Frugal and fun ideas for nights in with your chummies

I used to spend a fortune going on nights out, to the cinema, for meals, etc. I still do this about once a month as a treat (not so much the nights out bit, I get horrendous hangovers now I’m a bit older!) but I also socialise a lot at home now. To be completely honest, some of the funniest/most memorable times I've had with my friends over the past few years have been at home! Not convinced? Here are a few suggestions: -

Make your own cocktails

Instead of going out to a snazzy bar, why not make your own cocktails? Look for recipes online and give it a try! Aldi and Lidl do delicious cheap own-brand versions of Baileys, Archers, etc. Not only does this idea save money but it gives you and your friends something fun to do too!

Take turns to cook each other dinner

This is such a simple and well-known idea but sometimes the oldies are the goodies! You don’t have to literally take turns; if you cook for your friends they’ll normally repay the favour one day (or if they’re lazy they may even take you out for a nice meal, bonus)! I’m not talking about spending loads of money and cooking a three course meal. Just make a nice simple home cooked meal. Your friends might even be nice and bring cake or wine! This idea is so much cheaper than going out somewhere for a meal, and it’s a lot more sociable! [I stole this idea from my boyfriend because he does this a lot and it always goes down well; I'm a bit too nervous about my cooking skills to cook for lots of people myself].

Have a picnic-style lunch

I would say ‘go for a picnic’, but the weather’s not often nice enough in this country! If you do get to go for a picnic then yay, but you can also have a picnic at home. Buy some nice fresh baguettes/crusty bread rolls, some continental meats and cheeses, arrange it all nicely in the centre of a table and you and your friends can help yourselves. You might think this is really expensive but a) It’s a lot cheaper than going to a café and b) Aldi and Lidl do some lovely continental meats and cheeses for less than you’d pay at other supermarkets. My favourite bargains are Mozzarella for 44p and freshly baked bread rolls at 75p for 5 (both Lidl). I bought all this (serves 3 people) for £5.16!

Continental-Style 'Picnic': Bread Rolls 75p for 5 (20p each), Mozzarella 44p, Babyleaf & Rocket Salad 79p, Milano Salami £1.49, Italian Prosciutto £1.49 (Lidl)

Have a board game night

I realise this suggestion might not be for everyone, but my friends and I are obsessed with playing board games these days (hooray for my sister Alice for getting me into board games)! We've got really into it over the past year or two, mainly because we can’t afford to go out as much as we used to. It’s great fun and free (even if you get in some tasty nibbles and wine, it’s still loads cheaper than going out anywhere). Of course, if you don’t own any board games already, there’s the initial cost, which can be up to a hefty £30, but you could try going halves with housemates if you share a flat/house with someone, or ask for a board game for your birthday/Christmas. I've certainly got my money’s worth out of my board games (and most of them were presents anyway)! I recommend Articulate* (definitely good for socialising), Carcassonne, Ingenious, Ticket to Ride and 7 Wonders, but you can find plenty of old-school board games for a couple of quid in charity shops. Can't be bothered scouring the charity shops and don't want to invest in a pricey board game? Try Mini Articulate (£4.99) or Yahtzee (£7.12), and there are always plenty of games to play with playing cards!

*all links and prices are for Amazon

Watch DVDs instead of going to the cinema

This is a well known suggestion but I don’t know why people don’t do it more often; your sofa is probably a lot more comfy than a cinema seat, you can wear your pjs, and there are no annoying teenagers sat in the back playing on their mobiles! Plus, you're not tempted to buy expensive cinema snacks (you can buy loads of ice-cream and snacks from the supermarket instead, for a fraction of the cost). I know what you’re thinking ‘Hannah, you still have to buy the DVDS!’ but not necessarily; I mostly just borrow DVDs from my friends and family (I normally ask them first…)

Have a pampering session

Paint each others' nails and do face-masks (which you can pick up for £1). It sounds really cheesy but I did this a couple of years ago and it was actually a really good evening! 

I sadly had to crop myself out of this picture as I looked like a thumb!

One last thing...

My final suggestion is a bit odd but why not spend no money at all and just have a good old-fashioned catch-up!? Why do we always feel the need to go out somewhere or plan an elaborate night in when we meet up with our friends? If it’s a close friend you haven’t seen for a while, forget making plans for your night in, you’re probably not going to be interested anyway, because you’ll be too busy talking/laughing your heads off! This is something I've realised now I see my friends less (because they’re all scattered across the country now); sometimes there’s just no entertainment needed!

Ten frivolous to frugal product switches

By far, the thing that has saved me the most money is switching the products I use to their cheaper counterparts. I used to turn my nose up at using own brand or even value range products but once I gave them a try I realised there is usually very little discernible difference. Even when there is a slight difference it is not a big enough difference to justify the price discrepancy. Switching your products is a great way to save money without giving up on anything. Here are a few of my biggest savings/best products: -

1. Lidl Crumpets - 49p for 8 

(Warbutons – 80p for 6)*

These are such a cheap and tasty option for breakfasts. There are other own brand options out there for a similar price, but I have a couple of crumpet-addicted close friends and they both say that, of all the own-brand crumpets they've tried, Lidl’s are the only ones that are as tasty as Warbutons. I had them for breakfast this morning and I don't think they're quite as good as the real thing, but they're delicious all the same!

