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Top tips for saving money on bills

Very few people in this world have enough money that they can afford to just waste what they have. One of the best ways to preserve your cash is to cut down on the amount of money you spend on bills. Most of what you do in life has a price attached to it, from using your mobile phone to something as essential as eating; so how do you make sure that you minimize the amount you pay as much as possible?

We are going to take a look at some simple thing you can do each day to help make your money go further. You never know, you may even have enough left for a few little luxuries. Take a look at our top tips for saving money on bills.

How to save money on your shopping bill

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in 2014 the average UK family spent £86 each week on food shopping alone. This may not seem significant in itself but when you consider that around £19 billion a year is lost through food wastage in the country, you can see how cutting back on food bills could make a big change both to individual families and to the country as a whole.  Here are some suggestions for reducing your weekly shopping bill.

  • Only buy what you need. Planning your shopping is very important; this means that you are not easily distracted while in the supermarket, and end up buying lots of items that you do not actually need.
  • Make use of coupons. Do not forget to cut out any coupons you can find in magazines, or search online sites such as Frugaa. They have a multitude of different offers available for many of your favourite retailers including Coffee Direct and Ocado.
  • If you are going to the supermarket to do your shopping, try going towards the end of the shop’s opening hours. This is the time when they are discounting many food items that have a shorter shelf life.

How to cut your credit card bills

It may surprise you to learn just how many people use a credit card in the United Kingdom (UK). According to CreditCards.com around 60 million credit cards are active in the UK, relating to around 51 million separate accounts. That means there is a huge amount of credit debt around. If you have a credit card then you probably want to know how to keep your bills as low as possible. Here are some top tips.

Shop around

If you are looking to get a credit card then it pays to shop around for the best deals. Take a look at some of the comparison sites online and see which product provides the best solution for you. Remember that it’s not a good idea to be tempted by high credit limits which can lure you into taking on too much debt.

Swap around

Once you have chosen a credit card this does not mean you have to stop looking for a better option. There can often be savings to be made from switching your balance to a different card.

Pay off your balance if you can

The best use of credit cards is for short term credit where you can purchase an item and then make the full payment just a few weeks later. If you use your credit card in this way then you are not going to be caught up with paying interest on your purchases.

Remember that although credit cards can seem like an excellent way of being able to afford that new TV, or that great looking outfit, you should never get in over your head. Never be tempted to take on any credit that you cannot afford to repay. If you do this you can end up being faced with a multitude of charges that not only add to your bills but also to your stress levels.

How to keep your mobile bills as low as possible

According to an Ofcom report published in August 2015, two thirds of people in the UK own a smartphone. They have now taken over from laptops as the most used device and people spend an average of two hours online each day using their smartphone. You can see that using a smartphone is part of everyday life so you want to make sure that you keep the bills for using your smartphone as low as possible. Here are a few things you may want to think about when you are looking to reduce the amount of money you spend using your smartphone.

  • Take a good look around before you decide on which provider to go with; do not be afraid to play them off against each other. There are some excellent deals to be had if you have patience.
  • Do not let yourself be talked into signing up for a phone or a contract you do not need. It’s a good idea to know what you need from the phone, and what you are mostly going to be using it for, before you speak to any sales people.
  • Think about whether you need a contract at all. You may be happier with a reasonably prices phone on pay as you go. This way you are not going to go over contract minutes and build up a large bill that is a struggle to pay.

You can quite easily get all the minutes, texts and Internet you need if you make sensible decisions.

Unfortunately, bills are something that we all have, but we can try and make them a little less painful. Hopefully we have given you some useful ideas on how you can save money on your bills.

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Written by Angelina

16 Comments

  1. I don’t use coupons anymore, the amount of time you spend to buy the newspaper, and then you have to go to the expensive store to get a discount on a few items is not worth it. Many time they put a product on the shelf that is similar but with a different code so when you go to buy you don’t get the discount.

  2. Great tips we could all use. Coupons help a lot and buying in bulk helps but you still have to price check even though you are doing all of these things. Great post!