Tayo Hendrix
Happy New Year and welcome to a new way of crunching those credits!
Life is full of choices and each choice you make has an impact on where you are going. Where you are now is where you thought yourself to prior to today. Therefore, if you can change where you are simply by changing your thought pattern and your view of life, you can turn the frown upside down. Like you, I feel, we are hearing too many ideas for credit crunching: "search around for cheaper car insurance", "join a car pool", search for cheaper home insurance and life insurance for those who are still paying for them! "Shop at Aldi rather than Sainsbury they are the same with different labels" - really, they don’t taste the same to me! Well my ideas are a little less drastic but I am sharing them here with you:
Crunching down on the New Year
Look at all your finances and get a true picture of how much you owe. Including what you have just spent on Christmas and New Year celebrations. Although this can be really scary, when you know the truth you have nothing left to be afraid of. Work out which bills must be paid and ensure that you keep up with those. For everything else - if you can take a low cost loan great but if you can move any credit card debits to interest free ones around just now, that will really help you through the strain. Only pay for what you can afford and don’t use your credit card.
Never go food shopping without a list -Always make a weekly menu. Sit down and decide what you want to eat for the week and then you prepare the shopping list, and if you only need bread go to the bakers and not the supermarket. Support your local shop rather than your supermarket. It is an excellent way of seeing how much you are spending where and cutting corners if you need to. Fruit & veg from the veg shop and meat from the butchers will really help you see what is happening with your pennies. The problem with the Supermarket is we forget what we went in for and come out with a load of "bargains". Problem being, a bargain isn’t a bargain if you didn’t know you wanted it in the first place.
Make a menu and take a list. Shop on line if you lack time. It can often save you money too. You are far more likely to stick to lists (and New Year diets) when you shop on line. You get an extra hour or two in bed, get up at 10am on Saturday to the delivery man bringing you breakfast (alright not quite in bed), but you avoid the stress of checkout and all those extra dents in your car door from those angry or tired early morning shoppers too.
Start the New Year off with a meat free month - Plan some exotic meals on that menu of yours using vegetables and spices and lots of warm breads. Curry’s are wonderful with or without meat so try them, vegetables with Couscous is amazing, Pasta and Sauce without the meat is light and yummy. Simply search the internet for a few recipes and make them your own. You will be amazed at what you can do. The cost of you weekly shopping should reduce by at least a 1/3 without meats. If you have more time than money use it wisely.
Change energy companies...the common sense approach is surely to see who is offering the better rate (and it doesn’t always have to be the very best on paper, often you will find small print issues), but once you have looked around, if it is feasible change. Often you can find that using the same company for both electric and gas offers good rates. Do basic things to ensure that you keep the house warm. Don’t have the thermostat sky high and the windows all open. However you do still need to air the house to clear your head from time to time - When cleaning the house open the windows wide. The physical work of cleaning should keep you warm while you air your home. A great way of cutting the cost of heating is to place a few sheets of tin foil (shiny side out) behind the radiator to reflect the heat back into the room.
Budget yourself - if you go out twice a week cut it down to once. How many of your friends are out because they feel pressured to be there! You could also, limit your night out spending to £50 rather than £100 and leave the cards at home that will be a great start. Don’t be the one always buying the drinks - the recession is hitting everyone not just them. Just because you earn more doesn’t mean you have more - your outgoings are likely to be more too. Years ago I was a musician and we always paid for ourselves. That removes pressure to keep up with the drinking of others and also, why are you buying them (me) whisky if you only drink mineral water. You buy your drink, with your money and in your own good time. Budget yourself - Same rules apply when out with the children. Instead of taking them to Thorpe Park (how many times have we been there) take them to a local museum with a friend (where is the Yellow Pages I hear you all scream), most are free, yes free and educational too. Simply play smart and take a friend of theirs with them - that way they entertain themselves more than any amusement park will do. And take a picnic and drinks rather than eating out.
Keep your money in your purse - if you know a friend who is always borrowing something from you, money, cigarettes, clothes etc avoid them for a week and see what a difference it makes to your pocket yes, but to your sanity also, friends who are particularly needy are very draining without us even realising a lot of the time. Don’t let guilt make you give too much away.
Mobiles - do you really need one? If you cannot give up your mobile try not upgrading this year to the latest, Avoid expensive tie in contracts and go the pay as you go route. There is no point having so many benefits when you simply don’t use them. And, there is no point having the latest phone when you can’t afford to be making that many calls either. Only use it when it is necessary and cut the idle chit chat and text messages by 90% where possible.
No upgrading gadgets this year. Do your kids really need another games machine or DVD? Make a pact that the family will not upgrade this year but that you will upgrade two things next year instead and let the kids help you decide what. Next year is a long way off (2010 we are talking not next week!) Save to spend and don’t spend to save.
Start to walk daily - in fact walk twice a day (at least). If you are able to walk instead of taking the car even better. Think of the petrol you are saving and the environment you are helping to protect. However, if you cannot walk instead of using your car, that still doesn’t mean you avoid this one - no, no, you simply have to take the dog for two walks a day or the kids or better still walk around the park twice a day and you can meditate and exercise at the same time. If you have more time than money use it wisely. If you have an aversion to animals, or kids then you may not like parks either (as it is full of both) so I guess for those of you who have this problem and still manage to hold down a job, get up half hour earlier and walk to the train station instead of getting the bus, this way you avoid two pet hates, noisy school kids on buses, and you only need to buy a train pass instead of the travel card - saving pounds. If you have more time than money use it wisely.
Book your own holiday for next year - rather than pay some snotty nosed assistance to book it for you. Go through the brochures you usually go through and then instead of going to the travel agent book it on line / book direct with hotel and the air line. You will be amazed how much this saves you. I saved £8000 on my total holiday cost last year and so did my clients save, 20% in most cases, as they booked through the same format. If you have more time than money use it wisely.
Have a good clear out of all your bits and bobs and look in the loft and see what you have that you can sell. For some a trip to a car boot sale will be great way to get a few bob back and declutter at the same time. Start the New Year with a positive clutter free home. For those of you that simply couldn’t face a car boot fare sell it all on eBay. If you have more time than money use it wisely
Cancel all your direct debits (obviously not your mortgage or life insurance). You can always say "security was jeopardised" etc. Then when the new direct debit forms arrive it allows you to reconsider whether you do need all these direct debits leaving your account on a monthly basis - would you even notice them if you cancelled them! Can you really not survive without membership to the National Parks or Thorpe Park? I lose at least one direct debit this way every year. If you have more time than money....
So the basic rule should be...If you have more time than money spend it wisely and if all else fails ask your Gran or elderly relative they will have numerous ways to save money they have been doing it for years. Remember years ago when there was the water shortage, I remember my Mum putting a brick in the toilet cistern. Oh yes and don’t forget the usual Tayo anthem bathing with your partner is wonderful but if you don’t want to go down that route or there is no partner to bath with take a shower and save pennies and only have a bath when you really have time to pamper yourself and bathe... and with that I say enjoy your New Year and those extra pounds you will be saving.
Tayo Irvine Hendrix