*This is a sponsored post.
After my eldest was born I gave up my very well paid job so I could work from home instead and still be with my son. Needless to say our finances took a hammering as a result of this and as a consequence we had to become pretty savvy when it came to budgeting and cutting costs. These five tips are what we found saved us the most money.
- Don’t skimp on insurance, by taking a few minutes to compare home insurance, car insurance, and even pet insurance you can make sure you have the cover you need. As much as we all balk at paying out for insurances we all kick ourselves down the road when something goes wrong and we end up paying bulk amounts to repair or replace something that could have been covered by our insurance.
- Don’t assume the best deals are for new customers. Mobile phone companies especially have their own retention teams. If you aren’t happy with what you are paying it is worth giving them a ring and seeing if you can switch tariffs. It’s not always possible and it depends on your contract but I’ve saved as much as £10 a month by taking the time to ask.
- Keep an eye on your usage. Send in your own gas and electricity meter readings so that your bill is more accurate, bills are estimated otherwise and you can end up paying out more than is necessary. The same goes for broadband usage. Your provider can tell you how much of your download allowance you are using each month. I have previously been on an “all bells and whistles” unlimited package (because I assumed I needed it) but as we rarely download I wasn’t actually using much at all and reduced my package cost by £15 a month!
- Grocery shop online. I used to think this would cost me more as I had to pay for delivery. In actual fact I save an average of £14 a week shopping online, rather than in store. Grocery shopping online gets easier and easier, the items you use regularly are stored online for you to add to your basket, you can keep an eye on exactly how much you are putting in your basket and you can say goodbye to impulse buys. Online food shopping is also good for the waistline!
- Cancel the un-necessaries! When starting a diet the first thing you do is cut out the rubbish, stop eating cake and stop buying crisps. When giving your budget a makeover you do pretty much the same thing. Cancel the magazine and newspaper subscriptions (you can read them online most of the time anyway), downgrade the Sky package (how often do you watch the Movies?) and make your own takeaway food rather than having it delivered.
I refuse to pay more than I should so take a few minutes to think about the above and make sure you don’t have to either.
