Saving money

gaeilgegrinds1

Trying to save, baby on the way. Can you give any tips on how to save money? Thanks

DrumSteve

dont buy stuff.:D

Paulw

Don't turn on the lights until it's really dark. Turn off lights when they're not needed.

Don't turn on the heating as much, wear extra clothes instead.

Buy 2nd hand clothes.

You could get hundreds of tips/tricks.

lgc2010

i find that the best way to save is to stay away from shops.and an extra earner,do a clearout of anything you don't use anymore,take it to your local car boot and sell it,it's a good day out where you come home with extra money instead of coming home after spending stupidly,be tough on yourself when clearing out,don't keep a top that you may have in the drawer the last 2 years and you think you might wear it someday,you could sell it for €5/€10 or more,and anything will sell!!i did this last year and got €570 in one weekend,and a tan!!

looksee

Cook meals from first principles, ie meat/fish/spuds/veg/pasta etc rather than buying takeaways or ready meals.
Don't buy food at lunchtime, take sandwiches or a box of salad/rice/whatever.
Decide what you need then grocery shop with a list, so you don't end up throwing away stuff that is gone off.
Don't buy takeaway coffee/bottles of water/cans etc.
Give up smoking
Look at how much your social life/going out is costing (you won't be doing much of that after the baby is born anyway )
Be very careful about what you decide you need for the baby. You do not need a crib, the baby can go into a cot with a padded 'bumper'. Only buy first stage baby-grows, you will be given lots of things, then see what you need to buy. The baby only needs to be warm and fed for the first few months at least, anything else that you buy is really for yourselves.

gaeilgegrinds1

Thank you so much for all the tips. We have cut back a lot on heating. I sold lots of dresses on ebay which have paid for the cot and some other bits from Mothercare. I'm good at bringing lunches too which I think is one of the biggest things. I use pigsback too and irishopinions.ie. Great for vouchers! Thanks so much, keep them coming!

ch750536

Claim for a tax rebate, you never know.
Make sure you are getting all the benefits you are due.
Move house or mortgage to get a better deal while times are bad.
Join freecycle.
Switch energy supplier to Airtricity.
Change phone supplier to anyone but eircom.
Get freesat rather than Sky

Bluetonic

If you sound advice on how to save money your really going to have to detail your income and outgoings.

Cabaal

Instead of paying 25e for three wheelie bins
- I use a food digesture for my food waste
- Sort all the recycle stuff myself and bring it to the depot myself
- Only have one bag of actual rubbish every 6 weeks or so.

Overall it costs me about 17e every two months and its not much extra work
Over the space of a year its a massive saving

Thing for my food takes meat, fish, veg etc and doesn't take up my room in my garden

Cost abit to install but I broke even after 12 months of not paying bin charges so all in all it was worth it

Other then that, switch from ESB I've done this and its def worth it, choose a cost affective mobile/landline/broadband supplier suitable for your needs.

Don't order takeout, watch what your buying...half the time you don';t have to buy named goods to get the same taste, goodness etc

tomcollins97

The best way to figure this out is to keep a diary of all your spends for a fortnight or more. You will be surprised how the little things add up - newspapers, coffee etc

Food - cook large dinners that leftovers can be frozen, most economical way to cook.

As earlier poster said, without having an idea of income and outgoings it is difficult to offer tips.

One thing though that is usefull is to go onto the ESB website and use their calculator to work out how much different appliance cost. For example, it is a cheap to switch on the dishwasher as to boil a kettle. For this use the own brand bottles of powder rather than tablets.

An all night electric blanket costs about 11 cents a night - cheaper than having lots of heating on. Closing curtains early in the evening keeps heat in - even better if the curtains are lined, Draft excluders also make heat stay in rooms. Gas fires are a waste, better to heat the whole house rather than just one room.

Immersion heaters in water tanks eat electricity - better to install an instant elcetric shower alongside power showers and only use power showers as a trat at the weekend, this will be even more relevant when water charges become a reality

chris85

as tomcollins97 said have a look at your current expenditure and see what can be reduced. Switch telephone/internet provider, switch elec/gas provider, shop around for groceries and so forth.

