Money Saving Tips

Introduction -in order to help you avoid personal debt in the first place, in this article we provide some useful money saving tips on how to cut back unnecessary spending, be thriftier, conservative and cost conscious....

Changing Telephone Options - a mature and competitive market, by cutting back on the so-called added value services from your provider or even switching provider altogether, significant cost savings can be achieved. Avoid package deals unless you are absolutely confident that you will be saving money in the long run. By opting for a paperless bill, not choosing voicemail and opting for the direct debit payment, savings can also be achieved with providers such as BT. When you really need that telephone number, don't ring the 118 type premium rate services, instead use Google Local or the good old-fashioned Yellow Pages to find what you want. In addition, a useful money saving tips is to switch to a pay as you go mobile phone if you are currently on a contract. Make sure you understand the cancellation notice period of your existing contract.

Using Loyalty Schemes - most people belong to some form of loyalty scheme as a result of making a purchase in the past and being offered some type of card all awards system. However, most people don't really understand the value of a point in financial terms. How much are your club card points or air miles really worth? Sometimes companies make it deliberately complicated to unravel the monetary value of the units of the reward. Loyalty schemes naturally encourage users to spend their saved up points within the company they obtained the points from in the first place. For instance, spending your reward points within the store they ere accrued from sometimes achieves a higher return than spending them on products or services not belonging to the reward provider. Try not to be drawn into special offers links to obtaining extra reward points. Ask yourself do I really need this product or service? And could I buy it cheaper elsewhere? And if so, is losing the potential rewards worth the saving on a choosing cheaper option brand?

Mortgages - one of the highest monthly outgoings of households is their mortgage. The liquidity crisis is making remortgaging more and more expensive relative to the last decade of choice and relatively cheaper credit. However there are still remortgaging options available for homeowners coming off at fixed rates. Seek the advice of an independent financial adviser to ascertain whether short-term savings equate to an overall lower total debt repayment in the long run. In addition, flexible mortgages offer people with some disposable income, the ability to combine their savings with their mortgage in order to reduce the mortgage term and overall interest on the loan. Be aware, that early repayments on a mortgage may incur penalty charges, so check the small print before attempting to reduce your capital balance.

Switching Utility Companies - the Internet makes it simple to compare the market in minutes to understand how much money on gas, electricity and water you might be up to say. Some companies offer cash back and other incentives to switch. It is the same electricity and the same gas that comes down the pipes and wires, so why not exploit the relaxation of the market. Unfortunately, lots of people simply can not be bothered to go through the form filling exercise. The comparison websites make the application process as pain-free as possible.

Switching Credit Cards - credit cards are one of the most expensive forms of unsecured personal debt. Interest rates can be obtained at a much lower rate if credit cards are cleared and the debt moved to lower forms of borrowing such as unsecured loans or even a remortgage. By drawing up a budget of total income and expenditure, it should be obvious how much disposable income you really have. Can you live without the convenience of having a credit card in the first place? There are certainly useful mechanisms to spend when abroad or when money is tight. However, most of us rarely track the outstanding balance and inevitably spend more than we should have done because we simply can. As our parents used to say, don't spend what is is not cash in your pocket.

Installing a Water Meter - by installing a water meter your mind is concentrated on what you spend and use day by day. Many households have saved large sums of money using a metered approach. Water from the tap is something we all take for granted and is built on a quarterly basis, so it is rarely considered as an area of cost saving (compared to your monthly mobile phone bill).

Changing Food Shopping Habits - the global rise in food prices is forcing people to search for value own brands and consider buying in bulk from lower budget supermarkets. The convenience of out of town large supermarkets may be appealing, yet cheaper fruit and vegetables can often be obtained from a local market. Over the course of one year, hundreds of pounds can be saved by changing where we shop and what we buy.

