A Manchester shopper has revealed her top money-saving tips as the country continues to struggle with rising costs – including how she managed to live off just £1 a day.
Kathryn Leech regularly shares thrifty advice on her TikTok channel @everylittlepenny, which has racked up almost 20k followers in just a few months. The 26-year-old posts all kinds of money-saving content from coupon tricks to current supermarket deals.
Kathryn, who lives in the city centre, recently set herself the challenge of living off £1 a day for seven days a week. With just seven pounds in her pocket, the digital media manager headed to Aldi and managed to buy enough food to last her the whole seven days – stocking up on items such as bread, tuna, kidney beans, pasta and sweetcorn.
By the end of her shop, Kathryn actually ended up being slightly below her budget, with the total bill coming to £6.82.
As part of the challenge, Kathryn created the same basic meals every day. For breakfast she would have toast, for lunch she had a wrap with kidney beans and peppers and for dinner she had pasta, tuna, sweetcorn and mayonnaise.
While she admits the food wasn’t healthy or particularly filling, she was able to get by with the meals.
“I tried to do that challenge to see how it would go and how difficult it would be,” she told the Manchester Evening News . “It wasn’t healthy and it wasn’t really filling. It’s not something you should do regularly and no one should have to budget like that.”
Kathryn also shared how to grab a few free items on your birthday every year – from food, drinks and even beauty products.
The simple hack is available to anyone that signs up for a company's email newsletter, but it's vital that you know where to look first. In Kathryn's video, which has now surpassed 82,000 views to date, she listed several places where you can benefit from receiving freebies on your birthday.
She explained: "If your birthday's coming up, you need to be taking advantage of all the free things you could be getting.
"Here you can get free food: Frankie & Benny's, Greggs, Barburrito, Krispy Kreme, Beefeater Grill, Pizza Express, and Costa."
She continued: "Here you can get free drinks: TGI Fridays, All Bar One, Miller & Carter, Boost, Starbucks, and Kaspa's.
"Here you can get free beauty products or discounts: Space NK, The Body Shop, Cult Beauty, Superdrug, House of Fraser, Feelunique, and Kiko Milano.
"And here you can get discounts off clothing: ASOS, New Look, Nike Store, H&M, and Swarovski."
Kathryn says other money-saving tips include never shop hungry and always make a list before heading to the supermarket. She says she always tries to use coupons where she can, as well as making the most of loyalty schemes.
When listing her top three life-changing money habits, she said: "Check your bank account every single day. It's a great way to see if there is anything unusual going on or a subscription you forgot to cancel.
"Keep a spending log so you can see if you are overspending on certain things. If you're saving for a car or holiday, keep a picture somewhere so you can keep focus on your goal.
Kathryn is regularly contacted by followers thanking her for sharing her tips and tricks online. “Being able to help people definitely feels good," she added. "I think it’s such a relevant thing at the moment; the cost of living is affecting everyone in different ways. Whether it be small ways from your food shop going up, to even rent.”
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