2. Colgate Toothpaste (many varieties) - £1 100ml 

(Colgate Total Advanced - £1.99 75ml)

Pound shops offer branded toothpastes, which can give you savings of up to £2 compared to what you'd pay in the supermarket. You may have to get a toothpaste with a few less thrills (e.g. it might only offer 3 actions, such as whitening, tartar protection and gum protection, as opposed to offering 5 different actions), but you’re still using a branded toothpaste so it’s still going to taste okay and do the main jobs you’d expect from a toothpaste. 

3. Asda Chopped Tomatoes – 31p 400g 

(Napolina Chopped Tomatoes – £1.25 400g)

I’ve looked around and most supermarkets do own-brand versions for 31p. If you’re cooking from scratch to try and save money, this is a great way to cut down your costs (without cutting down on taste). I used to insist on using the fancy branded version (I have no idea why!) but lots of recipes I do contain two whole tins of tomatoes; by switching, I’m saving myself £1.88 every time I make a batch of pasta sauce or chilli, or 47p a portion!

4. Cussons Pure Antibacterial Handwash - £1 500ml 

(Carex Bacteria Protect - 90p 250ml HALF PRICE)

I discovered this lovely Cussons Handwash at my local pound shop. You get twice as much for more or less the same price (and that's only when the Carex one is on offer), which can save a lot of money if you normally get through a lot of the stuff! I personally think it looks a bit nicer and less clinical as well. Also, Carex is actually by Cussons so you don't have to substitute a branded product for a non-branded one. However, if you can't find this exact handwash, there are lots of nice own-brand versions available for around the same price.

5. Lidl Cien Provitamin Shampoo – 75p 300ml 

(Aussie Frizz Miracle Shampoo - £4.49 300ml)

Before discovering this shampoo, I was buying all sorts of expensive shampoos in a desperate attempt to tame my dry/frizzy hair. Not only is the Lidl version the best shampoo I've found, it’s also by far one of the cheapest I've tried. I can’t believe that I wasted so much money on products that didn’t work, when there is a product that does work for a tiny fraction of the cost! Full review coming soon. 

6. Pound Shop Loo Roll - £1 for 4 

(Tesco Luxury Soft - £3.50 for 9)

Not a very glamorous product, I know, but it really can save you a fortune. The £1 version works out at £2.25 for 9 rolls, giving a saving of £1.25 on Tesco's version. You may have to use a bit of trial an error to get the best one available at your local £1 shop but I've found that the couple of pound shop 'brands' I've tried have been far superior to the supermarket own brands (i.e. they're softer and don't fall apart). Give it a try!

7. Lidl Multivitamins & Iron – 75p for 60 tablets

(Boots Multivitamins with Iron - £4.89 for 90 tablets)

Why pay nearly a fiver for 90 tablets when you could get the same amount for £1.50!? I was sceptical myself, I thought 'I'm sure the Lidl vitamins won't offer 100% of my RDA' but I've checked and the two versions are pretty much identical! The only major difference is the Lidl one doesn't contain Calcium, but I take separate calcium tablets so this doesn't bother me (and if you get plenty of calcium in your diet this won't be an issue for you either). This is just an example, but you can find all sorts of vitamins at Lidl and £1 shops for a fraction of the cost (and they don't taste horrible or anything, in my experience). For more choice, try Asda; they do a wide range of vitamins, though they are more expensive (but still cheaper than Boots).

8. £1 Shop - Flash Guard Multi Surface Lemon Spray - £1 500ml

(Tesco - same product - £2 500ml)

You can get loads of branded household cleaning products in £1 shops, at around half the price for exactly the same product and quantity! I'm kicking myself that I didn't realise this years ago! Obviously it can vary a bit from shop to shop, but just go in one (or two) £1 shops and see which household items you can save money on (without even switching brands/products). I guarantee you will not be disappointed!

9. Lidl Casaburo Olive Spread £1 500g

(Bertolli - £1.90 500g)

I love Lidl's cheeky rip-off of Bertolli, it tastes exactly the same to me (and I'm quite fussy about my marg'). Also, I looked at the ingredients and nutritional values and couldn't really see a difference! 

10. Card Factory Birthday Cards - 5 cards for £1

Card Factory is amazing. Fact. The saving I'm making on what I used to spend (around £2 per card) amounts to nearly £50 a year! Card Factory do lots of lovely cards for 79p, £1 and £1.49 (you'd pay at least £3 for the £1.49 ones in other shops, they're pretty fancy). Plus, I've recently discovered that they actually do lots of pretty (and not tacky-looking) cards on an 'any 5 for £1' offer (so I bought 10, which will last me a while)! I will write a full blog-post on Card Factory soon because I used to turn my nose up at it, but now I'm completely converted!

