Five financial tips that can start your month off in a positive way!
It's a new month, so it's the perfect time to dust yourself off from what might have been a financial disaster last month and look at this month and see what you can do better! I use the tips below to try and keep a check on my finances and save some money over the coming month; sure, it doesn't always go to plan, but if I stick to my guns, then the savings add up; even just checking direct debits on my account recently showed I was still paying £6.99 a month for an app I never used, so cancelling that saved me £83.88 over the next year; so what might you save?
My 5 tips are:
1. Check your credit score; they often update on day one of the new month. Take a look and make sure nothing has popped up that could cause issues. Use free services such as Clearscore or the MSE Credit Club, (which uses an in-depth version of Experian you'd normally have to pay for) to check. If you see something wrong, investigate and contact Transunion to raise a dispute and get it sorted.
2. Check your bank statement: Make sure there's nothing on there that shouldn't be. Scammers often take smaller payments, even under a fiver, so you likely won't notice, so check all the transactions. Contact your bank if you find something dodgy and get them to sort it from their end, which may involve changing cards, but it's worth that bit of hassle.
Report any scam to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or via the Action Fraud website (England, Wales or Northern Ireland). If you're in Scotland, report a scam through Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000 or via the Advice Direct Scotland website. You can also report scams to Police Scotland on 101. Contact your bank if you find something dodgy
While you're checking your bank statement, look to see if you have any direct debits for services you aren't using but are paying for! If you don't need it, cancel it. It might just be a tenner a month, but that's actually £120 a year, which could pay for your Christmas dinner, plus lots of presents as well!
3. Pay any bills you don't pay by direct debit. It's better to set up those manual payments as direct debits if possible, as it can take just one missed/forgotten payment to then screw up your payment history, which can affect your credit file! You'll need to contact the company you want to pay, and they'll arrange for you to complete a Direct Debit instruction, and they'll take care of it for you; it takes just a couple of minutes. Companies prefer direct debits, and some actually give discounts for direct debit payments as it reduces their administration costs!
4. Meal/food budget plan - Set yourself a food budget and try and stick to it. Divide the month into weeks and take each week separately and plan your meals for the week. Maybe make up some meals in advance and freeze them; take them out of the freezer and defrost them overnight. This avoids the 'can't be arsed to cook, let's get a takeaway' temptation; it happened to me last night! Planning food for the week isn't as daunting as it sounds! Even if you just plan your evening meals, that's only 7 meals to think about! If you plan your meals, you can incorporate healthier meals, and by knowing what you need, you can check what ingredients you already have to use up and plan around those, and if you do need to buy ingredients, then you can purchase what you need, (cheaper to have it delivered by a supermarket as less chance of impulse buys, plus you can get cash back by going through a cashback site such as Topcashback!), to make the meals and you'll have likely spent less than deciding what to make on the way home from work and popping into the supermarket, or by not using what you already have that can be used. The savings can be huge over a month!
Talking of supermarkets, maybe meal plan around the supermarket's special offers; that way, you are increasing your savings by purchasing products on promotion, which saves you money on buying at full price! You could also look at the discounts on the supermarket cashback apps such as CheckoutSmart, GreenJinn and Shopmium and use those cashback offers in your meal planning. It gets a bit more involved checking all the apps, of course, but if you are really struggling financially, it can make a really positive difference to your wallet, so it's worth the time, plus trying out new things can be a nice change to what you may normally eat, so it's a double win!
5. Check the fridge - Check to see if you have food expiring soon; cook it, freeze it, or plan what you'll do with it so you don't end up throwing anything away! Food waste is expensive, especially during a cost-of-living crisis, so if you keep an eye on use-by dates on perishable items in the fridge and use them up, you'll reduce the amount you throw away! You don't need to be super nerdy and set up an Excel chart with what's in the fridge and the use-by dates; that's going a bit far, but just checking what you have in it is useful, and I have been known to use a wipe off marker and write on the side of the fridge what the products are that need using first, as a reminder to use them up!
None of us is perfect; we are all only human, but a bit of planning & checking can save you a chunk of change and future financial issues; don't put it off till next month, do it now!