Practical cost saving ideas

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Damo

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As someone who is concerned about the day-to-day escalation of costs I would like to get good practical ideas for saving costs. Is it possible through a number of do-able actions to cut your monthly outgoings by say 30%+

Your practical ideas are welcome - can emcompass any aspect of typical monthly outgoings.

Any ideas?
 
Have you checked the budgeting resources pinned at the top of this forum? There are also several existing budgeting threads that would be worth searching for and reading.
 
I would think you could reduce it a fair bit, but not sure of the percentages.
Get a wee notebook and write down every cent you spend for a month and I mean every cent be it for a newpaper, cup of coffee or something bigger.
I cut out things like buying newspapers as it was just a habit and I never got around to reading them - just used them for the puzzles so bought a book of those instead. Find the best deals for around the house with regard to TV - cable or satelite, phone provider etc. based on your needs. Some prices have gone way up like hairdressing. My local place put up prices by 22% last year so I found another and better place in a town about 10 miles away (I live in a village) - they were half the new price. The town has all the big stores so I incorpoate it into a half day trip there and get all my shopping done too.
When you are buying things ask yourself do you need it or do you just want it for the sake of buying something.
I use the extra money I save on these unwanted and unneccessary things on more holidays in the year and spa weekends away.
Good luck.
 
Hi Clubman,

Yes I have checked these threads. My query is not about debt, credit cards or budgeting methodology. What I'm looking for are solid ideas to significantly reduce outgoings per month.

Hopefully there are a number of good ideas out there.

Many thanks.
 
The threads I'me referring to may be about debt but they also contain some useful cost cutting tips (e.g. bring a packed lunch instead if buying expensive sambos and the like).
 
It all depends on your starting point: if you get taxis everywhere, have lunch in restaurants etc then your cost cutting will be different to the bus user who brings his sambos in with him. Noting down every cent you spend over a few weeks can be a real eye-opener.
 
I have a fairly basic mobile phone () which, like many phones these days, can be updated with additional Java (JME) applications. You can get many of these for free (I found this site to be a good source for free, shareware and commercial phone apps). There seem to be lots of money management/expense tracking apps that might help with tracking daily spending. I downloaded [broken link removed] and played with it and it looks nice and simple for doing this (I haven't actively used it to track spending though). The only add-on app that I do use regularly is SmartShopper! :)
 
"Get a wee notebook and write down every cent you spend for a month and I mean every cent be it for a newpaper, cup of coffee or something bigger"

A simple solution but an effective one. In my work with business expenditure the primary advice is to first of all identify all costs. Then classify costs into necessary and discretionary. With necessary costs you then establish if there are cheaper alternatives. With discretionary costs you decide can you do without them or also are there cheaper alternatives. Continue to monitor your expenditure for a time and also budget for various costs. There are a number of useful software tools available to assist in this process. Alternatively a well prepared Excel spreadsheet will do the job equally effeciently.
 
Check out http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/

Quite a few of the forums might be useful to you, for example "MoneySaving Old Style", "In my home (includes DIY) Moneysaving", etc. Unfortunately its a UK site so things like bargain alerts aren't usually applicable but lots of stuff is universal.

Bargain Alerts on boards.ie might also prove useful.
 
Damo said:
As someone who is concerned about the day-to-day escalation of costs I would like to get good practical ideas for saving costs. Is it possible through a number of do-able actions to cut your monthly outgoings by say 30%+

Your practical ideas are welcome - can emcompass any aspect of typical monthly outgoings.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

I think it's more a matter of an attitude of mind rather than a list of actions. Once you become aware of the need, ideas begin to flow and your lifestyle begins to adapt. So I find myself avoiding paid car-parks if I can conveniently park free within reasonable walking distance (10 mins or so). Wash your car yourself - 2 bucketfuls of water does the job for me. Take the Luas into town when you can, rather than driving. Buy a bike - a s/h one preferably, for knocking about on. Develop an economical driving-style. Look out for s/h book-stores if reading is your thing. Take up mountain-walking. Sign on to Freecycle. There's the well-known one about reducing the heating thermostat by 1 degree. Compost, re-cycle waste, avoid as best as possible buying packaged goods. Brew your own beer. Put PIRs on your outside lights instead of leaving them on permanently at night. Switch to energy-efficient bulbs. And so on and so forth.

The amazing thing about it is that you'll start feeling very good about yourself, maybe even a little smug! All the increased activity keeps you fit too, saving on expensive gyms. The downside is that you'll finish up with so much money that you won't sleep at night worrying about whether you are getting the best rate of return, so you'll find yourself coming back to this Forum to look for investment advice....
 
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