MISS MONEYSAVER: 10 budget boosting tips you (probably) haven’t thought of yet

Oh joy of joys, a host of bills are going up this month.

Council tax is rising by between 3 and 5 per cent, depending where you live; water bills are being hiked by 7.5 per cent on average; broadband and mobile bills are soaring by over 17 per cent in some cases and, of course, the energy discount that kept us going through the winter has come to an end.

Admittedly, pensions and some benefits are also going up but overall it looks like we will have to find more ways to save.

So I’ve set my team at MoneyMagpie.com the task and here’s what we’ve come up with. (If you’ve found some new ones yourself do let me know at [email protected].)

n According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the average UK household spends £4,296 on groceries annually. Even small changes can help a little, so don’t throw away old, bruised and soft fruit: they make great smoothies, or you turn them into muffins to stop food wastage.

Oh joy of joys, a host of bills are going up this month. File image

Get as much free and cheap food as possible using the food-sharing apps Olio and TooGoodToGo and going to ApprovedFood.co.uk for cheaper, out-of-season items.

It’s worth remembering the power of your local community. According to Nextdoor.co.uk, a third of us have cut costs thanks to neighbours, saving up to £200 a year. So get onto platforms such as Nextdoor (or set up a groupchat) where you can swap items with people in your community, share babysitting, and get free furniture, food and clothes that others are giving away.

As stamp prices go up it’s worth thinking about ways to cut the cost of postage. One of my team found that it was a lot cheaper to split a light gift he was sending by post than to send it in one package.

‘I paid for two large letters (now £1.45 each) rather than pay for one ‘small parcel’ at £4.45,’ he says. ‘The reason is because Royal Mail’s ‘large letters’ allow you to send any items that can fit through an inch-thick letterbox.’ Take a couple of spare envelopes with you to the Post Office and see which option works out cheapest.

Make sure you’re getting the most from your job. Double check what, if any, employer discounts and benefits you are eligible for. Larger companies often have tie-ins with supermarket chains, restaurants and mobile phone companies, among others, and you may get discounts of up to 10 per cent. Also take advantage of any extra pension payments your employer offers, even if it could mean you have to put in a bit more yourself month on month.

It may not be a glamorous place to look for bargains, but don’t forget your local dump. Many waste-processing centres keep a lot of the furniture, TVs, toys and more if they’re basically good. Then you can buy them from their ‘charity shop’ at a fraction of the usual cost. This includes flat-screen TVs for £25-60 and bikes for £30-40 each.

Cut the cost of beauty. Sephora’s ‘pick-n-mix’ section offers five mini products to try for free (although you have to pay £3.95 for postage). Go to sephora.co.uk/pick-n-mix.

Buy clothes and household goods cheaply at Simon Charles auctioneers (simoncharles-auctioneers.co.uk). You can find ex-High Street goods from firms such as John Lewis that have been returned to the shop.

There’s nothing wrong with the products, it’s just that they haven’t necessarily been returned in their box or may have minor dings.

You can also bid on new clothes, including branded designer items, beauty products, toys, furniture and equipment.

If you’re planning on a spring clean or renovation, rather than wasting money on things you’ll use only once, rent cleaning equipment, power tools, cooking or sewing items and more at the Library of Things (libraryofthings.co.uk).

Think about ways you can reduce your water usage. Put the plug in the bath when having a shower, then use what you collect to flush the loo and your water bill will be cheaper.

Or put a watering can in the sink and collect the cold water as you wait for the hot to come through. Keep a jug or bottle of water in the fridge to save running the tap all the time.

Cut the cost of home essentials. Chop sponges in half and you’ll have twice as many to use in the kitchen. Squash your toilet rolls before you use them because then it will be harder to get the sheets to unfold and you won’t waste as much.

Cut the bottom off tubes of toothpaste, tomato puree etc so none goes to waste. To ensure there’s no leakage, use a clothes peg to seal the tube.

Got a question for Jasmine? Email her at [email protected] 

Sicily sunshine – at just half the price 

The Easter break is a popular time for thinking about booking another holiday. And there are some great deals which mean you could get away for less.

SeeSicily is offering tourists 50 pc off flights, one free tourist attraction and a free night’s accommodation if you stay in Sicily for at least three nights (apart from July and August) up to the end of September 2023. You just have to book your trip through an affiliated partner (visitsicilyinfo/en/seesicily).

If you’re flexible about where and when you go, you could take advantage of pricing glitches. The newsletter Jack’s Flight Club (jacksflightclub.com) sends subscribers details of routes and dates going for less than the airlines’ advertised fares.

SeeSicily is offering tourists 50 pc off flights, one free tourist attraction and a free night’s accommodation if you stay in Sicily for at least three nights. File image

Some of its recent steals include London-Tokyo returns for just £261, Glasgow-Toronto returns for £142 and even a flight from London to Perth in Western Australia for £461 return. Sign up and save on your next trip.

A package holiday does have advantages but you can often travel cheaper independently.

For example, if you want to sail around the Caribbean, book a cheap flight to the former British colony of Dominica and then catch the ferry to neighbouring French islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe. Ferries costs around £88pp (express-des-iles.fr/travel-by-boat-from-castries-to-martinique -dominica-and-guadeloupe).

Kuoni is looking for a creative amateur to be its official honeymoon ‘photographer in residence’ for three weeks. You can bring a guest and will be paid £2,885. Go to photographer.kuoni.co.uk. The closing date is April 28. Good luck!

Get 20pc off bamboo toilet paper 

Switch to eco-friendly toilet rolls with Bumboo, made from 100 pc bamboo with a tree planted for every box ordered. Toilet rolls contain 300 sheets of three-ply tissue. Get 20 pc off your first order with my code JASMINE20 at bumboo.eco. The offer ends on April 22.

Get 25 pc off home emergency cover at HomeEmergencyAssist.com. It offers cover for your boiler, central heating, plumbing, drainage, utilities, securities, pest infestations and more. In an emergency, you call Home Emergency Assist, which works with qualified tradesmen ready to help you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Use my exclusive promo code JASMINE25 on the website to get 25 pc off home emergency cover.

Earn money at grocery shops

Nationwide is offering 5 pc cashback on your supermarket shop until April 30. Customers can earn up to £10 a month at a range of stores when they use a Nationwide debit card. If you have a joint account, you can earn £10 each. See nationwide.co.uk. 

Pets at Home is running free workshops for children in stores until Sunday, April 16. The 45-minute sessions enable youngsters to learn how to look after a range of small animals, including making a foraging box for furry friends. They will also receive a My Pet Pals certificate. Visit petsathome.com for details. 

Free doughnuts! 

Do you have an Easter egg going spare? Take it to your nearest Krispy Kreme shop by Monday and you’ll get a four-pack of Easter doughnuts in exchange. Easter eggs will be donated to a network of 9,500 charities and community organisations across UK with charity partnership FareShare. 

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