30 Ways to Save £1.

No idea if I am too late to get the £30 from Moneysupermarket.com
but thought I would have a go at this, anyway :-)

This is what the Moneysupermaket.com website has to say

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the £1 coin, we're asking the UK's most talented and creative bloggers - that's you, by the way - to give us as many money saving tips as they can. We want 1,000, to be precise!

We realise that asking each of you to give us 1,000 ways is perhaps demanding a little too much, so we'd like to reach to the magic figure by getting up to 30 ways from each blogger.

To thank you for your hard work and inspiration we'll be giving away £1 for each money-saving tip (up to £30).

So here are my 30 tips to save at least £1 - in no particular order.

1. Make compost if you can - it is free soil improver!
2. Grow at least some of your own food - even without a garden you can grow a lot of food in pots outside and if you don't have an outside to grow in, you can grow herbs and salad leaves in pots on a windowsill.
3. If you don't have a garden why not see if you can use someone else's?Or sign up for an allotment, or a scheme like Landshare?
4.  Swap any glut of fruit/veg with other people for things you don't grow, or other items or services.
5. Make wine, cider, flavoured spirits at home to save on alcohol purchases - they are lovely to give as gifts as well.
   
   
6. Make jams, chutneys and store away- great as gifts and will save you money rather than buying shop ones.
7. Make a meal plan.
8. Make a shopping list based on the meal plan and what you already have left in the cupboard.
9. Keep your fridge and freezer at the correct temperature, more efficient and avoids food spoilage. Keep the coils at the back free from dirt - helps with efficiency.
10. Keep your freezer full - use bread or bags of ice cubes to fill any empty gaps - you will always use it sometime!
11.  Cook only what you need to eat, unless you are deliberately cooking extras.
12. Batch cook double ( or more!) quantities of casseroles, stews and freeze half for a quick meal from the freezer.
13. Use a slow cooker - tasty, frugal as you can cook cheaper cuts of meat, and saves energy.
14. Save leftovers and make another meal from them - or take them next day as lunch.
15. If you have a meat joint, make stock with the bones after you have used all the meat and freeze in clean containers. Then you will always have stock ready to hand.
     
16. Use up any "tired" veggies in home made soup - add a handful of lentils and it will be even more filling.
17. Bake tray bakes, cakes and biscuits and cut up and open freeze - better and tastier than shop bought!
18. Take a packed meal if you go out to save buying food .Or at least some snacks (which you have baked - see above!)
19. Take a bottle of tap water with you to save buying expensive bottled water.
20. Save money on Gym membership and get outside, digging the garden, going for a walk.
21. Walk or cycle rather than drive, if you can. If you take a bus to work or college, get off a stop or more and walk - save money and get fitter.
22. Get a railcard if you use the train or get a season ticket if you use the bus.
23. Car share with colleagues, join a local scheme run by your work or council. If there isn't one, why not start one?
24. Always have some change with you for car park, bus fare etc - so you won't have to make an unnecessary purchase just to get some change.
25. If you need regular prescription medication buy a season ticket.
26. Make your own soaps, balms, face oils and creams from raw materials cheaper and you know what you are feeding your skin!
27. Learn to sew, and mend your clothes as soon as you see something in need of repair.
28. Learn to change a car wheel, change a plug, unblock a drain etc, so you can make simple household repairs and not have to pay someone else.
    
    
29. See if there is a local LETS or other barter system locally and join it.
30. Use your local library to borrow books, games, cd's, dvd's rather than buying them.
31. Try charity shops first if you need something as it is often cheaper. Or could you borrow it from someone you know? .

 I could go on, and on and on...but I will stop, now :-)