Consumer rights expert Scott Dixon has revealed how it is possible to make savings of more than £3,500 to help ease the cost-of-living crisis.
Mr Dixon, who runs The Complaints Resolver blog, told the Mirror that frugal choices have helped him to save £3,722 in one year without him having to make sacrifices. He estimates that he saves £85 a year by showering early each morning and by putting his washing on a timer because his 'day and night' energy tariff with Bulb means he is charged cheaper rates at unsociable hours, while other ways he keeps more money in his pocket includes only heating one room, which saves him £683.
“Keeping my bills and outgoings to a minimum and still enjoying life on my terms with no sacrifices is easy to do when you put your mind to it,” said Mr Dixon. “While we can't control the price of energy, we can control how we use it.”
Here are 12 tips from Mr Dixon on how to save money:
1. Supermarket yellow stickers - £1,000 saved
Mr Dixon reckons he saves at least £1,000 each year by hunting out yellow sticker deals on items that have been discounted because they are nearing their use-by date.
"My last Aldi food shop came in at less than £8.40 for nearly £35 of groceries," he said. "All 75% off - marinated salmon fillets and all sorts - super healthy and easy to cook or freeze too."
2. Take a packed lunch to work - £720 saved
Buying takeaway coffees and supermarket sandwiches can quickly add up, so another money-saving decision is to take a packed lunch into work. Mr Dixon goes into the office three days a week, with a saving of roughly £5 a day made by taking in his own food.
"Taking a packed lunch and my own coffee, tea bags and snacks to work saves me £15 a week," he said. "This works out at £720 a year."
3. Only heat one room - £683 saved
Energy experts recommend only heating one room at a time to save cash. Mr Dixon reckons this saves him roughly £683 based on his current rates - and hopes to carry this saving into the winter. He said: "I would say that I use the heating for eight months tops. I save £20.09 a week by heating just one room."
4. Walk wherever possible - £520 saved
Mr Dixon says he walks "everywhere possible" to try and save money on bus fares. Walking to and from the office three days a week saves him £10.80 a week. This works out at £520 a year on bus fares.
5. No streaming services - £240 saved
More than 1.5 million people cancelled a streaming service in the first couple of months of 2022, according to market research firm Kantar. Mr Dixon says he saves £240 each year but not having any TV streaming service.
"I have never paid for a TV streaming subscription and gave up Sky many years ago," he said. "I just have an old Sky Freeview box."
6. Get free food - £200 saved
Mr Dixon has the O2 Priority app on his phone and pays £8.74 a month for 10GB of web, unlimited calls and texts on a SIM-only contract. Through O2 Priority, he says he gets around £200 of free food each year.
"I get a free bacon roll worth £2 each Friday morning from Greggs and can get a free hot drink from Greggs worth about £2 each week too," he says. "That's £100 of bacon rolls over 50 weeks, and potentially £100 of free hot drinks."
7. Dry clothes outside - £117 saved
Tumble dryers are big energy guzzling appliances - so Mr Dixon avoids them altogether to save £117. USwitch estimates that a tumble dryer uses roughly 4.5kWh of energy per cycle. He said: "I dry my clothes outside on the washing line and indoors in the winter on an airer."
8. Wash clothes and shower at different times - £85 saved
Mr Dixon says putting his washing on a timer and showering early each morning saves him £85 a year. He has a has a day and night energy tariff with Bulb, where he pays 19.3170 p/kWh during the night for electricity. In daytime hours, he pays 29.1550 p/kWh.
9. Broadband and insurance - £51 saved
Mr Dixon saved £51 in just 15 minutes on his multi-home and car insurance policy - plus he froze his broadband with Sky at £25 a month for 18 months - by haggling. He said: "Be polite, play on the loyalty factor and say how happy you have been over the years and don't want to leave. Have a range of comparisons to hand to get the best deal!"
10. Holiday discounts - £40.50 saved
Always make the most of discount codes and cashback when booking a holiday, says Mr Dixon, who goes to Spain every Christmas.
"I have just booked a holiday with Jet2 to Benidorm for Christmas that came in at £778 for 11 nights, bed and breakfast including flights," he said. "I reduced this to £737.50 by finding a £30 voucher code online and booking it via TopCashBack- which gave me a £10.50 (1.4%) discount - that's a £40.50 saving."
11. Use a slow cooker - £38
The Mirror recently reported on the cheapest ways to cook - and Mr Dixon says he saves cash by using a slow cooker. He said: "A slow cooker used 40 times a year costs £8.40 a year compared to £46.80 for a conventional oven, saving me about £38 a year."
12. Use a halogen oven - £28
Mr Dixon says using a halogen oven saves him about £28 a year compared to a conventional oven.
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