Avoiding unmanageable levels of debt can be achieved in many cases with simple changes to lifestyle and habits. By spending less money each month, households can reduce their financial problems for both the short term and long term.
Here, we explore how you can begin lowering your monthly spend immediately.
Budget
The first step to reducing your monthly spend is to accurately surmise your income and outgoings. Our guide to budgeting can help give you an accurate insight into where you are spending significant money and demonstrate where cutbacks can be made without seriously impacting upon your standard of living.
Review the budget regularly over the space of a year to determine whether it is viable. Additionally, it is prudent to alter the budget if your financial situation has changed due to professional or personal reasons.
Change Shopping Habits
The weekly grocery shop is traditionally one of the largest household outgoings due to the necessity for food, drink and essentials. Intelligent shopping can significantly reduce the grocery shop spend every week. Use My Supermarket to find the best deals on your favourite brands and products to help you save money on food items and cupboard essentials.
Try supermarket brand or none-branded products if they are significantly cheaper than your preferred brand. Often the difference in taste and ingredients between branded and unbranded products is negligible.
This ethos can be applied to more than just the grocery shop. From clothes to electronics – everything deemed important your lifestyle can often be adapted to a more frugal standard of living.
Change Personal Habits
Simple changes to your everyday behaviour could help you keep a tighter control over your finances. Walking rather than taking the car or public transport is an instant money-saver which could reduce your expenditure by hundreds of pounds over the course of a year.
Additionally, take care with your use of water, electricity and gas in the home. Make sure lights are turned off in rooms which are not occupied and only turn the heating on when entirely necessary.
Savings Accounts
Automatically allocating an additional sum of money to a savings account every month can help reduce your spend and increase your finances. Removing this sum of money from your primary bank account will remove the temptation to spend it on superfluous items.
The money in the savings account can be used as backup for a rainy day or can be intended for a larger investment such as a holiday or car – giving you a clearer idea how much you have saved.
Long Term Investments
Sometimes you have to spend money to make money. This is true for high end business and can be equally true for small households trying to tighten the purse strings. Investing in more expensive high quality household items such as LED light bulbs can retain efficacy longer than low-price alternatives – reducing replacement costs in the future.
Conduct a little research into the longevity and quality of the products you require to help you determine where long term savings can be made.
For expert advice about coping with debt, visit the InControl homepage or call our dedicated team on 0800 072 6623.