In this my fourth installment of how to save money blogs, I look at finance. Finance does not have to be complicated, it just requires a bit of prior planning to make sure you are always getting the best deal for your money:

1. Use cash: If you are worried about overspending on cards, don’t use them. Take all your pay out in cash, then you can see how much you are paying out for everything, literally. In the age of apple pay, where you can swipe away a hundred Pounds in a few minutes without even realising it, cash is the only foolproof way of seeing how much money you are spending every week.
2. Check your direct debits. Are you paying for a mobile phone or Amazon subscription you no longer use? If you don’t know how to cancel them, or aren’t sure what the difference between a standing order and a direct debit is (most people don’t so don’t worry), why not pop in to your local bank and ask.  
3. Look at your bank statement every month. Banks charge lots of interest on overdrafts if you have one, do you know how much you are paying in bank charges every month?   
4. Shop around for store cards. If you have a stack of store cards in your purse or wallet, check how much interest you pay if you don’t pay off the balance every month. Some cards charge even higher rates than credit cards. Don’t use the store cards that charge high interest rates.   
5. Buy your glasses from Southern Seas: southernseasglasses.co.uk (Disclaimer: I am biased as I work for Southern Seas).
6. If you are not working, or are unemployed, you can often claim National Insurance credits, which count towards your pension. The rules are quite complex, but its very much worth finding out more info.
7. To get a state pension you need to have at least 10 years of National Insurance credits (depending on when you retire). No credits equals no state pension when you retire. More details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility 
8. Don’t go overdrawn without telling your bank. Not only will you get hit with all sorted of “unathorised overdraft charges”but it will affect your credit rating too. This means the next time you apply for a phone on credit, or a new loan, it is more likely to be refused.
9. Don’t borrow money off friends or family.
10. Don’t buy on hire purchase or on “easy repayment terms” if you can possibly avoid it. That phone which costs 700 Pounds new, might actually cost you 1200 Pounds if you pay “only” 50 Pounds a month for 24 months.  
11. Write a budget. This item should be first, but I’ve put it last so as not to put you off. A budget does not have to be complicated. For example, my pay is 400 Pounds a week, my rent is 100 Pounds, my food is 50 Pounds, and my bus fare is 30 Pounds. So I have 400-100-50-30=220 Pounds left a week. 

 

The author is the founder of Southern Seas Glasses. The views expressed above are entirely those of the author and do not in any way constitute legal, medical, professional or financial advice.

There are thousands of small ways in which you can save money. Penny-pinching can make you miserable, but it does not have to be like that. With a little bit of prior planning, anyone can save Pounds each month: 

• Keep a careful track of what food you buy. I read somewhere that a third of all fresh food in Britain is thrown away uneaten. Wow. If you buy large loaves of bread and find yourself throwing 1/3 of the bread away each time, why not stick half a loaf in the freezer as soon as you buy it. Come to think of it, lots of things can be frozen, even milk.    

• Recently I took a train from London to Newcastle, and even travelling off-peak, on a weekend, at 6.45 in the morning, it still cost 40 quid one way. So for those long trips, always book in advance, even if you are travelling by bus.    

• I see people on their way to work every day buying a cup of tea or coffee (and if you are like me a cake too) just before they get to work. Why not buy a small flask and save yourself 2 Pounds a day (or 50 Pounds a month) by making a hot drink before you leave home? Or better still, if there is a free coffee machine at work, use that instead.    

• Make your own lunch. Why pay 2 Pounds for a small bottle of Cola and a Pound for an apple, when you can buy the same items for half the price at your local supermarket. I don’t like making my own sandwiches, but in most of the UK a sandwich costs 3-4 Pounds now, which means nearly 100 Pounds a month just for a sarnie.   

• Buy your glasses from Southern Seas: southernseasglasses.co.uk (Disclaimer: I am biased as I work for Southern Seas). 

• There is no need to buy everything new, despite what the adverts bombarding us every day tell us. Can you find it on eBay or Gumtree “like new”for a fraction of the price? 

• Learn how to use a needle and thread. I learn’t how to fix seams that had come apart and to sew buttons back on when I was 10, (not very willingly I must admit), and it has saved me a lot of money over the years. Get your mum or granny to teach you! 

• Don’t chuck your favourite shoes away, get them resoled for 1/2 the price of a new pair. 

