We all like to splash the cash on the things that we love. Whenever we receive our wages on payday, we end up spending the things we desire such as clothes, electric gadgets, holidays, etc.
However, living in a UK where our energy bills and supermarket prices have increased does caused an affect towards our spending habits and falling into unpaid debts. This could lead to having an affect on our own mental health and worrying on how to survive financially.
But you need to avoid being in debt and making some changes in your budget. By being more responsible on your spending habits. You can make a change on what you usually spend on a daily basis and hopefully you end up saving more money. It may come a surprise to you on how you view things differently as I am going to make you aware of some of the things that you did not know about until now.
Here are a few things on how to save up money and avoid breaking the bank:
1. Create a Personal Survival Budget – By creating a PSB, you can identify how much money are you spending and figure out what you need to do to make any budget cuts. By doing this, you can gain control on your spending habits and work out how much you are spending on a monthly basis.
Write down all your essential and non- essential items such as food, rent, bills, toiletries, etc and add them up altogether. Then minus it with your monthly salary and see how much money you have left over. Improving your financial accounts in order.
It would be advisable to write it down on a spreadsheet in order to analyse your expenses or download the personal survival budget template online.
2. Pay Your Rent/Bills first – When you receive your salary on payday, always pay your rent and bills first. That way, you don’t have to worry about paying your bills in the future and avoid paying late fees.
You can set up an alarm on your phone to remind you when you need to pay your rent/bills or mark it down on your calendar.
3. Online TV Subscriptions – Honestly, do you really need to pay a lot of online TV subscriptions that you don’t even use, let alone watch? By cancelling a few TV subscriptions, you end up having a bit more money left in your bank account and start choosing an affordable TV package that you can benefit. Hopefully, you only choose the one!
4. Gym Membership – If you’re not currently going to the gym, then what is the point in paying for a monthly membership? By cancelling your gym subscription, you could be saving a lot of money and that way you don’t need to travel a long way to the gym when you can work out from home. Alternatively, you could be spending your time working out using online gym workouts or better yet try to search for an exercise class from your local community centre. See what happens.
5. Stop Ordering Takeaways – Now, I know you love your Dominos, your KFCs, even going to your local chip shop or any other takeaways. Because you just love their food so much you just can’t get enough. However, by making a budget cut on takeaways, you would be surprised on how money you have saved.
You could be using that money on the foods that you normally order at a very low price. For example, Iceland sells frozen ready-made meals that cost as low at £1 including: Indian, Chinese, Italian, etc. That way, you don’t need to give up on your favourite foods you love and they even taste as good as a takeout (even better). So try giving the supermarkets a go.
6. Discounts on getaway holidays and using AirBnB - Going on holiday is a luxury that you need to take. Whether it is taking time off your daily work, or getting away from your busy day-to-day life. Whatever it is, you end up booking for fights/hotel rooms and realise that the price are a lot higher than expected.
From my experience as a traveller and staying in hotel rooms most of my life. There are few things that I had discovered and want to share with you. For example, during my stay at hotels, I have decided not pay for buffet breakfasts. Why? Because I prefer to go outside, explore my stay and have my meals in restaurants/coffee shops. Resulted mein paying for a small price and avoiding these breakfast tabs after check-out.
Another way to spend money on a holidays without breaking the bank is to look for online travel agency such as Booking.com, Trivago, Hotel.com, etc where you can find a suitable deal for yourself and your loved ones. Groupon Travel now offers hotel fights from a lower price. But if you do not prefer to stay in hotel rooms, why not try AirBnb? As they provide you cheaper rooms at better locations. In addition, the hosts provide better hospitality then anyone else.
7. Low rate deals with PayPal, Klarna and Honey - With online shopping, you can get the items that you like and do not have to pay the full price before checkout. The PayPal Pay in three is an interest fee rate that will split the payment into three parts within the three month period after you purchase. This is a great deal for yourself and you can get the items that you want right in front of your doorstep.
Klarna is an online shopping app that allows you to pay for your items after 30 days, without any late fees or deposits. Also, using Honey discount code is another way to make your shopping easier and helping you out to save money. But you need to make this payment straight away before downloading these apps onto your phone.
8. Seeking financial help from your advisors and from your local council - Struggling to pay for those unwanted debts that you cannot get rid of such as housing bills/energy bills? By seeking financial advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau, they can offer you free advice on what you can do with those unsettling debts.
However, from the 1st April, the energy price cap rise was caused by the global energy factors.
Furthermore, simply go to the Ofgem website where they can help you to find out more about your energy bills more clearly and offering you some information on what you can do about your own energy supply. You could end up changing your supplier and getting a better deal. Or discover why your own energy supplier has charged you with this amount. Including details of the electric/gas meter readings.
Finally, if you are currently unemployed or currently seeking employment at a low income. Go to the GOV. UK website and discover whether you are eligible in seeking a claim on benefits.
9. Buying your food from the market - You might find it a bit odd when I say that you should go to the outdoor market to buy your daily food items. Rather than go to the supermarket alone.
However, Marketers sell better quality in meat, cheese and fish for a better price. Plus, you can negotiate over the items that you want to buy. For example: Tell then that you want to buy five potatoes for a price of 66p? Maybe, that is something worth thinking about and could save you more pocket money.
10. Clothes that you can get from Ebay, Facebook Marketplace and your local Charity Shop - When Facebook and Ebay sellers post clothing items, especially the clothes that you usually buy from the high street. You could buy these clothes at a better price or search for that new outfit you see right in front of your screen.
However, if your not sure that the item is right for you, but want to buy the item just to see whether it looks good on you. Make sure that you see in the description from the seller that they offer refunds. This way you could send it back to the seller.
Also, try browsing for clothes at your local charity shop like British Foundation, Oxfam, Cancer Research, etc and see if they have a great range of clothing. They even tell you where the clothes came from (possibly a designer) and always keep the clothes in great condition. Better alternative to shop for clothes.
Written by Seema Boksh
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