Here are some tips we've collected and found through having to work to a very tight budget.
Join all the loyalty schemes from the stores you use most it's worth the hassle and is money for nothing! And if you tick the small box at the end of the application form you won't get any unwanted mail. We quite like these ones, in order,:
Boots Advantage Card
4 points for every £1 spent = 4% money back in easily redeemable points
Collect points on the Advantage Card and walk out with bags of free shopping! You just amass enough points and claim them at the checkout. It's worth thinking what you can buy in Boots rather than the supermarket just to get points. You can use them online too and watch out for double and triple points offers. Some products aren't eligible, but not many. www.boots.com
Homebase Spend & Save
This gives you a better rate of points per £1 spent as you spend more ie.
Spend upto £200 and receive 2 points per £1, but spend over £500 and you get 10 points per pound. 100 points get you a £1 voucher back to spend. So you get from 2% - 10% back in vouchers, depending on how much you spend.
Tesco Clubcard
1 point for every £1 you spend ' ie 1% discount. Better than nothing. Tesco will send you vouchers to redeem ' equivalent to 1p for every £1 you spend ie. 1% discount.
Sainsbury's Nectar Card
You will get 2 nectar points for every '1 you spend ' you will need 500 points to redeem £2.50 in store (or through partners). That's the same as Tesco - 1% discount.
Although it seems to take ages to get a £2.50 voucher, it's still better than nothing. To really get value, you need to use all the partners in this scheme, such as BP and Debenhams. Maybe it's best to accrue points up to Christmas and get a big bonus when you need it?
Please e-mail us if you would recommend any of the other ones: info@pleasemiss.co.uk
Sales are on all the time these days. Gap is great for kids clothes really big reductions depending on the store. We usually buy for the following year. This winter we found a pukka ski jacket for £9.99 down from £49.00.
Woolworths often reduce things like clothes and stationery. They always seem to have two-for-one type offers so you can stock up on party gifts.
Buy one get one free. Make sure you do the calculations first they don't always work out cheaper. Some are great some don't save you anything so always check the price per kg/unit ' the shops don't always make it easy because they switch from kgs to grams. And check they go through at the till one store I use a lot often doesn't update their checkout computers before the labels go out.
We love these! It's a great way to stretch your budget and eat better quality food for less. Each store seems to have regular times/days for reducing their fresh produce because it's approaching its sell-by date. You can often get up to 50% off meat, fish, ready meals, vegetables everything! There's nothing wrong with the food providing you use it that day or freeze it immediately, it will be fine. If there is something wrong with it, you should go back to the shop and complain.
Just think ' why not get someone else to deliver your heavy stuff once or twice a month - buy in bulk, make the most of the special offers and get someone else to lift it!
There are several incentives out there at the moment to shop online. Free delivery, vouchers and other offers. We've tried three Sainsbury's, Tesco and Ocado. In our view, Ocado is by far the best, but it probably depends on each individual depot and we don't think they cover the whole of the UK. www.ocado.com.
Ocado offer free delivery on orders over £75. They also send offers now and again and can remind you to place your order. Their website is really easy to use. And the driver calls you if he is going to be a bit early or a bit late - now that's what we call service!
M&S online is very efficient useful if you need odd sizes or special stock which your local store doesn't have. Delivery is quick too. www.marksandspencer.co.uk
Early Learning Sheets
