Recent events have made it hard for people to save money, and the impact of Covid has definitely had a huge impact on everyone’s finances, you could have been affected by being furloughed, made redundant, had your hours reduced or reduced business or your personal circumstances changing.
We have made a checklist for you guys to make sure that you can save money today. You may be aware of some ideas but be sure to take a look and pass on and help others as well. This is a start that could help you be on your way to save money today.
1.) Switch energy providers
Do you get a shock whenever you see your bill?
You’re not alone.
A lot of people are overpaying on their energy bill without ever realising. This is just money they are throwing away. If this sounds like you, then you better do something about it!
Be sure to check out deals or use a comparison website to see if you could get a better deal for your energy. Use Uswitch to save money or a tool like Look After My Bills.
Look After My Bills has been featured on Dragons Den and helps you automatically save money on your energy bills. All you have to do is put your details in and then Look After My Bills will do their magic. Many people have saved hundreds of pounds using their service! Use it and you can start to save money today!
2.) Check your Home insurance/Car insurance
Always check when this finishes as you could get a better deal using a price comparison website. Do not let it go to auto renew as more than likely it will be more expensive.
The best price comparison website to use is Money Supermarket or Confused. Just enter your details on these websites and they will bring up the cheapest deals according to your requirements.
Check out our article on saving on hundreds of pounds a year.
3.) Use cashback sites
Always use cashback sites like Topcashback or Quidco before purchasing anything online as they will pay to shop. Cashback sites pay you money for going through with them for a purchase. It’s kind of like a reward for choosing to take the deal out with them.
Cashback sites get rewarded from the retailers and you get some cash back from the purchase. Its a win-win situation. You usually can get any cashback you’ve earned from the site through Paypal, directly to your bank account or gift cards.
There’s a lot to get cashback from on these sites including groceries, travel, insurance, fashion and beauty.
4.) Use shop loyalty cards
these are good and points can be converted into money that you can spend instore. You should always check if a shop has a loyalty scheme as it will all add up and save you money in long run.
In the UK, Tesco have their Tesco Clubcard and members get cheaper prices on certain products plus for every 100 points you save you got £1 in vouchers. Many stores have their own versions of loyalty programs and it’s not just limited to supermarkets.
5.) Sign up to newsletters
Shops often offer their best discounts to customers who sign up to their newsletter, this will vary as it depends on the store itself, but it is worth it just to you money. You might also receive different offers throughout the year.
Online stores usually give exclusive discounts and offers to people who are signed up to their newsletters. Often times during Black Friday and Cyber Monday (end of November) many retailers offer crazy discounts which some giving upto 90% on certain products.
6.) Invest
Investing is probably one of the best ways to save money. Not only does it save your money but it helps your money grow. Investing in the shares of different companies can increase your money fast if you know what you are doing. But if you don’t know what you are doing then it’s the quickest way to lose your money.
Don’t just invest into something because your mate Billy said it’s a good time to invest into Amazon. Do your research. Read some books on investing. A good book recommended by Warren Buffett is The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.
If you want to get started with investing some good apps to use are Trading212 or Etoro.
7.) Use discount codes
Make your purchase slightly cheaper by adding a discount code. There are various sites that offer discount codes or you can just do a quick google search. If you’re lazy like me, then you probably don’t want to spend 10 minutes going through Google scanning through the plethora of results.
The solution is to download Honey. Honey is a web browser extension which helps you save money. Honey scans the internet looking for discount codes that you can apply and automatically applies them at checkout for you.
All you do is download Honey for your browser. It works for all major web browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera.
8.) Make a weekly budget
This will help as if you stick to it, you will not be spending extra money and you will know what you need to purchase. Making a plan not helps you stick to a budget but gives you a sense of discipline. No more buying extra snacks or last minute purchases. Your wallet will not only thank you but your waistline will do!
Not only that but having a budget make’s you think twice before buying something that you don’t need. Do you really need that Starbucks double caramel cappuccino or is it just something you’re craving. If it’s the latter you can just ignore it.
I would recommend sitting down at the end of every week and jotting down what you need for the week. If you prefer to use your smartphone then there’s plenty of apps out there that you can use.
Two of my favourite are Mint and Pocketguard.
Mint is great because it connects with your bank account so you it gives you a snapshot of your finances. It shows you where you have been overspending for a particular month. Not only that it also lets you track your bills and see when they are due.
9.) Check your bank statement
You should be doing this regularly to make sure you do not have any direct debits or standing orders set up that are not needed. If you need to cancel any outstanding direct debits you can usually do this straight from the banks mobile app. If you don’t have access to the app just visit a branch or call them up and get the direct debit cancelled.
10.) Start saving
The easiest way that you can start off is by labelling jars and adding money to them on a weekly/monthly basis. You could also write on the label what you are saving for such as Holiday or even a car, this way you have something to look forward to and it will make you feel good.
Every $5 this woman got she put it away and saved it. She did that for a whole year and managed to save $250!
Conclusion
These are all things you can do to start saving money today. Following the tips in this article can at least help you save some money that you can use elsewhere.
I hope this article helped, if it did consider sharing this article with a friend.
