How do you make your money stretch?
It’s amazing how some people can get their money to stretch so much further than others. What are the good habits which some people develop to help them avoid overspending? How come some people struggle to get by on substantial wages and others can manage on relatively tiny amounts? Why is this? We asked around the office and discovered some money saving tricks that we can share with you to help you save on essential or popular spending. An important reason could be sticking to spending within your budget.There are also other tips and tricks used, ranging from savvy shopping techniques to exercising control when it comes to general spending, borrowing and saving.
Save money on well-stored food
1 Don’t stick religiously to ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates and know the difference between the two.‘Best before’ dates are about quality not safety and are a guide for consumers to know when the food is at its best.You don’t throw food out if it’s past its ‘best before’ date unless it has gone off.An experiment conducted recently by the Daily Mail along with top nutritionists, discovered that there are foods that are perfectly safe to eat after their ‘use by’ date.They bought a selection of foods on a single day and then judged them, but did stress that foods must be stored correctly in a well-chilled fridge.They discovered foods such as milk, yoghurts, frozen peas and bagged salad are safe to use after their ‘use by’ date if they have been stored properly.
As my colleague said “Don’t just throw out stuff because it has passed its sell by or best before date. Sniff, look, taste. Our parents and grandparents didn’t have those dates as an option and they were healthier than all of us – they never got tummy bugs!”
Packed lunches are not just for schoolkids
2 Bring a packed lunch to work.Prepare it the night before so that you’re not running around the next morning without enough time to make it and end up buying something in work.If the average takeaway lunch costs between £3-5 and you’re spending this 3-5 times a week, that’s between £423-£1175 you’re blowing on food that you could easily make and bring to work with you for a fraction of the price.Another good tip was to keep a water bottle in work and to refill it to drink throughout the day.As my colleague explained before he started doing this he was buying cans of fizzy juice every day from the vending machine, costing him pounds and piling on the pounds!
Hidden treasures in charity shops
3 Do not turn your nose up at shopping for clothes in charity shops, because these can be full of hidden treasures, especially if you go to the ones in the more upmarket end of your town or city.You will be pleasantly surprised at some of the quality clothing you can find and if you’re as lucky as my colleague you may stumble across designer names such as Dior or Prada and luxurious fabrics like silk, merino wool and cashmere.Take pride in grabbing bargains and finding luxury items for less – it’s nothing to be ashamed of!
Experience economy
4 The last few years have seen the rise of the ‘experience economy’ where Brits have decided that they prefer to spend their hard-earned cash on holidays, activities and experiences rather than accumulating more and more stuff.According to thisismoney.co.uk there was an increase of 8% in the last year on recreation and culture spending while high street retailers are suffering a loss because we’re just not buying as much clothing and footwear as we once did. Those experiences may not be cheap and payments can continue in the form of subscriptions for music and film services for example. Subscriptions can be hard to give up when we need to cut down as we get so used to having these facilities and no longer consider them a luxury. But other one-off, experience-based costs - like holidays and days out, can also be high
Tips for keeping these costs lower?Shop around, use comparison sites online, look out for special online deals.Always be on-the-ball and vigilant to get the cheapest prices you can. Like anyone else in the UK, the people in our office aren't always brilliant at saving money - we all have our weaknesses, whether that be gadgets, clothes, holidays or nights out. Like a food diet, if you can keep to the good habits 808% of the time and allow a 20% 'splurge' factor to shape your budget, you'll probably do well.
Ashleigh Ferguson