Effective Ways of Saving Money around the House
Even for those who comfortably manage to make it to the next payday without running out of money for their living expenses, being able to save a little here and a little there can come in very handy. If you occasionally delight in realising you’ve saved a few pennies in any situation that involves regular spending really, think about just how much more savings you could be in for if you actually took the time to actively put some effort into enjoying some savings. The likelihood is that you’ll be shocked at just how much money small daily actions can save you, which might also open your eyes up to the fact that you’ve been wasting quite a lot of money as a result of not paying closer attention to your domestic spending habits.
There are indeed some very effective ways of reducing wasteful expenditure around the house, which you can implement by merely approaching your spending habits a little differently.
Segment Your Shopping
Naturally, the very first place you’d look in an attempt to save more money around the house, is in the way you do your shopping. When, where, and how? Start off by splitting your shopping list into two categories, namely perishable goods and non-perishables. Next time you do your shopping with this in mind, remember that buying in bulk can save you quite a bit of money, but it only makes sense to buy non-perishable goods in bulk. For instance, heating oil (available from retailers such as Romeo’s Fuel), cooking gas, or toilet paper could be included in this category. To complement your bulk-purchasing of non-perishables, perishables should be sourced locally, first of all, and secondly, perishables should be bought in-season. Taking a walk to a nearby farmers’ market induces a double-whammy of health benefits that are related to saving money. You’re getting in some valuable exercise by walking and you’ll be bringing back some fresh food to consolidate your health, which means less of a chance of getting ill and fewer medical bills.
Simply splitting your shopping list, timing your shopping, and shopping local (and in-season) for your perishables pretty much covers the shopping when, where, and how of saving money around the house, but you can take things a lot further than that. Growing some of your own fresh produce is a great way to consolidate on your savings, but maintaining a vegetable garden shouldn’t eat up too much in the way of resources. See what grows easily and flourishes naturally and that would be taking “buying local” and “buying in-season” to a whole new level.
Loyalty Programmes
Manual couponing is something most people avoid because of the effort which goes into it and somewhat of a stigma around it. The next best thing (which is perhaps even better actually) is to digitise your couponing. People tend not to grasp the concept of something like a 10 being exactly the same as someone handing you 10 quid for free. Make use of gift cards, coupons and cash-back store loyalty programmes, which are very streamlined and digitised these days. Where you might have had to present a coupon at the till, you now just present a store card, with all the deductions and savings calculated instantly.
