A WOMAN has shared how she has more than HALVED her food bills and saved £5k towards a house deposit by getting clothes second hand and saving abandoned furniture from the street.

Housing officer Jasmine Storm Williamson, 27, from London, has always been a fan of thrifting, but committed to saving money after having her son Kian, six.

As a single mum, Jasmine works part-time and finds creative ways to save money, from charity shops to online surveys and finding furniture on the street.

Jasmine’s monthly outgoings have reduced dramatically, cutting down her phone bill from a £55 contract to a £12 sim-only phone.

She also pays an average of £45 for four outfits instead of £150 for two, and pays just £15 for streaming services compared to £60 for a TV package.

Jasmine has also cut down her weekly food bills by more than 50 per cent, going from paying around £65-£70 per week for groceries to just £15-£25.

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“I think I began thrifting more when I became a parent,” said Jasmine.

“When I was younger, I don’t really think I knew the value of money. A lot of people are just not educated and I want to make sure I teach my son how to be savvy with money.

“I am saving money for the future – long-term I would like to buy a house and I am putting money away for my son’s future. So far I have saved up about £5k.”

Some of Jasmine’s most surprising money-saving finds come from the streets of London.

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“I have a dining table that I found on the street that is one of my best finds,” she said.

“Even just last week, I found a side table outside. It seems that in London people just leave things outside and they are in fine condition.”

But Jasmine has plenty of other methods to save money while shopping.

“For my food shop I use Goodtogo, a food waste reduction app that allows you to get surplus food from supermarkets,” she said.

“It costs £3.29 and you don't know what you’re going to get but you're guaranteed cookies and chocolate and stuff like that, and some have fruit, vegetables and rice.

“I also go to Sainsbury’s and if there’s loads of yellow ticket stuff I will get as much as I can.

“For other things I get ex-samples or ex-display, like my sofa is probably my best find – I got it from DFS, and it is ex-display so I got it for a quarter of the price it would have been.

“I’d say probably in the last two and half years the majority of my wardrobe is from charity shops and it’s mostly the same in my house. My day to day life is thrifted.

“The other day I got a Zara top from Barnado’s for £2 but new it would’ve been £22. 

“It’s just being consciously aware, you can save so much just by looking for bargains.”

Now Jasmine is sharing her tips for those who have been hit by the cost of living crisis.

“I’d just say to sit down, work out your outgoings and decide what things you need,” she said.

“For instance, I’ve never had a TV package – we have Netflix which has everything we need.”

A colour TV licence in the UK currently costs £159 a year, while a Netflix subscription at £6.99 a month totals just £83.88 per year – saving £75.12.

“My main big tip would be to always shop out of season, or shop in reverse,” said Jasmine.

“So when Easter finishes, anything for Easter is reduced, and it’s the same with any other holiday or seasonal thing.

“I’ve already got everything sorted for Christmas this year because I shopped for it all after Christmas last year.

“What I usually do as well is in the evenings I do surveys and stuff – there are loads of them.

“You can do product testing and sometimes you get £150 for just a couple of hours.

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“As well as that, I never just walk past a charity shop – you never know what you might find.”

Jasmine’s Instagram is flooded with people asking for advice, but she never anticipated that her page would become so popular.

“I’d say the last two years, I’ve always just posted about myself and my life – I never expected it to become as big as it is now,” she said.

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“I went on holiday last weekend and we went to a Sun holiday where you collect the vouchers.

“It was a three-day weekend and I only paid £101 for the whole holiday. Everyone was commenting and messaging me asking how I did it.

“I just told them ways you can save on a caravan holiday, so you can bring your own food and batch cook meals in advance. So many people were messaging me saying it was nicer than they thought it would be.”

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