Money Saving Tips

In addition to spending our hard earned income, we also throw a lot of it away each year through inattention, laziness, ignorance or sheer stupidity. While saving a few pennies here and there might not seem much on the surface, taken collectively and over a longer time span, small savings can really add up to significant savings. Here below are some money saving tips and ideas to get you started. Once you get into the right money saving frame of mind, you’re bound to find endless more ways to squeeze a little more from your income.

• Get the most from a bottle of sauce, syrup, dressing etc. To get the final 5% out from a bottle of thick liquid, make sure the top of the bottle is firmly screwed on. Hold the bottle upside down in either hand with your arm hanging down by your side. Now swing your arm in a circular fashion around a few times, with the bottle in your hand. The centrifugal force pushes the remainder of the contents up to the top of the bottle, allowing you to completely empty its contents.
  
  
• For men, try shaving using a rich soapy lather instead of shaving foam – you might be pleasantly surprised, and it’s much, much cheaper.
  
  
• Check the dates on food packages when shopping in supermarkets etc. Rummage around at the back of the stock to see if there are newer products on the shelf.
  
  
• Take the time to learn when your credit card interest free period ends and make sure to pay all the balance off before that date
  
  
• Install dimmer switches on your light fittings. It makes for a more cosy environment, and it provides a good year round saving in electricity costs.
  
  
• For any monthly payments you have, see if there is any discount to paying an annual amount instead – for example, insurance premiums are generally cheaper when paying for the whole year at once instead of monthly installments. You might be surprised just how much money you can save each year.
  
  
• Learn to cook 10 good meals/recipes. Not only does that mean you’ll only ever come across the same meal once every two weeks, it also makes it much easier to do the grocery shopping. If you know exactly what you need for the week, you’re less likely to overspend on things you didn’t need.
  
  
• If there are cooking ingredients that you use quite often, and they have a long shelf life, always make sure you keep a supply handy. It’s often the little things that we need to finish a meal that we’ve run out of and then have to go to the shops, and once in the shops, we spend much more than we need to.
  
  
• If you religiously shop at the same supermarkets or other department stores all the time, then make sure you sign up for any loyalty programs that they have. But make sure that you don’t end up buying things just for the sake of getting more points.