Top tips to beat credit crunch

Ten things to do to save money during the economic crisis, which have worked for me, writes blogger Charlie Cashdan.

If you normally have your hair cut and coloured at a fancy salon, check out your local coiffeuse as they tend to be much cheaper and normally do a dry cut (where they just sprits your hair with water and cut it, rather than the whole wash, conditioning treatment, head massage, “are you going anywhere nice for your holidays?” rigmarole). My local salon does this for £7.00, perfect for a quick trim, rather than £34 at my usual salon.

If you normally have your hair coloured, try buying a DIY box for under ten quid and doing it yourself, much easier than you would think and the results can be really good!

Try buying clothes from charity shops, especially everyday basics for work like suits, blouses etc. The savings you can make are huge and because things are so cheap you can experiment with different looks that you might not have felt brave enough to try otherwise! My husband got a lovely Ciro Citterio suit for under £20 and I’ve got a wardrobe full of Next and M&S stuff that cost about £4 each item!

If you can’t live without the occasional splurge on designer finery, check out Clothesagency.com, a website founded by Lady Sara Apsley where wealthy people can sell their designer cast-offs and the rest of us can scoop a bargain. I saw a Prada bag on there yesterday for £89.99 and worth over a grand!

Don’t use the air conditioning system in your car because it eats petrol and will make a big difference to your fuel consumption if you can do without it. Having the car windows open also uses more petrol as it creates drag and causes the engine to work harder. All sounds a bit crazy, but if you can stand getting a little hot in the car you can save pounds!

If the hem comes down on skirts and trousers, or you need them shortening, don’t pay £10 for alterations just do it yourself and save pounds! If you can’t sow, buy some Wundaweb which you simply iron into the turned up part and it sets like glue holding everything in place. It’s about 99p!

Don’t buy food for lunch every day while you are at work, make sandwiches the night before and fill an empty squash bottle with diluted squash and water which should be enough for the whole work day rather than buying bottled drinks.

Buy a pack of tooth friendly, sugar free gum and chew that between meals rather than buy naughty snacks like Kit Kats etc. One pack of gum might last the whole working week and costs under £2.00 saving you at least that much a day!

Ditch the gym membership and get out there jogging on a pleasant summer’s eve. I’m absolutely rubbish at it but even managing fifteen minutes a night round to the local shops and back will make a difference and costs nothing! It’s far less hassle than packing your gym bag and driving to the local facility, and greener!

Rather than taking the kids to the cinema, bowling, ice skating etc, go for a walk in the countryside and take a picnic. Or, rent a DVD and buy a bag of pick and mix from the local sweet shop then have a cinema night at home!

Does anyone else have any simple money saving ideas I can try out?