When saving money isn't worth it

In the two years since I quit my job to have a baby, I have tried saving money in some extraordinary ways.

From being someone who lived on fast, ready-made food and expensive labour-saving gadgets, I had to seriously cut back on our household costs & tried hundreds of different ways to save cash.

Now, with a second baby due any day, I’ve been thinking about which of these cost-cutting tactics I actually carried on with - and which just seemed like too much hassle for such a small saving.

Here are some of my money-saving tests and whether or not they became part of my routine…

Visiting the market

My town has an award-winning indoor market, yet I never set foot in it until two years ago.

Comparing the cost of fruit and veg at the market to my regular shop showed me that it’s more than 50% more expensive at the supermarket. Not only that but the market produce was better quality and local, meaning it had a smaller carbon footprint too.

However, it’s undeniably a hassle to travel to the market when I use online ordering for the rest of my shopping and that does put me off.

So I’ve taken to ordering a separate, weekly box of vegetables. It’s still cheaper than the supermarket (around 25% cheaper I’d say), but it’s more convenient.

My toddler loves the market, so we do still visit to buy meat and fish for special occasions.

[Related feature: Buy cheaper meat without eating horse]

Brewing our own beer

When my husband claimed his new beer brewing hobby was saving us money, I was quite sceptical. But it’s true: When I compared the prices I found that we save close to £60 on every barrel, compared to buying supermarket ales.

Although brewing beer saves a huge amount of money, it is quite time consuming and it takes up a huge amount of space.

I’d probably suggest we stop doing it, except that my husband now prefers the taste of his home-brew and would rather drink that than the pricey shop-bought beers. So we’re saving money and he prefers the taste – a clear win.

Using cloth nappies

With baby number two due any day, I know I am about to start a whole new cycle of endless nappy changes. This is expensive and has a real environmental cost too – landfill is full of bagged dirty nappies.

I trialled cloth nappies on my young son and found that they were quite a bit more work – it felt like the washing machine was constantly on.

Not only that, but the savings seemed quite minimal and I gave up, switching back to disposables with a sigh of relief.

However, now that I’m having a second baby I am very conscious that my savings would be far greater if I’d invested in cloth nappies from the start. If I’d used them on two children then the initial expense would have been worth it.

So I’d recommend it to new mums planning more than one child, but I will admit I don’t do this myself.

Switching from the big brands

I have been consistently amazed at the high quality of some budget brands. Okay, maybe not horse-filledcheap ready-meals, but fruit, cereals and even baked beans can be high quality.

On several occasions, I’ve found that the cheaper brands were actually healthier, when I used to assume that the more you paid the more nutritious it was.

Now I rarely buy the big-name brands, preferring the cheaper supermarkets’ own. I experiment with the economy brands and have found several products that are just as good but far cheaper – particularly expensive soft fruit.

[Related link: Economy versus top brands – can you tell the difference?]

Cleaning without chemicals

I used to buy the most expensive cleaning products, figuring that these were the ones that would save me the most time. The adverts suggested that the expensive chemical potions would make dirt leap off my bath and onto the cloth, and that was always very tempting.

Yet when I looked at some of the more old-fashioned cleaning methods like using baking soda and white vinegar, I realised I was paying 500% more than I had to!

However, what I saved in cash, I made up for in elbow grease; it’s undeniably easier to use the more expensive products. I have to admit that this was one money-saving tactic I never embraced – I’d rather pay a bit extra and scrub a little less.

Wasting less and cooking from scratch

Although I always used to cook ‘proper meals’, I did tend to buy ready-processed ingredients. Sauce came in jars, vegetables came ready-chopped and (to my shame) I’d been known to buy cheese ready-grated. We also threw away an astounding amount of edible food.

That all changed once I was trying to save money. Now I use a meal planner to reduce waste, which I estimate saves us around £10 a week as well as slashing what we throw away.

We eat meals as a family rather than cooking one meal for my toddler and a separate one for us, which helps reduce waste and gives me more time to cook, so I don’t need the shortcuts as much.

I’ve also taught myself some of the very basic cooking habits that save a fortune – like making sauces from scratch instead of buying them in jars. It’s all so easy once you try, but until you’re living on a budget, it’s all too easy not to.

How much effort are you willing to go to in order to save cash? Or do you not have a choice? Share your experiences and tips in the comments below.