• If you are worried about overspending on cards, don’t use them. Take all your pay out in cash, then you can see how much you are paying out for everything, literally. 

• If you, like me, have a weakness for cakes and chocolate, but can’t really afford them, don’t try and give up altogether. Instead of having cake 3 times a week, why not cut down to twice a week instead?

 

The author is the founder of Southern Seas Glasses. The views expressed above are entirely those of the author and do not in any way constitute legal, medical, professional or financial advice.

Following on from my blog a couple of weeks ago, here is the second installment of practical tips for saving money post Brexit:

1) If you don’t live too far from work, try cycling to work instead. The exercise is good for you, it keeps the pounds off, there are more cycle lanes being built all the time, and the government runs a bike-to-work scheme which can cut the cost of buying a new bike. When I checked almost 650,000 bikes have been purchased under the scheme to date: https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/

2) If you live less than 3 miles from work, why not walk to work a few times each week and save on the bus fare or petrol. It takes an hour to walk 3 miles, if there aren’t too many hills to walk up, or main roads to cross.

3) If you take public transport to work, check if you can save money by getting on the bus/train or underground one stop closer to your office/shop/factory. A friend of mine lives just inside London Zone 3, and she saves hundreds of Pounds a year by walking an extra 15 minutes each way to an underground station on the outer edge of Zone 2.

4) Don’t buy takeaways, or buy them less often. My local takeaway charges two quid for one portion of rice, which would have cost me just 30p if I had spent an extra 15 minutes making it at home instead.

5) If you rent a whole flat - share it. If you rent a room - share it with your girl or boyfriend. However check your rental agreement first to check if there are any limits on how many people can live in the flat or room.

6) Are you getting value for money from your phone contract? Do you really need all those free minutes and texts? If you do change to a cheaper tariff, do check that you will not be penalized for switching contracts.

7) If you go away for the weekend, make sure your central heating is switched off or on low, so that you are not heating an empty house/flat/room. If you own or rent a whole house, don’t turn the heating off completely if you are going away though, otherwise your pipes might freeze.

8) If you have unwanted Christmas or birthday presents, why not sell them on eBay or Etsy rather than sticking them unused at the back of a cupboard.

9) Buy your glasses from Southern Seas: www.southernseasglasses.co.uk (Disclaimer: I am biased as I work for Southern Seas).

10) Don’t waste money on shaving foam, grow a beard. Many years ago I cycled across Asia on a mountain bike. During those 10 months I used cheap soap instead of shaving cream to shave, and my face isn't any the worse for it.


The author is the founder of Southern Seas Glasses. The views expressed above are entirely those of the author and do not in any way constitute legal, medical, professional or financial advice.

Feeling the pinch? We all need to save money now the Pound is now worth a lot less than it was. Here are 10 practical tips for saving money post Brexit:

1.  Wrap and old blanket or three round your hot water tank. If you haven’t got any old blankets, ask your parents, or go to the local charity shop. Old ex-army quilted coats will do too.
2.  Run your washing machine on cold wash, you wont notice the difference, unless you are wearing white shirts to work every day.
3.  Don’t use a tumble dryer to dry your clothes, buy a cheap clothes horse, or if you are lucky enough to have your own garden, hang them to dry outside.
4.  Grow herbs on your kitchen windowsill, don’t waste money at the supermarket. They are easy to grow (just add water), they are good for you, and they make boring food taste edible.
5.  Buy Southern Seas Glasses at www.southernseasglasses.co.uk (Disclaimer: I'm biased as I work for Southern Seas!).
6.  Look around your local charity shop for that ladies’winter coat or men’s jacket you need. Charity shops sell some really smart, almost new stuff at rock bottom prices, and its all in a good cause.
7.  Buy a hot water bottle. I know no-one uses them nowadays, but believe me, in an unheated house, a hot water bottle will keep you and your cat fabulously warm in bed.
8.  If you have a really drafty room, tape over those tiny cracks/holes in the window frame and maybe buy a cuddly door stop too. It will cut your heating bill as well as cutting out the drafts.
9.  Ask your landlord to install loft insulation.
10.  Check all the direct debits taken from your bank account or credit card. Are you still paying for that film subscription you thought you cancelled years ago?

 

The author is the founder of Southern Seas Glasses. The views expressed above are entirely those of the author and do not in any way constitute legal, medical, professional or financial advice.