A Guide to… Saving Money

BEING thrifty isn’t always as easy as it sounds. It requires dedication, determination, and most of all, imagination.

A recent Channel 4 documentary hunting for Britain’s Tightest Person took things to levels beyond silly. The show’s best saver, Leuan Butler, used teabags three times before throwing them out.

There are degrees of purse-string-tightening I wouldn’t go to. A recent Channel 4 documentary hunting for Britain’s Tightest Person took things to levels beyond silly. The show’s best saver, Leuan Butler, used teabags three times before throwing them out. For Butler, saving money is clearly an obsession, an underlying determination to spend as little as possible in life whilst staying alive. That, for me, is not what being thrifty is about. It’s about little changes that can make a big difference.

Ask any money saving ‘expert’ and it’s always the same advice. Stop drinking and smoking, sell your car and cycle to work. Then if pedalling through a hailstorm on a cold winter evening with not even the joy of a hot toddy as light at the end of the tunnel doesn’t make you miserable enough, then turn your heating off in December to save energy and lovely cash.

But saving money doesn’t have to be like that. There are plenty of simple, creative things you can do to save money without having to live in the dark ages. I’ve come up with a few tips to help you pinch pennies without sucking all the enjoyment out of life.

1. Get rid of your landline.

How many people do you know who haven’t got a mobile phone? My Granddad is 79 and rings me from his Nokia 3210 before he does his landline. It’s just not necessary. Ringing a mobile used to be greeted with the same horror as ringing to collect those holidays to the Caribbean I regularly win on magazine scratch cards, but that’s just not the case anymore. Get rid of the landline and use those free minutes. You will not miss it.

2. Get cultural.

You’d be amazed at what you can do for free. Manchester for example is full of interesting cultural exhibitions that cost absolutely nothing. Next time you’ve got a Saturday afternoon to fill, ditch the pub and pricey cinema ticket prices and take your other half to the Imperial War Museum North, Manchester Art Gallery, or The People’s History Museum. Not only will they think you are all cultured and interesting, but you will have saved a small fortune.

3. Throw a party.

Not a common money saving tip, but bear with me on this one. Nobody ever turns up to a party empty handed (and if they do, you probably shouldn’t have invited them). Providing you keep start up costs to minimum, you can more than recoup your outlay in leftover booze and snacks. Nobody ever takes home those extra bottles of beer they’ve brought at the end of the night (and if they do, you probably shouldn’t have invited them).

4. Visit Freecycle.

If this website is already on your radar, I’ll forgive you for skipping to the next tip. If it isn’t, ask yourself why not? Freecycle groups match people who have things they want to get rid of with people who can use them. Which means if you need a sofa and somebody else doesn’t, you can meet on freecycle and everyone’s a winner. Sometimes it’s only breezeblocks being offered, but other times you can get furniture, technology or musical instruments, for absolutely nothing. www.uk.freecycle.org

5. Become an audience member.

If you want to watch BBC games shows on TV, it’s going to set you back £145.50 a year. Instead, watch it live, as its filmed, for nothing. Believe it or not, demand is not that high for TV audiences (unless the show has a smug, arrogant, future sighted host who can cast any guest into a stereotypical category within seconds of ‘meeting them’ called Jeremy) and it’s not that much different from the final product. I gave A Question of Sport a go last year, and despite a brief pause to allow Amir Khan a hint from the production team on the boxing question he was lost with, I hardly noticed I wasn’t sat at home. You can apply for shows at the following websites:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours

http://www.beonscreen.com/uk/free-audience-tickets/index.asp

http://www.applausestore.com/home.php

Try these tips and see how much you save. Disagree? Share your own money saving tips below…