WITH the cost of living at an eye-watering high, one mum is on a mission to do everything she can to keep costs down.
Hollie, who shares money-saving tips and tricks with her followers on TikTok, has revealed her top 6 hacks, including a 97p laundry game-changer.
The mum-of-four is a self-proclaimed ‘extreme budgeter’ with the goal of saving enough cash to buy a house.
But her cost-cutting suggestions aren’t outrageous or unreasonable.
Instead, they are simple, everyday changes that can help you create better spending habits and build a healthy savings account.
Ditch face wipes
When cleaning her face in the morning and evening, Hollie says she refuses to use face wipes or any kind of disposable wipes.
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“Why are we paying money to put stuff in the bin? I don’t understand,” she asked on TikTok.
Instead, Hollie uses a flannel to wash her face, which she puts in the wash so she can reuse it again and again.
Lights off
Hollie said that she only puts the lights on in the room that she’s in.
“I only put one light on, so it’s either a side lamp or the big light,” she explained.
The only time she bends this rule is when she has guests over, as she worries it might be “weird”.
Keep laundry simple
Hollie says that she refuses to spend money on expensive detergents and fabric softeners.
She told her followers: “My laundry routine is just washing powder, I don’t use anything else.
“I don’t use anything else. I don’t find I need anything else, I’m just washing clothes, and it’s going down the drain.”
She buys whatever washing powder is on offer and decants it into a large glass jar.
“Sometimes it’s the value brand, sometimes it’s something from Costco – I’m not fussy.”
She also uses white vinegar for towels, rather than spending money on fabric softener.
Say goodbye to dryer sheets
She also swears by popping dryer balls in her tumble dryer to save on her electricity bills.
“Dryer sheets. Expensive, messy and a total waste,” she said.
Whilst Hollie hasn’t shared which dryer balls she uses, you can pick up a pack of 6 on Amazon for £5.85.
Fill the fridge – but not with food
Did you know that the emptier your fridge is, the more electricity it uses?
Hollie has a simple tip to avoid throwing your money down the drain.
“If my fridge is empty and it’s towards the end of the week when I’ve used up the ingredients, I will fill it with bottles of water to keep the electricity it takes to run a fridge low,” she explained.
“Because a fridge is more efficient when there’s cold stuff in there, already making everything cold.
“I don’t just have an empty fridge just sitting there wasting electricity.”
Make do and mend
Hollie says she will only buy new clothes or items when her current belongings are no longer usable.
In a video, she said: “I will always try and fix something before replacing it.
“Whether it be a pot or a pan, or an item of clothing. If I can doctor it in some way, I will.”
Hollie said that she has been wearing the same pair of trainers “almost every day for the last two years”, and has no plans on buying another pair.
She said that in order to keep costs down, she just has one of everything.
“I don’t buy multiples of stuff. I don’t have multiple pairs of boots, multiple jumpers.
“I have just a handful of items that I cycle as much as I can, but I use them until they’re broken and then I buy another pair,” she said.
Whilst most of Hollie’s followers praise her for avoiding consumerism, she has been criticised in the past.
But to those people, she has one simple rule: she doesn’t let their opinions dictate how she spends her money.
She said: “It’s my money and I have to live with the consequences, and my goal this year is to save as much money as possible so that I can buy my first home.”
