Whether you’re trying to save money for a new car or simply be more savvy about your finances, it’s always a good time to try and save yourself some money. I’m all for finding new streams of income but let’s not forget that sometimes we’re not making the best use of the ones we already have, either!
I chose to leave a really toxic work environment and spend time at home with my girls whilst I figured out what to do next. I had no savings and very soon had to find a job to help ends meet. In the space of a few months my salary decreased 75% yet somehow, bills were paid and nobody starved.
On my old salary, I’d struggled. Yet on my significantly smaller salary, the struggle wasn’t as drastic as I’d thought. I realised a lot of money I’d been spending had been on services and products I could live without when push came to shove. It taught me to be much more in tune with my finances and not to bury my head in the sand. I’ve learned a few things towards much better financial literacy and I’d love to share some with you in order to help circumvent some of the holes I fell into along the way.
This isn’t a paid post, there are no referral links in here, this is just good, old fashioned tips from one person trying to budget to another.
What's in this post
5 ways you can save yourself money in 30 minutes or less
Review your subscriptions
For years, both myself and my partner were paying for Amazon Prime even though we lived in the same house. It hadn’t even occurred to me that it was happening. It turned out, there were other subscription services we were doubling up on, including music streaming. You may be in a similar boat. Even if you’re not doubling up, do you honestly need all of the subscriptions you are signed up to?
- Take a quick look at your direct debits for the month and work out if you’re signed up for subscriptions to things you no longer use.
- Cancel those you don’t need anymore.
- Don’t be tempted with offers to cut the subscription price if you stay. If you didn’t use it then, you’re not going to use it now, solely because it’s half off!
Services to consider:
- Netflix
- Disney Plus
- Amazon Prime
- Beauty Pie
- Fabletics
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Individual apps on your phone
Do a quick search before renewing insurance and utilities
I know it can be easy to just let your car insurance auto renew, I’ve been guilty of it too. But in most cases they will not be offering you the best price for your policy. In fact, recently, my car insurance went up with my then provider, even though I’d not claimed! A quick search on a price comparison website reduced my car insurance and netted me £240 in savings. It took me less than 20 minutes to compare prices and pay the premium for my new insurance.
The same is true for utilities. If you have a fixed price deal that is due to run out, it’s worth checking out what other providers are offering before going with whatever utility plan your current provider wants to switch you to.
Write a shopping list
Write a shopping list for everything! You notice I didn’t say grocery list right? Regardless of what you’re buying, be it your weekly food shop or some new clothes in the Grassfields sale (that’s totally my weakness), be sure to write down what it is you actually need. Budget baby. Go into those purchases knowing that you’re only spending money on what you’ll actually consume or need and stop being distracted by things that shine or are colourful.
My food shop can easily double in price when I don’t write a list before going out. What adds insult to injury is that what I buy, usually doesn’t make an entire meal and I end up having to go back out to top up the shopping anyway, wasting even more money. Writing out a shopping list saves me a good couple of hundred pounds in a month.
Remove auto-fill from your devices
This is a big one. Let’s add an extra hurdle between you and those impulse buys. Because no matter how much we may want to save money, we still indulge in them. Auto-fill for your card details and passwords is super handy. As are the sites, like Amazon that allow ‘one click’ purchasing. It doesn’t even feel like you’ve actually bought anything when all you have to do is click once and not even put it in your basket.
If you have to manually pull out your card and input a card number, it gives you an extra layer to your purchase. This is an extra chance to think about if you really want the items in your basket. I can’t tell you how many abandoned carts I have because of this extra step of having to write in your payment details.
If you really want to step up your game, do the same with your phone and remove the stored cards from your wallet. Most of my impulse buys are online so I personally won’t be doing this, but if you tend to shop in store and go wild, maybe having to pull your card out of your purse will be the added step you need to back away from the tills.
Sign up to a credit score service
Signing up to a credit score service such as Experian or Clear Score is extremely quick and will take you way less than 30 minutes. We are talking 5 minutes tops to get you all set up.
Not only is it good to keep an eye on your credit score in general, these services also notify you of special offers and discounts you are eligible for based on your score. You might score yourself a great deal on a balance transfer or consolidation loan, saving yourself hundreds of pounds, all without leaving the app.
So there you have it, some easy ways to save yourself money that don’t take long. Why not pick one the next time you have 30 minutes to yourself?
