Saving money can seem very easy and simple, but in reality, it’s difficult to just leave money untouched. But, saving is very important for your future, as it can help with any big costs that may come your way. These costs could range from buying yourself a new phone, saving for Christmas shopping, or buying a house. A lot of the time, saving is the main reason behind strict budgeting. To find out more about budgeting, go to the budgeting section.

But, saving is basically just about making sure your money goes the furthest it can. So this guide will give you plenty of tips and tricks that can help you save money.

Manage your money

The first step is to make sure your money isn’t being wasted. One way people tend to lose a lot of money is by having unnecessary direct debits set up. You need to check your bank and credit card statements regularly to make sure you haven’t forgotten about a direct debit you set up years ago, and is still draining your account. These can be easy to miss as often they are only for a few pounds a month, but it all adds up.

Manage your outgoings

Next it’s about working out your income and expenditure.. Write down your income and a detailed list of your outgoings. You may be surprised how much you spend on certain things over a year. To be in control of your finances you need to know how much cash you have left at the end of each month. Then you can decide how much you want to put towards savings and how much to spend on luxuries. Saving 10% of your income each month is a well recognised target to aim for.

Manage your debt

Many people have some level of credit card debt that they are paying interest on. One way to reduce these costs is to transfer your credit card debt. You can do this by taking out a new credit card that offers a set amount of time interest free on debt. This time period can give you time to pay off your debts. However, once the no-interest period has ended, you can expect the interest payments to jump up.

If you must borrow, credit cards are one of the more expensive ways of doing it unless you pay off your balance each month.Payday loans are even worse and to be avoided as they can damage your credit score

Price comparison

Another massive way to reduce your spending is to use price comparison sites. There is usually a big difference between providers’ prices and quality, so it’s about choosing the right structure for you. There are price comparison websites for a huge number of products, including car insurance, broadband and WiFi, credit cards and more. Don’t be afraid to shop around and find the best deal.

Watch what you buy

A very obvious way of saving money is just being careful what you buy. More often than not, people will pay the extra premium to buy a branded product. However, most supermarket own-brand products are just as good, if not better. If you are able to save £20 on your weekly shop, at the end of the year that’s £1040. Also look out for the offers on food which is close to its sell by date. There is nothing wrong with it and most can be frozen for use at another time

Subscriptions

Subscriptions are needed for a lot of modern day services, and can end up costing a lot of money. However, if you share your subscriptions with other people, you can easily cut down costs. For example, a single Spotify subscription is £9.99 a month. However, Spotify Family allows up to six people from the same family (and address) for £16.99 a month. This could be a massive monthly saving for larger groups.

Coffee

This is a relatively recent phenomenon and these days, for many, that daily trip to get coffee is a requirement. But if you buy coffee 5 days a week, that’s already at least £15. When you look at that over the whole year, that’s up to £780. At this point, instant coffee may be a much more sensible option. The same can be said for smoothies. It can be much cheaper to make your own rather than buying.

Vouchers

Vouchers could save you a lot of money if you use them properly. More often than not, people throw away vouchers thinking they won’t help that much. But, if you save them and wait for the best time to use them, they can save you a whole heap of cash. There are a fair few blogs and websites that can help you find the best vouchers around.

Loyalty cards

Loyalty cards are also massively underrated. Some schemes may be better than others, but at the end of the day you are getting rewards for something you were going to do anyway. In some cases, these loyalty points can be exchanged for products or money off vouchers, saving you more money for little hassle.

Cycle when you can

Not only is cycling good for the environment, but it’s good for your bank account too. The average petrol car driver spends £1,272 a year on petrol, so cycling whenever possible could save you a lot of money. There are plenty of second-hand high quality road bikes available, or if you want to buy one new you can find a good quality bike for a few hundred pounds. So, over the course of your first year of cycling, you could end up saving a lot of money.

Recycling clothes

There are loads of apps where you can sell all of your old and unwanted clothes now. If you don’t want an item of clothing, and it’s just gathering dust, post it on one of these apps and get some money back! Apps such as Depop or Vinted are very popular at the moment, and many people also sell clothes on Ebay or Facebook Marketplace. Similarly the quality of clothing you can buy second hand or from charity shops can be very high at little cost. Big savings can be made here which allows you to save for bigger goals.

Fix instead of replace

More often than not, items we throw away and replace can be fixed for a relatively cheap price. This can be for clothes, furniture, or even electronics. Upgrading to the latest model year on year can be very costly, so if you want to save just hold off buying the latest. YouTube is a treasure trove of explanations how to fix things cheaply

Remember, there is a whole industry set up to make money from the things you throw away.

That’s your money!

These are just a few tips and areas where you can start to save money. There are so many options that you just have to find the right ones that work for you. If you are looking for other ways to increase your bank balance, have a look at some of the other posts. Posts such as Budgeting, Passive Income and Investing could offer different options that might suit you better.

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