a gander at

[broken link removed]


'living below your means'



eDog
 
budgets

First step is probably to figure out what you're spending your money on to begin with. Can probably figure out the major items, but for the small items its worth keeping a diary. For 1-2 months carry round a small note book and write down *everything* you spend (even the papers and coffees add up). Saw this suggested elsewhere and it worked for me.

Next step is to budget your money each week or month, allow yourself a certain amount for entertainment etc. withdraw it in cash at the begining of the week, when its spent, you have to wait until next week...

Depends on how far you want to take it.
 
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after having a bath use the water to wash your clothes then use that water to wash the floors and finally use any left over water to put round garden for weed control it should kill off any thing at this stage
2 ) keep all used paper napkins for using in the bathroom ask the family and friends to save them for you
 
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This topic is turning into an episode of Viz's Top Tips now ... :\
 
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Top genuine tip, Pay yourself first.
Open a Credit Union account, and each month when you get paid, tranfer a few quid of savings into it, before you do anything else. Say, 5% or 10%.

This will leave you with a bit less towards the end of the month, but you'll adjust to that, and the Credit Union is a little less convenient for getting at the cash, so there's a psychological barrier to raiding it.

You'll be surprised how quickly the savings add up.

-Rd
 
Credit Union is a little less convenient for getting at the cash
Click to expand...

I have a CU account in my home town but live and work about 60 miles away, every month standing order from bank account into CU account on payday. very hard to get at without actually taking time off work, it does add up
 
cheers, interesting replies, keep them coming. I like the idea of "paying yourself first" heard the term before. Isn't from some self help book?, anyway I have a small SSIA which I intend to use as a nice treat, new golf clubs or the like in a few years, but will probably go on something else. I do try to analyse what I spend money on.
I do wonder how some people manage, buying lunches in pubs everyday, smoking, dninking etc.
Is it my imagination or is this county just living on credit and hoping for a lotto win or insurance scam?

Also did anyone see that bankrupcy programme last week on ITV with Trevor McDonald. Will the government be forced to introduce the same legislation here as well? I don't think it stressed the consequences of going bankrupt enough. My wife was saying sounds like a good idea until I explained the consequences.. oh well back to the penny pinching..
 
I found lidl very good, €100 did us( a couple) for two weeks with hardly any shiopping in between. Having said that I'm absolutely diabolical with money and is my partner, I think it's an emotional thing.
 
spend less

ok- with petrol-
look at www.irishfuelprices.com, find the cheapest petrol you can and go fill your tank. then try and make the petrol last as long as you can, as if it was the last tank of petrol in the world, see how many miles you can do on the one tank using your resettable counter, and when you run out, repeat this process but try and beat the number of miles you got out of the last tank of fuel. I am currently filling up every 2 months... it teaches you to be economical with fuel- there are numerous ways...
 
Works for me.

Next time you go in to the supermarket have a look at the "Display until" sticker on the fresh products. Usually on the day the unsold items are marked down considerably. Depending on the branch of the supermarket this can be in the morning or in the evening. Tesco has a 50% off sirloin steak offer at the moment so I have filled my freezer with choice pieces.
 
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"try and beat the number of miles you got out of the last tank of fuel"

I don't know much about cars, but how would you go about doing that?
 
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Avoid the use of the brakes & accelerator - coast from A to B.
 
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