Saving money is not for geniuses, you just need to be a nerd - Sarah Coles

And I don’t use the word disparagingly. Being thoughtful, knowledgeable and diligent with detail means you come into your own when times are tough.

Nerds know how to get to grips with money and make the most of what they have because they’ve put time and effort into working it out.

The biggest savings are reserved for those who can do this legwork but even if you don’t have an inner nerd to get in touch with, there are still significant savings to be had from taking a few steps in the right direction and getting to grips with three very nerdy tips.

Think about your spending – in as much detail as possible

The more you know, the more control you can take. Take something like energy use. There’s a good chance you last thought about an appliance’s energy efficiency when you bought it.

However, if you track down the manual for things like the dishwasher and washing machine and wade through it for half an hour you can work out the most

energy-efficient cycle for everything you wash, which can save 20 per cent to 40 per cent of the energy.

Likewise, with the fridge/freezer. Once you discover running the ice maker uses a fifth more energy, you can make an informed decision whether to use it. And once you do the research, you know that for every minute you leave the fridge door open it takes 10 to cool down, so you can decide whether cluttering the fridge with endless almost-empty jars is costing you more than you save, as you stand at an open fridge hunting for the butter.

Getting to understand all your energy use – and the most effective ways to cut it – can help you shave a small fortune off your bills.

Make plans for everything – and don’t scrimp on the detail

Food is a good example. I’m about a six out of 10 on the food planning scale. We always know what’s in the cupboards and fridge before we shop, we always make a list and stick to it. We do regular stock-takes so we can use things up or cook and freeze them before they go off and we batch-cook lunches.

The only food that gets thrown out is leftovers a teenager has thoughtfully left under their bed for a few days. And there is the occasional day when all plans go out the window and we get a takeaway.

However, I know plenty of nerds who work far harder. They make lists of everything they have and make a plan for every stock cube and every quarter of every onion they buy. They always make extra for dinner and freeze all leftovers so there’s always something for lunch or the day they have no energy to cook. Their freezer is a joy of batch cooking, alongside ice cubes of leftover wine dregs for risotto and home-made breadcrumbs.

If all this sounds like an enormous amount of work, you can learn from the experience of those who are truly great at this.

Food campaigner Jack Monroe is a fount of wisdom on social media, in their cookery books and on cookingonabootstrap.com, where you’ll find endless ways to use up your leftovers.

Look for the loopholes – and don’t forget those details

When I asked around recently about how people used their supermarket points schemes, the nerds soon revealed themselves in all their glory. While plenty of people were happy collecting their points and then spending them in the wine aisle as a regular treat, the nerds squeeze every penny of value from the scheme.

Again I’m about a 6/10. I collect my points then track down the partners offering the highest multiples for a swap that I’d actually like. It paid for a hotel this Easter, which was a lovely freebie.

However, one of the brilliant nerds I work with told me he pays for Tesco ClubCard Plus for £7.99 a month and then plans carefully to do two big shops and two little shops a month.

You get two 10-per-cent-off vouchers a month, so he uses these for the big shops – where he picks up things with a longer shelf life to use later, like shampoo and ketchup.

He’s calculated that after the cost of the card, he saves £10 a month on his shopping. And he had the nerve to start explaining about his approach to shopping with the words “It’s really boring but…”

There will be plenty of people for whom all this talk of planning and detail brings them out in hives. If this is you, don’t give up.

You don’t have to aim for money-saving perfection. Just start with a few steps in the right direction and celebrate every move towards the ultimate aim of nerd status.