Your monthly expenses may seem like they’re constant and never-ending. You put so much hard work into your pay cheque, and it just seems to disappear as soon as it lands in your account. But you’re not powerless to this cruel fate! If you keep these money-saving tips in mind, there’s no reason you can’t create a budget that will leave some cash left over at the end of each month.
Check your monthly spending habits
The first step to any responsible budget is to take account of how you spend every month. Write down what you pay for things like housing, transportation, food or other items. You may be surprised about how much you spend on your daily commute or your morning coffee! Once you have all your monthly expenses written down, it’s time to see where they’re going.
This would be an excellent time to work out what is a necessary spend and what is non-essential. Checking subscriptions and cancelling any that aren’t essential can be helpful – you might be surprised by how much your monthly subscriptions add up!
Essential Bills
The low-hanging fruit is to turn off lights and unplug devices. But in addition, getting a more in-depth look into what’s making your energy bills so high could be advantageous. The best and easiest way to identify this is by plugging in a power meter, which will show you just how much energy your devices are draining at any given time. The next step would be to consider swapping those appliances to energy-saving devices; it’s a great way to save money on monthly bills without affecting your everyday life.
Other monthly bills like car insurance and broadband should be reviewed to see how close you are to the end of your policy and or contract. When your car insurance policy comes to an end, you will receive a policy renewal reminder in the post with a new price from your current insurer. Take note of the cost and use a comparison website to check for better policy premiums. Broadband is the same, don’t just take your current providers price. Use a postcode checker to see if there are any new providers in your area offering faster speeds or cheaper contracts.
Food
If you’re constantly spending more on food than your budget allows, then it’s time to take a hard look at how much you’re buying and what types of food are on your shopping list. One way to help ease the pain of saving is by meal prepping. Meal prep is an excellent way for people on tight budgets to save money and stay healthy, plus it allows people with limited time to have a varied diet that they know will make them feel good throughout the week.
Additionally, you may be able to save money by skipping out on the expensive lattes every day or scaling back your lunch purchases from your favourite restaurant. It may be challenging at first, but once you start saving money, it’ll feel so good! It’s time to evaluate your takeaway spending habits, with the average brit spending £1,320 a year on fast food. Instead, try limiting your takeaways to twice a month.
Create a budget
With your expenses laid bare for all to see, you can now create a budget that has all the information you need. The most straightforward budget is just an average of how much you spend each month. That way, even if there are months where spending is over budget, the impact will be limited. Once you have worked out how much should be left over after all your bills and expenses have come out, you could put the rest into an ISA.
Money-saving apps
Nowadays, money-saving apps are becoming increasingly more popular as they allow you to save money effortlessly. Apps like Monzo alert you every time you make a payment or receive one and enable you to set budgets and warn you when you’re exceeding it. Monzo tells you how much you’ve spent and what you’ve spent most on. Another handy feature you can choose on money-saving apps is rounding your purchases to the nearest pound and putting it into a savings pot, which allows you to save money every time you make a payment – without even thinking about it.
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