12 ways to save ₤₤₤s
IT’S a new year and the chance to take a fresh look at your finances.
If your resolution is to tighten your belt and save cash in 2019, we have the expert advice to help. It’s never too late to sort out money woes – and January is a great place to start.
And here, JENNIFER DUNKERLEY brings you a dozen easy ways to get started...
1 The first step to saving money is to take a cold, hard look at your incomings and outgoings to make cuts – it often starts with shopbought lunches – and plan a budget that works for you.
2 Haggle on your household bills. It might sound silly but questioning your general bills can make huge savings. A Which? magazine study found that you can save around £725 a year just by questioning the price of your everyday utility outgoings.
They surveyed more than 2,000 people about their haggling experiences and 58% said they had negotiated sizeable discounts.
3 Stop auto-renewing. It might sound obvious but when it comes to car insurance, home insurance and more, it’s best to shop around rather than take the autorenew price. They’re offering you the easy option after all.
4 The Money Charity estimates that the average UK household has around £2,559 of debt sitting on a credit card. This balance attracting interest at 21.2% APR will take over six years and cost £1,495 in interest to clear if you pay £66 a month.
But you can freeze the interest and speed up the time it takes to clear what you owe with a 0% balance transfer credit card.
5 Try to use cashback sites. When you buy online, get in the habit of shopping with specialist money-back websites to help save cash. Quidco estimates members earn £305 back a year while TopCashback claims members amass £356 per year with this simple shopping trick.
6 Loyalty cards might bulk out your purse and wallet but they are free and a great way to rack up savings as you spend.
Most of us will have supermarket loyalty cards such as the Tesco Clubcard or the M&S Sparks card but there are lots more schemes you might not have heard of that can help you build up points that turn into vouchers or give you access to freebies.
Asos A-List, The Body Shop Love Your Body, the Nando’s Card, my John Lewis, IKEA Family and Boots Advantage are some of the most generous ones out there.
7 Shop supermarket own brands. Buying that basic and budget range instead of the known-name can produce significant savings – and you may find that avoiding big brands doesn’t mean compromising on taste. Experts regularly do blind taste tests with brands such as Heinz and Kellogg’s, against supermarket-own items and find tasty results.
8 Go veggie. Not only will cutting out pricey cuts of meat save cash but it can also improve your health. Eating a balanced, meat-free diet, even starting with just a few days a week, can see huge savings and reduce your waistline – as well as your credit card.
9 Buy in bulk. Buying big is a simple way to save. If you own or manage your own business, it’s worth signing up with a wholesale retailer or membership club such as Costco, which has 28 warehouses in the UK. There is an annual membership fee of £26.40. Other wholesale retailers to consider include Makro and Bestway. Other stores have savings for shopping in large quantities too.
10 Turn down the heat. It might be chilly outside, but if you are walking around indoors in a T-shirt in winter, you are burning cash.
A simple but effective way to cut heating costs is to take control of your central heating thermostat. Reducing room temperatures by just 1°C could cut your heating bills by almost 10%. Adjusting your central heating timer to switch off at night and during the day if the house is empty will also minimise fuel consumption.
11 Don’t buy bottled water. Places that serve alcohol are now required by law to give customers free tap water, so don’t be shy about asking for it. Some restaurants charge more than £3.50 for a bottle of mineral water, so twice-monthly diners could save almost £100 a year by switching to tap.
12 Avoid wasting food. Make the most of your fridge and freezer. Freezing leftovers instead of binning them will save you money and time, as you have got an instant meal for a day when you don’t fancy cooking. And storing food properly in your fridge will give it a longer shelf-life.
For example, cucumbers turn soft because the fridge is too cold – wrap them in a tea towel to keep them crisper.
And avoid putting milk in the door rack, as it’s warmed whenever the door is opened.