Handy Tips & Money Savers

[Caomhaoin]

I'm obliged to that every year in Spain, I hired a financial advisor the last three years and I've gotten roughly 800 back each summer which is a good return on the 50 he charges me for the consultation.

It's also crucial to not to lose the run of yourself when you do come into some extra cash or get a salary increase. My Mrs is a pharmaceutical executive earning daft money and her spending habits are laughable these days. The overpriced boutiques of Paris are patronised handsomely via Madrid on a weekly basis!

[The Butcher]

Depending how much you want to save, take whatever from this list (I don't do everything here) ->

Food (Shop in Lidl/Aldi - cut down on junk and goodies, try doing a shop without picking up crisps, chocolate, sweets, cakes, soft drinks, etc you will be amazed) Forget about bottled water and buy a filter jug. Learn to cook. That Sunday Roast or boiled ham can be your sambos for the next few days in work. Ready meals are generally shite for you and expensive. Take packed lunch to work, something like soup. Soup is easy to make, cheap, feeds loads and uses up lots of scraps.

Drive slower, learn to service your own cars, if its out of waranty, this can save you loads.Use fully synthetic oil, this saves you 4-5 mpg. Don't change it more frequently than recommended, many people change oil every 6 months, modern oils can last 12 months/30000 miles.
Have the tyres inflated properly, and ask for more efficient tyres on a change. Remove excess weight or anything you don't really need/use frequently out of the boot.

Use this site to find the cheapest fuel wherever you are based ->
https://www.pumps.ie/

Post-pandemic if possible, definitely request to work from home for at least 2-4 days a week. Massive savings on commuting.

On the heating aspect - look carefully at the ventilation points around your house,you might find the bricks not fully sealed to the inside volume, could be loosing tons of heat.

Insulate the attic, you should have at least 250mm of insulation -100mm running between the joists and 150mm running on top of this across the joists. Heat loss through uninsulated or badly insulated attics accounts for around 30% of the total heat losses from a house. Even if you are renting you should insist your landlord carries out this work for you, it doesn't cost much at all. You can do it yourself but make sure that you insulate the storage tank and the pipes in the attic and maintain the ventilation. Plenty of info online for diy-ers.

Put on your favourite 5 minute song on the phone, leave it near you and hop into the shower. Try get done when the song is finished.

Don't get stung on bank charges, get rid of the credit card. Get a revolut card or alternative.

Get smart plugs around the house and schedule them to go off at night time or do it from your phone with the smart app. Buy low energy light bulbs. Defrost food in the fridge during the day and not in the microwave.

Check prices across amazon sites and get the cheapest ->
https://www.hagglezon.com/

Always google the online store to look for discount codes, you'd be surprised how many 5-20% codes you can find in a google search.

You shouldn't be paying 30-50 euro a month for your bill phone...I'm still PAYG and spend about 20 euro every 4-6 weeks.

Don't be paying for Disney+/Netflix/Amazon and spending nearly 50 a month on all these services, learn how to setup Plex as a server on a PC or something like a NVIDIA Shield/download torrents/setup your own personal Netflix.

I keep a spreadsheet on google docs, record every item/purchase, only started the past year and great to look back and see the difference in insurance and other annual items you have saved on. When you get a visual on the pointless luxuries and bad habits, and how they accumulate over a year - it's a lot and can change directions with a bit of thought. I'm sure Scrooge would be ashamed of some of those ideas above! But if your budgeting you need to get the OH/family on board otherwise there's no point in you being penny wise while the OH is on a spending spree.

[The Butcher]

Double post

[Kurt Cocaine]

Great Post Butcher. I'll absolutely second that shout on getting a Revolut card. Great savings to be had with it. Especially when you're travelling (again)....

[StoutAndAle]

Don't be paying for Disney+/Netflix/Amazon and spending nearly 50 a month on all these services, learn how to setup Plex as a server on a PC or something like a NVIDIA Shield/download torrents/setup your own personal Netflix.

What sites are people using for movies and TV shows currently? I like YTS (formerly YIFY) and EZTV but both seem to be creaking under the weight of all the pop-ups and shite now.