Sell Old Clutter on EBay - there is virtually a market for anything on eBay. Any old clutter in the last or garage provides an opportunity to raise some extra cash. The online auction website provides secure methods of payment via PayPal and an easy-to-use and well-established search engine to allow buyers and sellers to operate in relative anonymity and privacy. Sometimes a car boot sale may seem the obvious option, yet the market on eBay is exponentially larger and therefore the opportunity to get more back for your old clutter exists.

Switching Insurances - we have all heard the adverts on switching insurances for house, car, health and so on. Yet many of us simply can't be bothered to sit in a call centre telephone queue and listen to 'your call is really important to us, please hold...", and then answer the same questions over and over again. Insurance is a faceless and relatively mobile product group that few of us have particular loyalty to one company or another. Using the Internet to visit insurance comparison websites, offers a simpler quote request procedure, (in that one form is sent out to multiple providers). However, beware that comparison websites do not always provide the best deal. Using an insurance broker may surprisingly be the best option. They are obliged to highlight their fee and they will most likely be receiving a commission as a percentage of the premium, from the insurance lender. Despite these so called 'middleman' costs, they may provide excellent deals, particularly where difficult to get hold of insurances are required. In addition, avoid payment protection-based insurance policies where they have been sold to you at the same time as the loan. This typically happens in shops at a busy checkout shopping for a large electrical item on finance. Specifically, take independent financial advice regarding how appropriate protection insurance may be related to the loan you are seeking to obtain.

Get a Smaller Car - with huge increases in motoring taxes being introduced by the government, as well as the huge fuel bill rises, a trade in for a smaller and more efficient car makes common sense. There are still many grey imports from overseas, providing nearly new options. Alternatively, ex-rental or fleet options from auction or from car supermarkets provide access to low-cost alternatives.

Luxury Regular Spending - check all your direct debits, standing orders and memberships and ask whether you really can afford them if they represent a luxury item as opposed to a necessity. Do you really need 300 sky channels when perhaps a hundred would do perfectly well? Better still simply cancel satellite or cable channels subscriptions and use Freeview instead. In addition, magazine subscriptions, gym memberships, online memberships will mount up where direct debits are concerned.

Claim Tax Benefits and Allowances - the culture in Britain has changed from 20 years ago, where stigma was attached to someone claiming benefits. This stigma has reduced, as millions more families have been entitled to employment based tax credits, child benefits and working tax credits. Unfortunately the system is incredibly complicated to understand and the forms and application process has been consistently criticised since its inception. Despite these failings, you may be entitled to more financial assistance then he realised. In addition, using your ISA allowance of £3000 per year is a simple way to save tax on interest.

Improve Home Energy Efficiency - astronomical gas and electric bills can be reduced by simply changing your daily habits. Don't leave lights on when you leave a room, and change your light bulbs for energy efficiency versions. Turn all standby appliances off before you go to bed as they consume electricity while you sleep, (particularly large flat screen items, DVD players and sound systems). Apart from saving money, it also reduces the risks of fire hazards as save wasting carbon. Investing in loft insulation and cavity wall insulation can be achieved through government assistance, under new proposals in co-operation with utility companies. Most heat from a house is lost through the roof and so instillation is a necessary first step. In addition, solar technology is becoming cheaper year-on-year. Some solar roofing specialist companies will assist you in explaining how to obtain business grants to part purchase a solar panel system which would contribute to reducing your electricity bill. Solar panel installations do take a number of years to recoup the capital costs. However, the length of time it is takes to achieve a return on investment is coming down all the time, as technology improves and the cost of oil and hence gas, continues to rise. In addition, don't rely on you tumble drier as its very expensive to run, (especially as we live in one of the windiest countries in Western Europe).

Use Charity Shops - there used to be a stigma attached to buying second-hand clothes and particularly from a charity shop. This has changed radically over the past few years as people donate more and more nearly new items to charity shops.. People are seeking bargains for clothes, shoes and books and are finding that charity shops are offering nearly new brand names in addition to bits and bobs. As most people with children know, children's clothes and shoes can be a complete rip-off in normal high street stores. Charity shops can save hundreds of pounds a year for items which kids will grow out of within six months or so, anyway.