A self-confessed 'cheapskate' who regularly shares simple money-saving tips on social media has explained four easy ways to cut your household costs. In the caption of the clip she wrote: 'Little changes all add up.'
With the cost of everything, from groceries to petrol, rising almost every day, all of us are on the lookout for ways to save a bit of cash. And now one woman has shared four easy things you can do every day to keep your household bills down.
The woman, known as diaryofacheapskate on TikTok, where she has almost 250,000 followers, regularly shares simple money-saving tips. She recently shared four simple tips which, taken together, could end up saving you a bit of cash.
In the caption of the clip she wrote: 'Money-saving habits built into my everyday life. Little changes all add up.' Opening the video, she said: 'Here are some cheapskate things I've done today to save money.'
Keeping your home smelling good
The first tip was as simple as it comes. 'Everyone likes a nice smelling home, but I don't waste money buying air fresheners,' the woman said. 'Every day, without fail, all of the windows in the house get opened. Having fresh air circulating around is the best and cheapest way to get your house smelling good.' Opening windows allows a flow of air, flushing out stale air, smells, and other pollutants. There's even a word in German for this practice - lüften, which roughly translates to 'ventilate' in English.
Cooking pasta
Pasta is a great option if you're trying to save money. It's cheap, filling, and can be combined with any number of other ingredients to make an easy meal. And there's a way you can save even more money when making pasta. The woman said: 'This is an old habit I'm picking up again. It's to leave my pasta soaking in water for a few hours before cooking it. I left it in a sunny spot for a few hours to heat the water up a little bit too. It reduces the cooking time and the money spent on electric.'
Cleaning the vacuum cleaner
As with any household appliance, the vacuum cleaner itself needs a clean every now and then. The woman presented a clever way she does so without wasting water. 'My hoover is looking a bit worse for wear, it needs a bit of a clean,' she said. 'For jobs like this I don't want to waste water just on cleaning it.'
Showing herself picking up a bowl of water at the kitchen sink, she continued: 'This bowl of soapy water has been used to wash the kitchen pots, so I'm going to use it again to clean the hoover. I might as well get two uses out of it while it's still hot. This isn't a job I do very often. I don't find my hoover gets dirty very quickly.'
And she demonstrated another way to clean your vacuum cleaner without making more work for yourself. 'I've done some other housework this morning,' she said. 'I've used this cloth to do some dusting. When I dust I just use a cloth and water. So, instead of wasting another cloth cleaning the hoover, I'm gonna use the same one. It's going to be getting dusty anyway and it saves me having to put two cloths into the laundry.'
Bag for life
Her final tip related to something everyone has in the cupboard - a bag for life. She said: 'I feel like social media inundates you with the idea that you need to buy something for every occasion. We're going swimming tonight, but I don't need to buy a swimming bag to take with us. A bag for life works just fine. It's not pretty, but it's functional, and best of all, it was free.'
While shops do generally charge for bags for life, they're relatively cheap, with some offering them for as little as 30p, and some shops will exchange worn-out ones for a new one for free. She concluded: 'Does anyone really notice what bags other people take swimming? I can cope with the judgement if they do.'
