With utility providers sent to increase energy bills by 80% next month with further significant rises predicted in January and April 2023, impacting millions of people across the UK, you may be wondering how you are going to be able to cope with the increased monthly expenditure. This is in addition to general inflation pushing up the prices of the weekly food shop.
Below, we have compiled a list of 10 money saving simple tips to help reduce your living expenses and cut costs. The tips will hopefully help offset the impending increase in household bills on your monthly spend and leave you with more spending money.
You could use online budgeting tools to track how much you are spending each month on everything to help identify where savings can be made.
1 – Streaming Services – Save on Household Bills Through Service Rotation
Many of the most popular streaming platforms are on rolling contracts, which can be canceled at any time. So why not start saving money on your household bills and change them every few months?
With the cost of going out becoming increasingly expensive, staying in is becoming the new going out. Streaming platforms are investing heavily in new content to compete with each other and many of us now have multiple streaming platforms that we pay for each month.
With Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV. Now TV, Disney Plus and several others, it can be expensive tryin to subscribe to them all.
Why not take advantage of the rolling contract and reduce your subscription to 1 or 2 at a time and switch each month which can help you save over £20 a month depending on how many services you currently subscribe to.
2 – Use Browser Extensions to Help You Save on your Online Shopping
With many of us doing a lot of our shopping online to save money and time on travelling to the high street, why not make the internet work harder to help you grab an even better bargain?
There are several browser extensions such as Honey & Capital One Shopping that can be downloaded which run in the background and when you find an item you wish to buy.
The software will check and in most cases automatically apply valid voucher codes or look for the item cheaper elsewhere to ensure you are saving money by getting the best deal possible.
3 – Replace Lighting in your Home With LED Bulbs
Whilst the up-front costs of energy saving LED bulbs can cost between three to five times that of traditional incandescent bulbs, they burn out far more quickly and need to be replaced far more frequently.
As a result, they tend to need replacing more often than LED light bulbs which can last up to ten years. Therefor, you would have to replace the traditional bulbs more frequently which is not cost effective.
Furthermore, the running costs of energy saving LED lighting can be as little as 20% of the running costs of traditional bulbs.
With utility bills increasing in the coming months, it makes switching to LED lighting more of a no brainer as the money saved on ongoing usage costs will now be even higher.
4 – Be Smart and Invest in Smart Plugs to Save Money on Energy Bills
Taking the above one step further, now is a good a time as any to invest in a few smart plugs which you can attach household items such as lamps and other items that would normally be left in standby overnight. Perhaps even look into getting a smart thermostat such as Hive or Nest.
These will put you in total control of your household energy usage and keep your energy bills as low as possible whether you are at home or out and about.
Use the relevant apps to turn control lighting, heating and electricals draining energy in standby overnight or whilst you are away from home to ensure you are not wasting money on energy you are not actively using and lower your electricity bills.
5 – Audit your Household Service Providers and Save Money
Now would be a great time to look at your currently television and communications providers and potentially grab a much better deal. There are different elements to consider here.
Firstly, check whether you are out of contract. The chances are that if you are out of contract, you are almost certainly paying much more than you need on your TV package, your broadband bills and your mobile phone bills. There are potentially big savings to be had on these.
If you are out of contract, ask whether you need the service at all or whether there are elements of the service you actually need. For example, if you have a television provider and are paying for kids channels, do your kids need or even watch theses? If not, scrap them off.
Secondly, you are in a strong negotiating position. Contact your provider and you are likely to find that they are more than willing to negotiate a lower monthly cost in exchange for a further contract which can help you make significant monthly savings. You could even use price comparison websites to see if other providers have better deals which will save you money.
If you are a household with several individual mobile contracts. You could look into family deals in which multiple people living in the same household can be on one contract with their own handset sharing from pooled minutes, texts and data which often works out a lot cheaper than having individual monthly contracts.
6 – Ditch the Mobile Phone Contract for a Sim Only Deal and Save Money
When looking at your mobile phone contract, set a reminder in your phone a month before your contract ends and switch to SIM only. You can ask your service provider to check how much data you use every month and go for a SIM card with a similar offering.
Don’t get trapped into paying a premium for an unlimited contract if you are not a super heavy user. Also, remember that the bulk of the monthly contract price is for the handset.
Switching to a sim only deal for the right amount of data for your needs could potentially save you over £100 per year.
7 – Turn Radiators Down (or off) in the Rooms That Are Not in Use
With winter approaching it will soon be that time when many of us turn our central heating thermostat back online which will see our monthly bills rise.
However, have you checked whether the settings on each individual radiator? Most of us probably have them all switched on full and never change the settings.
Work from home? Turn down the heating in the rooms you are not working in. Have a spare room that is rarely used turn off the radiator until you have a guest staying over.
Being smarter with your heating means your boiler does not need to work so hard and with the boiler one of the most, if not the most energy intensive energy user in the home This will save money on your monthly bills
8 – Save Money By Meal Planning & Smarter Food Shopping
Sadly in the UK, we throw away on average £356 worth of food each year that is bought and then not used in time before it goes off.
A more practical approach would be to plan ahead and work out what meals you intend to have for the next week and use a shopping list to buy the groceries you need and also check the “use by” dates to ensure the fresh food you buy will stay fresh for as long as required.
With food that is past its best, use your eyes and your nose as often food remains usable for a few more days if it has been stored in accordance with the guidelines. However, make sure the food is fully cooked through.
Sticking to a plan like this will mean you throw less food away and could potentially save almost £30 by eliminating your food waste.
9 – Reduce Tumble Dryer Usage and Save Money
Tumble dryers are one of the most energy intense items in the home and again with winter approaching, more of us will be using our dryers increasingly in the coming months.
One way of reducing tumble dryer usage and save energy is to invest in a further clothes drying stand. Chances are you are going to have your central heating on during the winter months so utilise this hear instead and use additional drying stands so that less items need to be placed in a dryer.
If you do have items that you prefer to use a tumble dryer for such as towels and bedding, give them an extra spin in the washing machine once the cycle ends to wring out even more water before placing them in the dryer. As a result, they should dry quicker and save money on your energy usage.
10 – Eliminate takeaway Delivery Fees
We all like a good takeaway as it means no cooking. Most of us have now turned to takeaway apps such as Just Eat and Deliveroo as it allows us to browse from multiple stores and pick the meals that we want.
However, the draw back is that delivery fees and payment fees are usually added which are approximately £3 extra on average. Most takeaways are usually within walking distance or a 5 minute drive. Therefore, it makes more sense to make savings by ordering directly from the takeaway of choice and to go and collect the meal instead.
If you have just one takeaway a week, this would save you spending £12 a month on fees.
Utilising some or all of these ideas can help you to save hundreds of pounds a year and reduce your monthly outgoings in the months ahead. This list is not exhaustive and there are many other ways to reduce your spending leaving more money in your bank accounts.
Still Struggling with your Bills?
Have you tried all of the above and also assessed your monthly budget but still struggling to keep on top of your bills and credit card debt? Please feel free to call us at Become Debt Free or complete the form so that we can call you.
One of our friendly advisors can discuss your money worries and assess your situation to see what options you have.
