In this current climate trying to reduce your outgoings is a constant uphill struggle as it seems on a weekly basis we face rising costs in gas, electricity, water, phone bills, food or fuel. However if you are savvy with your spending and really look at where your money goes you can start looking at areas that can be reduced. Here are some handy tips:
  • Take a packed lunch to work instead of buying lunch out. This could save around £3 a day, over the course of a week that’s £15, over a month that’s £60 and over the year that’s £780!
  • Re-evaluate your gym membership, do you need this? Do you go to the gym on a regular basis? Why not take up something that costs nothing like running? Or something that costs very little, like a workout DVD?
  • If you drive to work, could you walk instead? If you can, you could save yourself a lot of money in fuel as well as maintenance of the car. If you need to drive, have you considered car sharing? This way you can split the costs with one person or several people.
  • Look at what you pay each month for your mobile phone contract, do you use all of your minutes and texts? If you don’t, then why not see if you can reduce your contract and save yourself some more money each month. At the other end of the scale, if you find yourself constantly going over the allotted allowance and receive more charges, then look into increasing your contract to save yourself more in the long run.
  • Do the same as above with your internet and satellite TV package, do you watch all of the channels that you pay for? Look at what add on packages you can remove and once again save more on your monthly expenditure.
  • When it is time to renew your insurance policies, make sure you shop around and get the best deals that you can.
  • When doing your food shopping, make a list of everything that you need to avoid any overspending and try and resist any impulse buys as these can add unnecessary costs onto your weekly shop.
  • It is also a good idea to make a list of exactly what you are spending each month, use old bank statements to see how you’ve spent your money over the last three months. You can then see where you are overspending or buying things that you don’t necessarily need.
There are many more ways in which you can save money, these are just a few to get you started. If you have any tried and tested ideas then please feel free to share and help others out. [cta]