10 ways to live cheap

When ever we see articles and videos online of becoming more self sustaining and living cheaper , we are always met with people that have worked their asses off to own land and animals with bustling gardens of crops in every colour, but the reality of this day and age , especially in the UK , is we live in houses with tiny gardens or in flats that have no garden at all , and as I've now moved from a house with a garden i grew in , to a house that has a garden smaller than a car I've decided to take some new approaches to ensure i don't fall into being too dependent on modern lifestyle again. So here are some ways that I'm keeping my costs low!

1: Window sills ~ Of course we still need to grow a few bits and bobs , unfortunately no where near as much as id like but this is still useful , you have windows in nearly every room of your house , so use them , you can grow a variety of herbs on you window sills , things like lettuce also can be grown on a window sill that is a bit bigger , also for anyone that has got even a small garden space outside their door , peas are a fantastic one to grow as they can be ate raw as a snack , or cooked to add to a meal and even part cooked and frozen for later use , with a small outside space you might even have room for a small tomato plant too. Always try to just grow things you will actually use , i will do a separate article of all the amazing things you can grow with limited space.

2. The reduced to clear sections ~ Reduce to clear sections are my favourite as for a fraction of the cost you are getting a perfectly good item , i tend to pick up meats and vegetables in the reduced sections as i can come home prep and freeze them which then makes these items last longer ( Common mistake people make is thinking fresh freezer items last forever ... they don't , give your self 6 months because after that the taste and nutrients will be rubbish , even if it is safe to eat its not worth it after then).

Reduced sections are not just for food though ! this January i picked up Christmas themed toiletries and gift sets all under £5 in a supermarkets reduced to clear section , nothing wrong with any of them its just last of Christmas stock they want to clear out , and also supermarkets that have a clothing section in them often have reduced to clear rails , i remember last year in ASDA i manage to pick up 4 outfits ( tops and bottoms ) for under £20!

3. Make your own ~ So listen , all of us can do this , we don't because the world has become so convenient , need a sandwich , no problem here's processed meat , processed butter that isn't actually butter and some ready made bread for you to slap together , whats that ? you're in a rush , no problem , have this ready made even more processed sandwich straight from the shelf instead ...... stop it , buy some proper meat , cook a meal or two with it and slice the rest up for sandwiches , find 1 or 2 days a week to prep meals , cook more than you need , freeze or refrigerate the rest ! i make a huge dish of cottage pie just for me because I will eat that the day its made and the day after and the rest gets put into portions and frozen for the next time i need it , we rely so heavily on shop bought ready made food that is barely even real food to start with , fast food , ready made food its too convenient , take away's are completely fine , as a treat , once or twice a month whatever , but having them weekly , several times a week ? nope scratch that habit and quick !

4. Put a bloody jumper on. ~ This one is pretty straight forward for me , if you're in the house and you're cold , go put some clothes on , don't be sat there in winter in shorts and t-shirt moaning you're cold and then wacking that heating on , absolutely not thank you , you go put some joggers and a jumper on ! my heating doesn't go on unless the house drops below 18 degrees and even then if I'm the only one home i usually just grab a blanket ! Also a little tip , when cooking fresh home made meals your ovens usually on for at least a hour and that helps heat the house up a bit too !

5. Shop second hand ~ People often love to brag about how expensive their clothes and shoes are , but I am the opposite , i love to brag that i managed to pick up a £40 coat for a couple bucks at the charity shop , people sell clothes on places like Vinted , practically new , even big brand names , for more than half the price , unwanted gift set , children's clothes and books , shoes , you name it , you absolutely should utilise buying things second hand for the sake of saving yourself a fortune and not only that you are helping towards reducing waste production in the process!

6. Reusing items ~Old damaged clothes can be reused to make a handful of things , good fabric scraps can be salvaged from there for any art projects and the rest can be fashioned into cleaning rags , if you're really handy you can turn old clothes into new ones , I've turned old t-shits into shopping bags before as well ! empty jars can be used for homemade sauces and jams , i know a friend of mine who lives in a lovely little caravan even uses her old jam jars as glasses for her drinks , i have a few jars full of seeds I've harvested from plants I've grown previously , I've also seen people decorate jars and fill them with sweets or chocolate to give as gifts

7. Reward programs ~ Reward programs are in my opinion brilliant help , my most used right now , is winwalk , a app that counts your steps , turns them into points and then allows you to use points to buy gift cards , Tesco club card , i collect up points so then around Christmas time i can use my built up funds to splash out on some fancy chocolates and all the trimmings to make Christmas care free , my current phone contract is also with Tesco meaning that each time i pay my phone bill i receive point on my club card to go towards my next shopping trip ! As a gamer , naturally i love the Xbox rewards program , daily log in and daily tasks to earn points towards Xbox vouchers , makes it much more easier to pay monthly subscriptions for game pass and also helps me buy any expansion packs in my games too!

8. Subscriptions ~ This is a obvious one but keep a eye on your subscriptions , if you've not used the service for a month , delete it , you don't use it enough to be paying for it , things like amazon prime is great for businesses that have stock being delivered several times a month but for the average Joe buying a few random things every now and then its literally cheaper to just pay a couple quid postage and wait a day or two extra for delivery rather than paying £10 a month for something you aren't using often.

9. Free activities ~ there is so many free activities out there , for home crafting both for adults and kids is junk pages , collect junk mail , magazine scraps , and so on , to have a fun afternoon cutting and sticking random things together ! go for a walk , seems stupid but many people cant be bothered or don't have time to , but make time to have a little 10 or 20 minute walk every week where you can just switch off and enjoy some air . Some community centres , libraries and churches will hold free days of crafts , reading , music and so on so always keep an eye out for things like that too.

10. Honestly ... i cant think of another one ~ Just don't spend money pointlessly , if you don't need it don't buy it , of course a treat every now and then is fine but people over spend so much these days , ugh can't be bothered to cook , ill buy a take away , ugh cant be bothered to walk , ill buy a bus ticket , ugh cant be bothered to make lunch to take with me on my day out , ill just buy one whilst I'm out .... just try not to be so lazy , we live in a world built on easy and convenient and long story short , it damages your health , I'm not expecting you to wake up tomorrow and change the world , but if we all started doing these small changes we can all start to take control of our money , we can all contribute to reducing waste and we can all say we did at least 1 thing to help towards a better future !

Love from Sophie X~O~X