There is however one way you can sometimes cut your costs substantially, but it does mean being prepared to spend some extra time and effort on things.

Every fresh food item in the UK has to have a sell by date on it.  This is the date after which the supermarkets aren’t allowed to sell it.  (This only applies to fresh foods, items in tins and which have best before dates work rather differently).  Every day the supermarkets will have a staff member who will go round and find all the fresh food items which are going to go out of date that day, and reduce the price on them.  This is to help stop wastage.  If they have to throw the item away they get nothing for it.  If they can sell it – even at a reduced price – then they will get something.

You can take advantage of this knowledge by watching in the various supermarkets near you to find out when they make their reductions.  Most supermarkets will have two times.  The first time is normally when they reduce the items down by a percentage – this varies from place to place, some will be halved, some will only reduce by 10%.  This first reduction is normally done fairly early in the day.  The second reduction is normally done late in the afternoon or early in the evening, and at this time they will reduce the already reduced items down some more, generally to a really low price, and if you’re around when this happens, you can take advantage and buy a lot of food very cheaply.  So take the time to get to know when your local supermarkets make their reductions.

Things like bread, milk, cold meat, and much more can be frozen – if you freeze it on the day of purchase, and it’s use by date is tomorrow, then when you defrost it you will have 24 hours to use it up exactly the same as you would if you just used it when you bought it from the supermarket.  The same thing applies to most products that can be frozen, check to see  how long they have between the sell by and the use by date… if it’s the same date, then if you freeze it, when you defrost it you will need to eat it the same day.  If it’s three days difference then you will have three days when you defrost it and so on.

You do need to be careful when doing this is to make sure you can use the item before it goes out of date, OR that it’s suitable for freezing and you have the space to store it.  If you buy ten loaves of bread because they’re 10p each but only have space to freeze four of them, you’ll find yourself wasting the rest.

Vialdana

One thing I like to do is to keep a list on the fridge of all the places we’d like to go that aren’t too expensive and are close enough for a day trip.  I always list the price, along with opening hours, then when we want to go somewhere, I have a ready made list of places to choose from without all the hassle of having to look up to see if we can afford it.

Some places you may find which are free or cheap, are museums.  All the national museums and art galleries in England are free of charge now, although if you can afford a donation this is greatly appreciated.

The government have just introduced a system so that for people over 60, and those under 16, many public swimming pools which are run by the local authority are now free entry.  A trip to the swimming pool can make quite a good morning or afternoon trip.  Contact your local council to find out if there’s a pool near you offering this.

Across the country there are many places from parks, to rivers and many other green areas where you can enjoy a nice walk and a picnic.  Why not pack a ball and bats and invite a few friends to join you, this can make a really pleasant day out for everyone.

Most towns these days have a website with information about what’s on in that area do a search, and once you’ve found some places, look up and see what they cost.  Then try looking online for discounts for them.  Not everywhere will offer a discount, but you may find the odd one or two, and if you can find somewhere offering 2 for 1 on a pub lunch nearby you could even make that part of your day out.

Keep an eye open for places where a single entry fee allows you return access.  Bletchley park in Milton Keynes works this way, when you have bought your ticket, you can return as many times as you like within the year without having to pay again.  Also look out for places which offer reciprocal discounts.  This means that if you visit one place in the group, and then visit another, if you take your ticket from the first place, you will get a discount at the second one.

Vialdana

Taking a ‘discount holiday’ is one option that you could look a. This is a cheap holiday because it’s taken out of season, or at very short notice usually.  Most of the larger companies like Thomas Cook, Thomson’s etc. all offer things like this, but they don’t generally advertise them in their brochures, for this sort of thing, you’ll often need to pop into a branch on the high street, or look online at their website to find what’s available.  As well as these more obvious holiday companies, there are some online companies that specialise in this sort of thing, so it’s worth putting things like ‘cheap holiday’, ‘cheap holiday in Spain’ or ‘cheap holiday in USA’ into the search engines and seeing what it throws up at you, then having a good look around to see what you can find that might suit you.

Another way to do it, is to change the location of your holiday.  If you normally go abroad, what about trying a holiday here in the UK instead.  After all, when the weather is good here, it’s often just as nice as you’d get in France or Spain, and we have some lovely places around the country that are well worth exploring – from Cornwall and Devon in the south, to Wales in the west, Norfolk in the East and on upwards to places like the Lake District, and into Scotland.