Also look at your income. Can you be getting more from your wages if you are working. This can be done by means of claiming tax credits for various things such as paying rent, bin charges, etc...

waffleman

cut turf

if you buy coal most coal wholesalers have offers in coal / slack combos - this is where your friendly local coalman / centra will buy theirs anyhow

cut out the middle man - buy it in bulk and keep it in a shed with your turf - much cheaper

burn everything you can't recycle for free - some will say this is illegal but so what - just be discreet - not our fault the government / councils p!ssed all our money away when it should have been preparing for the future and now tries to charge us for this service.

gaeilgegrinds1

Agree with everything said bar burning everything, fumes hardly worth it in truth. Wouldn't risk that. But everything else will be done over the next few days!

johndaman66

Money can be saved in many ways really.

I find from talking to some people that their mobile phone bills are just massive and I couldn't justify them to myself. Things have got a hell of a lot more competitive in this regard lately. Look at the calls you are making anf figure out which networks you are ringing a lot. For me for example many of my friends are vodafone. I top up by 20 Euro and get free calls and texts to vodafone network for the next 30 days. I think its generally cheaper to ring to same network as one your on so try to figure out which and go to that provider. If the Jury is out Tesco mobile are an option as I believe they have preety competitive rates across the board (not that I'm a major fan of Tesco in general).

If you drive shop around for car insurance as the potential savings to be made are huge in my experience. Shop around for the most competitve quotes in car repairs and maintenance. If you drive a big gas guzzling car consider downsizing to something smaller and more frugal.

Also shop around for any jobs that need to be done around the house such as plumbing/ electrics/ decorating etc. It would appear that the ball is now in the customers court and there has being a turnaround since the silly days in this regard. There iappears to be an abundance of these sort of workmen advertising in the classidieds of my local newspaper. If you rent ask landlord for a rent reduction. Worst case scenario she/he will say no and she/he may well say yes! Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

If you eat out a lot try to cook yourself more often and you will save a small fortune. Shop around to get more bang for your buck. Many supermarkets have special offers and "buy one get one free" for example. Dunnes would have different offers to Tesco at any one time for example so visit both stores and don't do all your shopping in one out of laziness (as many are inclined to). You might be surprised how much further your money goes.

Also Farmers markets are much better value in fresh fruit and veg than the supermarkets and generally of a better quality for that matter also so visit them if there are any nearby you.

Shop around for better interest rates on savings accounts if you have one. Remain proactive as another financial institution may introduce a new more competitive option down the line

The above is far from exhaustive, money can be saved in many ways and conversly so wasted in many ways

gaeilgegrinds1

Where would ye best recommend I see about getting a better quote on my mortgage? I have it as a tracker with AIB.

gigawatt

i find that planning meals in advance and sticking to a shopping list saves me a lot. I'm a fussy eater so I,ve tried lots of different supermarket own brands, some things are great some things aren't. i generally find aldi teabags the nicest(robert roberts make them) and aldi tinned beans and peas are better than most own brands. their spuds are the cheapest but actually the best of any ive tried.

gaeilgegrinds1

I defo agree on the writing shopping lists. We eat really well and I spend less on food than most of my single friends do on one. I grow quite a bit of our veg too and we have a big freezer which I use to freeze meat we buy in bulk directly from the farmer/butcher depending on who is slaughtering at the time. I just wonder what others do as I find it all intruiging.

waffleman

gaeilgegrinds1 wrote: »

Where would ye best recommend I see about getting a better quote on my mortgage? I have it as a tracker with AIB.

Judging by whats going on with TSB at the minute (hiking their variable mortgage rates willy nilly and theres talk of the other banks doing the same) a tracker at anything under ECB + 1.5% looks good for the next year at least in my opinion. I would stick with your tracker.

waffleman

gaeilgegrinds1 wrote: »

Agree with everything said bar burning everything, fumes hardly worth it in truth. Wouldn't risk that. But everything else will be done over the next few days!

I suppose it depends where you live. i burn everything at the far end of my garden in a barrel so fumes arent really an issue. i do live in the sticks though

ch750536

waffleman wrote: »

Judging by whats going on with TSB at the minute (hiking their variable mortgage rates willy nilly and theres talk of the other banks doing the same) a tracker at anything under ECB + 1.5% looks good for the next year at least in my opinion. I would stick with your tracker.

