Ways That I Save Money, Part 1

One of my favourite days out of every single month is the 28^th, payday glorious payday.  Not to sound superficial or anything, but I like it when my hard earned pennies gets put into my bank account, so that I can figure out what I can afford to spend and what I can treat myself to.  I’ve got a few rules that I abide to every month in regards to my spending, and a few techniques that I use to ensure that I get the best possible deals on my purchases.  I hope you find these as useful as I do!

My Supermarket App

I discovered this app way back in January during exam time.  Some people binge watch TV series when they’re not revising, I binged watched extreme couponing.  A little odd for a 21 year old to be spending their spare time, yes, but I did learn a lot about saving cash during my crazy obsession, which has helped me a lot this year to be able to treat myself and keep extra pennies in the bank too.  My Supermarket compares prices of all of your groceries in all major supermarkets – helping you get the best deal for your money.  I like to use this any time I’m buying anything a little pricier than normal, for example dog food, spot on, shampoo and conditioner etc.  It breaks it down to where is cheapest, who has offers on etc, so when you do need to go out and buy, you know where to go to get the best deal for you.  I love it!

Loyalty Cards and Apps

I am one of those annoying people who has a loyalty card for every single shop that I go to, much to Martins disgust.  I like getting my money’s worth with every purchase, so when there is a loyalty card to be had, you can guarantee that I’ve probably got it.  Most loyalty cards give you points, which over time will either equate to you being sent out a voucher or money off your next shop in store.  The ones that I use the most often, but not limited too, are Tesco Clubcard, Nectar and Boots, which all have great money saving or enhancing purposes.  Tesco send you out a voucher four times a year to the value of what you’ve earned during those months – and print you off money saving coupons at the till.  Nectar allows you to build and spend your points in denominations of £2.50, and if you download the Nectar app there are normally pretty good bonus points offers that will help you build up your points faster.  Boots give you four points per £1 right now, as well as sending you out vouchers every 3-4months and printing them off at the tills.  The app has fantastic offers all the time that you can load to your card to help you build your points faster all year round, sometimes I’ll get £3 of points for spending £3!  My favourite one right now though for doing all my Christmas shopping is the Superdrug card – as you get free delivery EVERYTIME you order online, regardless of what you buy and how often you use it. 

This year I used my Nectar points to pay for a birthday present in October, my Boots points to buy a Christmas present and my Superdrug points to get money off of a Christmas present.  So in my eyes, loyalty cards are SO worth your time, even if they do take up a little more room in your purse. 

So these are just a few tips that I swear buy for saving cash every month.  I plan on doing a miniseries on all of my tips and tricks – but in the mean time I hope that this gives you an idea on how to make some small but effective changes to your spending.

Let me know your tips and tricks below!

Until the next one,