Credit Crunch: A Survivor’s Guide – Smaller Portions, Bigger Savings

Have you ever seen a Weight-Watchers microwave meal? Have you tipped it out and tried to spread it out on a plate? I’m not having a go at Weight-Watcher here (Please don’t sue me!), most supermarket ready meals actually have similar portion sizes. When I tip one out onto a plate I’m struck by the smallness of them. When I cook (ok, when my girlf cooks) I don’t want to see the plate for food. To me a decent portion size is when I struggle to squeeze in dessert, and I can always squeeze in dessert!

But the supermarkets (and Weight-Watchers) are doing you a favour! If you can get used to those three-quarter sized portions you can save yourself a nice lot of money. Don’t actually buy the ready-meals, as we said before the bigger the bag of frozen chips, or the larger the packet of chicken, the better value it is, in general. But if you can squeeze down your portion size just slightly (you don’t want to starve yourself, and you don’t want to be so hungry that you need snacks!), you can save pounds every day.

It’s not about will power, it’s about what you are used to. At the moment I’m used to three lots of dessert, but previously I was used to one. So I’ll work my way back to the good old days when I didn’t spend more than twenty pounds a month on snacks.

Having mentioned snacks I have to say, as delightful as they taste, snacks are bad for the pocket. They are not good value. Often you can get two packets of crisps or a couple of mars bars for the same price as a meal.

Eat meals (slightly smaller portions), and may be dessert (I couldn’t go without dessert, life just wouldn’t be worth living!). Continue to decrease your portion size until you hit a good level, three-quarters, two-thirds; you know how much food you need. Don’t try to go too far, we’re trimming here, not cutting.

Which leads me nicely to my next tip: cut your hair shorter. Again, just a trim, although for the boys a buzz-cut is a great look! I have one myself. Saves on shampoo and conditioner as you don’t need to use so much.

Smaller portions actually works best with items that you don’t notice how much you use. But think about it, do you really need a handful of shampoo to wash your stubbly head? Do you really need to use that much bubble bath, or that much shower gel? Cutting back just a little on these regularly used (I certainly hope they are!) items, can save you pounds over the course of a month. Next time you do the washing put in a little less powder or gel, next time you do the washing-up use a little less washing-up liquid. There are many ways where you can save by using smaller portions and if won’t even matter to the quality of what you are doing.

Don’t fill your mouth with mouthwash. Buy an electric toothbrush (there are loads for less than £20.00), and just use a pea-sized squeeze of toothpaste instead of filling the entire manual brush. Your new electric toothbrush will pay for itself in a couple of years!

Remember: smaller portions equal bigger savings!

Credit Crunch: A Survivor’s Guide – Shopping Intelligently: False Economy, it’s not cheaper!

Don’t buy smaller than you can use.

A small tub of butter/spread is more expensive than a large one in terms of weight (per gram the smaller tub is more expensive). If you’re going to use a kilo tub before it goes off, which is fairly likely, then you are better off buying the larger one.  Buying the smaller one because it’s cheaper (although more expensive per gram, and therefore worse value) is false economy.

This works for almost all products, and supermarkets are now being quite helpful by giving the price of items and the grams, rolls, sheets, litres, cost.

Buy sixteen or eighteen rolls of toilet paper rather than four. (Can save £2.00 a month on average)

Buy a five-litre bottle of mineral water, or a six-pack instead of individual bottles. If you need to use smaller bottles for work or ease of use, buy a big one and a funnel and pour it in. Ok, so it’s slightly more work, but it’s less money. The average family can save over £100.00 a year by giving their kids small bottles filled with water from larger bottles. (Of course investing in a water filter jug and several filters will be even cheaper, it costs about 2p a litre. If you live in London and have to drink the hideously cloudy and foul-tasting recycled liquid, it may take a while to get used to it after Evian [trust me!]).

This also uses less packaging, which is good for the environment. Good for the environment can be good for you!

Use this technique for everything that doesn’t have a short shelf life, soft drinks, bottled water, toilet rolls, butter/spread, tinned goods, frozen goods. Doesn’t work so well for short-life products like milk, but work it out. If you can use a six pint bottle then it’s still better value than a four and a two pint, or three two pints.

You can save hundreds of pounds shopping this way.

Credit Crunch: A Survivor’s Guide – Bills

The easiest way to save money is to look at your regular outgoings (bills) and see if any of these can be made smaller.

Rent is a difficult one unless you’re willing to move, but downsizing or moving further out-of-town can help. Remember to check to see if commuting costs will increase and whether the cost of moving and the hassle is really worth it. I wouldn’t want saving some rent money to be my prime motivation for moving. Although my sister moved back in with our parents when she was younger for a couple of years to sort out her finance and get herself into a position to buy a house.

Electricity and gas can be easily compared on websites like uswitch.co.uk and www.moneysupermarket.com. You may also be able to save money on your insurance, whether it be home insurance, contents insurance, car insurance, travel insurance, you get the idea… Basically with any kind of insurance you have the potential to save money just by shopping around.

Look at packages of insurance, home and contents together, or annual travel insurance instead of individual holiday insurance if you go away more than once. Never buy the travel-agents insurance as it will probably be the most expensive.

I saved nearly 50% on my annual worldwide travel insurance.

Look at your transport situation. If you travel on public transport, look at travel-cards, Oyster cards, or if you’re lucky enough you might be able to walk to work. I gave up my motorbike and a ten-minute journey to and from work, and instead walk for half an hour there and back. It not only saves me money but it keeps me fit! That’s what I tell myself as I trudge home on a Friday in the pouring rain in the dark on a winter’s evening!