It is true that in really difficult economic times people are revising their way of life and returning to the logic of saving by giving priority only to their basic needs of food, housing, clothing and health care. Of course, the concept of basic necessity varies from season to season and from society to society depending on its stage of development. This guide is going to give you some tips on how to save money around the home and it all starts with budgeting! Manage your budget. Make a list of the fixed monthly expenses and move accordingly.
Saving money as and when will allow you to take care of the bigger things, whilst being sustainable and savvy whilst you’re living at home. You don’t have to change your lifestyle too much, small changes can make the biggest differences whilst still allowing you to enjoy your home. It’s all about changing things up to be more sustainable and using products you already have to improve things.
Whether it’s changing food habits, cleaning habits, looking at old bills and how to upgrade what you have as well as budgeting and utilising your finances to make your own gifts for those you love, there are always ways and here is a comprehensive guide!
- Decorate your home inexpensively. Choose a poster of your favourite movie or a great artistic (or your own) photo from an expensive work of art.
- Increase the lifetime of your clothes. Prepare the clothes properly before putting them in the washing machine, so that they are not damaged. Pay attention to their color and texture.
- Swap clothes. Apart from their good use, it would be important to exchange them to renew your wardrobe. Invite friends to bring their own clothes and get it while donating your clothes.
- Manage and sort the food properly in your home so that you can more easily calculate dosages, but also have them better organized. At the same time, they will be kept longer than the stated expiration date.
- Lower the temperature. Water does not have to be hot for all household chores. Save money and energy by turning on your water heater less.
- Inexpensive wrappers. Use used wrappers or old scarves, newspapers, fabrics that you thought were unnecessary until recently.
- Non-branded products. Decide that quality is no different from any of the popular brands. The products with the brand name of the supermarket that we buy are usually 50% cheaper than the “brands”.
- Alternative gifts or decorations. Make your own candles by placing the melted candle in a cup of your crockery.
- White vinegar. Use this active acid to clean surfaces and stains from clothes. It is non-toxic and unlike conventional red vinegar, it has a milder aroma.
- Freeze. Especially vegetables, which are foods that you can consume after a long time. Put them in the freezer and use them in the future in your food giving flavour and aroma.
- Upcycle your pillows. You do not need to buy new expensive pillowcases. Give a personal touch by using and sewing your own fabric or old clothes for pillowcases.
- Books. In addition to clothes you can also exchange books with your friends. Make a more closed lending library with your friends and exchange books that you want or have to recommend to your friends.
- Sort your office using empty cereal boxes. They will help you sort books, notebooks and other small office supplies.
- Buy canned products. Better quality, fewer calories and almost half price.
- Wash in the evening. In many cases the charges are lower (if you have night power).
- Unplug your devices. From computers to mobile chargers, we need to unplug devices for the least possible consumption. In addition to electricity and energy, which we save, when it is in power, they risk overheating and consequently possible damage to our device.
- Turn off all lights before going to bed. Even young children need to get used to lighting at bedtime. The money you save will be enough for you.
- When the time comes to change your refrigerator, choose a refrigerator energy efficiency A. You will save about 15-40 per year and will also help the environment.
- Replace old high-consumption light bulbs with new-generation LED bulbs. Old light bulbs, which required the accumulation of high temperatures to emit light, are now properly described as “energy consuming“, as they consumed incredible amounts of electricity to adequately illuminate a space. Replacing them with cold light bulbs, the LEDs known to all of us, enables us to have an equally satisfactory or even better lighting result with an extremely less amount of electricity – up to 80%!
- Lighting timers – This system allows us to define in specific places what hours of the day our lighting will be turned on. All you have to do is place the timer in the same line as the lighting systems, and then program it, relieving us of the stress of whether or not we have turned off the lights in various areas and rooms of the home or business. Studies have recorded savings of up to 50% using such technology.
Look at the things you are spending too much on!
Look at your outgoings. Can they be cut at all? Things such as subscriptions and also the kind of service providers you use for phone and internet. Look at a good network for everything you need. You may need to look into which network to choose? Three or O2? There are so many choices that can help cut costs down without compromising on the service. Do you really need your gym membership? If you have a credit card, ask to be unsubscribed, otherwise, close the card and to do your job, get a prepaid one. If you have a gym membership that you never use, cancel it, ask for the money back and start walking or cycling with your girlfriend or boyfriend. If you have pay-TV, or Netflix etc, think about whether you end up watching a movie or your favourite program and how often and if in the end, it is worth paying each month for something you do not use. If you remove all these subscriptions, then you could look at saving up to £900 a year!
Maybe look at changing your gas and electric providers, are they charging too much? Adjust the thermostat in the meantime to see if this helps. As strange as it may seem, for a house of 100 sq.m. which has radiators in winter, it can reduce annual energy costs by about 25-40% with one simple move. Each degree lower in winter and one degree higher in summer leads to savings of 10% to 15%.
How to actually make a budget work for me.
People who do not use budgets tend to set aside less money. This is because when you create a budget you allocate your money to specific things. This way you can plan the amount you will set aside in advance. Also, planning how you will spend your money each month helps you to avoid encroaching on your existing savings. In this way, it helps you to gradually increase the amount you have put aside. And as you save more, you will start to feel more comfortable with your finances and of course your future. There are ways online to budget for free.
Organise!!
Organising your desk and files means prioritising your desktop, and we mean the desktop, which should have only the items you use every day. Whatever you use less, put it in a drawer or cupboard. Use the wall to stick papers with information you often need on a special board and consider changing the decor a bit. Use post it notes and colour code things to ensure that you are on top of your priority list.
This way of thinking covers all sorts of conventional wisdom: Do not shop when you are hungry, manage your loans and reduce unnecessary expenses. Instead of mentioning tips that you can think of, we suggest just starting a budget. He manages everything that is measured. Keeping track of what comes in and out of your bank account will make you focus on the cost of your purchases and you will automatically start saving money. Fortunately, technology has made budgeting less than a job. We no longer spend endless hours at the kitchen table filling out spreadsheets. Modern budget applications are linked to your bank account and automatically track your spending. You just have to check the numbers occasionally and adjust the categories.
If you feel that you do not have control over your finances and you are constantly wondering where your money and your salary have disappeared, your personal budget helps you to recover it. If you understand your habits and patterns that hurt you you can avoid them easily.
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