Simple Life Hacks & Saving Money For Good – Part One
As we finally begin to see the light at the end of the lockdown tunnel, many of you may have realised just how much money you have saved throughout the past year, compared to your usual weekly coffee fuelled endeavours.
Suuuure, you may have not stepped past your front door too many times, and yes – your wheelie bin has almost definitely gone out more than you have in the last year, but still; find the silver linings. After all, for a lot of us lockdown has given us so many opportunities to do things we never had the time to do before. Maybe you took a course or two, learnt a new language, honed your baking skills, or just took a well-deserved break!
However the last year has been for you, here are some of the easiest and simplest ways to be kinder to your pocket, whilst still enjoying lifes little perks!
Take Aways vs Fakeaways
With pubs, restaurants, and even some takeaways closed, its time to look at an alternative to your favourite – if not costly – meals; fakeaways! A quick google search for your favourite ‘fakeaway’ meal will leave you with hundreds of great meal ideas. The best bit? Not only are you saving money, but you are also in total control of what goes in your food – meaning you can also save calories!
Daily Costa vs Less Cost, More Aaah
Who was guilty for grabbing a daily coffee from their local Costa/ Starbucks/ Café Nero/ layby, on the way to work/ school run/ dog walk/ shopping spree pre lockdown? Not surprising, considering an approximate 95 million cups of coffee are drunk in the UK every day. However, with routines changing, and many of us now not making it much further than our kitchens, many have swapped their daily purchased beverage for something available even more local.
Coffee machines by Nescafe and Tassimo are hugely popular; both brands have a vast range of hot and cold drinks for you to try. With 8 Tassimo Costa Cappuccino pods costing just £3.99 in Tesco, or just £2.99 for the Nescafe Dolce Gusto Cappuccino pods, you can really start to see your money stretch further. No machine? No problem! Grab yourself a Nescafe Gold Cappuccino 8 sachets box for just £1.69, pour the hot water in and stir!
Tipping vs Saving
Us Brits love to tip! Whether its our waiter, taxi driver, hairdresser or even the window cleaner, tipping is in our nature. Despite being the done thing, depending on how often you find yourself in a ‘tippable’ situation, this can soon add up, and be yet another drain on your finances. But since you haven’t been to most of those places, why not start tipping yourself?! Learn to round up your money to the nearest £1/£5/£10 if you can stretch that far, and put in a separate pot, or savings account if you’re doing it online. You’ll be amazed how quickly your little pot adds up, with little effort.
Check out some more great ways to pinch pennies without restrictions in our next article!
