Smart saving: how to cut down costs !

Impulse buying is more common than we think. We all make New Year’s resolutions, and they can often be disastrous, with 80% of people failing by February and regretting it instantly — have you managed to stick at yours? One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to cut down on spending, and although this sounds achievable, if you don’t have a fully-pledged strategy in place, the likeliness of failure spirals out of control.

However, there is a difference between impulse spending and forking out cash for an unexpected expense; from a broken-down car to leaks in the home. It all adds up. For that reason, we’ve made some assessments on how those extra savings can come in handy if something like that was to occur.

The cost of transport
Ensuring that our bank balance remains at a reasonable figure is an aim that we all have and travelling can be costly. Using a megarider ticket, you will be able to travel as much as you want and can tailor your own needs to the ticket type. Whether you’re in need of a weekly bus pass for your travels, or a monthly one — you will find yourself making a huge saving in comparison to buying a ticket every day.

You could save much more with a weekly bus pass — with figures suggesting that motorists in Britain spend £168,880 in their lifetime. With efficiency growing in public transport, there is no reason for you not to consider making the bold move that could help you fulfil your resolution this year and save you a fortune.

Petrol is the biggest cost of running a car, as annually drivers spend £1,052.04. Servicing a vehicle costs can add up to £441 over a twelve-month period — which can change depending on the individual’s situation. MOTs can cost up to £168.46 annually. Cost of parking is on the rise, and with more vehicles on the roads, there seems to be a higher demand. Over the year, a motorist can find themselves paying £145.80 on parking. When it comes to insurance, this can sway dramatically as younger drivers will find themselves paying a higher cost to be on the road — on average, insurance costs an experience driver £436 every year. Tax can equate to £116.35 on a yearly basis. Car supplies can cost a driver £29.61 and if you were to go abroad and wished to drive, holiday rental cars can leave you £180 out of pocket. Speeding tickets equal £25.12 for the average driver here in the UK. This would cost a driver £2,594.38 in total where commuters find themselves paying considerably less for a significant service — imagine the saving you would make with a megarider ticket!

The cost of your lifestyle
Cigarettes
With the average packet of 20 cigarettes now costing £10.40, smokers that buy one each day could save an entire £3,796 a year — imagine what you could spend with these savings. MoneySupermarket.com has stated that non-smokers pay around £6,309 less for life insurance, which could be something worth investing in for the new year.

A lot of smokers who are trying to quit have taken up vaping as a cheaper alternative. 10ml bottles of liquid cost around £5 on average — saving those who turn to vaping around £1,900.

Food
Food is another large cost to our wallets, especially with the ease of popping to the local café on our lunch break. But what if we told you that, on average, forking out for lunch every day could cost you £1,288 according to research carried out by VoucherCloud. Evidently, you could make a huge saving by preparing your lunch at home — whether this is making a quick sandwich or taking in a tin of microwavable soup to heat up. When we looked at the total working days in 2017, there was 252 — if we went by Poundland’s price of tomato soup, which is 50p, you would find yourself paying £126! A massive saving for anyone looking to cut down on costs.

Coffee
A study carried out by MyVoucherCode has found that Brits visit coffee shops around three times a week — which is not a surprise with over 21,000 stores in the country. This means that Brits visit coffee shops around 156 times a year with an average spend of £8.52 — with travel expenses, this could go up to £13.85. This creates an annual average spending of £2,600, a majority of which could be saved if you were to opt for taking your own coffee to work.

If you don’t want to move away from your branded coffee, you could still make up to 30 cups with a 250g of Douwe Egberts; at a fraction of the price. When looking to see how much a 1kg pack would cost, Amazon has priced the coffee at around £15, meaning that each cup of coffee would cost close to 13p. Try taking a flask to work and even purchasing an on-the-go coffee cup that will see you through your day.

Have you been a victim to an unexpected expense?
Research carried out asked 2,000 people whether they had experienced an unexpected expense in the household which over half (54%) said they had. On average, these costs totalled £248.70 — showing that any saving is beneficial for occurrences like these. 47% of these issues happened in the kitchen, a room which is essential to the day-to-day running of any home, and if you don’t have the money to pull out instantly, it could cause an everyday stress. Using the savings you would have made by taking your own lunch and coffee to work, quitting smoking, and travelling smarter — you will be able to make life easier. It was also found that 35% of people had to use a credit card to cover the costs of unexpected expenses. With 18% of them not being able to pay more than £100 on their own, 17% had to borrow from friends and family!

What will you be doing to make savings this year?

Sources:
http://uk.businessinsider.com/new-years-resolutions-courses-2016-12
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/782992/car-costs-uk-service-repair-MOT-petrol-fuel-price

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regionaltickets/north-east/newcastle-upon-tyne/megarider

http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/new-years-resolutions-save-you-4927896
https://vapeandjuice.co.uk/blogs/vaping-ecig-and-eliquid-news/how-much-does-vaping-cost
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/nov/03/if-you-buy-a-ready-made-lunch-every-day-youre-throwing-away-1288-a-year
http://www.work-day.co.uk/workingdays_holidays_2017.htm
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/ocado-compare-prices/Tinned_Soup/Heinz_Classic_Cream_of_Tomato_Soup_300g.html?TrackingCode=AQEBAAI.oKpunYiupEOEyP_-g00B3w
https://www.providentpersonalcredit.com/unexpected-expense