2 great ways to lower your monthly outgoings
Last Modified 16th of February 2021
There are so many nifty ways to save money in other parts of your life, but the two biggest are being savvy with your shopping and spending.
We have already talked about more extreme options like moving to a smaller house to save on rent, selling your car and getting a smaller, more efficient one as well as smaller steps like getting a fuel card, getting a better deal on your phone contract and perhaps you might sell your phone to offset the cost…
Well in this post we will talk about things like insurance, loans, credit cards and all sorts of other bits:
Insurance costs
Insurance is one of those pesky things that you just have to pay and yet you will most probably never need to use the service you are paying for. So it makes sense to at least make sure you are not paying more than you need to.
Car insurance
The big one, and most expensive no doubt. Switching to a smaller car will also save you money here, so that’s a plus, but have you also considered: removing any named drivers who don’t really use the car, lowering your mileage, experimenting with different occupation titles and so on. With regards to the latter, there are probably plenty of options that could describe your job, see which one gives you the cheapest price.
Extra Tip:
Pay your premium in full if there’s any way you can. When you pay monthly you are probably paying 15-20% interest. If you can borrow the money more cheaply you will save that money in the long run.
Home and contents insurance
Firstly, make sure you are not covered for more than is necessary. Secondly, try combining the two into one policy as it will probably work out cheaper. Other than that, there isn’t a lot you can do about these costs.
Other insurance tips
Whatever you do, always shop around for insurance, it is easy to do these days and if you haven’t changed insurance provider for a while you might be amazed at what you can save. At the very least though, always phone your provider at renewal time and ask for a better price.
Debt costs
If you don’t have any debt then this section might not be a worry to you, but for everyone else, read on…
Firstly, debts obviously cost you interest, not to mention the monthly obligation, so try to pay off debt as fast as you can and always pay the most expensive ones first. If you have good credit then you can start by doing all of your monthly spending on your credit card so as to leave yourself as much cash as possible at the end of the month.
Use this cash to pay off your loan or part of it. You have now effectively transferred a portion of your loan onto your credit card. Shop around for a balance transfer credit card and transfer that balance – chances are you will pay a small transfer fee but then you will have that debt interest free for 12 months or more while you pay it off.
This is a tricky balancing act of course, but it should save you interest, but it is sensible to pay off as much as you can by scraping together some cash. If you do sell your phone as previously suggested, pay that cash off your debt, you can also sell old unused electronics, furniture and other trinkets – it all adds up.
Summary
Saving money takes a bit of work and sometimes some sacrifice, but as you can imagine, between these areas of your life you might be able to save literally hundreds or even thousands each year and those sorts of savings make the effort worthwhile.
