Stacey Solomon’s best thrifty mum tips – from the best way to nab cheap clothes to making sure there’s NO food waste
Queen of household hacks Stacey Solomon is no stranger to sharing her nifty and affordable mum tricks with her dedicated 3.8 million Instagram followers.
The star, 31, has become the ultimate home hack guru and proudly shares her secret tips for juggling life as a mother-of-three while saving on her pennies online.
Stacey, who is mum to Zachary, 12, Leighton, eight, and Rex, one, uses a string of budget hacks to make mum life easier.
Her tricks include nabbing jumble sales bargains and batch cooking.
Luckily Stacey often shares step-by-step videos on how to use her money-saving mum tips.
From making pencil cases for her kids out of old drink bottles to gifting homemade Christmas presents, here are Stacey's top 10 thrifty mum hacks.
Batch cooking family dinner
Keen to save time and money, the celeb mum ensures the food in her fridge doesn’t go to waste by prepping all of the family meals for the week ahead each Sunday.
The mum-of-three dedicates her Sunday afternoon to chopping vegetables, meat, salad and potatoes for her weekday meals - before storing them in daily labelled glass containers.
This hack means Stacey makes use of everything in the fridge.
Revealing a glimpse inside her immaculate fridge recently, Stacey said: “This will get me through to Wednesday because veggies don't last more than three days peeled.
"I keep the potatoes in water or they go brown - but at least I know I can come home from work and just chuck everything in."
Homemade Christmas presents
The bargain-hunting mum, who shares her stunning home with partner , also saves money by making her own gifts and decorations for Christmas.
Stacey makes festive crackers out of recycled material and puts her sons’ favourite chocolate along with cheap mini Lego figures inside as the gifts.
This hack is perfect for seeing kids’ faces light up - as Santa remembers their favourite treats - while keeping the cost to a minimum.
She said: "I make my own crackers every year… you buy some that are made out of recycled material and it comes with everything - the snapper, the joke and the hat.
"And then you can fill it with whatever you want. So if the boys’ favourite chocolate was a Dairy Milk, I’d put one in there and maybe a little mini Lego figure."
Cheap crafts to keep the kids busy during lockdown
Instead of splurging on new computer games and pricey new toys, the thrifty mum kept her boys busy during the first coronavirus lockdown by using home ‘junk’ for arts and crafts.
They repurposed a Tomato Ketchup bottle, Fanta Fruit Twist bottle and Robinsons squash bottle into nifty pencil cases.
Captioning a video, Stacey wrote: “So we are going to make our own pencil cases out of rubbish, zips and glue…I went with ketchup and I stand by it!”
Stacey added: “Just cut where you want the opening, glue the zip on both sides and fill.”
They also made rainbow candles for key workers - using wicks, a glue gun, old mint sauce jars and heated crayons - but she later admitted the trick required a ‘lot of frigging patience’.
Jumble sale bargains
The famous DIYer recently trawled through a jumble sale to nab a few bargains.
She proudly showed off the items she picked up for a fiver in a garage sale - including five herb pots, a custard cream tin, a perfume bottle and a Little Brown Bag.
She told her followers: “I've got my 20p custard cream tin. I'm going to try and restore it, maybe paint it or just scrub it up. These herb pots, all of them for £3. I couldn't believe it.”
Animal snacks to get kids to eat fruit
Instead of splashing out on expensive kid-friendly snacks, Stacey makes her own versions at home - saving money and getting her little ones to eat their five-a-day.
She’s become famous for her animal fruit creations and shaped sandwiches - which she makes in her kitchen using standard supermarket essentials.
Stacey recently made a peacock-shaped fruit platter for her boys, which included grapes, blueberries and avocado.
She has also enticed her sons to eat sandwiches by making them into ocean-themed shapes.
Bargain to keep the toilet pee-free
Stacey recently revealed that she’d come up with a thrifty mum hack to stop the boys peeing on the toilet seat during the night.
The TV star spent £2.59 on a motion-sensor toilet light that illuminates the seat.
She filmed her toilet glowing brightly in the pitch black bathroom as she cheered: "My favourite. Best invention ever. No more pee on the seat, because everyone can see it!"
However Stacey’s loyal following rushed to eBay to purchase the contraption - meaning it was sold out hours later. But don’t worry, there is another listing selling the light for £3.38 too.
Turning old socks into decorations
Instead of splashing out on new decorations, Stacey’s thrifty mum hack saw her repurpose old clothing to replicate fancy designs she’d spotted in high street shops.
She made use of the odd socks in her house by turning them into autumnal decorations.
She revealed: “I have wanted to try and do something with our odd socks for ages instead of throwing them away, so here we go. It’s an odd sock pumpkin...I’m going to make a display!”
She also used a pair of tights and Leighton’s old jumper to make a Christmas gonk - by glueing the ends together and stuffing the creation with fluff and rice.
Fakeaway (cheaper and healthier than the real thing!)
The mum recently shared her latest thrifty hack as she treated her eldest sons to a ‘fakeaway’ using cardboard and envelopes to recreate McDonalds Happy Meals.
The homemade McDonald’s is cheaper than the real thing - and healthier too - as Stacey told her followers she always treats her boys to a special meal on their last day of school.
She explained: "I printed these templates off [just Googled McDonald's nugget template], my ink has run out so I am colouring it in. I used yellow envelopes for their chips.”
Dribble bib dispenser
Stacey also shared the nifty way she stores Rex’s dribble bibs - using an old nappy dispenser.
She shared a post to her story, writing: “So I’ve just got a load of Rex’s dribble bibs out because he is teething so badly at the minute and everything is ending up soaking wet.
“They’re usually at the bottom of a cupboard, but I saw this organisation storage hack for plastic bags, and I want to see if I can do it with these.”
She folded the bibs in a certain way so they were easy to pull out of the old nappy dispenser.
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Repurpose outgrown baby items
Keen to ensure she isn’t left with a stash of unused baby items as Rex gets bigger, the clever mum-of-three is always finding cheap ways to reuse things.
She recently turned his baby mobile into a rope shelf - and decorated it with fluffy rabbits and a faux plant. She saved money - by not having to buy a shelf - and repurposed the mobile.
She said: "He's too big for this now, which makes me sad, but I love it. so I'm going to try and make a little rope shelf thing that I keep seeing everywhere."
Elsewhere, another savvy mum shares easy envelope system which helps her budget for her family-of-four.
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