Tips For Saving Money

[lovingmumof 2now]

Hi everyone,

I am desperately wanting to save money.

I do a few things to save the odd dollar here and there. But, am hoping I could get some tips from fellow mums on how you all save money.

I will start off with saying that I save money by buying cheap (but good) nappies from Aldi. As well as cooking all my own baby food and not buying bottle or jarred stuff.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[cheezelkat]

Cloth is your friend.

You could save $5 a week or so by using old flanellette or old face washers as baby wipes!

[InSaneOne]

yes we all like to save money. we don't get any takeaways and i buy most homebrand or coles brand foods. we shop weekly only because we don't have a big freezer - but you can save money by shopping fortnightly and buying meat in bulk from a butcher.

definately use cloth nappies. i use mainly the terry flats when we are at home, and i have recently brought some pocket and aio nappys for going out. i still use a sposie (woolies homebrand) at night though. we use maybe 20-30 disposable nappies a fortnight depending on the weather.

don't buy things like lollies, chocolate, chips, soft drinks, cordials, or magazines.

it is hard at first to go without but it does get easier.

[newmum2one]

Here's a few ways that DH and I have saved a bit of money lately:
1. Cot sheets can be made by cutting on single sheet in half then sewing the raw edge down. You can often pick up single sheets quite cheaply.
2. Use layby instead of credit. You only pay the layby fee (between $1-$2) instead of 18% interest!
3. If buying multiple items, ask for a discount! Don't be shy!
4. We buy a lot of things in bulk, and put it in a drawer or cupboard. This is particularly handy if DH has a bit of overtime and we can afford to buy a few boxes of tissues or a few packets of something, which comes in handy the weeks we're a little short. Also when things are on special. We always try to have a "spare" pack of tissue paper, paper towel, toothpaste, toilet paper, cling wrap/al foil, washing detergent etc.
5. Shop around. We found that it is cheaper to buy tissues in packs of 4 boxes at Big W then it is to walk across the plaza and buy 4 x single packs of tissues. We can also pick up 10 cakes of Lux soap for around $3 at Big W.
6. Take a calculator when you're shopping, and work out what is the best value. Quite often the stores will say such and such is on special 3 for $5 but if you work it out it may be cheaper to buy 4 of a different brand at the regular price!
7. As for groceries, all I can say is if you have room, buy meat in bulk, but only buy the fruit and vegies that you need, even if it is a good price. I find that sometimes the fruit and vegies go bad really quickly, and it's more of a waste of money than a bargain to buy a big bag of something.
8. Why not set up with a friend to do a "toy/book swap" for the kids. Saves money from buying a new toy/book and the toys don't sit in the back of the cupboard.
9. Think about when your bills are due. My DH had both the car rego and car insurance due at Christmas last year! So we paid 6 mths car rego and the car insurance, so that from then on these two major bills come 6 months apart. It's easier to manage and we don't have to put either on the credit card as we can save for a few months for a $500 bill rather than $1000.
I know these are all really basic things and some people already do some/all of these things, but sometimes to have them written down helps others.
If I think of anymore, I will post them.

[MumOfTwoBoys]

We also sometimes buy fruit and vegetables in bulk and share with our close friends or my parents who both live close. E.g. a box of good quality Pink Lady apples 12kg for $15 means $1.25 a kilo. And so it goes...

I aslo carefully study the supermarkets' catalogues every Sunday and make a list of things that are on special in every store. It requires visiting several stores though but fortunatelly we have all of them located close to each other so it works for us.

I buy pasta, ricotta, feta, filo pastry, olives and alike only from my local italian deli. All of these items are much cheeper there than in the supermarket.

Other tips include running only full loads of the dishwasher, turn off the lights when no one needs them, homemade meals and work lunches, bulk buys and fruit and vegies only from the local market. Things like nappies, toilet tissues, fruit juice, paper towels, and meat we only buy when on special. All in bulk, of course, so it lasts and I don't run out of them. I also buy olive oil in 3-4L cans (on special) and have one 750L glass empty bottle which I keep near the stove to which I pour the oil as needed from the big can.

I personally did not find cloth nappies to be any cheaper. Contstant washing involved huge water and electricity bills plus a truckload of NapiSan. Ok, may be they are cheeper but not much if you sum up everything involved with the cloth nappies and compare against discounted disposable ones. Again, that's my very personal view.

Also from recently, given the soaring petrol prices, we tend to cooperate with friends and my parents when we go to Aldi (it's not close to us). Whenever any of us goes there we call each other and make a list for everyone. So each of us ends up driving there ~once a month. The same applies for the trips to other distant places, when relevant.

Another thing is our mortgage which has an offset account. Without going into much detail for those who don't know I can simply say that it works the following way: all our salaries come to this offset account which is linked to our mortgage. The more money is on this account at any given time, the less mortgage we have for that time and thus pay less interest. So what we tend to do is we pay all our bills and in all stores with a credit card (wait a second, don't throw tomatoes at me just yet). That means our salary stays on our offset account and covers our mortgage for longer and we save on the interest. Then we pay our credit card bill on a due date which means no credit card interest. However, to do all that you must be really well disciplined (sp?) and control your spendings. We manage OK.

For those who really cannot live without a credit card and can't pay on a due date try to at least switch to a cheaper card. There are couple of cards on the market with 9.99% interest. Almost like a personal loan. Still not nice, but better than 18%.

[florel]

buy kids clothes when on special or get them second hand. You can pick up good second hand stuff especially when they are young and grow out if the fast

[vanillabean]

I buy things like washing detergent, dishwashing powder, toilet paper etc. in bulk at Big W once a month when DH gets paid. It saves heaps in the weekly shop.

[*Sparkles*]

We have tried to set up our baby's nursery as cheaply as possible as things are tight right now.
I have found eBay to be our lifesaver. Some of the bigger items we bought secondhand (from eBay) and they are in excellent condition. I also saved a fortune on maternity clothes by buying some secondhand clothes from eBay.
This weekend, we went to target as they had 20% off most baby items. So we have stocked up on nappies, wipes and some baby clothes.
We also bought the pram and car seat from target a few months ago and saved $100 off each.

I also pay attention to the weekly supermarket specials and buy in bulk.
There's also little things around the house like saving power by switching off TV's and appliances rather than using standby. Turning off lights and using energy saving light globes. If your house has heating, drop it by 1 or 2 degrees and put warmer clothes on. I also bought a water saving showerhead that I can switch off, so when I am lathering my hair or shaving my legs, the water is not running down the drain.

I have found alot of the other ladies suggestions very useful too :thumbsup:

[lizzymcfizzy]

I recently signed up to this website, haven't paid to get into the "vault" I'm not sure if it would be worth it, but their weekly email have helpful hints.

http://www.simplesavings.com.au/

Also, have you seen the ads for understanding money? I'm about to check out the website

http://www.understandingmoney.gov.au/content/default.asp

[Cheekychops]

Yes - buying kids clothes at the end of the season when they are really reduced has saved me heaps of money - you need to guestimate with it as to what size you think they will be the following winter - but I haven't wasted anything yet.....the other day I bought $155 worth of kids clothes for $45 - once again though - don't just buy it cause it's on special and don't buy too much.....think carefully about what you think they will need and buy only that.

[cupcakemafia]

a good website is www.cheapskates.com.au