Money Saving Tips - 1

Over the next few months I have lots of exciting things coming up which I need to save for so I thought I would start saving some money by changing some of my spending habits and hopefully you could save some money too.

1. Plan your meals

Simply planning your weeks meals you can save money by not buying unnecessary food that will ultimately get wasted. Write your shopping list based on your meal plans and your supermarket bill should be much less

2. Shop in discount stores

By shopping in stores such as Poundland, Home Bargains and B&M Bargains you can save money on top brands. Poundland often has brands such as Revlon nail polish for £1 instead of £6.50 and Home Bargains has three cans of coke for £1 rather than around 60p each.

3. Buy value frozen veg

If like me you don't eat that much veg and buying a whole cauliflower or bag of carrots will end up in half going to waste then buy frozen but I've found value brands such as Asda's Smart Price is as good as their standard brand for a fraction of the price.

4. Empty your cupboards

Before doing your supermarket shop have a rummage in the back of your cupboards and at the bottom of your freezer to see what you can put together to make a few meals. Even if you've got a couple of fish fingers, a fish cake, a tin of peas and a jacket potato then that's a meal that might ordinarily have gone to waste.

5. Hair cuts and beauty treatments

In my local town we have a beauty college that is always looking for members of the public to practise on and at a fraction of the price. Students are always supervised by tutors and treatments may take longer than a visit to a qualified professional but at £5 for a haircut who can complain?

6. Turn chargers off

If you have a charger for your phone, iPad, laptop, plugged in and switched on they are using electric even if they aren't plugged into your device and wasting your money.

7. Mobile phone insurance

Don't immediately buy from your phone provider as you can often buy it cheaper by shopping around. Also you are sometimes covered on your home insurance so check that out first.

8. Voucher code websites

Websites such as vouchercodes.co.uk offer discounts for meals out, online retailers and freebies. Whether it's 20% a meal or free delivery for a new dress every little helps!

9. Check your tax code

If you wear a uniform provided by your employer you can claim tax back for washing it. Give the tax office a ring and they should sort it out for you. This doesn't count if you wear your own clothes though.

10. Medicines

Don't waste money on automatically buying branded medicines, compare with generic (often own brands) and you could save. Anadin 500mg paracetamol tablets cost £1.45 whereas Boots Value Health 500mg Paracetamol caplets cost 16p! A massive difference in price for the same product. Just check the strength of the product or ask at a pharmacy if they have a home brand equivalent.

MUA Matte Perfect loose powder

I always use pressed powder on my chin and forehead to try to keep shine at bay but had never used a loose powder. I seem to think that it won't work as well as not as much will be applied to my face. Well anyway I decided to try out a loose powder and decided on MUA's Matte Perfect powder.

This is quite a large pot so I imagine will last a long time. I normally tip some of the powder onto the inside of the lid and use a kabuki brush to apply to my face. I found that the results didn't last all day and I would have to reapply whereas with a pressed powder I normally only apply once in the morning.

For £2.30 you can't really go wrong but it's a faff having to carry around a brush with you and there's no mirror on the pot so reapplication isn't easy.

I don't think I would buy again as I much prefer a pressed powder.

The month that was....February

Wow February flew by, so fast in fact that I am behind on my end of month posts, whoops!

Firstly February brought us snow....again. The white stuff well and truly out stayed it's welcome so fingers crossed it's now gone for another year.

I also finally got to see Strictly Come Dancing on tour! I took my mum and we were sat so close to the stage and it was an amazing show! I've already decided I'm going again next year!

February also marked the start of Lent which has been an epic fail this year. Normally I give up chocolate or fizzy pop but as I'm going on holiday smack bang in the middle of it I wouldn't be able to give up these so I decided to give up tea but that didn't last. Oh well there's always next year.

Me and my friend Laura also booked tickets for the Big Reunion tour in May! This is really exciting as Five and B*Witched were two of my favourite bands when I was growing up and as I haven't been to a pop concert in years I literally can't wait!

So that was my February, I hope you had a good one!

A Year of Nail Polish - February

Models Own - Top Turquoise

Barry M - Magnetic Multi Sparkle 

Review - MUA Matte Foundation

I'm abit wary about buying foundations that I can't try first as I like ones with a medium to heavy coverage but when MUA had their 50% sale I couldn't resist adding a couple of foundations in my basket to try out. One of these was the Matte Foundation in Honeycomb.

This claims to be velvet smooth with a long lasting finish.

The coverage is light to medium but perfect for those days when I don't really want to cake myself in foundation, like Sundays! The shade is a little on the pale side for my skin but not in an obvious way.

Currently my skin is a little spotty but his did cover quite well. I did have to use concealer on top but I was quite impressed with it.

For £2 I am really happy with this foundation and will continue to use it.

It is available from Superdrug and MUA online.

Bourjois 1 Second nail polish remover pot

I love the Sally Hansen nail polish remover pots but they are so hard to get hold of, I had found an alternative from my local Home Bargains store but it dried my nails out so I decided to give the Bourjois 1 Second remover pot a try after hearing everyone raving about how good it was.

The sponge has a hole in the middle where you place your finger and you brush your nail against the sponge to help remove the polish. My polish removed well but I found that the post was slightly too long for my little fingers! Even though I liked the results I don't think I would repurchase as after a while it made my fingers hurt, if Bourjois changed the design of the pot then I would reconsider!

This is £4.99 and available from Boots and Superdrug.

Superdrug Tea Tree Nose Strips

Normally I use Biore nose pore strips but I unexpectedly ran out and didn't fancy paying her enough £8 for a pack so went on a mission to find a cheaper alternative. 

The ones I found were Superdrug's Tea Tree nose strips which were on offer with 2 packs for £3.99.

Each pack contains 5 strips and they had a subtle scent of tea tree.

Once applied I noticed they didn't seem as sticky as others I've tried and as a result when removed they didn't remove as many blackheads and nasty stuff as I had expected. For the money though you can afford to use these more often but I think I'll stick to my usual Biore ones.