Do you often feel like you’d love a big night out with your friends but never have the cash? Here are eight tips to help you save money as a group – and then enjoy the benefits together.
1. Form your own car pool
Whether or not you add the word ‘karaoke’ to the end of this is up to you – the key thing here is to travel together. Whether that means piling into the same Uber when you go out or having one of you as designated driver and splitting the petrol costs, ultimately you’ll be saving money on getting from A to B (Adele/Mariah Carey medley optional).
2. Come dine with each other
This works especially well if you live together or near each other. Take it in turns to cook up a huge one-pot dish – these are usually cheap to make and go a long way. It’ll feed everyone in the group for dinner and there might even be leftovers for lunch the next day (saving you another £5-£10. Bonus!).
3. Turn food shopping into a social activity
Get together and write out a list of what food you all want/need for the week, then do that shop together, splitting the cost equally. You can save even more money by bulk buying things like toilet paper/kitchen roll and then divvying them up. There’s safety in numbers – if you go together, you can make sure you all stick to the list and don’t end up being tempted by random stuff you don’t really need. Or, even better, do your shop online.
4. Club together to buy gifts
Sometimes, it feels like everyone you know is getting married/turning 30/having a baby – and having to buy a present each time can burn a massive hole in your wallet. Save money by joining forces with two or three friends to buy one nice gift from all of you – you’ll end up buying something better for much less.
5. Save the old-fashioned way
It sounds obvious, but if you put a few pennies aside every day, these will eventually add up to a sizeable amount. Tell everyone in the group to have a look in their wallet at the end of the day and put any loose change into a tin. Pool your collective savings together at the end of the week – you’ll be surprised how much money you have saved as a group.
6. Hold a ‘swap shop’ event
The perfect chance to get rid of that dress you bought in the sale, which you love but quite can’t get into. Hold a ‘swap shop’ evening at home – dig out all those clothes and bits and pieces you don’t need/have never worn or used, and ask your friends to do the same. Then spend a few hours browsing each other’s stuff over a glass of wine.
7. Go tee total
OK, this one’s a bit extreme. But if you think about how much money you actually spend on alcohol, even if it’s just the odd glass of wine with dinner or after work, it’s money that could be added to the pot for when you want to have a big blow-out with your friends. Good things come to those who wait and all that.
8. Scour the net for deals for your night out
You’ve finally saved a bit of money for that big night out, hurrah! You may as well try to get the biggest bang for your buck – scour the net for discounts on meals and drinks, theatre tickets, spa breaks etc and book yourselves the best deal – it means you’ll have even more money to spend on any extras on the night. Enjoy!
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