21 ways to save £100 this week JASMINE BIRTLES
Money-saving expert is here to reveal how to reach your goal...
THE start of the year is tough financially at the best of times but for many of us, lockdown has made getting by even harder. Here are our tips for saving £100 (or more) this week by making a few small changes.
1 FIND FREE MONEY YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU HAD
CHECK to see if you have a forgotten savings account or if you have inherited one from someone, at mylostaccount.org.uk
2 FOOD FOR THOUGHT
SPEND this week using up the food you have in the freezer and store cupboards.
Only buy a few perishable foods to go with what you already have.
You should be able to save at least £30 in the week doing this.
3 UNSUBSCRIBE!
ACCORDING to Natwest, the typical adult wastes £39 a month on subscriptions they never use.
This includes services such as Amazon Prime, streaming services such as Netflix, magazines, gym memberships and even mobile phone and travel insurance that automatically renews each year.
Go through what you have and see what you can cancel.
4 GET WHAT YOU CAN FOR FREE
IF YOU’RE desperate for a sofa or need a replacement fridge, don’t bother buying one. Trawl through free offer sites, such as Freecycle, Gumtree, Free Stuff and Preloved.
People give away wonderful stuff every day and it’s quite possible to get nearly new items just for the price of picking them up. You can potentially save £1,000 if you get a sofa for free.
5 CUT FOOD COSTS
APPS such as Olio, tell you where people and businesses near you are giving food away for free.
Too Good to Go sends out notifications of cafes and restaurants offering food on the cheap at the end of the day.
Also approvedfood.co.uk is a marvellous site for cheaper food that might be past its ‘best before’ date.
Save £15 in the week doing this.
6 FLICK THE SWITCH
UNPLUG electrical appliances at night instead of leaving them on standby. That alone can save you up to £50 a year.
7 FIX WATER DRIPS ASAP
LEAVING a dripping tap for a year could cost you an extra £100 on your water bill if you are on a water meter.
8 PLAY THE INSULATION GAME
MAKE sure your house is insulated against the cold properly. Not only does it cut energy bills during the winter months but it helps keep the heat out during summer as well. Homeowners on a low income could qualify for boiler grants and insulation grants to help improve the energy efficiency of their home, too.
To see if you might qualify for help, go to boilergrants.org.uk and simpleenergyadvice.org.uk
9 GO VEGETARIAN FOR THE WEEK
MEAT and dairy products tend to be the most expensive items in the weekly food shop so cut yours by being vegetarian or even vegan for a few days.
Visit bbcgoodfood.com for some excellent veggie recipes if you need inspiration on what to cook. This should save you around £15 in a week.
10 CLAIM ALL WORK EXPENSES AGAINST TAX
YOU can claim for costs associated with working from home, washing uniform or travel whether you’re employed or your own boss.
This can bring down your tax bill substantially and if you haven’t done it before, you could be owed a serious refund too. Tax refunds can be backdated up to four years and on average people can claim back between £2,500 and £3,000 according to tax refund company Tommy’s Tax.
11 SWITCH TO SAVE
SET aside a couple of hours this week to find the best deals on all your boring bills like energy, broadband, insurance and mobile phone.
Comparison sites such as Compare The Market, Money Supermarket and Confused can help you get cheaper versions.
If you haven’t switched for a couple of years you should be able to save about £1,000 over the year, particularly if you switch all your insurance policies.
12 SHOP AROUND
IF YOU’RE looking to buy something, it’s increasingly easy to search around for the best price. Use comparison sites such as Onbuy, Idealo and Pricerunner to find the lowest price.
13 DO A BUDGET FOR THE WEEK
THE more we can budget and plan ahead the more money we save.
Use a free budgeting app such as Hyperjar which helps you apportion money for different types of spending and gives you 4.8% interest while it’s sitting in ‘jars’.
14 SELL UNWANTED GIFTS
ENOUGH time has lapsed since Christmas to make it acceptable to start selling the stuff you didn’t want.
Try Facebook groups, ebay, Gumtree and nextdoor.com to convert unwanted gifts into cash.
15 ASK FOR YOUR ENERGY CREDIT TO BE REPAID
DO YOU pay your energy bill by direct debit every month? If you pay the same amount each time it’s possible that you are nicely in credit now.
Check to see if you are and, if so, ask for some of your overpayment to be sent to your bank account.
According to uswitch.com, almost 13 million households across the UK are owed money by their energy supplier, with an average reclaim amount of £136.
16 MAKE YOUR OWN CLEANING PRODUCTS
SAVE yourself money and improve the environment by using homemade cleaning products instead of the chemical-based manufactured ones.
White vinegar, lemons, newspaper, bicarbonate of soda and sugar soap are pretty much all you need to clean the house safely and efficiently, as I showed in an article on that subject on moneymagpie.com
17 GET WHAT YOU’RE ENTITLED TO
SEE if there are any benefits or tax credits you’re entitled to that you haven’t applied for at turn2us.org.uk and use its calculator.
18 YOU COULD CLAIM A GRANT
WHILE you’re on the Turn2us charity’s site, see if you qualify for a cash payout from one of the many grant-making bodies it has access to.
There are hundreds and at least one is likely to apply to you. There is money for people who work or have worked in the drinks industry, in the provisions industry and the caravanning industry, for vegetarians or vegans under 25 and for Scottish people living within 35 miles of Charing Cross, London, for at least two years. That’s just for starters!
19 SPEAK TO LOCAL AUTHORITY
IF YOU did not get a furlough payment and don’t qualify for Universal Credit, speak to your local authority about getting a one-off discretionary payment.
Not all councils have the money to cover these but it’s worth a try.
20 USE YOUR POINTS.
MANY of us have gathered up points on loyalty cards such as Tesco Clubcard, Boots Advantage and Nectar but we haven’t used them. See what you’ve accumulated and make this the week you actually spend them instead of paying with money.
You should be able to save around £12 this way.
21 USE A CASHBACK SITE WHERE YOU CAN
SITES such as Quidco, Topcashback and Widilo give you cash back for all kinds of purchases from clothes to insurance, and from bank accounts to homeware.
If you need to buy something anyway, first check the best price on comparison sites and then see if you can get even more off by buying through a cashback site.
■ Jasmine Birtles is a TV and radio money expert and founder of the self-help money site moneymagpie.com