Extreme Ways To Save Money
Although this series of posts has been designed to help anyone who’s been made unemployed the tips presented here are worth considering regardless of your situation.
Sell Your Car Now
Cars cost money. It’s not just the price of fuel that hurts you in the wallet. Wear and tear, insurance, MoT’s and road tax all add up. I run a small Peugeot that uses about £30 of petrol each month. Insurance costs me £27 per month. Road tax is £110 per year and a MoT costs about £40. All together I’m paying over £60 a month to run my car. Can you afford £720, or more, a year?
Cancel Your Internet Connection
How much time do you spend on the web every month? How much does it cost? Using an average figure of £15 a month, you’re paying £180 per year for something that, hopefully, you only use an hour or so per day. Take advantage of your time between jobs and get down to your local coffee shop and start leeching their free internet.
Bye, Bye Sky TV
How much does Sky TV cost? £25 per month for the standard package then add another £15 per month if you’ve signed up to the Sports channel. Then add £15 per month if you have the movies subscription. That’s £55 a month back in your pocket. Not sure what to do with the spare time you now have? But some books and start expanding your skills ready for your next job.
Go Christmas Shopping In The New Year
Seriously! Have you seen the savings that are on offer in the January sales? Is there a burning reason why you need to buy your presents in the last few weeks before Christmas Day? In the recent sales, I picked up a games console for half price (£160, down from £320). Bargain! Potentially, you can save hundreds of pounds shopping this way (for the purposes of this post I’ll assume an average of £200).
Wipe Out Your Mobile Phone Bills
In day two of this series, I looked at ways you can cut mobile phone bills. But here’s another idea for you: why not get rid of your mobile altogether? Cancelling your cell phone plan and using an inexpensive pay as you go plan can easily save you $100 a month. This plan will not allow you to have special things like text and picture messaging, but it will allow you to be reached in an emergency which is the only real reason a cell phone is needed. Try to remember that not even 20 years ago, no one had a cell phone and we did just fine.
Sell Your House
Now we’re getting to the really extreme end of ways to save money but if you’re truly broke you may not have an option. Before you rush out to contact your local estate agent you need to see if you’re going to be any better off. How much does your mortgage cost you every month? How much would a rental property cost if you decided to sell your house? If you’re going to make savings of hundreds of pounds per month it might worth considering. For this idea we’re going to assume you’ll have about £250 per month by going into a rental property. That will save you about £3,000 a year plus any equity you have. Once you have a new job you can start house hunting.
Buy Second Hand
Does everything you buy have to be brand new? Could you get a better deal by shopping for second hand items? You may not like the idea but you can save yourself an awful lot of money. In fact, if you’re buying seconds from an online site make sure you use PayPal as you get 45 days to raise a dispute if you’re not happy. It might not like much but with most goods you buy new you’ll only get 6 months grace (and that’s if you can prove a fault wasn’t your fault)
Master The Art Of Couponing
If you haven’t heard of couponing then you’re definitely missing a trick. The idea is to use coupons clipped from magazines and papers to save on your weekly shopping bills. In fact, a woman in the U.S claims to have saved £3,500 on her sons wedding by using coupons. The trick to getting the best savings is to read the fine print very carefully and be prepared to shop around. It might seem like the most enjoyable way of shopping but the potential savings are massive.
Really Extreme Ways Of Saving Money
Some of the ideas listed above might seem a bit drastic but now it’s time to plumb the depths of the barrel. Be warned: The next 5 tips are for the faint hearted and some of them may upset and offend your friends and Family.
Everything Goes In The Doggy Bag
But your faithful, four legged friend won’t see a crumb! If I take a doggy bag home I usually put in the most expensive part of the meal. Go one step further and put all of your left-over’s in the bag. If you really want to push your luck you could ask the diner staff to bag each item individually.
Warning: you will look like a cheapskate and the staff may tell you exactly what they think of you but if you’re that broke you need to go for it.
Stop Buying Drinks On A Night Out
Going out in a group for a drink? First off, can you afford it? If not then you need the cunning of a fox. When you go out in a group, let the other drinkers buy first. If you’re lucky, by the time it’s your turn to buy a round they’ll either be too drunk or simply won’t care who bought a round.
Warning: don’t try this trick with friends unless you don’t want them as mates anymore.
Reuse Teabags For Guests
Twice the life, half the price of shopping for more tea bags! When you’ve made their cup of tea don’t throw the bag away. The might say it’s a little weak in which case you’ll need to squeeze the teabag a little harder.
Warning: this crafty t but guaranteed to have guests running for the door if they catch you.
Sneaky Barbecue Tricks
Planning a barbecue? Even when you’re not skint or unemployed you always find there are lots of left-over’s. What a waste of money, eh? Instead of spending food that isn’t going to be eaten ask your guests to bring along food that they like. You’ll find that there will still be plenty left at the end of the day which you can freeze and reuse.
Warning: Do this too often and your guests will work out what you’re up to and you’ll end up having a barbecue all by your lonesome.
Do All Your Washing At Your Friends House
Save money on your water and electricity bills by claiming your washing machine has broken down. Now ask a friend if you could do your clothes washing at their house. If you really want to push your luck you could ask to use their tumble drier and iron.
Warning: you need to get your story straight. If you’re going to be doing your washing at your friends for a couple of weeks it will only be because, “The bloody repair man hasn’t turned again!”
I make that 12 tips in total. You might think that the last 5 were a bit tongue in cheek and, to be honest, do do I. People are actually doing this. Using their so-called “friends” might seem underhand but there are a lot of desperate people out there. Look at it another way: I’d prefer to help a friend out rather than let them succumb to really drastic measures to make ends meet.
Well, that’s it. This week’s series of posts on what to do when you lose your job is done and dusted. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. I also hope that it’s given you food for thought. After all, you never know when the hammer could fall on you. It happened to me a few years ago and it wasn’t a nice time, I can tell you.
Have a good weekend.