If you want to keep it really cheap you could look at an option such as caravanning or camping.  In the UK and across Europe there are many sites where you can stay for as little as £10 a night for a whole caravan or tent full of people.  Obviously then you have to sort your own food out on top of this, and you’ll pay a little more if you want a site with a few more amenities, but it can prove to be a seriously cheap method of taking a break.

If you’re planning on being out and about in the cities across Europe and need somewhere to lay your head, but can’t afford to stay in expensive hotels, try looking at hostels as an option.  These are a much undervalued resource these days, and many of them cater to couples and some to families too.  The rooms are generally pretty basic, and unless you book a family room, you may be sharing with others, but when you can book a bed for the night from less than £10 in London, it’s something worth considering.

Vialdana

It has been a crazy week for voting on our “What would you do with 99% off?” competition!  You people are much more popular than I ever anticipated.

And with no more further ado, the winner of the competition is…

Julie Kapral!

Congratulations, Julie; you are one popular young lady!  I will be in contact shortly to get you your prize.  I’m sure we’re all looking forward to seeing photos of your new office!

It was a tight race for second place, with Meg Smitley finally beating Chris Dunn by only 2 votes for the silver medal.

Honorary mention goes to 4th place entry, Rebecca Page, who also got lots of voting love.  The rest of you did very well too, but were no match for a popular young lady with an obsession with pink!

Thanks again for all your entries– I really enjoyed reading them and if I could, I’d make all of you winners (maybe if I win the lottery!).

The other day I had one where I was buying an item online and there were two codes available.  One offered me 10% off anything in the store, and free delivery, the other offered me £20 off if I was spending £100 or more.  The item I was buying was £120 so I knew I could use either code.  At first glance, I thought that the 10% off and free delivery was going to give me the best deal, but just to be certain I did have to do a bit of working out to see which worked out best.  Here’s how I did my workings out:

Basic Price £120.
Delivery £5.95.

First Code – 10% off + Free Delivery = (£120-10%=£108) – Total Cost after Code: £108.
Second Code – £20 off = (£120-£20+£5.95) – Total cost £105.95

Not a lot in it as you can see, but if I’d used the first code – the one I’d thought would save me the most -  I wouldn’t have saved quite so much money, and I do always like to save as much as possible.  It’s nice having multiple discounts available, specially at the moment when we’re all trying to save as much as we can, but do make sure you do your maths carefully or you could miss out on the best deal.#

Vialdana

I was vaguely considering that I could begin to plan a holiday and musing over destinations when I began to think of the practicalities. My passport is out of date and my children don’t have one at all yet. There, in under 10 seconds is a cost of £164. £72 for my own passport and £46 for each of my children. I just don’t need that headache right now. I don’t need to leave the country.

So, my thoughts returned to good old Blighty.
Now, I’ve travelled the U.K fairly extensively, in caravans, tents, guest houses, hotels and friends homes. I’ve even stayed at a substantial number of English Heritage sites. I have children who think Dora The Explorer has the most exciting life and I love the idea of something new, so, wandering around the internet I found wigwams at Humble Bee Farm.
A lovely homey looking wooden building with real beds starting from £15.00 per person per night and just £8.00 for children. So, £31 per night and no great risk from weather conditions. There’s even a secure lock on the door, which might give me some peace of mind about midnight excursions by the gruesome twosome.

Or what about a Cocoon at Nostell Priory Park at £24.50 per night? A small building which looks like a rigid tent and again guaranteeing you won’t be blown away in the middle of the night. No escapees and the dubious pleasure of cooking outside every night, just like real camping.  It also means I don’t have to get up close and personal with nature, I can scurry back to the more-tangible-than-canvas-relative-safety of a plastic house. I’m warming to the idea.

I think my kids will love camping and it’s an adventure I want them to enjoy, though I worry about them getting out of the tent in the middle of the night in the same manner as they wander around the house eating chocolate in the wee small hours.
Still, I checked out the prices and venues. I remember staying in a lovely place in St Austell, Cornwall a few years ago and their prices for a tent are a very reasonable £4 – £9 per night depending on the season. However, prices vary around the country and during peak season. One site I found mentioned a £20 minimum fee per night during the peak season. You’ll often find money off vouchers in the back of The Camping and Caravanning Guide, available from CCC, Blacks and other similar shops.

Most of my childhood holidays were spent in touring caravans in Great Yarmouth and Skegness, or in static caravans in Cornwall, again, I’d quite like my daughters to enjoy that experience so I checked back to the sites we used when I was small. Vauxhall in Great Yarmouth would be around £418 for a week at the end of June in a dinky little 3 berth static caravan. The same week in Widemouth Caravan Park would be £322.00 as an online booking price.

