10 Things You Can Do to Live Within Your means.

I was reading an article the other day and they suggested that one way to save money was to switch off the television.  You can imagine that my first thought was pour quoi???  Really what the person was saying was to shield yourself from the adverts, product placement, in general the pressure to buy and have the latest gadget or other stuff that you probably don’t even need, and not to mention the saving in electricity or the cable subscription if you have one.  In reality I do not buy into that, I think its all about us and what we do.

Make a Budget

This may seem like the most obvious thing in the world, but you will be surprised at how many people do not make a budget, or worse they make one and don’t even bother to stick to it.  In its simplest form all you need to do , is determine what your priorities are, Rent, council tax, mortgage, savings, etc then know what you disposable income is, yes savings before disposable income.  If you can’t think how to do it, you can use  free service e.g the money advice service will help and there are online tools and apps that you can use to do this.

Ditch the Credit Cards/ Swap Them for One With  a Lower Interest Rate

Stop with the credit cards already! If you are using them to bridge the last week before pay day, you my friend are on a slippery slope!  It suggests that you need to act to either get a job with more money or cut down on your outgoings. Swap them for one with a lower or better yet 0% interest rate. Definitely you don’t want to over your credit limit, because you will be penalised.

Review Your Subscriptions

The importance of this cannot be stressed highly enough. The amount of money that gyms and other subscription services get off us for free is unreal. How many of you make these new years resolutions to read more, go to the gym more and never do and then never end up going or reading the books you have subscribed to. Yes review and cancel, and make sure you do it on a regular basis.

Make and Take Your Own Lunch to Work!

This really is a killer, how much do you spend on sandwiches the other types of lunches? This one is a no brainer, not much more to say except, if you want to test what I am saying, try it for a month. Get yourself a jar, that can’t be opened. take your lunch in from home every day for a month and put in the jar the money you would have spent on your lunch!! I defy you not to save money. Post your results in the comments below, you know Im right.

Ditch the morning starbucks

As above.

Swap the branded goods for shop brands

This is one that will take a bit longer. In the end though, you will save money.

Discipline your shiny object obsession.

Let’s be honest we all have a bit of this right?  We don’t always have to upgrade our phone,  have the latest gadget, or fad, it’s simply not necessary. When you are presented with a desire to have something, you need to check yourself, give yourself time to assimilate, ie. don’t impulse buy, think it though, and of course make sure you refer to your budget.

Shop Around

If you can’t discipline your shiny object obsession, at least get a good deal for it.

Sell Stuff

If you are no longer using it, sell it,  this can be quite lucrative. You can also use this as 1 out, 1 in system, as in you want the new shiny object, sell the old one first.

Sign up For Loyalty Cards

Use them. Use them when you normally would, don’t go shopping and spending just because you have a loyalty cards.

So do let me know what your own personal tips are for saving money. Please do so in the comments below or indeed search for me on social media @msnikkidee

What ever you are doing, do be kind to yourself and  have a fab day.