Small changes to cut costs

Small changes to cut costs

What money-saving tricks have you discovered to get you through these cash-strapped days? Research revealing the penny-pinching measures that many consumers are resorting to certainly rings bells with me – now that eating out has become a luxury, more than half of diners have recently used a discount voucher to get more meal for their money, according to the findings of comparison and switching service uSwitch.com. Ding!

Printable vouchers offering two main meals for the price of one at many restaurant chains, currently downloadable from the likes of Vouchercodes.co.uk, MyVoucherCodes.co.uk and Restaurantvouchers.co.uk, are hugely popular. And I'm cheering the fact I can now swap my Tesco Clubcard loyalty vouchers at four times their in-store redemption value for tokens to spend in my kids' favourite eaterie, Pizza Express.

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I'm not so in tune with the 15% of UK diners who say they've cut their bills even further by not paying the service charge – that's surely taking tight-wadding tactics a step too far, but I'm definitely getting a lot louder about complaining and demanding a refund if restaurant food is not up to scratch.

When I can get my act together, I'm with the 51% of consumers who are dusting off the Tupperware and taking packed lunches to work. And my admiration knows no bounds for the 20% who are now doing a John 'Free'-da to save on hairdressing costs by cutting their own or their family's hair. If only I had the required skills to snip and layer, or, failing that, the time to join the 10-week Hairdressing for the family course at my local adult education centre.

My husband is one of the 52% of consumers who now stash their small change, amounting to a total of £1bn, in adult piggy banks instead of letting it disappear down the back of the sofa. Both children have also become obsessed with stacking all spare one, two and five pence pieces of late; my son using his to buy secret (ha!) chocolate stocks and my daughter hoarding them to cash in every few months, assisted by a bank cashier with fixed grin and gritted teeth.

I can also identify with the 36% of UK adults who admit they are much more likely to stoop for small change they happen across in the street than they were a year ago. I superstitiously feel it's tempting fate to reject the "gift" of even one free coin in this climate, and it seems I'm not alone in this – 49% of recession-hit Brits say they pick up as little as 1p if they find one.

But while I am with the majority of consumers in being increasingly loath to pay full price for goods, I can't claim to be one of the three-quarters of UK adults who are shedding their British reserve and haggling for cheaper deals. Instead, I'm a fully paid-up member of the 12% who are too embarrassed to haggle – possibly even the 7% who would rather go without than pluck up the courage to drive a hard bargain with a retailer.

I wonder if, alongside the hairdressing courses, adult education centres might consider running How to haggle for wimps. What measures have you been taking to recession-proof your pockets during this slump?

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