SAVVY saver Scott Dixon has saved £3,811 a year by living frugally – from yellow sticker shopping to heating one room in his flat.
Scott, who runs the consumer rights blog The Complaints Resolver, has run through his outgoings with a fine-tooth comb to save thousands.
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Some of his biggest annual savings come from heating just one room in his house, saving £683, to buying discounted food at the shops, saving £1,000.
He said keeping his bills and spending to a minimum “is easy to do when you put your mind to it”.
“Small changes really make a difference in the long run, regardless of your circumstances,” he said.
Here’s how he managed to save thousands in one year.
Showering and washing clothes at night – £85 a year
Making the most of his night tariff with his supplier Bulb means Scott saves £85 a year.
Scott’s tariff is split into a day tariff and a night tariff as he is on an Economy 7 meter.
On these sorts of tariffs, you pay a cheaper prices for energy at night than during the day.
Bulb’s special tariff hours vary across the country – Scott’s night tariff kicks in at 11.50pm, and ends at 8.50am.
He pays 19.3170 p/kWh during the night for electricity, and in the daytime hours, he pays 29.1550 p/kWh.
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“I put my washing on the timer and shower early each morning on the night tariff, which really makes a difference,” he said.
Ditching the tumbledryer – £117
Tumbledryers are an expensive way of drying your clothes.
It is estimated that the typical UK household puts on 270 loads of washing a year.
Uswitch estimates that it costs £1.27 per spin for the average household – which would cost £342.90 if you used the tumbledryer for every load of washing you do.
Of course, exactly how much you save depends on the model of tumbledryer you have, how big your household is, what your tariff is and how much you use it.
Scott doesn’t use his tumble dryer at all – and he estimates he personally saves £117 a year.
Heating one room in the house – £683
Putting the heating on is expensive.
Energy Helpline said that back in January it costs £335 a month to leave the heating on all night.
This cost will be much higher come October, when the new price cap rolls out.
To shave down costs, Scott uses a nifty heating trick.
“I only heat one room at a time which I reckon saves me about £20 a week on current rates,” he said.
He estimates he puts the heating on 34 weeks a year – which adds up to a saving of £683.
Yellow sticker shopping – £1,000
Food prices are soaring – households are facing paying £533 more for their shopping per year.
Hunting for yellow sticker food has helped Scott to dramatically lower costs.
These items can be up to 75% cheaper than full price food.
“Yellow sticker food is one of my biggest savings,” Scott said.
“My last Aldi food shop came in at less than £8.40 for nearly £35 of groceries – all 75% off – and I got marinated salmon fillets and all sorts.
“I must save at least £1000 a year on my grocery bills minimum by doing yellow sticker food shopping.”
Packed lunches – £720
Taking a packed lunch to work helps Scott save £15 a week.
“I brings my own coffee, tea bags and snacks to work too,” he said.
Over the year, that saves him £720 a year.
Free food and drinks – £250 a year
Some companies offer perks, such as freebies, to get you to sign up to their service.
Scott is an O2 customer, and uses his O2 Priority app to get free food from Greggs and drinks from Cafe Nero.
He is on a SIM only contract – which is much cheaper than a contract deal, because he just pays for calls and data instead of a handset too.
That costs him just £8.74 a month, and he gets freebies too.
“I get a free bacon roll worth £2 each Friday morning from Greggs and can get a free hot drink from Cafe Nero worth about £3 each week too,” he said.
Over the year, that comes to a combined total of £250 a year worth of freebies.
Using a halogen oven – £28
As energy bills soar, many are looking at alternative ways to cook their food.
Ovens can be pricey to run – when energy bills hike in October, Go Compare estimates it will cost between 104p to 114p to use your oven for an hour.
Using it once a day for a year would cost you £416.10.
Scott has switched to a halogen oven, which uses less energy – and it saves him £28 a year.
Walking to work – £520
Commuting to work – whether you drive or catch public transport – is expensive.
Now workers are returning to the office following the Covid pandemic, these costs are mounting.
Scott walks to and from walk three days a week to cut down on costs.
“This saves me £10.80 a week – which is £520 a year on bus fares,” he said.
Slash your subscriptions – £240
Scott doesn’t pay a penny on subscriptions.
“I have never paid for a TV streaming subscription and gave up Sky many years ago,” he said.
“I just have an old Sky Freeview box now.”
He estimates that saves him £240 a year.
He’s not the only one who’s cut this cost.
During the cost of living crisis, the average household has cancelled two contracts, according to Barclaycard Payments.
Haggling contract renewals – £51
Haggling on your bills can feel awkward – but it can be a big money saver.
Scott makes sure to make a note in his diary 20 days before his multi-home insurance and car insurance policy ends, and two months before his Sky broadband contract is up.
He hunts around for the cheapest deals on offer.
Then, he goes to his providers and asks them to freeze his rates, claiming he would otherwise consider switching.
“I saved £51 within 15 mins on my multi-home and car insurance policy and froze my broadband with Sky at £25 a month for 18 months by being polite, playing on the loyalty factor and saying how happy I have been over the years and that I didn’t want to leave,” he said.
Using cashback sites – £40.50
Scott uses cashback sites to make money back on his shopping.
Cashback websites work by paying you when you buy from certain retailers or sign up to financial products.
That’s because they agree deals with retailers that they then pass onto customers who shop
He saved £40.50 by using TopCashBack to book his holiday to Benidorm for this Christmas.
Avoiding the kettle – saves £77.20
Scott avoids using the kettle and uses his coffee machine instead to make his tea.
That’s because he doesn’t want to overfill the kettle – and waste money.
Scott has a Tassimo coffee machine, which you can put pods in to make your coffee.
But he uses it to make tea too – putting hot water through the machine only costs 1p.
He makes 20 cups of tea in a week, which costs him £10.40 a year.
But most people overfill the kettle – which costs them an extra £87.60 a year, meaning Scott saves £77.20.
An ex-Morrisons yellow sticker worker has revealed when to go shopping to get 90% off groceries.
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