Friday 16 March 2018

Finance Fridays – Cutting costs on everyday spending

We were looking at 5 ways to cut your tax bill for last week's Finance Fridays. This week we going to try and save some more money. Going about our everyday lives costs us money. From getting to work to enjoying our time off everyday living can be expensive. There's lots of ways to save a few pounds on the everyday things we spend money on which can add up to quite a bit.

Travel – Many years ago we ditched one of our cars when we realised we could do without it. I've always walked the kids to school as it is much healthier, saves money and is a lot less stressful than driving to school! Yesterday I witnessed the ugly situation where the road was gridlocked and drivers started getting out of their cars and shouting at each other. Most mornings and afternoons I can be home in the same amount of time it takes people who drive to get back to their cars and out of the traffic.

Mr JibberJabberUK takes public transport to work. With no guaranteed parking spaces at his work there's no need to have a second car sitting on the drive. Without moving a car you will still need to be paying out for insurance, tax, MOT and an annual service. Instead he buys a weekly bus pass that can also be used on the trams. For added convenience he uses the mobile app to buy his ticket so he needn't worry about having cash on him to buy his ticket weekly. By buying a weekly ticket rather than one each day he saves £6.50 each week.

Coffee – We all know how much a takeaway coffee can cost but so many of still pay upwards of £3.00. If you need your caffeine fix there's plenty of ways of making it at home to take with you or when you reach the office. Drink costs can also add up if you start buying individual bottles of water or soft drinks. When I checked Sainsbury's a 500ml bottle of Coca Cola was £1.30 but one three times its size at 1.5l was £1.52.

Lunch – A sandwich might not be very exciting but it is what most of us have for lunch. However day in day out people are paying a couple of pounds to buy one. If you plan ahead you can freeze certain sandwiches and take out a portion each day to take to work. No rush in the morning needed! If you take your leftovers from the next before you will be saving even more money and waste! That extra portion of cottage pie or pasta bake will always taste better the next day when you know it is costing you nothing.

Night out, night in – 'The best night out is a good night in,' so the old saying goes. It can certainly be a lot cheaper to stay in as you won't need to worry about taxi fares, pricey food or drink or even a new outfit! You can also cut the cost of a film night by shunning the cinema and watching movies at home. Many subscription based film streaming services offer free trials such as NOW TV and Amazon Channels.

Get fit – We all know about the gym memberships that get used once and never again. Instead find some free exercise groups you can join in with. A great one is parkrun. Simply register on the site, get your personalised barcode and then just turn on Saturday morning for the 5K run or walk.

If you want to join in with this week's Finance Fridays then add your link to the linky below. Any post concerning financial matters is allowed. Full details here. It doesn't have to be published today as you have until 23.55 on Tuesday 20th March 2018 to join in.

Finance Fridays


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