Living in London | My 5 Tips to Save Money
Recently moved to London and had the “oh my god, what have I done?!” moment? Yeah nah, same.
Some expenses are hard to avoid, while others don’t need to be bleeding you for cash. These five changes to your daily routines will save you a surprising amount of money each month - from doing just these five things I save about 300 pounds each month!
5. Walk to the supermarket, take two of
your own re-usable bags (one for each hand) and walk your groceries home. Doing
this has many benefits, including limiting your weekly food shop to fit into
two medium sized bags meaning saving money and choosing between that pack of
mince and those packets of Doritos. Online shopping usually means you have to
spend over a certain amount before they will deliver, making it more appealing
to fill your basket with little extras to get to that magical 40 pound minimum.
The walk there and then back with two weighty bags is free strength and cardio
training! If you get tired you can always get the bus the rest of the way home
for 1.50, which is only 50p more than the cost of booking a delivery time slot
for online shopping (and lets be honest, they never come at the right time
anyway).
Online Food Shop: (40x2)+2 = 82 pounds per month
Walking to Shop: (30x2) = 60 pounds per month
Saving per month: 22 pounds
4. Get stingy with containers. This may
sound desperate, cheap and weird, but you did click on this article because you
wanted to save some money, right? So bare with me. Keep using your lotion bottles
when the pump runs out. I have got so much use out of many different types of
bottles by getting all of the product out of them before I buy a new one. My
current moisturiser stopped pumping about two months ago, and instead of
throwing it out and buying a new one I use the stick of the pump to get at the
stuff still at the bottom. The same applies to hair care products, shampoo,
toothpaste, marmite; all containers with stuff in them that, as Céline Dion
tells us, will go on and on.
New Products: 2.5x6 = 15 pounds per month
Stretching out product: 15-1/3 = 5 pounds per month
Saving per month: 10 pounds
3. Ditch the extra payments. Cut out the
things you don’t need, for example that magazine subscription to Elle or the gym
that you never go to. Do you really need to have a Starbucks credit card?
(Their coffee rewards system has to be one of the dumbest out).
This section covers
addictions by default. It’s pretty obvious that things like smoking are bad for
your pocket and your health. Quit it! If you’re going out to a party only take
your oyster card, ID and cash with you, and only take enough for emergencies.
Drunk you might be angry you cant afford those two last g&ts you think you
need, but sober you will thank you the next day, times 100.
Save by not using your
dryer or dishwasher, not having sky and turning your heating off when you’re
not home. Ask your flatmates how much you spend on bills from month to month,
double check your heating timer and water temperature and you could be using a
lot more power than you think. Luckily our hot water tank warms my flat
naturally so we don’t even turn the heating on. Win!
On the other hand, do
invest in subscriptions to things that will save you money. Fair enough, if you
go to the gym more than twice a week then keep your membership. Saving is all
about prioritising the things we actually use over the things we think we will
use in the future. For example I pay for the monthly Cineworld card because it
works out as more expensive to buy individual tickets.
Extra payments: 25+30+5+15 = 80
Cutting back: 20
Savings per month: 60 pounds
2. It pays to be a young traveller. When
asking around my friends, the majority of them said that after rent, travel was
their biggest expense – and I have to agree with them. The best thing to do is
to travel off-peak if you can manage it. Trains are seriously cheaper if you
travel before 6.30am, between 9.30am and 4pm, or after 7pm. If you live in
London you should register your oyster card, and if you are under 25 you should
invest in the youth railcard. This is a payment of about 30 pounds for the year
and you get cheaper travel on all London and 30% off national trains, weekly fair
capping, and if you lose your oyster card or are overcharged you can get a
refund. You can find out more about the 16-25 railcard here:
https://www.16-25railcard.co.uk/
Peak travel: ((2x2.90)x5)x4 = 116
Off-peak travel: ((2x1.60)x5)x4 = 64 and then a further 1/3 off = 43
Savings per month: 73 pounds
1. Stop buying coffee and food during the day.
Just stop. Seriously. If you need a hot drink during the day take tea or coffee
to work with you and make your own. If you’re seriously addicted and can’t be a
human without coffee then buy the beans and again make the coffee yourself at
home or work. Stop buying bottled water and fizzy drinks. Stop buying flavoured
water or cans from vending machines. You don’t need it! 90% of the time the
only liquid drink is tap water and the only beverage I spend money on is
alcohol (I’m in my 20s, common). For food, make an extra effort to take your
own lunch to work, be it leftovers, homemade wraps and salads or tins of soup
(a favourite in the winter, although check the sugar and salt content). Tesco
has some great things in their discounted items bin, which are usually still
fresh and perfectly fine to eat if you pop in on your way home from work in the
evening. Before they close in the evenings they will heavily reduce food if the
use-by date was that day or the next.
Buying Lunch Every Day: ((3+6)x5)x4 = 180
Coffee and Lunch once a week: 9x4 = 36
Savings per month: 144 pounds
Thank you for reading,
I hope these tips have started you on the road to saving – make sure you use
the money for something good!
What are your top 5
tips? Do you do any of the same ones as me?
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