Britain’s stingiest woman passes on saving tips
The self-proclaimed stingiest woman in Britain has revealed a number of tips that help her live on just £2,400 a year.
While vast amounts of Britons struggle with the basic bills, Ilona Richards managed to turn frugality into an art form. The former lorry driver was forced to reassess her bills when she took early retirement at 60 years old and she took it to the nth degree.
Some of the steps might seem too far for some, but Richards has certainly managed to find a way to save the pennies.
Here are some of her tips to help you save:
1. Make visitors bring tea bags if they want a cuppa.
2. Don’t spend more than £1 on a meal, which means no processed food.
3. Go to the supermarket late at night when the bargains are available; buy little and often.
4. Eat the food in date order to avoid costly food waste.
5. Don’t use a kettle, use the microwave to boil water.
6. Cut your own hair.
7. Get your clothes from charity shops.
8. Add water to fruit juice and washing up liquid to make it last longer.
9. Adopt a policy of having just one light on at a time.
10. Keep guests to a minimum, although a cold and stark house will take care of some of that for you.
Richards had a vast array of other tips, including women wearing men’s underwear because it is harder wearing and lasts longer. Reassuringly, she also recommends the occasional treat, but those include home made ice cream made from blended frozen bananas, so her treats might not sit well with some people.
While Richards is an extreme example of frugal living, there is a lesson in her story for us all. It’s easy to get lost in the bills and think that our expenses are just a simple fact, but by analysing where every penny is spent then we can all assess our lifestyle and see where we can make significant savings on our food, energy, entertainment or other bills.
Most money saving tips recommend keeping a spending journal for a week, a month or more to find out exactly where your money is going and then make adjustments to your lifestyle to ensure that you ‘balance your books’. It can be a shock to realise just how much you are spending on food compared to the average family, especially if you eat a lot of ready meals or processed foods that can actually work out much more expensive than preparing fresh food from base ingredients.
Shopping around can also prove exceptionally useful when it comes to buying high ticket items like toiletries, with discount stores offering better deals that, over the course of a year, can have a significant impact on your overall spend.
Cutting your own hair and buying clothes from charity shops, as well as asking guests to supply their own teabags, might be going too far for some. It is an illuminating example of just how each and every saving makes a difference, though, and might encourage more people to have a look at their excess spending and trim the fat, which can only be a good thing.
CLICK HERE to read the full story over on the Daily Mail.
(Image Credit: Daily Mail)
