Summertime and the Savings are Easy
With most consumers still feeling the pinch, there’s never been a better time to embrace a more cost-effective and frugal way of life, particularly for those looking to boost their savings, reduce debt or generally cut their outgoings.
The great news is that switching to a more frugal way of life isn’t as difficult or time-consuming as many think. It can even be fun, particularly as the results rack up!
A quick trawl through money-saving websites, frugal living books and articles and online forums will reveal a wealth of tips to start cutting down on unnecessary spending. The trick is to start small and build upwards, involving your family as much as possible and ideally making the project into a fun, shared one.
Start with the essentials. If you have savings, make sure that they are earning interest. An ISA is a great place to start – aim to fill it up each year for tax-free savings.
Cash and stocks/share ISAs are both available and you can find a good ISA with Moneysupermarket, Compare the Market and other online comparison stores.
Additionally, if you go via a cashback site when reviewing a potential ISA you may find that cashback is offered on any eventual product taken out.
It’s important though not to make financial product decisions based on the potential of a cashback sum, as they aren’t foolproof and are offered at the provider’s discretion.
Take a deep breath and go through your monthly income and outgoings. Create a budget. If you’re spending more than you earn, look at areas where savings can be made to help your books balance.
For example, review utility providers to see whether a more competitive deal is available. Look for ways to reduce your energy consumption in the home; simple measures such as turning off standby electrical items and using energy-efficient light bulbs will make a significant different.
Look too at ways to reduce food shopping. A popular way is to ‘downgrade’ your supermarket, or your brand purchases for own-label alternatives.
Start cooking to avoid spending on ready meals. Make large portions and freeze them for future use. Buy fresh and in season and make use of local markets for extra money saving.
For social events and treats, sign up to schemes such as Groupon and Living Social to get special offers on days out, online shopping and gifts – these utilise the power of bulk / group purchasing and the savings can be significant.
Sign up for loyalty schemes and start using them, make use of vouchers and keep your eyes open for free and cheap entertainment. Often you’ll be amazed at what’s on offer when you start to look, particularly council-run events, ‘two for one’ offers and cheap midweek eating
Ultimately, frugal living is very much the theme of the day and a hugely popular one for many people. So ride the trend and take advantage; you’ll find you may get fitter, healthier, spend more time with your family and save money into the bargain.
- 5 Ways to Save Money Without Even Trying The whole process of saving money is usually associated with pinching pennies until they scream for mercy, living on food from dented cans and basically giving up everything for a future goal. While this will indeed help you put more money away, saving does not need to mean hardship. We......
- Save Money on Groceries [/caption] Though prices have come down as the economy has slowed, there's not much doubt that food is much more expensive today that it was in the past. It seems way out of line with inflation. Experts have cited many factors for this. Some say a change of eating habits......
- Save Money at Restaurants [/caption] Follow these tips to save some big money at restaurants I thought I'd compile a few tips for saving money at restaurants. Before I get started I'd like to recognize a couple of things. First, one of the best way to save money at restaurants is to avoid them.......
- Start Saving Money Today Here are five ways that you can begin to save money, beginning today. Americans are not saving enough money in this day and age to help ensure their stability financially. If you have enough money in your savings account, then it is going to be able to protect you from......
- 20 Ways to Convince Someone to Save More Money Financial planners and personal finance advocates would likely agree that winning the "Why should I save money?" argument is one of their most difficult challenges to overcome. Being a student of psychology and behavioral economics, I generally try to tap some sort of emotional or behavioral trigger in someone when discussing......
Nice article. Do you accept guest posts?