I had romantic dreams of a cottage in the Lake District one year, all open fires and long country walks ending at cosy country pubs. The prices quoted were in the region of £350.00 minimum per week, for two people, in November! Unimpressed I quickly found a late winter sun deal in Majorca with Thomson for less and we skipped off to laze by the quiet beaches instead of the open hearth.
However a B&B begins at £60.00 per night and a weekend break might be just the thing.

I’ve never been entranced with hotels. They’ve always been associated with work related stays for me, though I confess, as a mental mum of two rampant children, I rather like the idea of no cooking and no cleaning up. Still, a brief search shows I could get a short dated booking for £42.50 in a 4 star hotel in Devon and share. I certainly couldn’t leave my little darlings in a room of their own…despite being far too young, remember the chocolate escapades I mentioned? Imagine a whole hotel full of adventure in the middle of the night. It would be Macauley Culkin Home Alone Part 4, The End!

So many people say that by the time you’ve finished, it’s just as cheap to fly elsewhere for a holiday. Perhaps the answer lies with Lastminute.com . The cheapest holiday I can find there is for £450.00 flying from Luton to Costa Brava and I’d still have to get the passports, bringing the total back up to over £600.00 without travel at either end, or insurance, or spending money. But the lure of no cooking and cleaning is strong.  I could even write a blog to enter the 99% off competition and win the chance to have my holiday for just £4.50!  No, I’d aim for the luxury of the Steigenberger Nile Palace in Luxor, Egypt. A snip at £489.00 per person. Still, that would be one paid for, a mere £4.89 from my pocket.

Maybe there is more to be said for Costa Del Back Garden. I think I’ll leave it a little while longer and bag a last minute deal, crossing my fingers for extra savings with vouchers on BView.

Decorating is an expensive business, and it can be even more expensive if you’re trying to make improvements to the house that are environmentally friendly.  Don’t panic though, there are way’s you can cut the costs of all that DIY.

Government Grants

Did you know that the government wants people to put in things like cavity wall insulation, efficient water heating, and loft insulation?  They do.  So much so that they actually offer grants that are available to everyone to help them with the costs of installing some of these things.  There are two schemes available, one is for people who are in receipt of certain benefits, and it gives a full grant to do certain things – this means that if you qualify, you could have your cavity walls filled, your loft insulated, and even a new sleeve fitted on your boiler completely free of charge!  The other grant which is available is for the same sorts of items, but is available to anyone regardless of if they are on benefits or not, and could give you a discount of between 50% and 70%.  You can find out about both here.

Coupons

BView has a section called ‘home and garden’ which is always worth keeping an eye on, there are coupons here for places like B&Q, Warrington Fire Surrounds, and ABC Carpets and Beds, as well as loads more places that do everything from lighting to flooring and kitchens.  There’s another section on B-View which lists discounts offered by trades people too, so if you need a specialist it’s worth giving it a look, they’re not always national chains either, as BView encourages local trades people and stores to offer discounts through their site too.

Discounts

Lots of DIY shops want you to use their stores at the moment, so they’re all competing for your custom.  What this means is that you will find most of them are running special weekend events where they offer discounts on one or more areas within the store, so plan your DIY with plenty of time, and you’ll be able to take advantage of these.  Make sure you ask in the stores (the customer service desk is best) as well to see if there are any other discounts you can take advantage of.  Some stores offer a percentage off to pensioners on a certain day of the week, and others offer a discount to people who’ve just moved home in the last few months.

Vialdana

Rebecca Page wants to pay for the insurance to set up her own childminding business and with the remaining go to Cornwall to visit her husband’s mother, who has ailing health.

Nicola Poor wants to invest the money so she has a solid base to achieve her dream of becoming self sustaining by starting up her own business.

Chris Dunn as a new arrival in the UK, wants to deck out his deck, so he can stop being ashamed of having his friends over for barbecues.

Sue Smith has a “Mini dream” to buy a classic Mini Cooper and spend her spare time doing any required work to bring it up to its former glory.  I’m guessing the £500 would buy the roof, or the seats or something?

Julie Kapral is a lovely young lady with an obsession with pink, whowants to become a full fledged designer, and needs to buy desks and cabinets.  She promised to send lots of photos of her new office!

Basheera Khan would use the cash to buy a plane ticket to visit her family in South Africa and hang out with her mother.  She even offers her mother as a surrogate.

