30 ways to save £1

Instead of doing a normal post today I thought I would do something a bit different and share with you my money top saving tips. The lovely people over at moneysupermarket are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the £1 coin by asking bloggers to share their top thirty money saving tips. Who doesn't love finding a good bargain or saving money in one area and being able to splash out a bit more on something you've wanted for ages? I'm currently saving up to have some spending money for New York and have put myself on a budget so I thought I'd share with you what I'm doing to save. So here goes my top 30 money saving tips!

1. if you want to buy a beauty product then do your research first. I'd say probably 99.9% of products available on the highstreet have countless reviews on them on blogs so give it a quick google first and see if people like it or not before wasting your hard earned money

2. if there's shops you go to a lot check if they have a loyalty card scheme such as the boots advantage card where you basically collect 4% of what you spend back in points- hello freebies!

3. if you can, book in advance- things like train and cinema tickets are much cheaper in advance! You can now get 10% off cineworld if you book online- yay

4. if you're in the habit of buying a chocolate bar/bag of crisps on your lunch break at work buy a multipack and keep them in your locker/staff room etc and it will work out much cheaper than buying one each day. You can often find a multipack of 6 bags of crisps on offer for £1 and a normal bag is around 60p now- I'll let you do the maths

5. fallen in love with the new 'must have' blush but it costs like £25? Chances are there's a dupe out there somewhere for it that will cost a fraction of the price! temptalia.com is a great website to find high end makeup/nail polish dupes!

6. if you can walk or cycle instead of driving. It's not always ideal because of the weather (welcome to england...) but the savings really add up and can save you a fortune

7. do you have some old clothes lurking at the back of your wardrobe? A simple google search e.g. 'red skater skirt outfit' should bring up lots of outfit ideas to give you inspiration and you could find a whole new outfit from things you already had in your wardrobe!

8. download voucher apps such as vouchercloud to get the best deals. I never shop online now before checking to see if there's a discount I could get on my order- quite a few websites now do free delivery so look out for those sort of codes!

9. always check eBay for whatever it is you're looking for (I wouldn't recommend buying makeup from there though as it can be dodgy...) as there's so many previously loved items such as clothes that you can often get buy 99p- bargain!

10. there's often a free DIY for something that you want to buy. For example check out my free brush holder post which look adorable on your dressing table

11. set up a pot and put all your loose change in. I have one which I collect 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and 20p coins and when I've counted it up previously I've had over £50 in there!

12. if you're going to the cinema go on a wednesday where most of them do two for one deals and so you can get a free ticket!

13. sign up for the money supermarket free weekly newsletter where they send you the best deals from that week. There's often beauty freebies and discounts on there too- the other week there were free YSL samples!

14. get discount cards such as the taste card for 2for1 meals in popular restaurants. If you go out for dinner a lot then it's definitely something worth signing up for!

15. enter competitions on blogs, twitter and facebook- there's always exciting things to win and who doesn't love getting something for free?! Check out Victoria's blog to see what she's won through competitions- she's won over £10,000 worth of stuff which is crazy!

16. have a look in charity shops. They're great for one off pieces that nobody else has- yes topshop is pretty but yes everyone else in your town will probably own the same blouse as you... (and hands up who else thinks topshop is overpriced?)

17. if you're online shopping check out the sale section on the website. I bought these shoes on monday in both the black and the white for £5 each and they arrived today- absolute bargain if you ask me!

18. if you have a student discount card then use it! ASOS often do a 25% student discount (free postage too) and you can get yourself a great deal! The discount may only be small each time but it really adds up

19. if you're arty then try making homemade DIY gifts for your friends and family, they are often more fun and thoughtful than a generic shop bought present and are guaranteed to bring a smile to someone's fave!

20. if you're after discounted makeup then cheapsmells.com and fragrancedirect.com have amazing offers (hello £2 essie nail polish!!) and it's all genuine too, yay!

21. if you're shopping for high end beauty products e.g. a foundation then the makeup artist will often be happy to give you a small sample in a pot to try out at home first before you spend £30+ on a new foundation to get it home to find it's actually hideous on your skin and there's nothing you can do about it

22. if you're going on holiday take advantage of the duty free cosmetics at the airport, you're guaranteed to get a bargain as lots of the stuff is really discounted especially if you're making a larger purchase such as perfume which can be very pricy

23. if you're buying something expensive if you ask the sales assistant or manager nicely then they may be able to throw in a freebie. For example say you were buying an expensive pair of shoes they may be able to throw in a protector spray which will also mean your shoes last longer- saving money in the long run. They're not guaranteed to say yes but the worst they can say is no so it's worth a try asking them

24. save up the small samples which you often get in magazines and use them on holiday instead of buying the overpriced mini bottles they sell in boots. They're really easy to travel with too as they don't weigh much

25. take care of the things you already own so you don't have to pay lots to replace items you already had. e.g. instead of taking off your earrings at night and leaving them on the side and allowing them to roll away never to be seen again put them in a little pot each evening so you always know where they are and are easy to find again the next morning

26. if you think a product such as a moisturiser is empty always cut the tube in half and you will often find around a quarter of the product left

27. paint your nails yourself instead of getting them done at the salon. I have plenty of DIY tutorials on my blog so have a browse and learn how to easily do nail art yourself for free instead of paying £30 each time to get someone else to do them for you

28. look for DIY beauty treatments online before buying an expensive product. There's literally hundreds of face mask/lip scrub/hair mask etc. tutorials which you probably have the ingredients for in your kitchen cupboards instead of splashing out on the new 'must have' product. They're all natural too so you don't have any nasty chemicals going on your skin

29. make your clothes more versatile and wear your summer clothes in winter too by putting a pair of tights on or a cardigan over the top. A summer dress can often be made to look like a cute skirt by putting a jumper over the top and it instantly looks like you have a new piece of clothing and you haven't spent a penny!

30. last but not least before you buy something think to yourself 'do I really need this...' often the answer will be no as you have something similar already and you'll save yourself a lot of money!

 

so there's my 30 top tips and ways to save yourself money- I hope you liked it and was somewhat helpful to you! Please leave your tips in a comment! 

 

 

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