As Mother’s Day is fast approaching, new research from communications provider Plusnet reveals more than a third (36%) of UK adults still regularly ask their mum’s advice on how to get the best deal.

Proving this point,  young mum Georgia has revealed how following her mum’s money saving tips helped her save £4,176 per year and get  onto the property ladder.

 Georgia Bowd, 25, mum of son Bear, two, credits her mum Allison for schooling her into making smaller day-to-day savings to free up more money to spend on things she really values.

 Her tips, include being resourceful including making her own homemade baby food, learning DIY skills independently and shopping around for purchases.  Tips like this have helped Georgia and her fiancé Reilly, 25, secure a deposit on their first home.

Georgia, from Stevenage, Herts, who is pregnant with her second baby, said: “It’s true what theory says, you always turn into your mum but for me listening to her advice  helped me save £4,000 and has got me on the property ladder so I couldn’t be happier!”

The research also showed that more than three quarters (76%) of mums say they are in charge of bills in their home and 72% intend to pass down money advice to their children.

Joanna Carman, Director at Plusnet, said: “Our research reveals that over half of us learn the best ways to be savvy with money from our mothers.

“As Georgia’s example shows, it can really pay off to listen to your mum to find hidden value in deals and services that you can rely on, to free up money to spend on life experiences like holidays.

“At Plusnet we believe value for money is simple, reliable broadband without the bells and whistles but with great customer service and at a fair price.”

 Here, Georgia has shared the five things she learned from her mum to always get the best deal:

Meal-prepping baby-food

Georgia saved over £1,400 in a year by batch-cooking and freezing meals for her toddler son Bear, instead of buying pre-made baby-food, just as her mum had done for her as a child.

 She says: “Mum used to make all our meals from scratch. When Bear was starting to move onto solids, mum warned me off sachets of baby food because she said not only were some of them full of sugar, they were far more expensive than making your own. For a single portion of Bolognese it’s £2.10. Two portions a day, over the course of a year that adds up to nearly £1,500. That’s why I make it all myself, not only does it cost 20p per meal I also know exactly what’s gone into it.”

DIYing the renovation of my home

Georgia and her partner, Reilly, decided against getting professional work done when they bought their first home and instead opted to DIY their renovation, just like Georgia’s parents used to when she was growing up.

She said: “My mum and dad would always try to do work on their house themselves, my mum has always been super crafty. When we bought the flat, we basically gutted the entire place and started from scratch. My fiancé did everything himself – he is very good with anything hands-on. We re-did the floors and carpets and painted the entire flat.

“He would go to work every day and then go to the flat to work on it until 3am, and then come home absolutely exhausted to sleep for a few hours. It was a really difficult time. But he managed to flip it all around in 3 weeks - and he did an amazing job.”

“Not only was it great to see our home come together, it also saved us so much money which we then used to buy a new sofa and a kitchen table set for the flat. It meant we could get exactly the ones we wanted without worrying about the cost.”

Choose the right utility providers

Georgia’s mum had always taught her if a deal seems too good to be true then it probably is and lots of offers that seem like good deals can quickly add up if you don’t need the extras you are buying. When Georgia and her family moved into their new flat, her mum helped her research the market very thoroughly to get the best deals on utilities, and she switched to Plusnet’s Unlimited Fibre broadband service where she pays £23.95, saving her £76 a year compared to the UK’s average monthly broadband price of £30.30*.

She said: “When we were renovating our home, I was pregnant and looking after our toddler so I didn’t do any work on the flat. Instead, I spent hours per day shopping around online to get the best deals on wall-paper, our new sofa, all the decorations for the flat. My mum taught me how to get the best deals online, using voucher codes and looking for good sales which helped a lot when trying to get the right furniture for our home, and having reliable internet was essential for me to be able to help our renovation along, now that I couldn’t do any of the physical work.

“These days, with me juggling looking after our son and work, while my partner works long hours, we don’t get much downtime. When we are together, we love watching movies and the last thing we need is hassle from our home broadband. We just want broadband that works and doesn’t cost the earth.”

Bulk-buying essentials

Following her mum’s advice on planning out everyday purchases saves Georgia £1,725 a year on essentials such as nappies and groceries.

 She said: “You use a lot of nappies with newborns and toddlers. And a lot of baby wipes. I used to buy them a few packs at a time but I looked at the price and it’s over £1 a pack. I bulk-buy both in Aldi when they’re on sale. It’s such a small switch but it makes a massive difference in the long run.

“We used to get everything from our nearest supermarket, but my mum turned me onto Aldi - she is an Aldi superfan. So now we get most of our daily groceries from Aldi. Of course there are things you can’t get there so sometimes we’ll do the odd supermarket shop, but saving on everyday supplies allows us to spend the money we save other places – I save easily £30 a week doing this.”

Planning out bigger purchases

Georgia’s mum taught her how to plan and spread out large purchases to take best possible advantage of sales and once Georgia realised she would look to buy her own home, she started preparing for the costs of moving.

 She said: “When I found out I was pregnant, I knew we’d eventually move into our own home, so I bought loads of things for the flat then. I would even get kitchen stuff, like a microwave or crockery, whenever I got paid and put it away.

 “I bought furniture and different things for the flat gradually over two years before we moved. Because otherwise it can get so expensive with so much to buy at once when you move. I had everything by the time we moved in, we were sorted really.

 “Planning our purchases for the house also meant we could use deals that were on, so I would always compare prices to get the best deal like my mum taught me and I would try to buy stuff when it was on sale because I knew I would need it down the line.”