Money Saving Tips
If you find yourself out of work, or even just worse off
financially because of the worldwide economic downturn, you can
help yourself with this practical guide to saving yourself money.
When things are good we often find it too much of an effort
to look around to find ways of saving money. This is normally
because we feel well off and we dont seem to have the time to
spend hours searching through various web site and ringing lots
of people to get the best deals.
When times are tough then this is a different story and again
because we now have time on our hands we just dont mind spending
hours on web sites and making phone calls.
Here our list of the top 10 ways to save money. Dont forget
times dont just have to be hard to benefit from this advice.
For items like household Insurance (contents and buildings),
Car Insurance, etc.
1. When renewing any premiums dont just send your money of without
checking what deals are available. The easiest way and the quickest
is to go on one of the price comparison web site and enter your
dator into this. This will come back with a list of quotes that
you can compare with your current offer. You can then decide
whether you are getting a good deal or not. Remember some of
the bigger playres will not work with the price comparison web
site (for example Direct Line) as they do not want to pay them
commisssion.
2. When you have looked at this information contact your own
provider (provided you are happy with the level of service they
have offered you in the past) and tell them what you have been
offered. Ask them if they are prepared to beat this quote. You
will be pleasantly suprised at how responsive they are and how
they will not want to lose the business. The one think you have
to be careful of is that you are comparing like for like.
For Standard Bills where there is no length of Agreement
3. Do like wise with your gas, electric and oil for example.
These can all be checked on price comparison web sites to see
who is offering the best deals. Again you will be amazed at
the money you will save. Have a really good look round.
4. Holidays.
Dont think last minute is the way forward any more. As times
get tougher the large holiday companies and flight organisers
are cutting back on alot of there allocations and as supply
starts to be restricted then prices will rise. The big savings
are to be made by booking early. If its a package holiday then
once you have decided you have three areas to explore, the internet,
teletext and the travel agent shop. Get the best prices from
each and play one off against the others.
5. Cheap Flights only.
If you are looking only for a flight then the prices go up as
it gets closer to the date as we have said in point 4 but there
are also all sorts of extras which you can avoid by being careful.
If there are two or more of you going how many suitcases do
you need? You are allowd 5 kilos on most airlins of hand luggage
so can you get away with a case between two or even one between
three of you? If you are taking skis or golf clubs they charge
extra for these so can youget two pairs in one bag? If not you
can certainly get clothes or towels in with them and that can
save a case or two.
6. Telephone calls.
Always have a look at you bill when it comes in and then explore
how you can save money. Especially if you have broadband and
mobile phones as well. Several companies offer deals if you
can combine all three whic can save you a fortune.
7. Car fuel Costs.
No doubt this one area where we are all spending quite a lot
of monthly budget. We know its unlikely petrol prices will come
down much further but here are a few ways you can help yourself
to save some extar money. The price of petrol varies between
garages. the web site petrolprices.com will tell you the cheapest
prices in your area so have alook but dont travel miles just
to save a few pence. when you pay always use a credit card that
will give you cash back or points that you want. Supermarkets
often do coupons in store so use these as well when they come
up. Other tips are drive more carefully, plan your journey well
before you start, and dont let your petrol get to low other
wise you will have top fill up when you can rather than when
you want to.
8. Supermarkets are great for special offer so pre plan which
one you are going to and look on there web sites for the special
offers. Booze is just so expensive so you should now be making
your own. Look at the www.wineworks.co.uk web site for more
tips on how to make home brew.
9. Credit Cards.
It goes without saying that if you can you should always pay
off any outstanding balances at the month end but there are
other ways of saving. The best is without doubt cash back where
every time you use the card you will get money paid back to
you based on a % of the money you have spent. Obviously you
will only use this for things you need to buy but at the end
of each month its rather nice to receive an amount of cash.
The other advantage in these depressing times is that should
the company go bust then its the duty of the credit card company
to refund any money you have paid.
10. Get rid of unwanted items and exchange for items you want.
With the likes of E-Bay you really ought to sell any items you
really dont want and that are not going to be any use to you.
If you dont t6hey will normally just depreciate in value and
next year will be worth half of what they might fetch now. It
will also give you the opportunity to buy items you do want.We
recently saw someone sell a three piece suite and he bought
home brew items so he can now make all his own wine and beer.
He broke even on the deal.
Put these measures into practice and you will save hundreds
of pounds with very little effort, helping you through the bad
times.
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