We could all do with finding ways to save money, and I want to challenge you to taking a few hours over this next weekend to see how you can save £500 or more over the next year. Here are lots of ideas to help you to save money.
Switch energy providers
Most of us are loyal to our energy providers, but did you know that you could be paying around £300 more per year by not switching your energy provider? All you need to do in order to run a price check is a recent energy bill – if you don’t have one to hand then you might have an online account where you can get access to one. Use this information on a price comparison website like USwitch, or visit a website like Bulb directly to see how much you can save.
If you sign up to bulb using my referral link then they will give us both £50! Kerching.
If you can make a significant saving by switching then it takes less than 10 minutes to switch. Your new energy company will inform your previous supplier and take care of all of the arrangements for you.
Try to get into the habit of doing this once a year to see how much more you could be saving.
Reduce the cost of your TV subscription
If you are paying for satellite or cable tv then you can save money in a number of ways. You could look to see if you are actually using the subscription, and if not you could cancel it or reduce your package. If you are using it then you can ask if there are any special offers or discount available to you. Sometimes you will need to talk to someone in customer retentions, which is done by asking to cancel your account. Good news though – some suppliers will even let you haggle using online chat now. You can save anything from £10-£30 per month just by haggling, which adds up to £120 – £360 per year.
Switch broadband and telephone provider
In the past, switching your telephone and broadband provider was a massive faff, with downtime to be expected. These days it is much easier to make the switch, and you can save massively.
Simply dig out your last statement to see how much you are paying and what you are getting for your monthly fee, then start shopping around. You can use price comparison websites to see if there are better deals available to you. You might even find an added incentive to switch, like cashback or a gift card to a store of your choice.
You can expect to save anything from £5+ per month by switching, and even more if you are willing to combine your tv subscription with your telephone and broadband subscription.
Get new insurance quotes
Another area that doesn’t pay us to be loyal is our insurances. Car insurance is the biggest culprit, but home insurance, gadget insurance and holiday insurance are also guilty. Whilst your policies might not be up for renewal right now, you can make a note on a calendar or your phone to run a comparison next time a policy is up for renewal.
You can save around £200 per year by switching your car insurance provider. GoCompare and MoneySupermarket are two great places to get quotes from all sorts of insurance providers.
Switch your debts to 0%
If you are still paying off some high-interest debts, such as credit cards, then switching to a 0% credit card can save you a lot of money. Look for a card with offers for a 0% balance transfer, which means taking the balance from Credit Card A over to Credit Card B. There is usually a small charge for the transfer, around 1-3% of the amount you are transferring, but there will be no interest to pay until the promotion period runs out. This means your repayments are going towards your debts and not getting wasted on interest charges.
The amount of money you will save on interest depends on the amount of debt you have and the length of the 0% promotional period. As an example, if you had £2,000 on a credit card at 18.9%, paying £100 a month, it would take you 24 months to pay it off plus you would pay an additional £374 in interest. If you were able to switch to a 0% credit card for 12 months and still pay £100 per month, it would take 21 months to pay off and you will only pay £48 in interest. Even with the small fee of £20-£60 (1-3%) you will be making a massive saving.
To find suitable credit cards with 0% balance transfer offers, visit the Money Saving Expert website.
Get your free 1% at a time printable
This simple trick helped us to clear £15,000 worth of credit card debt. Simply take your savings goal and divide it by 100 to get your 1% at a time. Once you have saved or earned 1%, cross it off. Download this free printable to keep you on track.
