There is a lot that people don’t tell you about growing up, one of which is how expensive it can be!
They don’t tell you about all the bills and fees that mount up, draining your wages before you’ve even had a chance to have some fun with it.
Bills On A Budget
The most important thing to do to reduce the cost of your monthly bills to decrease your energy use.
A smart meter can help track your usage and keep on top of your spending – many people find that this encourages them to keep their energy usage low.
Use comparison sites when looking for suppliers and ensure you’re getting the most for your money, and if you live in a rural area you might benefit from home heating oil as opposed to gas.
Don’t be afraid to change suppliers or phone plans either, if there are cheaper phone plan deals available then you should go for it.
Alternatively, you can use cheaper offers as leverage to get a discount on your current plan.
Insurance companies in particular are notorious for giving exclusive offers to new customers whilst hiking up the costs for existing customers – so keep track of your policy renewal dates and don’t let it roll over with a higher price!
Change providers or even take out a new policy with the same provider, it will save you more money than you realise.
Plan Your Meals
Food shopping is an important aspect of running a house and can be one of the most expensive outgoings if you shop carelessly.
Letting food go out of date is the biggest culprit of food wastage, the best solution to combat this is to cook in batches and freeze them.
Your food will go so much further and it means you have a home-cooked meal ready to go any night you don’t feel like cooking – it saves you time as well as money.
We’ve all been guilty of lazily ordering a takeaway because we’ve had a long day at work and don’t want to slave over the stove, but now you will have no excuse!
During your bulk cooking session, you can also prepare your lunches in advance ready to take to work or school to save money on those unhealthy pre-packaged sandwiches you always get on your break.
Fun, Fun, Fun
Most people have a subscription to some kind of streaming service but are you also paying for expensive TV packages?
Cutting out the cable bills and solely using streaming services can save you a lot of money.
You can even subscribe to a few services to ensure the widest range of content and it will still be cheaper than the comprehensive cable packages.
You can also access streaming service anytime, anywhere, as long as there’s a data connection.
On those rare opportunities that you get to treat yourself, take away the guilt by using sites like Groupon or Wowcher.
You should also keep your eye out for coupons and discounts around the holidays or birthday as they can get pretty expensive when paying full price.
Last Updated on June 22, 2023 by Lucy Clarke