Photo by Matt Hawken
Do you want to save money on essential products and services?
This section briefly outlines how you can save money on products and services. We strongly recommend you to visit www.moneysavingexpert.com and sign up to their free money-saving email. For expert and unbiased product reviews to help you make the right purchasing choice, visit http://www.which.co.uk.
Use comparison and cashback websites
Whether you want to save money on, for example, car insurance, utility bills or your mobile phone contract, use the top two comparison sites www.moneysupermarket.com and www.gocompare.com to compare prices from retailers. Check also www.confused.com and www.comparethemarket.com
Once you’ve found the cheapest quote on one of the comparison websites, visit one of the top cashback websites to find out if the retailer can offer you cashback on that product or service.
Set up a free account with one of the top cashback sites such as www.topcashback.co.uk, www.quidco.com, or www.cashbackkings.com, log-in and then click on the retailer and product or service you are interested in. The cashback website then takes you to the retailer’s website where you make the payment. Before you make the payment, check the price is the same or a similar amount to the original price you found through the comparison website. The payment is then tracked and you will be paid cash via the cashback website. However, please note that cashback sites can only pay you if they get the money from the retailer. Also ensure you test the tracking on the cashback website.
Supermarket shopping
Plan your meals for the week if you have time and write a shopping list based on a budget. This may help you avoid making impulse purchases.
When you’re at the supermarket, buy items from the top and bottom shelves; high value items are always placed at eye level.
Try some of the own brand or Value products and see if you notice any difference. If you are a bit nervous about purchasing own brand products, take a look at http://www.supermarketownbrandguide.co.uk for product reviews.
You may want to consider visiting your supermarket at a specific time of the day when prices of products near their sell-by-dates are reduced. You can ask one of the staff at your store to identify the best time to visit. At most supermarkets, the largest reductions usually start at 7pm.
Alternatively, we highly recommend the supermarket comparison site www.mysupermarket.co.uk, which allows you to compare prices of products at each supermarket at a glance. You can select which supermarket you usually shop at (Tesco, Asda, Sainbury’s or Ocado) and mysupermarket.co.uk will make you aware of cheaper products by showing you a £ icon. If www.mysupermarket.co.uk shows there are more savings in one of the other supermarkets on this website, you can switch supermarket by clicking on the supermarket tabs. Before you start ordering, you must check that the supermarket can deliver in your area and how much they charge for delivery. The benefit of food shopping online is you can calculate how much you’re spending as you add each item to your cart and ensure you keep within your budget!
You may wish to consider downshifting your supermarket. We highly recommend ALDI for staple goods and they have a great selection of fruit and vegetables that are often half the price of other supermarkets. ALDI, like most supermarkets, will stack from the bottom or back of the shelf, so reach to the back or bottom of the shelves to find the longest 'use by' and 'best by' dates.
To find the best promotions on groceries, have a look at http://www.fixtureferrets.co.uk/.
If you have some a couple of items in your cupboard and fridge but don’t know what to cook, you may be able to get some ideas by typing in the ingredients on http://www.cookingbynumbers.com/.
