We’d all love to squirrel away more in savings to build up a pot for a rainy day. Sometimes it’s easy to spot the places you can cut back to save a few pennies here and there, other times it’s not. When you’re already stretching your money as far as you think it can go; it can be difficult to imagine how you might be able to get even more out of it. But sometimes, stretching your imagination and thinking outside the box is all you need. Would you try any of these unusual ways to save money?
Line the backs of your radiators with foil
Heat travels from somewhere warm to somewhere cold. It’s science, and it’s why athletes are given foil blankets at the end of a race. That means that as well as heating your rooms, some of the heat generated by your radiators seeps out of your home through the walls. By putting something reflective, like foil, on the walls behind your radiators, more heat is bounced back into your rooms. This results in a warmer room, and cheaper energy bills – it’s win-win! It’s not even necessary to buy a specialist, heavy duty foil – regular aluminium foil will do the same job. However, this trick is the most effective when used on radiators underneath windows, or that are on external walls, as heat that escapes outside truly is wasted.
Cut back on makeup and grooming products
From shampoos and conditioners to styling products and makeup, the average Brit reportedly spends nearly £100 a month on hair, beauty and other grooming kit – that’s about £1000 a year! Giving it all up might seem both impossible and undesirable, but an au natural lifestyle doesn’t have to mean a bare face and untamed everything else. Why not swap at least some of your normal products for natural, homemade versions to save a bit of money? Melted beeswax, shea butter and jojoba oil mixed together and left to set makes an effective hair styling wax, and we’ve all seen Pinterest tutorials for homemade body scrubs and face masks that you could pay a small fortune for in the shops.
If you take to it, why not extend your natural living ethos to the rest of your house? Baking soda and vinegar is a popular and much praised combination for getting rid of limescale, but it makes a great all-purpose cleaner, as well. Lemons have many uses around the house, too!
Read more: How to make an at-home DIY spa on a budget
Say bye bye to bath time
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Now hold on, we’re not suggesting you quit washing as a way to save money, unusual though that would be.
Each tub of water you run for a bath is estimated to cost about 60p, when you account for heating the water, too. For a family of four all bathing once a day, that’s £2.40 a day, or £876 a year being spent just to keep clean! Many of us hop in the tub as a chance to relax until our skin goes pruney and the water feels cold. But, if you reserve long soaks for a treat, and switch your daily wash to a shower, you can cut your water and heating costs in half. Or, you can share the tub…
Read more: Sharing a toothbrush – is it savvy saving or risky business?
Re-use your bath water
If you just can’t go without an occasional soak in the tub, then once you’re done, don’t take the plug out and let all that water go down the drain! Any heat left in the water will heat the room for a while, so you won’t need to use the radiator in your bathroom as much. Once it’s cold, decant your bath water into a watering can and use it to water your outdoor plants, grass and trees – they won’t mind a bit of soap.
Only buy reduced items in the supermarket
It’s well known that at a certain time of day, supermarkets start to mark items about to date expire with reduced stickers to help them save on waste. What time your local supermarket starts to mark items as reduced depends on them. Most do a round mid-morning, and another in the evening with even bigger discounts. Buying reduced items doesn’t even mean you have to eat them the same day. Many fresh items that get marked down for short expiry dates are suitable for freezing, so you can stock up for the week and defrost what you want each day. You may even find you end up with more adventurous food than you’d normally go for, or even indulge in high end brands because the savings are so good.
Make friends with your neighbours
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Of unusual ways to save money, this is a less obvious one. After all, some areas have a great sense of community and being friendly with your neighbours is a given. Everyone knows everyone, and nobody hesitates to ask for a helping hand if they need it. Other areas, though, not so much. Particularly in urban communities, it’s far less common to be friends with your neighbours – or even on speaking terms! By getting to know the people who live on your street or in your building, not only will you make new friends, you could also save yourself some money!
Why buy a lawnmower to mow your tiny patch of grass when Joan next door has one? Need some odd jobs doing? Negotiate mates’ rates or a freebie with DIY fiend Mike from down the road! Of course, if you’re going to take from your neighbours, you have to be prepared to give back. Return a favour by lending your own equipment or offering your time to help a neighbour out babysitting or walking their dog when they’re out.
What unusual lengths do you go to to save money?
