How To Save Money | 6 Money Saving Tips

I spoke recently about how I’d had a few changes in my life over the last few months. Since I last posted consistently, I’ve become both a home-owner and a car-owner. First time for both for me. Both a huge learning curve in, well, being an adult. It’s incredible (aka scary) how little I actually know about what I need to do. I never would have said this time last year I’d be writing a blog post sharing my top money saving tips.

I’m lucky that I have an incredibly close relationship with my parents, which meant I’ve been able to stay at home while saving up. And to find a silver lining on the last 18 months: cancelled gym memberships, no train fares and none of those small expenses of everyday out of the house did wonders for my savings. The new job also helped…

I’ve always been good with money. I’ve worked since I was 16 and always been careful to have more going into my savings than coming out of it. But the last few months have been a huge eye-opener.

*This post contains referral links

My top 6 money saving tips

Today, I want to share a few things I’ve learnt over the past few years when it comes to money management.

Savings accounts

Online banking makes it so easy to move money. If you’re able to put some money aside each month, make sure it’s an account with the best interest. There are multiple saving accounts out there with different rules and regulations: some give you access to your funds, others you have to commit to a year without touching it. Find one that suits your needs – and check out those interest rates. It may only equate to a few ££’s a year, but that’s better than nothing, right?

Annual, not monthly

This one sounds like a rule we all should know: paying annually (if you can) tends to work out cheaper than paying monthly. But check those accounts: I suddenly realised my Amazon Prime was on monthly due to the roundabout way it got set up. While it meant one big pay-out, it also meant saving £16 in a year for the same service. Take five and have a quick check, especially if you’ve been set up a while and stop noticing.

Negotiation, Negotiation, Negotiation

I don’t mean haggle over everything (unless that’s your thing, in which case, I’m envious!). But your phone bills, your TV service, your insurance… anything that you need to renew, see what they can offer you. I did this recently for my phone – nearly £4 a month cheaper, plus more data than I’m currently on. The best part? I didn’t even need to pick up the phone: I did the whole thing over an online chat. The comparison sites help here – remember, your provider doesn’t want to lose you.

£4 might not sound a lot – but that’s £48 per year saved, plus extra data!

Auto-renew

Okay, hear me out. Auto-renews are great for the daily things in life. Things that don’t need renegotiation; things you don’t want to forget about. But what if you have forgotten about them? What if you don’t need them?

For example: I started changing my mind about Tailwind, and I cancelled. I still had access to the features I needed until my account officially stopped. When did it stop? Right when I was moving house. There’s no way I would have remembered, and that would have been over a £100 gone without me realising until too late.

If you’re in a trial period of something; if you’ve got a subscription that still has time on it; if you’re not 100% sure… Cancel. It will run until the end of that billing time and it’s (usually) super easy to re-activate. But if it’s something you don’t use and you’re likely to forget, you’ll kick yourself if you get that bill through for another year.

What do you need?

This might seem like the obvious: don’t buy stuff you don’t need. But it’s true. I had an entire drawer full of skin-care samples… so much so that I haven’t needed to buy anything for six months, just using them up. I’d use a product, replace it, get samples along with it, stick them in a drawer and carry on with the full size. Then I realised how much was sitting there ‘saving it’ for holidays, while I was spending on items I had in miniature.

This could equate to anything: clothes, skin-care, food (especially food – make sure you hit those best-buy dates before buying new). Just double check you’ve got one before buying new?

Offers, deals and cashback

We’re all pretty savvy when it comes to online shopping these days: clicking through a number of different websites to find the best price. No kidding when I say I spent £100 less on my saucepans than the first site I saw them on. It’s worth checking it out.

But what about cashback? This was new to me until about a year ago. Now? I’m obsessed. For the sake of clicking into one website before your chosen shop, you can get money back – may only be 5% but you were spending that money anyway, so you’ve got nothing to lose.

I’ve been using TopCashBack* for a while now. It’s a slow-burn – percentages vary and it can take weeks for the money to come back to you. But for the effort of making two extra clicks? Damn right I want that 50p back in my wallet, not the retailers.

And it isn’t just retailers. Comparison sites and insurance companies are on there as well, and if you hit the exclusive offers, the pay-outs can be worth it.

It’s so easy: click into Topcashback, find your merchant, go to retail site like normal, get money back. Done.

Want to give it a go? Feel free to use my referral link*.

*if you sign up via my link and stay with the program, I’ll receive a £5 bonus.

Wow, I think this might be the longest post I’ve written. What money saving tips would you share?

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