Hi everyone. Anyone who knows me knows that I really like to get a bargain. I get a real buzz out of it and I’ve always been of the opinion that I’d rather spend a bit less so that I can work a bit less! I thought I’d share a few money saving tips with you, in case you find these useful too. Yesterday I wore a blouse that I first wore to work in 1993 (yikes!). It’s very thin, soft cotton. Every year I think I ought to throw it out, but I still like it, it brings back good memories, it’s white so it goes with everything and is very cool in the heat. Reckon I really got my money’s worth out of that one, eh?
I appreciate that some of these are only useful if you live in the UK, but here goes…
1 I subscribe to www.moneysavingexpert.com so I get their weekly e-mail. This was started by Martin Lewis and is a really good place to find advice about changing your insurance, energy supply, finding restaurant deals and vouchers and all sorts of other fantastic money saving advice. Love it!
2 I have saved thousands of pounds over the years by using www.topcashback.co.uk. Every time you shop online, start by clicking through topcashback first and then shop as usual. You have to wait a little while to receive your rewards, but you earn a percentage fee of up to around 15% each time that you can exchange for cash in your bank account, or in my case I usually use this for air miles as the rate is pretty good. This has worked out really well for me in particular for hotels and holidays and Christmas gift shopping. You can get a free account but I have one with a small annual fee of £5. as you then get a cashback bonus of 5% as well as some other benefits. My total cashback received to date has been £2415.57. It has taken me many years to reach this amount, but who doesn’t like free money?!
3 In the pre-Covid days when we were allowed to go to the cinema, my friend Pat and I saved loads of money on our weekly cinema trips using Meerkats. We probably wouldn’t have gone every week without this. We started with Orange Wednesdays which was 2 4 1 on a Wednesday and then moved on to Meerkats. You buy any insurance policy from comparethemarket.com for as little as about £1.50 for something like one day’s travel insurance and then you can get 2 tickets for the price of 1 on a Tuesday or Wednesday each week for most films FOR A WHOLE YEAR! We got extra bargain points by taking our own end of day reduced price snacks from Marks and Spencer’s. And we usually sat in the road before entering the car park after 6.00 pm to get our free car parking after 6.00 pm. At Staines cinema the tickets are cheap anyway at £5.99 each so we could get in for £2.98 each plus dinner and drinks cost us around £5.00 for two, sometimes less. We ladies know how to live!!
4 Healthcare can be expensive, even in the UK where we have the NHS as you may not be able to wait for NHS treatment or it may not be cost effective for you to wait especially if you are self employed. Prevention is better than cure so you need to look after yourself physically and mentally. Get to know yourself and what works or doesn’t for your particular body. Listen to the niggles when they first start and try not to push yourself to the point of injury or mental collapse. This will be really cost effective in the long run. (Except of course for the fact that you may live longer and then need more savings for retirement ha ha!). Looking after your feet by wearing proper fitting shoes and visiting the podiatrist when needed is a really good habit. Learn to relax. Meditate. Experiment and find your thing. Dentists are expensive too, so brush your teeth, use dental floss, do what you’re told. Otherwise it will cost you £££££££££s you could have spent on something much more enjoyable.
Right, that’s enough of my nagging, I mean, advice, for one day. Off to get the baked beans on to go with the fish cakes now for another al fresco meal. Husband has it all under control apparently, so I’ll sit back and enjoy the pretty pictures of the day coming up. Have a good week everybody xx 😎😷
The Windsor Waffle 