The Penny Pincher UK

The Penny Pincher UK The Penny Pincher is a UK-based money-saving blog that helps families stretch their budget without sacrificing quality of life. Run by a savvy parent, it’s packed with down-to-earth advice on supermarket deals, cashback apps, free family activities, budgeting tips, and everyday ways to cut costs. Whether you’re trying to reduce your grocery bill, plan a cheap day out, or teach your kids about money, The Penny Pincher offers relatable, real-world ideas that actually work.

Run by a savvy parent, it’s packed with down-to-earth advice on supermarket deals, cashback apps, free family activities, budgeting tips, and everyday ways to cut costs. Whether you’re trying to reduce your grocery bill, plan a cheap day out, or teach your kids about money, The Penny Pincher offers relatable, real-world ideas that actually work.

11/08/2026

We devised a £10 Holiday Snack Challenge for the kids!

They head to the shops with £10 in cash to spend on snacks they’d like to take on our week-long holiday, but they have to stick to their budget and keep track of what they’re spending, and there had to be at least one ‘healthy item’!

My first tip is this: make sure the kids are actually in the mood for it! Mine were hot, tired and not nearly as excited about the idea as I was, so it took a bit of persuading to get them properly involved.

Once they got going, the results were really interesting. The older one mostly chose familiar brands and bigger bags, while the younger one went for more multipacks and less branded items, which meant he ended up with more individual snacks for his money.

The main lesson was about using cash instead of just tapping a Monzo card. Having a real £10 note in their hand made them think much more carefully about what they were spending, how much they had left and whether they could actually afford the next item.

It also sparked some good chats afterwards about value, the choices they’d made and even loyalty cards, because neither of them used the rewards or loyalty cards we’d made available to them!

Would I do it again? Definitely, just with better timing next time. The whole point was to let them choose snacks they actually want for our trip, while learning to budget and make their money stretch.

Also, yes, one of them managed to lose £5 halfway through.... boys will be boys...

Would you try this with your kids? Or would you even try the challenge yourself for your own holiday snacks as an adult!?

We’re heading to Devon for a few nights soon, staying in my sister’s caravan, and I’ve set the kids a little £10 holiday...
09/08/2026

We’re heading to Devon for a few nights soon, staying in my sister’s caravan, and I’ve set the kids a little £10 holiday challenge.

Last time we went away, we took loads of snacks and quite a few came home with us because apparently we’d chosen all the wrong ones. So this time, they’re choosing their own!

They’ll each get a £10 note, a carrier bag, a pen and this worksheet. They can choose whichever shop they want, then have to buy as close to £10 worth of snacks as possible without going over.

There are a few rules.

They need at least one healthier choice, they need a mixture of different things, and they have to think about where we’re staying. Caravan fridge space is limited and it could be warm, so £10 worth of chocolate probably isn’t the greatest plan!

The important bit is that they have to do the budgeting themselves. Every item goes on the worksheet, along with its price, their running total and how much of their £10 they have left.

At the end, they’ll work out exactly what they spent, whether they stayed within budget, whether they included their healthier choice and what they think was their best-value buy.

Hopefully we end up with snacks they’ll actually eat rather than bringing half of them home again.

For them, it’s also a bit of real-life maths and budgeting. They have to think about value, make choices when they can’t afford everything, consider what they’ll actually use and make that £10 stretch.

What do you reckon? Would you try the £10 Holiday Snack Challenge with your kids?

6 weeks self-employed and I think I’m FINALLY starting to find my feet 😂I’ve spent years working to someone else’s sched...
08/08/2026

6 weeks self-employed and I think I’m FINALLY starting to find my feet 😂

I’ve spent years working to someone else’s schedule, knowing what needed doing and when. Then suddenly my time became my own, which sounds great, but I’ve actually found it harder than expected to work out what should come first.

I’m juggling being a full-time content creator with being a full-time house husband and full-time foster carer, and for the last six months we’ve also been going through the assessment process to become officially approved foster carers.

That’s meant meetings, paperwork, training and a lot of extra pressure alongside normal life and work.

