Money Saving Tips - June 2022

Welcome back everyone! 

I am here today with another instalment of my practical money saving tips and advice to hopefully help you all save some pennies at a time that seems like it is affecting everyone. Please do let me know if any of these have helped you if you try them or if you do them already. Please also feel free to use the comments section as a place to speak to each other and share your own money saving ideas. 

1. Use the reward systems that are already in place within the things you already pay for! 

This tip is something that in the past I have been so totally shit at, it wasn't until very recently that I even joined up to 02's airtime rewards and I have been with them for years. This is the perfect example where each month I pay my phone bill and never save any money, this reward however gives me the opportunity to now save money on my phone bill just by shopping at the places I already do. I buy things in places like Boots as an example and o2 have hundreds of affiliated stores linked to this reward specifically and just by doing my normal shopping it gives me money off of my phone bill. HOW HAVE I NOT BEEN DOING THIS and if like me, you haven't done this with the rewards you should receive from goods and services that you already pay for I would strongly suggest carving some time out of your week to sit down and look at the rewards you could be getting and how these could be saving you money. I will look forward to my free phone bill over Christmas and all presents will be coming from affiliated stores ;) 

2. Food Shop With Cash 

Now I know back in my Original post that I said, shop with cash, in a very generic way but if I get really granular and think where a huge part of our household income is going,  I can say very honestly and openly that it is probably on food shopping and even more so now that prices are skyrocketing. This however makes this tip one of the best, go food shopping with cash only, set yourself a budget and do not exceed it. Leave your bank cards at home and only take cash and this way you will not only be less tempted but you will likely not splurge on things that you don't need as when you get to the till you won't have the extra to pay for it. Alongside this tip I would also suggest that if you are in a large chain supermarket that you use their hand held scanners that will tot up your amount as you go round scanning your items and this way you can see exactly what you are spending. Some people have said to me before that this can't be done as the scan and go sections are card only but I will give you Asda as an example, you can use scan and go and then go through the trolley shop section that lets you pay via cash or card with your scan and go machine. These combined tips of cash only shopping and scanning as you go will be guaranteed to save you money if you have the want to do so. If you are not in a chain store whip out your trusty calculator, trust me no one is going to judge you during this time. 

3. Create a weekly meal plan

This is one that I think a lot of us struggle with, we start our week with great intentions and then come the middle of the week after a few stressful days at work and wrangling children or juggling our busy to do list we end up clawing at our phones to scramble for the UberEats app as fast as we can. This tip will also help with tip number one as well, as to create your meal plan you then need to be intentional about what you are buying from the shop and it should stop you buying food in excess. 

4. Shop your cupboards 

Make sure that before you set out on your weekly food shop that you compare the list of things you have to to buy to what you already have in your cupboards. Have you written anything down that you already have? Is there anything that you already have that you can substitute for what is on your list so that you can take that item off. Or have you got more food than you even realised in the house and can therefore significantly reduce what you need to buy. 

5. When you have some spare change, prepare for the future

If you know that at the moment you are struggling to make end's meet and then you come into a little extra money, why not use that money to set yourself up for success in the coming weeks and buy some food that you can turn into bulk meals and freeze them for when you may be struggling again, this way you are helping to look after your future budget and save the pennies when you really need to. 

6. Get creative with your budget meals

If you are bored of making the same old meals when it comes to eating on a budget, one of my biggest tips would be to look on instagram or tiktok for inspiration. There are so many great accounts that share affordable food inspiration and I think if you look in the comments it will really make you realise this is something that everyone is in together. It will also make you realise how many healthy meals you can make on a budget.