Depends on LTV, my interest rates dropped substantially as I went from 92% to 58% in the space of 4 years.

waffleman

ch750536 wrote: »

Depends on LTV, my interest rates dropped substantially as I went from 92% to 58% in the space of 4 years.

That is impressive - how did you do that?? I'm guessing your mortgage term is pretty short or you paid off a lump sum...

In cases like mine: I'm 2 years into a 20 year mortgage and I plan to pay over the full term. Also on my mortgage I can switch from tracker to variable any time but once I do I will not have the option to go back to tracker. So I think sticking with my tracker (in the short term anyway) would save money.

ch750536

In most cases sticking with your tracker is best as you cant get them now. As for me my house was €137k in 2004, mortgage of €124ish. Just swapped mortgage, house valued at €190, mortgage of €135 (extra for improvements to be spent on the house taken into account), so the LTV dropped substantially.

Example

waffleman

AH! you had some positive equity - lucky you! I do not have this option in the current market. But my monthly mortgage payment is 1/6 of take home pay and i have no other loans so hopefully I'll be fine even if interest rates do climb.

Still I will be doing everything possible to save the pennies. Here are some eco tips i saw today: http://www.youandyourmoney.ie/content.asp?ContentId=1057. The tadpole gizmo looks interesting.

the_syco

Something that you may not realize youself doing, but something you must think of: are you trying not to look poor?

A lot of people who don't have much money tend to buy "expensive" labels, and go to "good" supermarkets, so as to not look "cheap". People who are not poor tend not to give a sh|t, and shop in Aldi and Lidl to save money. In this day and age, no-one gives a damn. This goes double for clothes, etc.

This is not aimed at you per se, but something I've noticed. It's a bit mad when you think about it, but it makes sense in a weird way.

gaeilgegrinds1

I completely get your point there! I know a family where neither ever worked and my God they'd never been seen dead in Aldi! I often buy there, every 2 weeks or so. I wear Penneys, they don't!

JDxtra

Borrow many of the things you need for the baby. Surely some family or friends have been through this and no longer need things like a moses basket, cot, steriliser, baby monitor, buggy, clothing, toys etc...

rameire

change suppliers for all your general household bills.

gas
electricity
telephone
broadband
health insurance
house insurance
car insurance
refuse costs

i would suggest the link www.ndas.ie
it is a conflict of interest, the company is run by a family member.
(mod delete if necessary )

go online and look for freebies or second hands.
i too am due a little bundle this year, and i am searching out deals.
jumbletown.ie
dublinwaste.ie
eumom.ie
adverts.ie

if you have a dog, dont be buying the tins of food, they are bad for them, buy the dry food. even the cheap stuff is good. mine realy likes the sainsbury own dog food, thats the only main thing i buy in the north.

make sure you fill out the med 1 form from the revenue.ie
to claim healt expenses for 2009 and previous years if not done so already.
request a p21 from the revenue for the last 5 years, any overpaid taxes will be repaid.
make sure you are claiming for the refuse tax credit from the revenue.

Pablod

+1 to what Paulw said on turning the lights off where possible and dont have the heating on all the time, alternate it if you have a timer.

Also one area I copped onto a few months ago.
Might be common sense - but its worth mentioning
Unplug everything that you are not using (especially overnight and if your out and about)
All the little red lights-units on standby etc, noticed a reasonable difference on the electric bill by unplugging everything

Edit: forgot to mention energy saving light bulbs (worth it in the long run)

rameire

re-use tea bags by drying them on the washing line.
you could try this 3 times per bag.

waffleman

rameire wrote: »

re-use tea bags by drying them on the washing line.
you could try this 3 times per bag.

HAHA

I know of a guy who free wheels to work to save petrol (its about a mile) because he lives on higher ground at the other side of town.

OP I too am expecting a baby (2 days over due now!) I have been given the following tips:

- don't bother with 4 oz bottles (waste of money as they grow out of them really quick) buy 8 oz bottles
- I hear good deals are available for the Graco Travel System buggy - could save you money as it has a car seat which detaches from the buggy (luckily we got 1 from a family member)

rameire

http://www.axaplus.ie/carseat_index.htm

15% off a carseat from Halfords