I write about money saving a lot. It’s what I’m passionate about. I strongly believe that everyone deserves a good knowledge of their personal finances and that they should be in the best position possible to save money. What I’ve never shared with you though is just how a save money every day. The little things I do to ensure there’s a little extra money for my savings pot. Well that’s about to change as I bring you my money saving 101, all the little things you can make part of your daily life to make a difference to your finances.
Shop at a ‘budget’ supermarket
This is such a big one for me and the first thing I recommend when it comes to a super easy way to save money. I recommend it time and time again in my money saving posts but that’s because it works! Without Aldi we’d be lost as this is where we save most of our money. We still use Asda for a couple of things, mainly for food for the cats but the bulk of our food shopping comes from Aldi. Just as an idea of the kind of money you can save I made up a basket online with all the things we frequently buy. Asda’s basket came to £57.88, Aldi’s basket came to £39.07. That’s almost a £20 difference!
Pay money into a joint/savings account on the day you get paid
Josh and I have our own bank accounts that our wages get paid into then we have a joint account. We make sure we pay a chunk of our wage into our joint account the day we get paid. Our joint account is what pays for everything from the boring stuff like our mortgage and bills to the fun stuff like holidays so it’s super important to us that we keep it topped up. Paying into it on the same day that we get paid means we have a clear idea of what’s left in our disposable income too and we’re safe in the knowledge that all the important stuff is covered.
Don’t have a phone on contract
So we all like to keep up with the latest phone but is it really the best thing for your bank balance? The simple answer is no. Lets compare a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge on a 24 month contract with O2 to buying the same phone refurbished in excellent condition (with all genuine accessories included) with a sim only deal from Giffgaff. Both the O2 and Giffgaff tariffs are similar. Over 24 months at the time of writing you’ll pay out a whopping £980 in total to O2. Buying the phone outright and refurbished will cost £490 then over 24 months you’ll pay £240 to Giffgaff so £730 altogether. That’s £250 cheaper. And FYI, Giffgaff runs on the same network as O2 and is owned by the same company!
Buy in bulk
Buying larger packs of things often works out cheaper than buying smaller packs so it makes sense with certain items to buy big. Examples of things we buy that are cheaper in larger packs are cat food, toilet roll, fabric softener, wash powder and washing up liquid. You can often find great deals on bulk items at stores like Farm Foods where they but packs of thing on offer at 3 for a certain price. Fabric softener and wash powder are great to buy from places like this because not only do they stock the larger packs but they’re also on offer so more often than not you can get the big bottles of fabric softener at 3 for £10. If you’ve got storage room it’s well worth looking into buying in bulk.
Look into getting a water meter
We didn’t have a choice on this one but thinking about it, if our home hadn’t already come with a water meter I would have definitely had one installed. A little research tells me that the average water bill with our water company is £400 a year. Over the last year we paid around £300 (probably a bit less). Yes there’s only 2 of us but we both love baths and I mean deep baths and we’re still not hitting the average bill price.
Any spare cash goes into the savings
At the end of the month if I’ve any spare money left and I know I don’t have anything coming up like a birthday I pay that little bit extra into our savings. I find this spurs me on to not spend as much on unnecessary things throughout the month too as I like the satisfaction of being able to put more money away. I keep a small amount of money in my account at all times as a buffer but if there’s anything left above that at the end of the month it tends to go straight in the savings (although sometimes I do treat myself because being good with money doesn’t mean you can’t have nice things every now and again!)
I hope these tips help. My approach to money saving is simple and easy, we know what we want to spend our money on and these tips help as save as much as we can. Money saving isn’t about being boring or not having the occasional treat, it’s about making small adjustments that can have a big impact and that’s exactly what these tips are. Small adjustments that we can all make to save for the things that make us happy!
If you have any money saving tips that help you make a saving each day then share them in the comments!
Calling all girl bosses! I’ve created a Facebook group where we can all come together and discuss all things blogging, money saving and everything inbetween. It would be great to see you over there. So to be a part of a super friendly and supportive community, hop on over to Facebook and join us!
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Some really great tips, I do the same thing with any extra money at the end of the month goes into my savings!
Thanks! It’s such an easy way to save money.
Great post! Thank you for the tips! I need to start saving more money!
I’m glad you found it useful.