2023-10-02 01:07:05
In this period of inflation, consumers are trying by all means to survive price increases in all sectors.
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In her book “Thrift Your Life”, British author and TikToker Heidi Ondrak offers many tips and tricks to avoid unnecessary spending, reports the Daily Mail.
Recently divorced, the 52-year-old mother of two teenagers had to roll up her sleeves to support her family with less income.
Here are some tips she puts forward to keep as much money in your pocket as possible:
Many people tend to make a lot of purchases when they receive their paycheck. According to the online platform Finance Digest, 43% of Britons spend almost half of their pay in the first 24 hours.
While some expenses are essential (housing, food, electricity), others are much less urgent.
To avoid impulse purchases, Heidi Ondrak suggests the 21-day challenge, which involves waiting three weeks before purchasing a non-essential item.
This includes new clothes, shoes, toys for children or decorative items for the home.
According to the author, the only way to really spend less money on your electricity is to consume less.
She suggests using sites, such as sust-it.net, which calculate the energy consumption of each device in your home, from the television to the toaster to the video game console.
For example, letting your hair air dry instead of your dryer would save you almost a dollar in electricity per hour. Every time you take a shower instead of a bath, you save about 18 cents.
The TikToker also recommends establishing an energy curfew at home. She claims that such a measure allowed her to save up to $71 per month.
Instead of cooking and playing games with the lights on, Heidi Ondrak’s teenagers will do their homework, read a book or go to bed.
The device or appliance you use to prepare a meal will also have an impact on your energy bill.
According to the data provided by the author, using an oven for three hours will cost approximately $3.10 in electricity. For the same duration, the hob will increase your energy bill by $2.92.
On the other hand, if you use a slow cooker, your electricity consumption for a six-hour period will cost only $1.03. A pressure cooker, which can cook certain foods much faster, could allow you to prepare the same meal for just 23 cents worth of electricity.
Drying your clothes in the washing machine rather than hanging them on the clothesline will cost you $1.22 per hour.
Grocery shopping without having a meal plan for the week will often result in you having to return to buy certain foods a few days later.
Many consumers will purchase an insufficient number of meal prep essentials, but fill their baskets with non-essentials or snacks.
Establishing a meal plan will allow you to determine all the ingredients you need and therefore have a complete grocery list that will allow you to have everything you need to eat until the following week.
Otherwise, you’ll find yourself having to return to the grocery store on a Tuesday evening or ordering from a restaurant because you realize you have nothing left in the fridge.
Here are some other tips related to planning your meals:
– Choose meals prepared using less energy-consuming appliances
– Do not hesitate to serve leftovers that are still fresh
– Choose meals containing seasonings and spices that you already have in your pantry
– Use foods from your freezer
– Prepare larger portions and store some for the following week
– Prepare a meat-free meal once a week
Once you have done your grocery shopping, there is no question of buying more food, says Ms. Ondrak. You’re not replacing the snacks the kids devoured at the beginning of the week.
This method will save you time, money and gas. Plus, you’ll be forced to use everything you bought to feed yourself until the end of the week and you’ll significantly reduce food waste.
Here are some other reflexes to adopt that can help you save money:
– Check Google Play, App Store and PayPal in case there are direct debits that you forgot and are no longer necessary
– Twice a year, clean out your rooms and wardrobes in order to resell the items you no longer use
– Cut the sausages in half lengthwise and cook them in a small grill rather than in the oven
– Instead of heating the entire room, use an electric blanket to warm up for a fraction of the energy used
– Purchase your seasonal items at the end of the season. For example, garden items will be sold less expensively at the end of summer, as retailers try to sell them to make room for winter items. In addition, you will find these items in greater numbers on resale sites (Kijiji, Marketplace) at the end of the season
– Buy lightly damaged furniture or appliances sold at discounted prices by retailers
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