Every week I share five frugal things that I’ve done during that week just to show you that the small things you do all add up to a great frugal lifestyle where you can learn to live a fabulously frugal life.
I know I haven’t been around much lately and honestly, I’d love to tell you that there’s a super exciting reason for that, but there’s really just not.
As well as being a bit absent, I also haven’t really done very much at all to save money which makes me more than a bit frustrated with myself as I was determined to get the year off to a good start financially.
But even though I haven’t done anything significant to save money so far this year, I thought I’d share a few money-saving things that I do without even thinking. The things that I do automatically so even when I don’t actually ‘do’ anything, I’m still heading in the right direction.
1) You all probably know by now but I overpay my mortgage each month in an attempt to clear my mortgage as soon as possible. I’ve set this up by speaking to my mortgage provider and asking them to up my Direct Debit each month rather than making a manual overpayment through my internet banking or even paying an extra amount by Standing Order.
That way, the only way I can physically stop the overpayment is by ringing up my mortgage company and asking them to change it back to the actual amount due which takes way too much effort so I’d have to be really desperate for the extra money to do that.
2) I invest £130 a month into two different share schemes through my employer, both of which should give me a good return at some point in the future.
This is done automatically as I’ve set it to come out of my salary before I even see it in my bank account.
3) I also overpay into my pension at work, another thing that I do without seeing the money in my bank account so it doesn’t feel like I’m actually missing out on any money. If I had to make a manual overpayment then I just don’t think I would ever get around to doing it, no matter how good my intentions were.
4) I have a 3 cute glass vases on my kitchen windowsill that I save my small change in. It’s become a habit for us all to put any small change in there when we have it – I put in anything 50p and under but the kids are more likely to hand on to their money so generally put in anything 10p and under.
I usually wait until the three vases are all full and then cash it in using one of those Coinstar machines which I know charge 8p in the pound but the time and effort they save me is absolutely worth it. ;-0
5) Meal planning is now so much of a habit that I can almost do it in my head without even thinking. Don’t get me wrong, I still like to have an actual plan and a shopping list but I can easily wander around a shop with a pretty good idea of what I already in the house and add to that to make a respectable meal plan up as I go along.
Meal planning saves me money every week and it took me a long time to get to the point where it’s second nature!
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I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.
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