The good news is that this week something finally seems to have clicked work-wise. I’ve developed a system that’s helping me prioritise properly, I’m getting much more organised and I finally feel like I’m getting into a rhythm.

There’s been loads happening behind the scenes with The Penny Pincher, especially on the blog, and social media has probably suffered a bit while I’ve been trying to get everything else under control.

And then came the biggest bit of news this week.

After six months of assessments, we finally went to fostering panel and were unanimously recommended for approval ❤️

So yes, it’s been a very busy six weeks, but this week feels like a pretty big turning point.

A bloody good one, actually 😂

Let’s see what next week brings 👀

As motorists face higher pump prices due to disruption in the Middle East, the same crisis is delivering bumper profits ...
06/08/2026

As motorists face higher pump prices due to disruption in the Middle East, the same crisis is delivering bumper profits for some of the world’s biggest oil companies.

BP’s quarterly profits reached $5.7 billion, around £4.2 billion, up from $2.3 billion a year earlier. Shell’s half-year profits rose by 70% to $16.75 billion, around £12.6 billion.

These are global oil-company profits, rather than the profits made by individual petrol stations. Even so, it is difficult to accept that motorists must pay more because of a supply crisis while oil giants benefit so heavily from it.

Should the government tax these windfall profits more heavily and use the money to help motorists?

Or are huge profits simply part of a free market, with the extra VAT collected from higher pump prices making the government less eager to intervene?

Let me know what you think.

Spotted in Morrisons 👀Quick trip to Morri’s and spotted some good deals including on food, including selected frozen cle...
06/08/2026

Spotted in Morrisons 👀

Quick trip to Morri’s and spotted some good deals including on food, including selected frozen clearance products reduced from just 50p, plus some good-value fruit and vegetables, which help keep the kids fed during the summer holidays.

Like many retailers, Morrisons are also starting to be more discount heavy in order to clear out its seasonal aisle, and a result there are some strong reductions appearing on outdoor furniture and other summer products.

I’ve been watching the price of the fire pits for the last few weeks as we have decided we need one, (can’t remember why, but I’m sure it was for a good reason); they started out at £30, dropped to £25 and are now down to £20.

I was tempted to hold my nerve and wait for another reduction, but there were only two left, so I decided not to risk it; A £10 saving is still 33% off! 
I also had £5 of Morrisons More Card credit available, bringing the price down to £15, and I cashed  from my cashback balance on JamDoughnut to buy a Morrisons gift card, so technically the fire pit cost me nothing in real money (shows how those little cashback purchases add up and can get you something you want at a reduced, or even at a zero cost to your bank account! 🤩)

I suspect anything left next week could be reduced again, but that is always the gamble with clearance deals; hold out too long and the price may drop further, but the product you want could also disappear, its a gamble!  🫠

Reduced products that could be worth keeping an eye on too, including the football table and George Foreman items could make decent Christmas presents  (I know it feels far too early to mention Christmas in August! 🙈)

Have you spotted any good Morrisons, or others retailer clearance deals recently? 👀



Want to join jamdoughnut too? Use referral code PPUK for a £3 sign up bonus AD JamDoughnut

You’ll see from some of my other posts that I often say Monday is a good day for grocery savings, as the food delivery a...
05/08/2026

You’ll see from some of my other posts that I often say Monday is a good day for grocery savings, as the food delivery apps regularly run discounts of up to 60% on fruit, vegetables and a mixture of other everyday groceries, but you shouldn’t ignore Wedneday either, as there are usually some decent savings available, and I find Just Eat often has some of the strongest grocery offers around.

Every Wednesday, Just Eat offers 50% off selected groceries from a range of participating retailers, with each shop choosing different products for the promotion. The deals change every week, so they might not always match exactly what you need, but there aren’t many Wednesdays when I don’t manage to find something useful for a grocery top-up shop.

Even after delivery charges, service fees and bag charges, the final price is often still cheaper than buying the same items directly from the shop.

The offers can cover fresh meat, fish, dairy products, vegetables, drinks, confectionery and plenty of other cupboard or fridge essentials.

