As the cost of living crisis continues to put a financial strain on the nation, people everywhere are looking for top tips to save money. Fortunately, consumer rights expert Scott Dixon has shared how he managed to save £3,722 in a year with some cost efficient planning.
Dixon, who runs The Complaints Resolver blog and lives in Edinburgh, says frugal choices have kept his costs down – without him having to make sacrifices. For example, he has a day and night energy tariff with Bulb, which means he is charged cheaper rates at unsociable hours.
Scott estimates he saves £85 a year just by showering early each morning and by putting his washing on a timer. Other ways he keeps more money in his pocket include only heating one room, which saves him £683, as reported by The Mirror.
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“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 Scott.
“Whilst we can’t control the price of energy, we can control how we use it.” We round up all the ways Scott saves money…
1. Yellow stickers – £1,000 saved
Scott reckons he saves “at least” £1,000 each year by hunting out yellow sticker deals. Yellow sticker products are 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,” said Scott. “All 75% off – marinated salmon fillets and all sorts – super healthy and easy to cook or freeze too.”
2. Take packed lunch to work – £720 saved
If you go into the office, buying takeaway coffees and supermarket sandwiches can soon add up. Another big money saving decision Scott has stuck to over the years is taking a packed lunch into work.
Scott 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,” said Scott.
“This works out at £720 a year, if you add up £5 a day over three days a week, 48 weeks of the year.”
3. Only heat one room – £683 saved
Energy experts recommend only heating one room at a time to save cash – this is also something else Scott lives by. He reckons this saves him roughly £683 based on his current rates – and hopes to carry this saving into the winter.
“I would say that I use the heating for eight months tops. I save £20.09 a week by heating just one room,” said Scott.
4. Walk wherever possible – £520 saved
Scott 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, says Scott.
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. Scott 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,” said Scott.
“I just have an old Sky Freeview box.”
6. Get free food – £200 saved
Scott 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, Scott 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. 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 Scott avoids them altogether to save £117. USwitch estimates that a tumble dryer uses roughly 4.5kWh of energy per cycle.
“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
Scott 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
Scott 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. “Be polite, play on the loyalty factor and say how happy you have been over the years and don’t want to leave,” he said.
“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 Scott, who goes away 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.
“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 has recently reported on the cheapest ways to cook – and Scott says he saves cash by using a slow cooker. “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,” said Scott.
12. Use a halogen oven – £28
In addition, Scott says using a halogen oven saves him about £28 a year compared to a conventional oven.
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