Having a savers account is particularly helpful, especially if you find it hard to keep money in your purse for a while. Saver’s accounts restrict your regular withdrawal habits but allow you to easily deposit money for it to accumulation over time. Money Supermarket is a good place to gain advice of which branch may be best for you- here.
Keep your eyes out for seasonal sales as they, in most cases, will have some of your things from your wishlists at a heavily reduced price. This could either be online, or in shops but DON’T forget to use any discount codes they may offer. HandM is great for available codes! ASOS and Feelunique contain so many different brands under one website so bare that in mind.
If you are a student, take full advantage of your student discount rights, you can save lots of £1’s!! Some retail shops don’t accept NUS cards but most do, like Topshop, Miss Selfridge’s etc. A good website that includes all of them is: UNIDAYS. Also, eating places like restaurants and cafes accept them offering discounts of 10% or more. There is also a Student Lock-in that takes place in shopping centres for students where you can save so much and collect freebies. Check it out here.
If you are very good with your hands, it is always great to customise your goods. This way, you can adapt to the trend or make your clothes/ accessorises more ‘you’! I love reading DIY posts so if you have any current ones, link me up!
If you are wanting to try items from abroad and find it difficult to get where you are, blog swaps are most convenient. You decide with another blogger who is interested to do a swap on a price. This way it is like buying a present for a friend but receiving something also in return. This way, you can save a lot of money as some products abroad work out cheaper than here in the UK. I love this fun interaction with blogger’s around the world, although postage can be a bit of a stinger. Here are the swaps I have done in the past:
MSM- Secret Santa Challenge
Secret Santa- Australian Beauty Swap
American Beauty Bugdet Swap
Making a mental note, or jotting down on paper that you want to have £__.__ by a certain date is needed sometimes. This way, it is a reminder to not over spend so you achieve that goal. A holiday maybe or IMATS London 2013!
Competitions or giveaways are free and worth a go. What do you have to loose. Many can be found on blogs, in magazines, on tv, on twitter etc. Who knows, you might be lucky!!
There is no other way to monitor your wishlist spending than to use Wantworthy.com. This website allows you gain full control over your wishlists and once you have bought the items, or changed your mind on something, you just click the ‘X’. When you sign up, you can save an icon “+WANT” in your navigation bar. Now every time you go to an online shop and want something, just click the “+WANT” and it is stored to your wishlist. This can be very useful if used correctly. If you wait until payday, or until the end of the month etc, it restricts your spending until you have enough to buy a particular item/items. My account is:
www.wantworthy.com/mintyessence
Send me your links when you make an account 🙂
Blog sales are a great way of getting rid of makeup/ skincare/ clothes that you simply don’t get much use out of or never touched. Other bloggers are bound to love what you have to offer them. This way, you earn some money via paypal but do remember postage and packaging price can be very scary, so work it out right. Being on the other end, look out for good offers when comparing things to retail price. Some sellers specify that they will take offers, so don’t be too timid to ask.
17. Advantage cards
These come in very useful when points are collected throughout the year. Every little helps, and the points equate to money. By Christmas time, you can treat yourself to whatever you like! These are some places that have advantage cards: Sainsbury’s, Superdrugs, Boots, Waterstones etc
18. o2 Priority moments
If you are on the o2 mobile network, then o2 priority moments offer deals everyday for different things like fashion shops, places to eat, beauty products… you name it. All you need to do, is redeem it by clicking on it and showing the code to the person at the till.
19. Duty Free
You can buy things in duty free with no added tax, so this makes perfumes, sunglasses etc a whole lot cheaper. I always take advantage of this when I go on holiday abroad 🙂
20. Read Reviews
Before buying a product, it is great to read reviews beforehand. It gives you an all round view if you come across the pros and cons about a product, so you can make your own mind up for yourself from what you have read and seen from photos. Simply type what you are interested in on google under the heading ‘blogger’. Easy!
21. Buyapowa
Buyapowa is a website where you encourage more people to come on board through social media and you can get discounted products that are brand new. It all works in your favour. Buyapowa
22. 3 for 2 deals- Need it?
Shops can really temp customers when they have ‘3 for 2’ or ‘buy 1 get 1 free’, deals. They sneakily just want you to spend more and feel that you need all on offer, when really you may not. Always think if you really want all on offer or just one.
We all have samples, travel sized sachets and bottles just waiting to be used. Try and use them up before buying more and more. Maybe you will then come to realise, after all is used up, which was your favorite and most likely to be repurchased.
24. Back-to-Mac
If you love MAC as much as I do, then you probably have collected lots from the brand already. Back-to-Mac is a scheme where you can return 6 empty bottles or containers and get a free lipstick of your choice in return. Danniella has a great review and tip for doing back-to-Mac here.
25. Blog Advertising
A good way to gain a little cash, is to advertise blogs for a small fee on your blog. This can be done in packages from advertising a small banner to advertising them on social networks. If you don’t feel this is for you, you can also decide to advertise for a friend, whilst they advertise for you, this way you do each other a favour without paying out. Save some £1’s this way!
26. Do it yourself- Nails
If you are not fortunate to have long well groomed nails, it can be quite expensive maintaining them at a salon. Why not buy false nails and apply them yourself. You can find them in any local shops, but I particularly love the Claire’s Accessories or Kiss nails from Boots. Also, I have a UV gel nail set which is a great investment especially if you love getting your nails done. I got mine here.
27. Railcard 16-25
Having a railcard can save you up to 1/3 on all fares. This is very handy for when you travel to meet ups, shopping, events or your day to day travels. This reminds me, I need to buy a new one!
28. Hire your outfit
There are actually places and websites where you can hire outfits. I found the website ‘Girl Meets Dress‘ that hires out designer closes for a certain period of time. I guess this is great if you have a special occasion that you want to go to and can’t afford the full price of a garment, but I prefer to actually own everything I wear. However, this way you can be saving hundreds.
29. Accessorise to modify a look
You can always modify a look by adding different accessories to an outfit, like jewelry and bags etc. I personally don’t wear much/ any jewelry but I rely on watches to do the trick for me. This can really enhance a plain look and you don’t always have to find a new top, or bottoms for an occasion.
30. Use your Talents
There is no other way than to save money using your own strengths and talents. You may be good at making customised phone cases, sewing clothes, creating blog designs, so use this knowledge to earn a little cash on Etsy.
If you would like to take part in sharing you saving tips, check out the Money Supermarket website for further details.