[Emphyrio]

Don't be paying for Disney+/Netflix/Amazon and spending nearly 50 a month on all these services, learn how to setup Plex as a server on a PC or something like a NVIDIA Shield/download torrents/setup your own personal Netflix.

What sites are people using for movies and TV shows currently? I like YTS (formerly YIFY) and EZTV but both seem to be creaking under the weight of all the pop-ups and shite now.

https://1337x.gd/
https://eztv.re/

I've 3 versions of adblockers so these sites are fine for me.

[StoutAndAle]

Don't be paying for Disney+/Netflix/Amazon and spending nearly 50 a month on all these services, learn how to setup Plex as a server on a PC or something like a NVIDIA Shield/download torrents/setup your own personal Netflix.

What sites are people using for movies and TV shows currently? I like YTS (formerly YIFY) and EZTV but both seem to be creaking under the weight of all the pop-ups and shite now.

https://1337x.gd/
https://eztv.re/

I've 3 versions of adblockers so these sites are fine for me.

Thanks for that.

[Kunt 4 Life]

I made a good couple of quid from match betting a few years ago. You'll not be a millionaire but you will feel a bit like Biff Tanem with the sports almanac.

And I like getting free samples from sites like freesamples.co.uk
Got a link to Tena lady and got two free pairs of lady's incontenace pads. For a laugh I put my bosses name and company addres in, and sure enough a week later he got himself a pack. How we laughed. Doesn't know it was me.

[Makeshiftatomsmasher]

Car insurance, do call them. It's a pain but...
Last year the renewal came in on line, but I called and got a policy, same broker, but got it as new rather than a renewal.  Way cheaper, last week renewal time again, called again, and the guy on the phone gave me a discount on the day.

[The Butcher]

Don't be paying for Disney+/Netflix/Amazon and spending nearly 50 a month on all these services, learn how to setup Plex as a server on a PC or something like a NVIDIA Shield/download torrents/setup your own personal Netflix.

What sites are people using for movies and TV shows currently? I like YTS (formerly YIFY) and EZTV but both seem to be creaking under the weight of all the pop-ups and shite now.

https://1337x.gd/
https://eztv.re/

I've 3 versions of adblockers so these sites are fine for me.

I use those and I'd throw in this as well -> https://thepiratebays3.com/english/

[ochoill]

My múinteoir gnó would have absolutely loved you!

A subject I was terrible at in school, but I'm good at a lot of the nitty gritty of it now, for home and actual work.

It's always worth doing a balancing statement with the revenue every year. Usually end up getting a few quid in back taxes, hit the jackpot this time and getting a two grand refund in the next few days

Absolutely this, it takes only a short while to do.  I have to do my last two years this year - had put it off because of an old issue where my wife was self employed but we claimed together - but will be going through it this week.  Also worth doing if you've lived abroad at any point in the last few years then moved home, I was in Canada for a long time but moved back home halfway through a year.  The next year when I filed the P21, we got almost 3k back, it was down to only having worked for six months here but being taxed for a full year.

[Black Shepherd Carnage]

Hooker -100 blips

Girlfriend - 100000 blips

If you haven't gotten a thousand rides in well before the time you've spent 100 grand on a girlfriend...

[The Butcher]

It's always worth doing a balancing statement with the revenue every year. Usually end up getting a few quid in back taxes, hit the jackpot this time and getting a two grand refund in the next few days

Says I owe 3k+ for last year  Stupid TWSS! So for anyone else who has checked this, divide the number you owe by 48. This is how much you'll pay back a month starting from 2022 (will take 4 years) when revenue go after this money.

[Blackout]

Hooker -100 blips

Girlfriend - 100000 blips

If you haven't gotten a thousand rides in well before the time you've spent 100 grand on a girlfriend...

Hooker is still cheaper tho.

[Kurt Cocaine]

Hooker -100 blips

Girlfriend - 100000 blips

If you haven't gotten a thousand rides in well before the time you've spent 100 grand on a girlfriend...

Hooker is still cheaper tho.

Pay no heed. Chris' idea of foreplay is laying the Vaseline and strap-on out on the bed for the missus.