During the school holidays, there are often family-friendly products included too, such as pizza, chicken nuggets, snacks and other convenient options, alongside healthier choices.

They might not be nutritional gold, although there is normally a decent mix of naughty and nice, but when the kids are eating you out of house and home, cheaper food is cheaper food right!?

You may also be able to stack the deal with cashback by using JamDoughnut gift cards or checking TopCashback and Quidco before placing your order. That means you can save through the Just Eat offer and potentially earn cashback on top.

Always check and compare the final total before paying, but these Wednesday deals can be a very useful way to feed the family for less.

FoodDeals SaveMoney

Yesterday’s question produced a very different response from the one I expected. Rather than wanting longer Sunday openi...
03/08/2026

Yesterday’s question produced a very different response from the one I expected. Rather than wanting longer Sunday opening hours, a huge number of people felt shops should close completely, giving retail workers a guaranteed day away from work.

I can understand why shop workers would welcome that, but many people only have Saturday or Sunday free to shop. Restricting everyone to Saturday could create overcrowded stores, while closing shops for an entire day could also have major financial consequences for retailers and staff who rely on Sunday shifts.

Perhaps essential retailers such as supermarkets and pharmacies should remain open while less essential shops close, but where would we draw the line?
Should all shops close on Sundays, should only essential retailers open, or should customers continue to have the choice?

Monday can be one of the best days to order groceries through food delivery apps!Just Eat offers up to 60% off selected ...
03/08/2026

Monday can be one of the best days to order groceries through food delivery apps!

Just Eat offers up to 60% off selected fruit and veg through Fruitful Monday, while Uber Eats offers 50% off selected fresh fruit and vegetables through Fresh Mondays.

Deliveroo is currently offering £6 off a £20 grocery spend with code BAGOFF. Add it to the Vouchers and Credit section of the app, and it can be used twice over the next 2 weeks (On any day from what I can seee)

Tesco is also launching on Deliveroo and Uber Eats later this month 🥳 Shoppers will be able to access hundreds of Clubcard Prices and collect Clubcard points when ordering through either app, so it’ll be interesting to see if they also offer Monday deals in the same way! 👀 🤔

More about that on the blog 👍

Don’t forget to stack these offers with cashback 🤑 You can buy gift cards through services such as JamDoughnut, or check TopCashback, Quidco, Rakuten and subscription cashback service Complete Savings for other cashback opportunities.

More information: www.thepennypincher.co.uk/cashback

Always check the final total before paying for any extra service, delivery or bag charges, but even with the fees, these discounts ‘should’ still work out cheaper than buying directly from the supermarket, and they are especially handy while the children are off school and eating you out of house and home 🫠

The current Sunday trading rules date back to 1994. Large shops in England and Wales can open for only six continuous ho...
02/08/2026

The current Sunday trading rules date back to 1994. Large shops in England and Wales can open for only six continuous hours on a Sunday, partly to protect workers and family time, keep Sunday distinctive and support smaller retailers.

Yet shopping habits have changed massively since then. We can now buy online at any hour, while smaller convenience stores are already allowed to remain open for longer.

Would relaxing the rules give shoppers more choice and offer staff the chance to earn more, or would it simply place extra pressure on workers to sacrifice one of the few shorter working days left?

What do you think, is the six-hour rule outdated or still worth protecting?

Costco are clearing out the last of their outdoor and garden stock to make room for autumn products, so it’s worth check...
01/08/2026

Costco are clearing out the last of their outdoor and garden stock to make room for autumn products, so it’s worth checking your local warehouse for reductions 👀

There wasn’t a huge amount left at Farnborough, but there were still some decent bargains. I was very pleased with our zero-gravity chairs, which were marked at £49.97 but scanned at just £39.97 at the till.

Similar chairs are selling for nearly £100 elsewhere online. Costco currently has them online for £44.97 with free delivery too, so that’s still a good option if your local store has sold out.

Anything still hanging around could be reduced further as more autumn stock arrives, so keep an eye out!

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