50 ways to save money

Times are tight and money’s tighter. But you don’t have to earn more to make ends meet … try spending less first. This week, with a major gulp for breath, I give you my top 50 ways to cut your spending.

1. Shop in LIDL, Netto or Primark … for many of the basics they’re just as good and a whole lot cheaper.
2. Grow your own – supermarkets charge you a mint for herbs, and growing your own fruit and veg is satisfying, healthy and green too - more at RHS Gardening
3. If you live alone, get a water meter. You use less than the average household, so pay less than the average household.
4. Put your regular bills on direct debit, you’ll get a discount from the utility companies such as gas and electricity providers.
5. Switch to a new power provider if you haven’t done so for a year or more. Check out uswitch.com for the best current deals.
6. And check out your phone tariff too … they change all the time, so make sure you’re getting the best deal.
7. Pay down credit card debt, or transfer it to a cheaper loan or overdraft.
8. Consolidate debt into one lump … there will be fewer management costs and it’s easier to get a TRUE picture of your financial position.
9. Get free stuff. Sites such as Freecycle is a green way to get rid of your free stuff and get free stuff in return.
10. Get free stuff from the shops. No, not shoplifting, check our regular pieces on free stuff online, typically promotions from big companies.
11. Check our voucher code archive too. Everyday companies offer money off if you type in secret voucher codes at the checkout.
12. Barter your talents with your friends. If you can do electrics and they can do gardening, then help each other out.
13. You can even barter online, with websites such as www.i swap.co.uk.
14. Save, whether it be in a pension or high interest account, property or investment trust. You curb your spending and your investment will grow and reap the benefits of compound interest.
15. If you’re approaching retirement age, give your money away to your family … a bit at a time. It’s tax efficient.
16. Get an ISA … not what they were but still the best tax free savings vehicle we have.
17. Haggle. Brits aren’t very good at it, but if you ask for a discount you might just get one.
18. Use your skills to teach others. Piano lessons, copy editing, those electrics again.
19. Check your tax code at Direct.gov.uk. Loads of us are on the wrong one. It could save you hundreds each year.
20. Buy travel insurance once a year, not for each trip … it works out much cheaper.
21. Pump up the tyres on your car. It stops wear and can knock 10% off your fuel costs.
22. Get your home insulated and save money on heating. And get your local authority to pay for it. Find out about grants at www.homeinsulationgrants.com.
23. Reduce your home insurance by fitting better locks.
24. Don’t reinsure with the same company year after year, you don’t get rewarded for it. Find the best deal at http://www.moneysupermarket.com
25. Sell unwanted stuff on ebay or Amazon Marketplace
26. Buy online, you can save money and save time.
27. Challenge those swingeing bank charges.
28. Cash in the attic? You may have antique gems among the dust. Check out what you’ve got and get it valued.
29. Turn down your central heating thermostat. Dropping it by 2 degrees, from 20C to 18C can save you hundreds a year.
30. Do your washing out 30deg instead of 50deg. Again, you’ll save a packet.
31. Rent out a room. The room that gets used only at Christmas could be helping you pay off your mortgage early.
32. Pay off your mortgage early … this does depend on you having spare cash, but compound interest means that relatively small amounts paid in now can make much bigger savings years down the line.
33. Check out offset mortgages such as the Virgin One account. Rather than earning rubbish interest on your savings (and getting taxed on what little interest you get) these pay off your mortgage quicker by giving you tax free savings.
34. Not been to the gym for more than a month? Cancel gym membership and save money.
35. Share your car, whether it’s giving and getting lifts or simply pooling with a neighbour.
36. Sell the car and sign up for one of the local car clubs such as citycar.com, or pickup and dropoff car schemes.
37. Remortgage. It isn’t the easiest time at the moment, but if you’re not in a fixed deal then you WILL be doing better by remortgaging.
38. Check all your direct debits and cancel the ones you never use.
39. Stop smoking … you’ll pay less for your life insurance.
40. Use Skype instead of your regular phone, especially for international calls …it’s free!
41. Don’t spend your supermarket loyalty points at the checkout … you can sometimes quadruple them by cashing them in different ways, such as redeeming them for goods or tickets.
42. Get an interest free credit card. Then the money you aren’t spending can be earning interest on deposit for you.
43. Shop around for the cheapest petrol.
44. Make a shopping list. That way you won’t be swayed by impulse buys. Two for ones are no use if it just means you have two guavas rotting in the larder instead of none.
45. And buy own brand, not named brand. Is Domestos REALLY any better than Tesco bleach? I doubt it.
46. Use price comparison sits such as pricerunner or kelkoo.
47. Tired out? You need a holiday. But shop around for cheap summer holiday deals, don’t stick to the obvious dates and fly at quieter times … you’ll save a fortune.
48. Just say NO! You don’t have to kickstart the UK economy singlehanded. Stay in, eat in, buy fewer papers and ice creams … but remember to treat yourself every so often.
49. Use debt creatively …All debt ISN’T bad, so borrow cheap to invest for profit.
50. Learn the difference between capital (or principal) sums and interest. It will change the way you view money and it will make you rich if you let it.

… that’s it. I’ll be bringing you another 50 moneysaving tips in a few weeks time.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 2:51 pm and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.