MoneySaving Archives - Page 19 of 43

I’m on a mission to cut back on expenses this summer. School uniform and everything else that comes with a new school year tends to cost me a fortune however this year I’m really pleased at having saved myself a fortune.

I now have everything delivered or en-route and have spent a total of £21.27.

Do I Need That
It is tempting over the summer to make a list of everything your kids use or wear at school and then buy it so that everything is shiny and new. This year I made the list and then re-checked drawers and wardrobes for t-shirts, stationery and anyting else that would do fine until at least Christmas time. Kieran’s winter coat (a Slazenger one bought for an absolute song in a size slightly too large earlier in the year in the SportsDirect sale) is absolutely fine, I replaced a load of PE kit before sports day (as you do) so that’s covered and I’ve more pencils and pens than I know what to do with so they’ve been knocked off the list.

Uniform
Fast growing boys who play football on the school yard will wreck or grow out of their trousers at an alarming rate. I’ve shopped just about everwhere for uniform that lasts and Tesco has always come out on top price and quality-wise. I doubled up some of my Tesco Clubcard vouchers in the Boost and got all of his shirts, trousers, new swimming shorts, new socks etc all for £0. In fact, £3 will be credited back to my account to use next time.

School Shoes
Sadly our local shoe shop is closing in a couple of weeks (I’m furious about this, it’ll be such a big loss to the town). What this does mean however is that I’ve been able to get a really nice pair of school shoes, new plimsols and a swim bag for the grand total of £18.97 with cosing down reductions.

School Bag & PE Sweater
Kieran desperately needed a new school bag and a sweatshirt to put in his PE bag for outdoor autumn/winter PE. Using some Nectar points I’d built up I cashed out some for a £10 ebay voucher and so the order for these (all new) came to £2.30.

So, everything sorted in good time and for a grand spend of £21.27. I am calling that a budgeting win!

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We bought a new car this week which meant of course looking for new car insurance. As you are supposed to I used the comparison websites in order to get the best deal as well as contacting my usual insurers however none of these worked out the best deal for me.

When looking for insurance we want a company who know what they are talking about, who don’t expect an excess equivalent to the value of a kidney on the black market and who are competitively priced yet include all of the features that we need.

Using the comparisons certainly weeded out a few insurers who seem to think highway robbery is fine and dandy in 2014 however I found myself frustrated by some of the prices quoted, knowing I’ve had better in the past. In the end I took out a very competitive policy from a car insurance company not on any of the comparisons which has worked out cheaper with extras added in.

I posted previously about saving money this summer, being more frugal with our living costs and reducing bills and as part of this I was determined to find the absolute best deal, and did. My advice for you is to use the insurance comparison websites by all means however really shop around using sites such as this site to fine the best deal for you and to ensure that you get the most for your money. I hate paying over the odds and had I been caught up in the baby meerkat stuffed toy frenzy I certainly would have been.

Do the leg work (which still doesn’t take very long in the age of the internet) and make sure you don’t pay more than you have to!

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Slashing Back to School Costs #FrugalLiving

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