Joy McCarthy would have a small man (or a big one, she says she’s not too picky) come dig a hole to install a “Green Cone” so she can reduce her household waste to practically nothing (and also produce fantastic soil for her garden).

Stacey O’Neill would, during her last year next to the ocean, would practice her knot tying, and finally learn how to sail!

Meg Smitley would get twelve square meters of rubber-love… also known as gym-matting for her basement.  An avid wrestler, she wants to finally get a chance to show her husband how a take-down should happen!

Helen Cruse decided she would use it to have a proper roughing it vacation on the Tiny Isle of Shuna off Oban. No Electricity. No TV. Mental!

Melinda Seckington would get the ultimate geeky boardgame collection, getting as many of the top 25 games out there as she could!

Jim Lamb wants us to send him a fresh English pie to him in Australia.

Vote for your favourite now!

It’s a good question really – after all why would they be considered discount if they weren’t cheap?  Well in fact the reason that places like this can get away with charging less for some of their products isn’t just to do with the quality of the products.  In fact, it’s got a lot to do with the layout and look of the store.  Large well known places like Tesco make everything nice and neat and tidy, they take items from the storage rooms and transfer them from crates onto the shelves in nice neat stacks.  Discount supermarkets often don’t make things quite so pretty, they take the crate and stack that on the shelf rather than taking the products from the crate first, or even just put a stack of crates in a gap on the floor and don’t even bother with shelves.  This helps them to keep some of their overheads down and means that they can then pass the saving on to the customer.

Another factor that can contribute to keeping the prices lower, is that although generally they will always have certain key items, they won’t always have the same brands of everything, opting to buy whichever is cheapest at the time, and meaning you may have to opt for a brand you don’t normally buy if you want that product.

So, in conclusion if you don’t mind the store layout being a little shabbier, and you’re not too picky about brand names, then it’s probably worth giving places like this a try and seeing how you like their products.  Many of them are of just as high quality, and the financial saving can make it well worth while.  One thing it is worth noting though is that most of these discount supermarkets also make another big saving by charging for their carrier bags, so if you don’t want to waste money having to buy a few bits of plastic to carry everything in, make sure you pop a few of your own bags in the boot of the car to use instead.

One thing worth keeping your eye open for in this sort of store is oddball items that one wouldn’t normally expect to find here – from tents to computers, power tools to pushchairs.  If a deal is good, the discount supermarket may buy a one off job lot of a product and once it’s gone, it’s gone, but while it is there, it’s often a lot cheaper than it could be bought elsewhere.

Vialdana

It’s the last week, with the deadline this Saturday night at midnight. Have you entered in?

You still have time to tell me what you’d do with 99% off of £500!

We’ve already got some fantastic entries, including:

• Joy who wants a small man to dig a hole in her garden,
• Julie who wants to deck out her office, and
• Jim who wants us to send a proper English pie to him in Australia.

Vero, the organizer of Social Media Camp, asked if I could write a post about the contest for the SMC blog.  I think in her frazzled state, she didn’t understand that it was about what she’d personally do with the money.  So, I tried to get into her mind, and knowing that she’s a French Canadian, came up with getting her to swim in the world’s largest poutine.  You can read about that here!  Ha ha ha!

Slight change of plans.

We were meant to allow the members of Social Media Camp to vote on the sunday with stickers to decide the winner.  But Social Media Camp is now a one day event only (the Saturday), so there’s no way people can vote on the Sunday, even though I already got the stickers!

the 99% off stickers from Moo, with my evil eye in the background

But this is good in a way, because that means we can open up the voting to the web, the ultimate democracy! Those shortlisted will now be put into a poll, where anyone can vote. We’ll be putting up the top 10 entries on Monday, 27th of April for one week. Then we’ll announce the winner.

Still want to enter?

Here’s the rules:

1. You write a blog post telling the world what you’d do with 99% off anything you like (up to a value of £500). Make sure you have a link back to www.bview.co.uk.
2. Send an email to competition@bview.com and give us a link to said posting.
3. All entries have to be received by midnight GMT on Saturday, April 25, 2009.
4. I’m going to shortlist my top 10 favourites, and then they will be up for voting on this blog from April 27th until May 4th at Midnight.
5. You can enter as many times as you like (if you have multiple blogs, then go for it!).
6. People from anywhere in the world can enter, but the prize will be awarded in pounds sterling.

I’ll probably give you some stickers too, since I now have 180 of em! So get your creative hats on and let me see your best work!

If you want to read the original post, and read what I’d do with the money, you can do that here.