Earlier this month I introduced you to the new #SaveSmarter tool from Aviva: answer a series of questions and it will tell you what your savings profile is, vialis 40mg and give you suggestions for how you may be able to #SaveSmarter.
As I’m a big fan of money I approached the project with gusto, order finding out I’m a Turbo Saver. The #SaveSmarter tool told me I love to save but my downfalls are spending too much, budgeting poorly and not knowing the right places to keep my hard-earned cash. Spot on!
So I’ve been working on a strategy that should help me, over the next six months, save that bit of extra cash. I’ve outlined the plan below in the hopes that it might be useful for you, too!
Check your tariffs every six months
I’m always thinking that checking my energy, water and entertainment packages will just take too long and it’s not worth the time. NOT TRUE! I went online for 30 minutes this morning to check on my gas and electricity and immediately saved £160 over the next year. Well worth it. I’ve put a reminder in my diary to make sure I do this regularly, and to be honest I can’t believe I wasn’t doing this before.
Lower meal planning expectations
I love to plan our meals because I love to cook for my family, and I always feel like I’m being extra frugal by plotting our groceries so carefully. I plan lovely meals for each day of the week, totally disregarding the fact that one evening I’ll fancy pasta pesto or toast and marmite, or that another we’ll have an impromptu meal out. And so I always end up chucking food away at the end of the week, which feels like such a waste. I’ll be lowering my own meal expectations from now on!
Plan your treats
Working hard means I give myself the excuse to buy treats whenever I fancy it – and I need to stop this. Rather than splashing out whenever I fancy I need to plot my treats more carefully – one beauty product a month, for example, and one iTunes film a week. I should also treat myself in ways that are more frugal – spending time in the spa area at the gym that I’m paying for anyway, or taking a break from work and inviting friends over for tea.
Buy in bulk
I’ve recently started buying in bulk online; it’s surprising at the savings you can make! Yes, I had to clear out some precious space in the cupboard under the stairs to store my new buys, but saving 5-15% off supermarket prices make it well worth it.
Budget plan
Knowing what’s coming in and going out can be really useful, and make you more accountable to yourself, particularly when your income fluctuates like mine. I’m going to do this more effectively so I can keep a real track on what I’m spending.
Check your accounts
By doing a 10 minute research on my bank’s website, I found out that I’m eligible to a savings account with a preferential rate as I hold an advantage card. Amazing! I signed up straight away.
What do you think – have I missed anything? I’d love to know your tips to #SaveSmarter.
Thanks Aviva for working with MTT.
It’s so true about the toast dinners! At least once a week me and D just have toast, or cheese on toast, or Shreddies for tea, which means something goes in the bin, or the freezer!
These are all really good tips. We recently renegotiated a load of our bills and switched providers on some of them and for not a lot of effort saved a load of money. I need to ease up on the meal planning too, especially since at the moment I just don’t feel like cooking much most of the time.
We’ve just had a crappy financial month – why do all the bills and unexpected expenses come at once – so I really feel like we need to get a handle on our budgeting again – sigh! xx
chucking food out is our biggest problem and I feel AWFUL about it but we seem to do it weekly! Defo need to get better at that x
These are all such fantastic tips and so practical and doable – we have been looking at ways at curving our spending and saving more and going to put some of these to practise
Laura x
Ugh I’m a dreadful saver but an awesome spender. I could really do with checking out this saving tool, particularly as we are buying a house so I need to start being a little more money savvy! x