Many of us are becoming conscious of wasting money, the need to tighten our belts or just enjoying the challenge of frugality. The challenge of frugality for the purpose of retention of wealth? Yes. No. I say this because I have no other explanation as to why certain millionaires would shop in a certain large high street shop that sells inexpensive clothing. This is a thing. Perhaps this is a question that needs to be asked. Lol. The savings that I mention could be applied to your personal life and your business where appropriate.
Stop giving all your money to phone companies and paying for poor customer service; poor customer service, that’s a blog for another time!! Get yourself a pay monthly sim only deal, buy an inexpensive phone it’s 2020 we are adults do we need to purchase on credit the same phone as everyone else for a very long fixed period and have to try to renegotiate at the end of it for a better deal or continue to give same money for old phone, or get a new phone and continue to pay lots of shmoney for it. Stop wasting your money and behaving like sheep try sim only, this can work out even better if you need multiple sims, shop around for the best ts & cs/deals.
Isa’s can still be worth it in the long run even though the interest rates are dropping/have dropped. Help to buy Isa’s are certainly still worth looking at. At the end of the day do your homework and figure out how you feel it is best for you to save factoring in planning for your future. Money Saving Expert is an excellent resource for information.
Credit cards that give points/cash back for shopping, use them to spend as you would spend normally (otherwise you’re not saving) and pay them off each month though we don’t want to accrue debt.
Start collecting those store cards that give you points and the vouchers that certain shop tills spew out. This is like getting free money. Points accumulate from the purchase of items that you are buying anyway. Currently the Body Shop offers excellent money off vouchers with purchases and has other money saving incentives etc., through their store card. Why not use them for stocking up or towards gifts.
Bulk buy on offers (be mindful if there is a use-by), if you know that you get through six jars of coffee a year why are you only doing the three for two saving, double up. Equally stop buying the three for two lettuce are you really going to eat three in a week? No, you’re not wasting money if you can manage two, but consider potential food waste. Give one away, sharing is caring!! Consider doing three for two and swapping the extra item with the friend you’re shopping with. Better still bulk buy at discount warehouses, again consider swapping goods with a friend or halving items. Do be aware that sometimes offers in retail stores work out better that buying in discount warehouses.
Refills, if products come as refills tap into this, lets stop adding to the landfill problem. This leads very nicely into coffee on the go.
Stop buying coffee on the go, help the environment as well, take your reusable coffee cup and get a fill up if this is an option at your preferred coffee shop, better still buy a small flask and make your own and revive a trend, no one’s saying don’t ever treat yourself to a coffee out, do you need to do it every day, twice a day?
Think you’re being practical, think very carefully about buying the gift cards that work like bank cards, you know the ones that you can use in different shops. Why, because with some of them you can’t check your balance easily, so if the recipient doesn’t keep a tab they may end up losing out and you therefore may be wasting money. Check the ts and cs. Do we really expect the person at the till to keep trying random amounts just so that the last six, ten, twenty pounds that may be left can be spent, yep this can be the reality and the only person that’s winning is the company that the card was bought from, and no they won’t thank you for the tip!! I saw someone spend a £1000 on some for his children who were at Uni and wondered if he knew and his children knew all the ts and cs so that they didn’t get caught out. You can also lose out with some gift cards issued by individual companies for using to pay for goods or services when they stipulate in their ts and cs that you must spend the whole amount or more (meaning paying the balance by card or cash, check the tcs and cs whether you are a buyer or recipient of a gift card and decide if it is practical to purchase or as the receiver, avoid getting caught out). This was highlighted by you tubers who were generously gifted a card for a restaurant and were then left disappointed as they hadn’t spent the full amount of the gift card for their meal and didn’t realise that the balance couldn’t be retained for future use. The couple in question then decided to pay for the meal with a bank card and to retain the voucher for another time, meaning that the establishment had a massive gain from their error.
Ooh that life insurance payment amount sounds great it’s only a couple of pounds a week and pays out thousands and you get a £50 pound voucher and a nice pen for signing up. Grrreat. Once again please check the ts and cs. Some people are losing out or potentially losing out by continuing or considering paying into policies for so many years that they have ended up or could end up paying out more that the value of the policy upon death and if you cancel when you discover this you obviously lose whatever you have paid in. Yep thanks for the tip. Yet again please very carefully check the ts and cs and try to establish if the terms are really suited to your situation.
We have all done it I’m sure, but we need to stop buying into trends unless we feel that they will become staples and/or get cost per use. So many households have cupboards full of gadgets that seemed like good idea at the time of purchase following some compelling marketing campaign that made us feel that an item was a must have. Nope not calling any gadgets or companies out, too many too mention anyway!!
Bought a return train ticket and got to the station on the return home only to find out that there are no more scheduled trains stopping at your final destination. The only alternative may be to get a bus or taxi. The costs incurred are consequential and as a result you should be able to claim these back from the train company. The Consumer Rights Act contains information relating to your rights with regards to the service that you should expect from a provider. You should not have to incur additional expense for the cost of travel if a service is late or cancelled and it is necessary to pay to get to your destination via other means. However, you will not be covered if the delay/cancellation is outside of the train companies control i.e. bad weather, an accident etc. Apparently, there are no guarantees with regards to succeeding in making a claim, apparently. But you can try. This information with regards to consequential losses due to lack of public transport services was gleaned from Resolver’s Website. This issue was highlighted by an acquaintance who informed me that they were having to pay for a taxi to get home occasionally, due to cancelled trains, no service, which I was horrified by because of the distance and at the time of the day they needed to travel.
At the end of the day let's remember it's your money to do with as you please and nope I'm not a financial adviser which is why I have banged on about doing your research. Do you have other ways to save money, let the rest of us know, spread the love…
Next post, makes/ideas for the Gwen and Bert’s Attic retail shop opening in 2020??
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