Super Saver Reveals Small, Easy Lifestyle Tweaks That Help Her Save £250 A Month
- Lorraine Smith, 52, has made small but effective tweaks to her daily spending
- Lorraine batch cooks her meals, and upcycles furniture instead of buying new
- She also bargain hunts in pound shops, yellow sticker sections and charity shops
If your expenses are always taking you by surprise, take a leaf out of this money-saving mum’s book.
Lorraine Smith, 52, a mum of two from Berkshire, has made small but effective tweaks to her daily life, which helps her save a massive £250 a month.
Lorraine batch cooks her meals, upcycles furniture instead of buying new, and bargain hunts in pound shops and charity shops.
Lorraine told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: “My money saving started at the beginning of last year.
"The reason I started to save was I needed a new bed and I didn't have the funds so I got myself a disposal saving tin and with every upcycle I did I put the money in the tin instead of buying a new item.
"I got my new bed and I'm now saving for a rainy day.
"I love painting and decorating so I'm forever changing my colour scheme but it was costing me.
"So I started to upcycle by spray painting, hand painting and using fabric dyes.
"In the long run, doing it myself saved me a fortune - over £400.
“I've even started to take in work for friends and family.
"I've also started to upcycle for local people for a small charge.
"My tip is to never give up trying, you’ll get the hang of it in the end.
"As for cooking I make homemade.
“For example, with my mince pies I make a bulk load of pastry as I can freeze some to use in vegetable pies or apple pie.
"I make mince pies for the elderly and my community so it also saves them money.
"I batch cook chicken curry, savoury mince, pastry, lasagne, spaghetti bolognese and pizza.
"I buy all my ingredients in bigger packets and spend a day cooking.
"In the long run, with each dish I save around £30 as I've made enough dishes to last a few months.
“For example, I cook up savoury mince with peas, onions and carrots for shepherd's pie, then in a different saucepan I add peppers and chillies for spaghetti bolognese.
"With the mince and veg I get six shepherd's pie fillings and six spaghetti bolognese portions.
"With the pastry I make I use it for savoury pies and at Christmas I make mountains of mince pies for friends and family.
"Also I've started to make my own jam as it tastes so much nicer than shop-bought.
"I use fruit from the yellow sticker part in my local store and I pick blackberries which I then freeze.
"I make my own Chinese takeaway too, as it saves me over £20 when I make it instead of ordering one.
"I would say my batch cooking saves me around £150 a month on my shopping bill!
“I’ve tried to make other small tweaks, such as making my own Christmas cards using a free app and my printer.
“I try to upcycle things, such as a bird table that I salvaged from the tip to upcycle.
“With the upcycling I have saved over £400 this year as instead of buying new items I have just sanded things down then either painted them by hand or used spray paint from my local £1 shop.
"As for my art and crafts bits I save things.
“For example, normally when you buy a top it has ribbon to place on coat hangers.
"I cut this off and use to hang things like my wicker hearts which I brought years ago and just sprayed grey.
"A friend of mine was decorating her bedroom and had some old bedside units which were very old and worn out.
"I sanded them down and used black spray from the £1 shop.
"On the shelf I covered it in pink glitter sticky vinyl again from the £1 shop.
"I had some left over so used it to cover two coasters.
“All together, it cost me £3 and saved my friend over £100 as she didn't need to buy new.
"A lot of things I upcycle cost very little as I bargain hunt in pound shops and charity shops.
"I also make birthday cakes for the local old people's birthdays and coffee mornings which saves them money.
"As for the baking I do, it might not save me money but it saves the old folk money and when I see them smile it's priceless!
“All together, with all these savings every month I must save around £250!”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “Wow! Lorraine is a super saver.
“Her story shows that by making small but manageable tweaks you really can save hundreds every month.
“Simple changes such as batch cooking, upcycling instead of buying new and making food fresh instead of buying takeaways can really save you a fortune, as Lorraine has proved."
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