7 August 2013
Money eh? Sometimes it just seems to slip through our fingers like a bucket of freshly-oiled letting agents.
And saving money is booooring. All that budgeting, counting pennies and telling cook to only do lobster thermidor once this week.
But if you want to have a life-changing experience and travel the world, you are going to need to stop splashing the cash.
Here are 10 tiny ways you can save money today, and they are so small, you probably won't even notice you're doing them.
- Take a basket at the supermarket instead of a trolley. Unless you've got arms like a steroid-abusing bodybuilder, you won't be able to carry it if you fill it full of stuff, so you're much less likely to impulse buy or get those 'buy loads and save 34p' offers.
- Empty the coins from your wallet at the end of every day. (Keep your bus or parking money in a separate place). No more feeding coins into the snack machine at work or getting a can at lunchtime. (You can bag up your coins and take them to the bank after a bit, or use them to pay someone you don't really like).
- Always get a small tea. A large tea still only usually has one teabag in it, so you're paying for extra water.
- Replace one branded item with an own or weird cheap brand every time you shop. If you hate it, you don't have to do it again, if you like it (or don't notice the difference) you can buy it every week.
- Read the newspaper online. If you really can't give up your daily paper (or you need something to line your cat's litter tray), subscribe - it's a lot cheaper.
- Add a week between your next hair / nails / waxing appointment. Then another week. Your six-week appointments are now every 8 weeks and no-one has even noticed your leg hair.
- Go to your online film/DVD rental service and switch to the next cheapest package. Chances are, you weren't watching all those films anyway (and if you were, please, go out for a walk or something).
- While you're online, clear your browsing history and cookies. Next time you go to Amazon or eBay or that site that sells My Little Pony accessories (yeah, we know all about you), it'll ask you to log in again. Chances are, this polite pause may get you to rethink your purchase, especially if you have to go through the whole tedious forgotten password do-dah.
- Throw a couple of pieces of fruit in your work bag (or unhealthy snack of your choice) and stash a bottle of squash at work. When you pop out for a sandwich at lunch, you can just buy that without getting suckered into the meal deal, because you've already got things to round out your lunch.
- Get to the pub early and buy the first round. You'll look generous but will be saving money if not all the drinkers have turned up yet.
See, that wasn't too hard, was it?
And if you need an incentive to start saving the cash, look at all the amazing adventures you can spend your money on here.