I’ve been trying to cut back on spending lately, and it made me wonder – what small changes have you made in your daily life that actually saved you a lot over time?

For example, I started making my own coffee instead of grabbing one on the way to work, and I was surprised how quickly it added up.

Curious to hear what little habits or swaps have worked for you – could be about food, travel, bills, anything!


42 comments

  1. Stopped smoking last year – £130 extra per month to piss up the wall on CDs, games and takeaways.

  4. Stopping eating meat. It was there for pretty much every meal. The cost piled up. Now I’m spending so much less.

  8. The one I found was to start making my own sandwiches each day, the meal deals each day do tend to add up.

  9. Meal planning easily saves us £100+ a month.

    Recently had family visit and they commented on our fridge meal planner. They think it’s silly that we plan our week ahead as how could we possibly know what we want to eat so far in advance?! We don’t. We decide what we’re eating and if we don’t fancy it then we swap it for another day on the week or opt for a hoemmade ready meal from the freezer. They go to the shops every couple days which definitely costs a lot more than we spend.

  10. Primarily drinking water. And bringing a water bottle with me.

    Saving from buying squash or even bottled drinks when I am out.

  11. For all local stuff, like supermarket, I walk or cycle instead of taking the car. Probably wouldn’t work with a family but it’s free exercise and gives you shoulders like you play tennis twice a week.

  15. Meal planning- no take outs.

    Not going out for “bits” I ran out of bread this morning and usually I’d pop to Tesco and end up walking out £50 lighter on crap I don’t need. Had cereal that I already had in instead.

    Bulk buying at costco for things I use a lot of like tea bags, sugar etc. Stops me going out for aforementioned “bits”

    Boots recycling app! £10 spend but get £5 worth of points just for recycling stuff I’d just chuck in the rubbish. Pays for my toiletry’s and the odd meal deal when I fancy one.

    Filling up my car at Costco- way cheaper there!

  17. Bought espresso machine so, making quality coffee at home saved me £4-500 last year considering getting coffee almost everyday.

  18. My main shopping was only for main meals in the evening. I would eat out for breakfast and lunch, and buy coffees. I recently decided to sort my ever growing pot belly out so now I meal prep, get up earlier so I can eat breakfast and make coffee before I leave for work. I was amazed once I realised how much I was spending a day just on food and drinks.

  19. I make a monthly meal plan and shop around that. Bought a Nespresso machine in a sale and stopped buying it at coffee shops. WFH whenever I can. Don’t have friends. lol. Last one was a joke 🤣

  20. We’ve stopped shopping in Aldi and instead, started getting a Sainsbury’s delivery. The idea was to buy back Saturday morning. However, we’ve found it’s saving money as we’re not impulse buying crap as we walk around the shop.

  21. Not swinging by the local knocking shop after work before I head home to the wife and kids.

  22. Don’t go to the shop at lunch and actually make it to bring in. Saved £65 a month.

  23. Making my own coffee has cost me a fortune, as it started me off down the road of a very expensive hobby 🤣

  24. Eating less. Not snacking and eating smaller portions. Simplifying eating.

    Tbh simplification as an approach to life in general.

  25. The coffee thing.

    I use two nespresso pods so it’s still not cheap but far cheaper than station coffee places.

    It’s also saving a crap ton of calories as I’m not buying a latte and a pain ah choc 😂

  26. Buying stuff like laundry powder, loo roll and dishwasher tablets in bulk from office supplies places. Anything that doesn’t go off.

  27. Cutting sugary treats.

    I stopped eating biscuits, cakes, chocolate, ice cream etc. Saved a decent amount and reduced my weight.

  28. Stop using fabric softener. Expensive and ruins your clothes. Saving money on laundry and on clothes.

  30. Man, I read these suggestions and it’s all stuff I’ve been doing forever. No wonder it’s hard to pull my horns in further! I mean, I could give up wearing clothes (saves on laundry) and leaving the house, but there has to be a limit.

  31. So many small things. I shower at the gym instead of at home because they have better hairdryers than I have at home and it saves on water AND cleaning the shower as often at home.

    I also WFH so save a lot of £ on not commuting and making my lunch at home (or let’s be honest forgetting to break for lunch and not eating at all). I also save money WFH on not really having to own office clothes except the odd nice blouse.

    I also bought a rice cooker and stopped buying microwave rice. It tastes better and is so so much cheaper than buying forty odd bags of micro rice a month.

  32. Not ditching leftovers no matter how small, leftover veg from a roast, becomes bubble and squeek the next day.

    The pasta is had cold for a light lunch.

    When done in conjunction with batch cooking and meal planning we have zero food waste.

  34. Working from home.

    £12 travel, about £8 food. £20 extra a day to sit in my shorts eating a cheese toastie.

  35. Not washing my hair everyday, if I do it every other day, the cost of shampoo and conditioner halves (obviously) but when you have long hair and go through a couple of bottles of each a month, it works out to be a decent saving.

  37. Ive spent a small fortune on my allotment, but now I go shopping & I pick food to go with my harvests. previously Id head to the meat isle first & double back to the fresh veg. I have 8 jars of pickled/brined cucumber! Tomatoes… well I have about 20 in my fridge & well over 100 on vines waiting to ripen. Its a complete distraction from work. Example – picked up 6x pack of burgers from Morrisons (one of us is GF) & a pack of cheese slices & 4 bread rolls. GF uses Lettuce leaves as ‘bread’. 3 meals for less than a fiver. Burger with chips or/and huge salad. Tomatoes will be made into pasata – fridge is full of green beans & plums already! Will still take a few years for payback since I bought a polytunnel, but potatoes – easily had 40kg & have another crop in for xmas. Its time consuming, but refreshing & also wild how you excited you get at not buying food!

  38. Not exactly saving a fortune but saving the planet and saving time emptying the bin so often but separating soft film and plastic bags from my rubbish and recycling/ dropping it off at supermarkets where they collect them in big tall trollies.

    Started doing it a few months ago and you wouldn’t believe how much it saves space in the bin, so much so I take the bin out more when it smells bad than when it’s full.

    We just keep a large reusable shopping bag next to our bin and press those plastics down.

  39. I don’t know if this counts as daily but I removed shopping apps from my phone. I stopped boredom shopping and late night ordering.

    If I do need a few bits I will do it on the website and wait a few days before ordering, when I go back to my basket I’ll check everything again and take anything out I don’t need.

    Another thing, I got used to cooking more than we needed and freezing half, so a few nights a week I save time and money on dinner by using what is in the freezer.

  40. Having my own strict inflation thresholds. Like once a sweet treat goes beyond £1 I’m out, so no more Haribo or Dairy Milk bars and all that stuff since it’s gone to £1.25+.

  42. Realising that I don’t want ( or need) to eat breakfast each morning has been massive… as a result I don’t feel hungry until I’ve done at least 10k steps and I’ve cut out the time / expense of a set breakfast everyday… I feel much healthier

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