Reduce Your Cost Of Living Tristan on 26 Jul 2008 03:03 pm
5 money saving tips that could save over £100 a month
Don’t buy a Starbucks coffee on the way to work
If you wait until you get to work to have your morning coffee, you will no doubt find it is much cheaper or free to get a coffee at work and you will most likely save yourself about £2.50 a day. Also, you will save time too as you won’t have to wait in line for ten minutes while they make you your coffee.
Monthly saving:20 days @ £2.50 / day = £50 per month
Make your own lunch for work
If you buy a sandwich or a salad everyday at work for your lunch, you will no doubt be spending £2-£4 a day on your lunch, especially if you have a packet of crisps, chocolate bar and a drink with your food. With a little bit of planning you can make your own lunch the night before and it take it to work with you.
Monthly saving:20 days @ £3 / day = £60 per month
Don’t buy a newspaper everyday to read on your lunch break
If you bought a newspaper everyday, that’s 50p, not a lot of money but it does mount up over the course of a month. Instead you could read a book, or if your office get’s their own newspapers, read them. In certain cities, the Metro is readily available for free, admittedly it’s not as good a read in my opinion, but if all you’re doing is giving yourself something to read for 30 minutes while you’re on a lunch break, does it really matter that much?
Monthly saving:20 days @ 50p / day = £10 per month
Wash your car yourself rather than take it to the car wash
To put a car through the car wash costs anywhere between £3 and £6 depending on wether you go for a basic wash or a super deluxe with wax wash. You can wash your own car with a bucket, some soapy water and a sponge - all it will cost is 30 minutes of your time.
Monthly saving:Once a week @ £4.50 each time = £18 per month
Don’t buy brand name consumer goods at the supermarket
If you look at what it costs to buy a tube of toothpast made by colgate, versus the own brand equivalent, you’ll probably find that you can save 50% or more. If you take this attitude to all of your normal purchases in the weekly shop, you will see a massive difference in the size of your weekly shopping bill. The best one I’ve come across is squash, you can buy Robinson’s for about £1 a litre, or you can get own brand squah from Sainsbury’s for 18p a litre. Take this attitude to things like washing up liquid, washing powder, fabric conditioner, dishwasher tablets, baked beans, bread, margarine, milk, cereal and many other products and you will see the savings mount up.
Monthly saving:£10 saving per person per week = £40 a month
Total savings achievable
Coffee saving = £50
Lunch saving = £60
Newspaper saving = £10
Car wash saving = £18
Grocery saving = £40
Total = £178 / month
on 26 Jul 2008 at 7:42 pm 1.John said …
Now just imagine where you’d be if you put that £178 per month into a sensible investment…
on 26 Jul 2008 at 9:32 pm 2.cornish dragon said …
OR having not found a “sensible” investment
any where in this recession blighted hell hole
called england , instead you kicked your “assie
rules” mortgage into touch years early saving yourself SHED LOADS of interest along the way leeding to you and your families premature FF !
Job done ?
cd
on 27 Jul 2008 at 6:06 am 3.John said …
Paying off the mortgage early would certainly be a good place to start.
on 27 Jul 2008 at 3:52 pm 4.Tristan said …
If you did still have a mortgage, then you could use that £178 a month to overpay the mortgage, reducing it by at least £2,136 a year, which with the compounding effect of a repayment mortgage would equate to repaying a 25 year mortgage in about 18 years.