Money Saving Tips
By Community Friend

With a credit crunch hitting the country and further a-field Community Friend bring you some ideas to help you reduce your bills and save yourself some money. None of the below hints and tips require much in the way of an initial outlay. There are other ways to reduce your bills but at extra cost. Have a look at our Environment and Money Saving Tips under Features to get more information.

Gas and Electric

• Turn off all lights when not in the room
• Turn off all appliances - do not leave them on stand by
• Don't leave batteries and phones on charge over night just charge for the recommended time
• Replace your lights with energy saving bulbs
• Turn down your heating by 1°
• Place reflectors behind your radiators to bounce heat back into your room
• Put on a jumper before turning the heating up
• Close doors to rooms not in use to keep heat within those that are being used
• Hang washing out to dry instead of on radiators or in a tumble dryer
• Turn down your washing machine from 40° wash to 30° was when possible
• Use a steamer to cook with as this will use only one ring on your hob instead of multiple rings for each pan
• Make sure your freezer is full. Keeping it full is more efficient for it than having gaps. If you don't have it filled with food place in bottles of water or ice bags that will fill in the gaps

Water

• Put a bottle of water in your toilet system to reduce the amount of water needed during a flush
• Have showers instead of baths
• Put only as much water in the kettle as you need for the drinks you are making
• Use a bucket of water to wash the car instead of a hose or jet wash
• Don't over fill pans when cooking. Use only as much as you need - better still use a steamer
• If you can collect rain water and use this to water your garden with

Motoring

• Check your tyre pressure to ensure that it is correct for the right driving that you are doing thus reducing friction
• Check your tyre tread. Loss of tread is not only dangerous but it can also increase friction making you burn more fuel for each journey
• Remove unwanted items from your car. A lighter car is a more efficient one
• If you are just driving around town and cities keep less than ½ a tank of petrol in your car this again reduces the dead weight that you are carrying around when driving
• Car share. Share journeys to work or shopping. Helping to reduce cost of driving as well as reduction in parking charges
• Turn the air conditioning off and put up the windows. Both increase drag on the car making you burn more fuel for each mile you drive
• Reduce your speed. Lowering your speed will lower the fuel you burn hence saving money between fill ups
• Plan your journey. Knowing how best to get to your destination can cut down on fuel bills
• Leave you car at home. For short journeys walk or use a bicycle instead.

Shopping

• Buy in bulk. The more you buy the cheaper an individual item within that bulk purchase can be. Buy the larger packets of toilet roll, toothpaste, tins of beans etc. Look at the prices and work out how much a saving it can be. Plus buying in bulk saves returning to the supermarket more often
• Look for offers - buy one get one free works really well for products that have no sell buy date.
• Buy fresh veg locally - super markets may be cheaper but for freshness and easy of getting to your local farm shop or green grocer may be easier and you may be surprised by their prices.
• Use your own bags. A fair few supermarkets now charge extra for having bags so take your own with you. You'll also be saving the environment.
• Don't be a snob! The same food and food of equal quality can be found in lower priced supermarkets and town stores as well as the larger name ones. You don't have to buy ready made mashed potato it is easy to do yourself and a lot cheaper!
• Same goes for clothes shopping. Big brand names may be what the kids want but does anyone really pay any attention to what label you have on your clothes?
• Re-cycle your clothes. End of the day for your t-shirt? Turn it into a duster or a cloth to polish the car with

General

• Make your meals go further - do you have enough at the end of the dinner to do something with the leftovers? Get them used up and made into another dinner or snack
• Grow your own. For a small outlay you can be growing your own produce. Even if it is just some tomatoes, herbs and mushrooms in grow bags you'll get a good crop fro a reduced cost and have the satisfaction of growing it yourself
• Don't be wasteful. Use items more than once or right up until it is no longer fit for purpose. Don't just replace things because they are looking tired. Replace them when they are no longer able to carry out the job required
• Vouchers - have a look in the local and national papers as well as any magazine you get regularly and cut out and keep the vouchers. Use them if possible
• Buy your own milk. Sorry to any milk men out there but getting milk delivered to your door can be up to as much as 10p a pint more than getting it yourself
• Collect your own newspapers - same as the milk no delivery charge
• Use e-mail and free minutes on mobile phone contracts instead of letters and home telephone call charges
• Borrow books, CD's and DVD's from the library
• Check with the local tourist board to see what free activities are happening in the area and get out with the family for a free day out. If there is nothing going on visit a museum. Most museums are free