Are your purse strings feeling the pinch?

These nifty saving hacks could be just what you need to manage your money.

Read on below to find out what tin foil can do to a pack of bananas and why you should always keep a pic of your kids in your wallet.

Photos for free

If the thought of accidentally wiping all those unprinted photos on your phone fills you with anxiety, an app that gives you freebies each month could be just the remedy.

With the Freeprints app, you can get up to 45 free 6×4 prints every month – all you pay is shipping and handling.

Standard postage and packing starts at £1.49 and is never more than £3.99, no matter how many prints you order.

Grow your own, from the fridge

If you’re looking to kill some time with the kids during lockdown, why not have a go at growing your own fruit and veg?

It’s easier than you think and, aside from a bit of soil, you can find everything you need in your own kitchen: tomato and apple seeds, potato sprouts or garlic cloves work well, and you can use containers out of the recycling bin.

Simply pop those containers on a windowsill and watch the fruits – or vegetables – of your labour grow.

Save on shampoo and conditioner

Hoping to make your beauty products last longer during lockdown? Why not decant your shampoo, conditioner and shower gel into pump bottles to limit how much you use each time you hop into the shower?

The bottles that shampoos and conditioners come in often make you pour more product than you need on your hands. You cannot put the excess back so your instinct is to use the extra.

To prevent this wastage from occurring, use a pump dispenser – a new one costs around £3 on eBay – or simply recycle empty hand lotion or soap containers.

Complain effectively

Consumers deal with customer service daily, and often the experience can be negative – while Covid-19 hasn’t helped.

Whether we are attempting to return an item without success, negotiating a better deal or questioning an incorrect bill, a growing number of us are getting fed up with feeling fobbed off.

Complaining isn’t always easy, but if you use Resolver it could take the hassle out of making your voice heard. The free-to-use website will not only help you draft a letter but it will also send it, monitor replies and then escalate it to an ombudsman or complaints body if it’s not sorted.

Cut back on waste

Consumers throw out around £13billion of food a year, but you can cut your food waste with a handy trick.

Stick one of your weekly food shop receipts on your fridge. As you throw food away, take a pen and cross it off the receipt.

By the end of the week, what you crossed off is the food you have wasted –
and what’s left is a list of the only food you need to buy.

All those little savings will soon add up and after a while this could save you serious money each month.

Look after your bananas

Are you fed up with chucking out over-ripened bananas? Good news: if you wrap the tops in aluminium foil it prevents the escape of ethylene from the stems.

This slows down the ripening process – and your bananas will last much
longer as a result.

The foil also prevents evaporation of moisture and absorption of ethylene released by fruits nearby, meaning that your whole fruit bowl will go further, too.

Just remember to replace the foil after each time you remove a banana from the bunch.

Pick the right time to buy

If you’re looking to upgrade your household appliances, hold tight: February is the best month to find a bargain, according to research by PriceRunner.

Snap up end–of-the-line products such as washing machines, fridge freezers and
dishwashers and potentially save hundreds of pounds.

Save dough on Playdough

Ask any child if they love a bit of playdough, and you will hear a resounding ‘yes!’. But there is no need to shell out at the shops – you can make your own from everyday ingredients.

All you need is: flour, cream of tartar, salt, vegetable oil, food colouring and tap water.

Here’s how to do it:

Save on your home loan

Paying a bit extra each month can cut your mortgage term and see you quids in. For instance, if you had a home loan worth £150,000 with an interest rate of three per cent, you’d pay £711 each month for 25 years.

But if you pay a bit extra, say £100 a month, you would save £11,835 in interest and clear your debt four years and three months earlier.

Always check with your lender to see if any early repayment charges apply.

Mind your wallet

Always carry a cute picture of your child in your wallet – it could increase your chances of having it returned if you ever lose it.

Research by Professor Richard Wiseman at the University of Hertfordshire found purses with baby photos have a much higher return rate than those with snapshots of animals, elderly people or no pictures at all, thanks to our evolutionary compassion towards infants.

If you want more tips and tricks on saving money, as well as chat about cash and alerts on deals and discounts, join our Facebook Group, Money Pot.

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