This is a Contributed Post
3 WAYS TO SAVE MONEY WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START
Saving money rather than making money can be challenging. To save money, you need to hone your household budget and work together as a family to tighten the purse strings. Before you set about refining your savings, you need to have a family meeting to discuss your goals. You will need to have a reason for saving to get your kids to buy into the savings vision too!
Drawing up an official contract is a good idea. You then get the whole family to sign it. Take a look at these handy hacks to help you save money in your household when you don’t know where to start.
Budget Using A Spreadsheet
There are many free templates online to help you budget. Download one of these and begin populating it over a few months. Consider every single outgoing you have and offset these against your salary and other sources of income. You will soon become aware of those pieces of expenditure that you can save on your weekly spending. Do you really need that vanilla latte and chocolate croissant on the way to work every Friday? And should you really be eating out at the swanky Italian when you could head to the chain pizzeria?
Populate your spreadsheet and try and work out figures for every category of spending such as fuel, mortgage/rent, food and entertainment.
Can You Claim Back Cash?
Sometimes we can take a look back at our financial records and claim back cash. You could consider making a sipp compensation claim if you were mis-sold a personal pension. On occasion, some providers of credit cards mis-sold PPI when it wasn’t necessary for the consumer.
Check to see if this applies to you. You shouldn’t have to suffer because of the mistakes of an organisation. Check your rights and make a claim. You could be putting a four-figure sum back into your account.
Offers
It doesn’t matter what you are spending your cash on, there are always bargains to be had. When you go grocery shopping, check out the buy one, get one free offers. Ensure that you will use or eat whatever you buy, because you don’t want to simply pay for increased wastage. Some of the best items to buy in bulk are washing powders, toilet roll and dishwasher tablets. These will always get used so make sure you have storage to buy on a mass scale.
If you are looking to purchase a big-ticket item like a holiday or a car, shop around. Make sure that you investigate second-hand motors rather than brand new cars. You might even opt for a hybrid or electric set of wheels. While they may cost more upfront to purchase, they are ridiculously cheap to run with virtually no fuel costs, no tax to pay and ultra-low insurance groups.
For your holiday, do a self plan holiday. Book flights in advance and travel in the very early or late hours with odd connections and you could save a fortune. Go for accommodation that offers early-bird discounts and nights for free. Even better, stick to your home nation and go on a road trip.
Saving money may seem like a hard slog, but the results can make it a worthwhile pursuit.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
What are the Best Ways to Save Money?
The 10 Best Money Saving Apps and Sites
How to Save Hundreds with Reduced Food
