Most of my writing to date on this blog has centred around the many strategies, techniques and pitfalls I endure with regards to my savings and investments. However a less discussed but equally important part of the Money Tree is ensuring a tight lid is kept on costs.
There are a million and one ways to cuts back costs and reduce your monthly expenditure. Below I’ve shared some of the practical ways that I keep our monthly outgoings low that I think should be applicable to most people.
Get a Big Money Jar
I suspect the first time most of us heard about the concept of saving was when we were given our first piggy banks as small children. When I grew up I decided to make my piggy bank grow with me.
These days I rarely spend cash. If it’s in my wallet, I tend to spend it so I avoid visiting the cash machine where ever possible. By avoiding holding cash I naturally cut down my ‘casual spending’ on things like coffee, snacks etc. Where possible all expenditure is done on our British Airways Amex card and is paid off in full each month. However when I do break into a note, I ensure that any spare change in my pocket at the end of the day gets fed into the Money Tree Fund fund in order to avoid these small unnecessary expenses.
The jar (a 5 litre Demijohn) gets fed every UK coin apart from £2 coins1. It usually takes just over a year to fill up. Last year when it was emptied it contributed £1,127 to the Money Tree. As with all savings this pot never gets raided in an emergency.
Cheap Motoring
According to the RAC in the UK it costs an average of £6,689 per year for us Brits to own and run a car here in the UK. For someone earning the national average wage of £26,500 this represents a whopping 31.8% of their take home pay (£20,975).
It is for this very reason that we still drive around in the little car my wife bought2 when she passed her driving test about 15 years ago. We tend to avoid long journeys in it, preferring to take the train or cycle instead. Likewise any short journeys are done by bike where possible. To date it still has only done around 43,000 miles in 15 years.
The radio gave up the ghost a long time ago. The heater is stuck on hot. A mouse broke in and nibbled half of the gear knob away. In the depths of winter you have to de-ice the INSIDE of the windscreen but you know what…it gets us to where we want to go and it’s cheap to run.
Nobody would want to steal it, so it’s insured third part only (not even fire or theft) and it’s not full of unnecessary electronics that break down every few months3 so is reasonably easy/cheap to repair or replace components. I’ve even learnt to do a basic service myself to avoid garage costs (see below).
A good set of tools
Over the years I’ve managed to acquire what now amounts to a decent set of tools. I tend to avoid buying large tool kits (my exception here is a decent set of sockets and spanners) as they usually contain too many tools you’ll never use and are sometimes filled with some items that are not the best quality. Instead I only buy tools as and when I need them, preferring to buy better quality brands that should last a lifetime. Buying second hand hand is usually a great way to get better quality tools for less money.
I consider myself to be physically dyslexic when it comes to mechanics and DIY. However with decent tools, youtube and lots of patience you can save a lot of $ on maintenance costs. For example despite my lack of mechanical skill, I’ve recently managed to:
- Replace my bicycles wheel bearings (cost £4.99 versus a quote of £55)
- Replace our boiler/heating pump (cost £39 versus expected cost of £140)
- Oil & filter change in car (£45 versus expected £110)
- Fix water softener (£0 versus expected £85)
- Replace rusted manhole cover and re-bed in a replacement
That’s £301 saved right there.
Of course if you’re a DIY ninja like Mr.MM then you can just build yourself a brand new super insulated, energy efficient house that will never break down and save a fortune in the long run!
Vegetarianism
Mrs Money Tree is a vegetarian, and quite a militant one at that. Meat in our kitchen is a firm no no. The only time I really get to eat meat at home is when we barbecue for friends. In the early part of our relationship I did struggle with the lack of meat at home having grown up in a very carnivorous family.
I’ve found that with vegetarian food you need to put a lot more thought into your dishes to come up with healthy and tasty food. If you’re not careful you end up eating pasta every day. Luckily for me, the superb cooking skills of Mrs Money Tree have compensated for the lack of meat and our food never lacks flavour or satisfaction.
As a result of eating meat much less often I am now far more concious about the origin and quality of meat I consume when I do. I often find myself shunning much of the work canteens meaty offerings when I doubt the quality of ingredients they use and avoiding cheap mass produced sandwiches.
The result of this enforced vegetarianism is that our weekly shopping bill is much less that it would be if we were both carnivores. Meat is expensive when compared to even organic beans and vegetables. I suspect most of the population would benefit (financially as well as physically) from eating a little less [red] meat.
Buy Local
We are very lucky in that we live in a rural area which has a large number of fruit and vegetable producers. Within about 2 miles of our house we have about 10 ‘farm shops’ that sell locally grown fruit and vegetables. When I say ‘farm shop’ I’m not talking about the type of places that charge £5 for an ‘artisan loaf’ but mainly roadside stalls, allotment stalls and semi commercial ventures that sell out of converted garden sheds.
These places sell locally grown vegetables & fruit at (usually) much cheaper prices than the big supermarkets (even after you factor in the the never ending 2for1 offers). Not only are they cheaper but you get to feel smug about supporting these local producers as well as eating seasonal produce.
As an example, this morning I picked up our vegetables for the week:
- 1/2 dozen eggs4
- 2 punnets of strawberries
- 2 bags of broad beans
- 1 bag of new potatoes
- 1 punnet of tomatoes
- 2 bunches of asparagus
This little lot was acquired for the princely sum of £8. Supplemented with some spinach and lettuce from the garden and some store cupboard items and we have pretty much a weeks worth dinners with a few lunches too. It wouldn’t be hard to double or treble this bill by adding a few choice cuts of meat or fish. There’s no doubt about it…..going Veggie is cheaper!
Throughout the spring/summer we also benefit from the abundance of fruit and vegetables that grow wild in hedgerows and woodlands nearby. Again within a short walk or cycle of our place we’ve discovered places to pick wild apples (cookers and eaters), wild plums, Victoria plums, horse radish 5, wild garlic, elderflower, walnuts, gooseberries, red currants and blackberries. It’s amazing how much free food is about when you start looking for it.
Don’t buy Local
I’m afraid we don’t live The Good Life entirely. For dry/tinned store cupboard goods and other household consumables we usually buy in bulk either from a local Asian supermarket or during our roughly bi annual trip to Costco. In both of these places you can make significant savings compared to supermarkets. However you do need to be careful because while some goods are much cheaper, it’s not the case for everything. Buyer beware.
Any vegetarians amongst you will know that in order to avoid eating nothing but pasta you need to befriend beans, pulses, grains, dals and spices. All of these items tend to be ludicrously expensive in supermarkets so it definitely pays to bulk buy from cheaper retailers.
Notes:
1the neck it too narrow for £2 coins
2foolishly purchased on credit before she joined me under the money tree
3not wanting to tempt fate
4yes I know eggs aren’t vegetables!
5alas never used for a nice piece of beef 🙁
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