Saving money has many benefits, whether that be to take yourself on a well-deserved holiday, improving your home, buying a new car, or simply saving money for a rainy day. However, saving money isn’t as easy as it sounds, and with temptations all around us such as takeaways, clothing stores and nights out with friends and family, it’s very easy to overspend and find yourself regretting not saving the money instead. “But I need that money now”, I hear you say? Not to worry, if you’ve been careful with your money up until now, you can look at the best personal loans for good credit until you get back on your feet again. To avoid this situation again, here are 6 simple tricks to start saving money more often.
Cut down on everyday expenses
Everyday expenses such as food, rent/mortgage, mobile phone, transportation, and hygiene products can dramatically be reduced by taking steps such as:
- Taking a prepacked lunch to work instead of nipping to the shop on your lunch break.
- Put away your rent/mortgage money as soon as you get it so that you can pay on time and avoid any extra charges.
- Choose a lower mobile phone contract, or switch to pay as you go.
- Walk, cycle, carpool, or even take the bus to avoid expenses with your car and help towards the environment.
Quit smoking
We don’t need to lecture you on why you should quit smoking for your health – you already know. Aside from the glaring health reasons, you can save an unbelievable amount of money by quitting smoking. Calculate how much you spend per week/month and then each year. You’ll be staggered by the amount you spend and also how much you could be putting away instead of damaging your health.
If you’re struggling with quitting smoking, there are plenty of ways you can obtain help such as:
- Speaking to your GP for smoking cessation advice
- Switching to a vape pen – they’re cheaper and are proven to help people kick the habit for good.
- Use patches
- Reward yourself each day/week you go without smoking – without spending too much money of course.
Cancel unused/unwanted subscriptions
Even when you’re on a decent wage it’s easy to wonder where all of your money goes. Most of the time, subscriptions to services and accounts you don’t really use are the main culprit of this because they’re easy to forget about. Take the time to look at your outgoings over the past few months and you may find that there are subscriptions such as the gym, posted magazines and even a Netflix account you no longer use. Once you’ve found them, cancel them and enjoy the extra money in your savings!
Shop smarter
We all need to shop at some point or another for food, clothing, cleaning products, etc. however, not many people know how to do this the smart way as it’s often more convenient to head to the nearest shop to get what they need. Here are some tips to remember when shopping:
- Use discount vouchers and coupons wherever possible
- Buy in bulk from discount stores for essentials such as laundry powder and dry food
- Shop online – you’ll save money on fuel and quite often you’ll find that larger stores have better deals online
- Buy clothing from charity shops. You can find some real gems in charity stores that would have normally cost you three times (if not more) the price.
Learn how to haggle
Haggling is a brilliant skill to have if you’re keen on saving money because you’re able to talk prices down and come to a more agreeable solution. Learn and use the skill of haggling to bring down your utility bills, your phone bill, and even on large purchases from stand-alone companies. You’ll be surprised at how often people are willing to give you some wiggle room with the price of their products.
Change up your social life
Finally, having a social life is important and cutting out altogether is realistically a bad idea. The good news is you don’t have to give it up at all! Rather than heading to the pub or a restaurant to meet your friends, why not cook a meal and ask them to bring their own drinks to enjoy? Hosting dinner parties are much more intimate as well as saving you a tonne of money in the process!
As you can see, there are a plethora of ways you can start saving money more often, so why not get started today?
