When you hear the word budget you immediately think the worst: living on the bare minimum day to day, feeling restricted to what you can and can’t do, and of course no more treats for yourself and the family, but it doesn’t have to be like this. No matter why you’re budgeting yourself, whether it’s to save for the holiday of a lifetime or to sell up and move on to a larger family home, there are small changes everybody can make that will end up making a big difference.
Make a Budget
In order to live on a budget, you have to first of all figure out what your budget is. A sensible way to do this is to sit down and figure out all of your weekly, and then monthly incomings and how much they amount to. Then also to do the sum of your outgoings, and figuring out how much money you have left over when these are paid in full. This is your disposable income. The trick is to look for loopholes in what you’re spending, and how you could save on them.
For example, if you’re paying the standard tariff for your gas and electric, you might be able to find a cheaper deal. Price comparison websites are a great way to look at the best deals for you, and to reliably find out the cheapest way to pay for your gas and electricity. By saving money on what you spend monthly on utilities, you’ll ultimately have more disposable income at the end of the month.
Cut your Costs Down
Once you’ve made your budget, figure out where you can cut down your spending. As previously mentioned, price comparison websites are the perfect way to look at cutting the costs for your gas and electric. Did you know, that simply by switching your gas and electric
supplier, you can save up to £300 a year? Especially if you’ve been on your current deal for more than twelve months. Not a bad sum for little effort and absolutely no cut backs.
But utilities are absolutely not the only thing you can save money on. Don’t forget your car insurance, your mobile phone and your internet provider too. Chances are there’s a better deal for those out there as well, and all you need to do is a little bit of research.
There are ways of cutting down in your day to day life too. For example, do you grab a coffee and a sandwich at work every day? If you do, chances are they’ll be from an expensive chain too. This is unnecessary spending. By planning just a little further ahead, and preparing your lunch and a flask of coffee, you’ll save a little bit of money each day, which inevitably adds up to a large amount at the end of the week. Also remember to keep an eye out for supermarket coupons and special offers that are available to you, every little helps!
Likewise, think about other unnecessary spending, such as TV streaming services. Do you have Netflix, which will take £5.99 out of your bank account on direct debit each month that you hardly use? What about that gym membership that takes £20.00 a month out of your account (I mean really, when was the last time you actually went to the gym? And if you do, is there a cheaper one? Chances are the answer is yes.) We don’t even realise how much money we waste by forgetting to cancel our direct debits from years gone by, so just imagine how much we could save if we did.
If you’re looking to save and upsize your family home, there are less traditional ways of selling up and moving on that are available now, and will save you a lot of money. For example, there is a company that can buy any house fast that you can easily access online called Ready Steady Sell, who will value any house, and buy it for cash. This will save you a huge amount on extortionate estate agents’ fees, and will also save you the hassle of going down the lengthy route of traditionally selling your home.
It really is as simple as this. Figure out your incomings, your outgoings, your disposable income and go from there. From that point onwards, do your research, cut down unnecessary spending, and look at alternative routes for the slightly more expensive stuff. Even if it doesn’t seem much, add all of this together and you’ll be sure to save a LOT of money, and to get that bigger house or dream holiday in no time!
