With household budgets getting squeezed, it is becoming more and more essential for many families to save money where possible.
We have identified 5 simple steps anyone can do to help your family save a little money each month.
1. Adopt a healthier lifestyle
It is no secret that unhealthy habits tend to cost more than healthy ones.
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Smoking and drinking both bring with them hiked taxes making the cost extremely high and it is likely this price will only continue to rise.
The same goes for eating.
Whilst there are many health foods on the market which boast a hefty price tag, the cost of fresh fruit and veg is significantly lower than that of sugary snacks (hello sugar tax!) and numerous unhealthy takeaways.
Health and wealth have never correlated more.
Adopting a few new healthy habits into your lifestyle, such as eating more fruit and veg, cutting down on alcohol and quitting smoking can help you save a significant figure each month.
2. Compare multiple quotes
From daily living costs, such as energy bills, to monthly outgoings such as family life insurance, comparing quotes can save your household significant sums of money.
The cost of long-standing protection such as life cover or critical illness protection can vary wildly between insurers.
Using the free services of an insurance broker can easily allow you to compare multiple quotes, ensuring you get the right cover, at the best price.
Shopping around more immediate outgoings, such as household energy suppliers, can also allow you to save on a day-to-day basis.
Using a price comparison website will allow you to secure the best rates for your household utilities (gas, electric and water) so that you never pay more than you need to.
3. Join loyalty schemes
Nowadays, loyalty schemes are commonplace amongst most services, from your local coffee shop, to the major supermarkets and even the kids soft play.
Joining these loyalty schemes will allow you to take advantage of the discount and freebies each service has to offer.
Whilst the saving on each of these schemes may not be immediate (sometimes taking up to 10 visits before a reward is received), in the long run you will save yourself a pretty penny.
Whilst not technically a loyalty scheme, it can also be advantageous to sign up to a cashback site, again allowing you to reap benefits for shopping at certain stores.
4. Keep birthdays simple
Birthdays can become very expensive, especially in households with young children.
Demands of the latest toys and trends, coupled with the need for an extravagant party, can easily result in the cost of a birthday spiralling.
Setting a household budget for birthdays will enable you to prioritise what is most important and allow you to get creative with the rest.
For example, you may need to explain that they need to choose between the latest computer game or having a party.
Equally, in scenarios where you wish to provide both, you may allocate a certain percentage on presents and the rest on a party, causing you to become creative with such elements as decorations and games.
Setting a birthday budget and sticking to it will allow you to stop costs from escalating and becoming unaffordable.
5. Shop second-hand
Today we live in a fast-moving world. People tend to keep items for a shorter period of time and trends change so quickly it can be difficult (and costly) to keep up.
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Fortunately, there are a huge number of places to pick-up second-hand items in great condition which prevent you from paying the high costs associated with new items.
From e-bay and Facebook marketplace, to charity shops and car boot sales, it is likely that whatever you require, someone somewhere has a good quality version they are getting rid of.
Checking these avenues before heading to the shops and paying full price, allows you save a significant amount of money and still get what you need.
Just be careful not to fall into the trap of buying stuff because it is a ‘bargain’. Always ask yourself if it is an essential before going ahead with the purchase.
Over to you
So, there you have it – our 5 simple, yet effective, ways to save your household money.
Why not give one or all of the above a try and see how much you can save.
What’s more if you have any additional suggestions yourself on how to save, why not add them to the comments below. We’ve got more suggestions on how to build some savings here.
