One of my grandmother’s favourite anecdotes is the story of a particular spend thrifty couple. When this couple want to save up some money, they eat nothing but egg and chips until they’ve saved what they need. On the back of this, they bought a house, but for how long they were subsiding on terrible dinners is anyone’s guess.
For most us, the thought of partaking in such extreme penny pinching would be a pretty miserable existence. Here we present the London Money alternative: our top five ways to save money without giving up the good stuff.
Invisible expenditure
In October, Aviva released the results of a study on invisible expenditure; that’s takeaways, shop-bought lunches, post-work pints, coffees…the stuff that leaves no lasting joy, just a slightly lighter pocket. On average, we spend £948 a year on such trifles. That’s £948 on ‘invisible’ products that could, instead, go towards funding a £100k+ pension pot. Or at the very least, a nice holiday.
Switch it up
Maybe you’ve been with your phone company, gas provider or bank for years, but are they really giving you the best deal? It might seem like a lot of hassle to change, but a lot of service providers now make the process simple and offer financial rewards, so you can save and get paid to do it. A word to the wise: always check reviews online first, or you could get lumbered with terrible service that definitely isn’t worth the £50 cashback.
Shop around
Every time you make a purchase, shop around for the same product elsewhere. We’re obviously talking about large purchases, here – furniture, electronics, designer goods, packaged holidays – not a can of beans. That being said…
Be supermarket savvy
Is your supermarket ripping you off? They might be offering lots of deals on branded products but try another shop just once to see how your average trolley spend compares. Unless, of course, you use a certain high-end food store because you like their excellent service and superior quality produce, in which case, fair enough. They do sell exceedingly good sausages.
Cancel your gym membership
Maybe you love your gym. Perhaps you go there once, twice, five times a week. Or maybe, just maybe, you signed up one drizzly January afternoon and have since failed to show up for more than a saturday afternoon swim. If that’s the case, cancel it! Go for a run instead. It’s a lot cheaper. Same goes for any other redundant memberships that are loitering in your standing orders. Cut them out and save the cash.