How To Save £2015 in 2015

I recently wrote about how I hope to save £12,000 this year towards my mortgage, and while the post has proved really popular, I’ve heard from several people who are unable to save that much themselves. Saving can be hard, particularly when you have lots of responsibilities such as rent, bills, a car, children or debts. And for this reason, I’ve decided to write about the £2015 in 2015 challenge. It’s still a hefty figure, and is by no means a walk in the park, but what’s the point in a challenge if it’s easy to achieve?

Here’s a few things that I think you just might be able to do this year to save some cash for something special:

Be a sensible shopper

Big savings can be made if you adopt a sensible approach to food shopping.

• Embrace Tesco and Sainsburys Clubcards. Their point schemes are far from generous, but you may as well make the most of the points if you’re going to be shopping there anyway
• Shop at Aldi and Lidl when you can. You may not find the big brands that you’re used to, but by shopping at places such as Aldi you can save so much money on your food shop. I think they’re great for fruit, veg, eggs, ham and cheese. A weekly food shop for a family of four can work out around £20 cheaper at Aldi than it is at other supermarkets.
• Buy and cook in bulk. You’ll get more for you money if you buy larger packets of food. Only do this if you know it will definitely get eaten, because there’s nothing more frustrating than waste. Also, bulk cook meals and freeze them for later. This can reduce the likelihood that food will get forgotten about and go off.
• Is that offer really worth it? When you see an offer such as 2 for £2, check how much the items cost individually to begin with. I once bought a couple of jars of pasta sauce on an offer such as this only to find that I was only saving 6p by buying the two. This really winds me up but so many supermarkets do this cheeky trick all the time.

Make your own lunch

If you do just one thing to save money this year, I’d recommend you make your lunches instead of buying a Meal Deal on your lunch break. While it may seem like you’re saving money because your sandwich, crisps and a drink are part of an offer, you’re actually wasting your hard earned cash. By making your sandwiches at home and buying crisps and drinks in multipacks you can make a huge saving throughout the year. Say for example you were to spend £3 on lunch each day for 365 days, this would add up to £1095 by the end of 2015. To save money further, give up trips to the coffee shop too. This could easily double the amount of money that you waste on unnecessary food/drink each year! If you need a regular coffee fix, consider recreating the coffee shop experience at home by experimenting with new flavours and coffee syrups.

Go low maintenance

Add up how much money you spend on beauty treatments each year and see where you can cut back. I used to have my eyebrows threaded every couple of months but I’ve given that up now. Sure £5 each time isn’t extortionate, but you can tweeze your brows at home for free. I’ve also cut back on the frequency that I visit my hairdressers. I now probably pop in every four or five months. My hair may not be looking its best at all times, but my savings account is.

Say goodbye to the gym 

I personally think that unless you’re going to the gym 3 times a week or more, it’s probably not worth it. I’m sure loads of people will disagree and I know that it’s possible to fit a lot of hard work into just a couple of workouts, but if you’re on a money saving mission, consider binning your gym membership.

I was previously a member of Pure Gym, which at just £20 a month, was pretty good value as far as gyms are concerned. Except for one thing. I wasn’t going enough. It’s been nearly 5 months since I cancelled my membership, and so I’ve saved almost £100 already. Also, because I recently started eating healthily, I’ve lost more weight in the time since I quit the gym than I did in the whole time I was a member.

Accept hand me downs

Mum got a nice coat she doesn’t want any more? Brother getting rid of a jumper that would probably look good on you too? Don’t be embarrassed to accept things for free that are second hand. My Mum recently gave me a faux-fur coat that she’d barely worn and now I wear it all the time. It could have costed me £50 for something similar on the high street.

Reassess your living situation

This one is a biggie, but the savings can be huge. Can you re-evaluate your living situation and make a saving? If you’re coming towards the end of your rental contract, maybe  you can move in with your parents or friends for a few months before you move somewhere else? This isn’t for everybody, but there are other options. Renting a spare room in a house share is often much cheaper than renting a one bed flat. There are even options for couples to share a double room in a house share, so if you and your other half are saving for a deposit, and don’t mind living in a busy household for a short while, this could be an option to save cash fast.

If you have a home of your own, you could increase your income and decrease the pressure of mortgage repayments and bills by taking in a lodger. Thanks to the Government’s Rent a Room scheme, the first £4,250 that you make from renting out a room in your home is tax free.

Can you reduce your phone bill?

If you’ve been with your current mobile network for a while, you may be able to reduce your monthly bill and save money each month. A couple of years ago I managed to reduce my monthly spend by £5 a month by reducing my minutes. I wasn’t really making use of my allowance anyway. Get in touch with your network to see if this is a possibility. While it may not seem like there is anything in it for them, they’ll often do it just to keep you happy and increase the likelihood that you’ll stay with them when your contract ends.

Swap Sky, DVDs and cinema trips for Netflix

If you’re a big movie & TV watcher, Netflix is where it’s at. Seeing as the Orange Wednesday offer is soon going to end, cinema trips are only going to be getting more expensive, and paying for Sky each month can also be costly. But with Netflix, you can watch thousands of TV shows and movies from the comfort of your sofa for just £5.99 a month.

Check your direct debits

Make sure that you’re not paying monthly for something that you’ve completely forgotten about. It’s easily done, maybe you signed up for a free trial of something six months ago that you forgot to cancel. Make sure you cancel these as soon as possible.

Follow Martin Lewis and his friends

Obviously, I’d love it if you follow me to keep updated on regular money-saving tips, but being a one-woman-band, I can’t cover everything. For this reason, I recommend also following Money Saving Expert for plenty of thrifty tips to make you richer. Today, thanks to the MSE newsletter, I learnt about this great deal which allows music lovers to get Spotify Premium for just 99p for 3 months. Usually it’s £9.99 a month.

Here’s a few more tips to help you save £2015 in 2015:

• Start shopping for Christmas right now – snap up wrapping paper, cards and gifts while they’re cheap and in the sale
• Put your savings in an ISA account to get tax-free interest
• Do a car boot sale and sell your old stuff
• Join some Buy, Sell and Swap groups on Facebook to get rid of more expensive items (they’re unlikely to fetch much on a car boot)
• Trade in your old books
• If you’re a student, remember to ask for a student discount everywhere you go. It’s worth a try.I’d also recommend signing up to Unidays too
• Avoid the high street to stop yourself from spending
• Learn to say no. If you’d rather stay in and save instead of going out, just say so
• Invite your friends round for a night in instead of a night out. Ask everyone to bring drinks and snacks to share
• If you drive to work, see if you can take it in turns with any colleagues that live nearby
• If you have a driveway that you don’t use, rent your parking space to people who need it and make money
• Drink tap water in restaurants instead of soft drinks or alcohol
• Take stuff back. If you’ve overspent, don’t be ashamed to return it
• If you need something that doesn’t need to be brand new, have you checked to see if anyone is selling it on Freecyle?
• Going out for a meal? Search online to see if there are any restaurant vouchers available to save you money

 

Photo: Queen Elizabeth bank note

Toasted sandwich

Little wooden house