This list is very heavy on Lidl products, that’s because there are 2 stores near me and I've found Lidl to be a bit cheaper (and better value) than Asda, Tesco, etc. However, if you don’t have a Lidl near you, try Aldi (the only reason I don’t go to Aldi is because it’s not on my way home) or Asda’s (or other supermarkets') value ranges. 

I hope this list has been helpful to you, and hopefully it will have given you a bit of inspiration to switch a few products to better value versions, even if you don't go for these exact products :-)

What is your favourite own-brand bargain? I'd love to hear your suggestions! Please comment below :-)

*For my comparison prices (for the expensive versions of the products) I looked at Tesco's prices online

My Top Tips for saving money (and resisting temptation)..

Here are some general tips I have picked up along the way on my quest to stop spending so much money (and get out of debt). I’m 26 this month and I have to admit that until fairly recently I have always lived beyond my means and had to borrow money (be it from family or from the bank), ever since I was a teenager, and throughout my student days and working life. If I can change my ways then anyone can! These are just some general rules and tips; for more specific tips on where to save money and great money-saving products, keep checking back for new posts! This is a list of a few things that have helped me…

• Pennies Equal Pounds. That sounds painfully obvious but I never fully appreciated the true meaning of this until recently. I always had the attitude of ‘What difference is a few pence going to make?’ but once you start to work out what you’re spending money on in terms of how much it costs per year, you realise just how much a few pence can add up to. For example, I went through a phase of buying an Iced Finger from Greggs every weekday for a few months. I thought ‘it’s only 40p, what harm will it do?’ but if I’d carried on doing that, it would have added up to £104 a year! Once I started to work out the cost of my regular, unnecessary, purchases in terms of weekly and yearly costs (no calculator necessary, just work out the weekly cost and multiply by 50 if you want to estimate it), it was a lot easier to give them up. As if I want to spend £104 a year on iced fingers! You can also apply this to your supermarket items easily. If you are reluctant to go to a lower cost supermarket/go for the value ranges of products, try to do just one cheap food shop, see how much you saved compared to your normal food shop and times that by 52. Then think of all the things you could do with that money you’d save (holiday, nice meals out, etc.) and suddenly sticking to the higher end products/shops seems a lot less worth it! 

• You can still get that shopping buzz while saving money. As a lifelong shopaholic, my biggest barrier to becoming frugal was the fact I love shopping and can’t seem to stop myself buying things! That hasn’t gone away (some habits are harder to shake than others), but now I get a buzz from finding a great bargain instead! 

• For the most part I try to avoid buying non-essential items for myself now (though I do slip up now and again). But there is always that desire to go shopping, so now I scour £1 shops, charity shops, TK Maxx etc. for bargainous birthday (and even Christmas) presents. I still get that happy shopping feeling and by hunting for presents so far in advance I can make sure I find something really special (because it takes a bit of time to find a good present in a £1 shop)! 

• Stop shopping at Sainsbury’s, Tesco (or even M&S and Waitrose) and shop at Lidl, Asda, Iceland, Aldi, £1 shops etc.  Just give it a try, you’ve got nothing to lose. I was reluctant myself but since I tried it I’ve never looked back. I used to be a bit snobbish about shopping in these places but then I thought “I’m in a fairly low paid job and in debt, it’s a bit rich coming from me”! I will be writing some blog-posts about which of these shops are best for different types of products (e.g. £1 shops are great for finding branded household cleaning products for a fraction of the cost, but pretty useless for food!). I’ll also be writing reviews of the best own brand products I’ve come across (and the worst). 

• Sometimes it really pays to do a few quick sums! If you use public transport to travel to work, look into monthly or even yearly travel passes rather than weekly ones. This sounds obvious but it is not always clear that a monthly pass will save us much money (especially with buses) so we tend not to bother. In my area it is £12.50 for a weekly pass or £46 for a monthly pass. I used to think ‘I can’t be bothered, I’d hardly save any money’ but I was failing to take full account of the fact months are not 4 weeks long. As soon as I worked it out properly I realised that the monthly cost of buying weekly passes is actually £54.17, meaning switching to a monthly pass would save me £8.17 a month, which is £98 a year! I’m kicking myself that I didn’t switch years ago! Was avoiding the ‘hassle’ of signing up to a bus pass online, which took me all of 5 minutes, worth losing £98 a year for? No it was not! It just shows how valuable doing a bit of simple maths can be. I never would have realised how much money I was wasting if I hadn’t!

I could probably go on for hours talking about this topic, so I’ll stop for now (I may do a second part to this post in a few weeks/months, once you have all recovered from reading this essay of a post!). I hope that some of you have found this helpful! Next time I’ll be listing my Top 10 frivolous to frugal product switches!