Almost all of us have some form of budget be it worked out meticulously on excel, scribbled out on paper or simply collected in our head we all manage our money in one way or another. The only way that you are going to get the most out of it that you can however is to manage it efficiently. If you can organise your money then you can figure out where all the leaks in your pocket are going to and then you can plug the gaps and save yourself £100′s each month.
Budget
I realise that for some of you this is not what you want to hear but it is the only way that you are going to know for sure what is going into your bank and what is coming out. If you are one of those people that goes around with only a rough idea of what you are spending and doesn’t plan then continue that for 1 month and then at the end of the month check your bank statement and see where you have been spending it. You will be surprised where your money goes.
The next step is to organise those expenditures into categories so some ideas might be food, entertainment, house improvements, children, bills etc. Once you have done that you can then divide those up into 2 final columns of essential and non-essential.
Ask yourself did I need to buy that toy for my child? How important really is that monthly subscription to heat magazine? And then obviously put your bills into the essentials column but consider those bills carefully. Do you need a £42 a month phone or could you renegotiate for a better deal?
Negotiate
In Britain it is not in our culture to negotiate on price. We see something, it has a price on and we go and buy it. But why not take advantage of peoples in experience at haggling? If you are willing to shop around and talk to the right people then you can save yourself a lot of cash.
Shop around for the best phone deals and then ring your company and say you’re leaving if they don’t beat it. Do the same with insurance, power companies, internet, home improvements or anything you can shop around for. If people think they are going to lose your business then then will bend over backwards and lower the price to keep you.
Shop in Cheap Places
People sometimes have this stigma of buying things second hand. They think ‘o no I want something new and shiny’. If you can shake that off then you can get a lot of money off by shopping at places like car boot sales and charity shops (that’s garage sales and thrift shops for my American readers). Now I probably wouldn’t recommend this for electrical items or things that you can’t check work on the spot but for clothes, tools, furniture or things of that nature then you can pick yourself up some real bargains.
Be Professional about Your Finances
If you earn any additional income of your own or have to fill out tax forms every year then there are ways in which you can organise your tax returns to get the best returns for yourself. Check what you can claim back and how much you should have paid in tax this year for yourself. Don’t trust where someone else says your money should go check for yourself.
If you aren’t confident at this type of thing or feel like you don’t know the rules of tax returns then you could always take an online course with a company like Kaplan Financial. They teach you accountancy skills that will allow you to save on your spending and get back some of your hard earned money.
Turn a Hobby into Profit
Everyone has their hobbies. One of my hobbies, as you might have guessed, is blogging and I’ve found a few ways to make a little bit of money back from it. No matter what your hobby there is usually some way to get a little bit of money back out.
If you happen to be a creative person and you are already spending money on materials to make things why not make little craft items and then sell them either locally or on sites like eBay?
Perhaps you are into painting and maybe you could consider selling a few of your paintings to local art shops or even ask them to put it up in the window and see if anyone is interested. Whatever your hobby is it is a good chance that it is someone else’s hobby as well and so that makes it an opportunity to get some of the money you spend on your hobbies back.
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