Hey my Lovelies,

Welcome back to my blog and the second post of my three-part ‘Cost of Living Crisis‘ series. In the previous post I explained what the cost of living crisis is and the financial help that the Government are providing. In this post I aim to talk about a few savvy habits that we can all implement to help get through winter and the cost of living crisis. The last post will be tips for staying warm during winter. So stay tuned!

In this article:

• Big financial change suggestions
• Small financial change suggestions

As mentioned the Cost of Living Crisis is upon us and is absolutely unavoidable. So, since there’s no escaping it I’m here to suggest a few things you can do to at least help you and your family get through this winter and basically the rest of existence.

The Big Financial Changes

Have a Budget

Budget, budget, budget! The thing we all wished we were taught in school. If you were raised in a household where good money habits were practiced, budgeting would have been instilled in you naturally growing up. Unfortunately for those of us who didn’t grow up in said household it may be a struggle to implement healthy saving and budgeting practices. Not to worry though, because there are apps and websites that can help to find your grounding when it comes to creating a budget.

SmartAsset Budget Calculator – USE Monthly Budget Calculator

MoneyLine Personal Finance Software – DOWNLOAD NCH MoneyLine Software HERE

Easy Budget Budget Planning – INSTALL EasyBudget App

Build Emergency Fund

Once you’ve figured out your monthly income and implemented a budget, it will then be easier to build up an emergency fund. Emergency funds are advised for anyone really, even if you still live at home with parents/guardians it’s good to start working on your emergency fund. Keeping three to six months’ worth of expenses in an emergency fund is a good start if you’re single and living alone, anyone from a bigger family with more responsibility should consider more, especially during the Cost of Living Crisis and winter months. Emergency funds are more so good for those who do not have a stable income and need to make sure funds are available if any sudden changes to finances occur.

Starting an emergency can be hard but you must have the discipline to keep it going for actual real emergency situations. Start by developing a habit of saving, rather than the big target number.

If you don’t have a Monzo bank account already then consider signing up. With this banking App you can create saving pots for specific goals, so you can create ‘EMERGENCY FUNDS’ pots. All of your saving pots are separate from the main bank account so any bills coming out won’t affect your savings – SIGN UP FOR MONZO BANK HERE

Change Energy Provider

By this time of year your energy provider may have already put things in place to help you with winter energy bills e.g My energy provider has given me a Energy Bills Support Scheme Discount of £66. This refund was automatic – This scheme was explained near the end of my previous blog post – READ HERE

If your energy provider hasn’t offered any help (which would be alarming because the Energy Scheme was set up by the government) then I’d call them up and find out if they are planning to help you out throughout winter with the energy bill. If you must look for a new energy provider then by all means do so, but only after finding out for certain that any new provider will outweigh the benefits you receive with the current one.

Check your energy supplier options on – MoneySavingExpert.COM

Be Frugal

Everyone wants to feel comfortable, especially during winter months which means things like binge eating and product accumulation heightens round the colder months. Maybe set a limit for you and your family to stick to so that you can still indulge in your favourite things but with balance. Also, when it comes to recreation it could be in your interest to set a cap on the amount of times you go out. Memories are good but being frugal is very important to get through this COL Crisis.

Use Cashback Sites and Apps

When doing a monthly food and household shop do you make sure to get every discount possible? If no, why not? I personally feel very chuffed when I see a little pop-up saying ‘YOU HAVE THE BEST DEAL‘. I’ve been using a browsing extension for a couple of years now and so far saved over £100 just because the app extension is on my laptop and it automatically activates the best deals at check out for some of the most used and sometimes unlikely retailers.

Honey App is FREE on your desktop or mobile device, once installed it scans the internet for you in search of the best coupons available, hidden discount codes, price drop alerts and more.

Sign up to Honey – SIGN UP HERE

Small Financial Changes

Sell Unused Items

Have you got any unused items laying around the house or tucked away in storage for a ‘I might need it one day‘ moment? Be honest. Most of us do have a few of these items, whether for sentimental reasons or we’re just indenial hoarders. If you have some items that are still in good condition or have never even been used before then consider selling it to someone who will actually find use for it. There are many apps that you can use to sell your loved goods – Amazon, Ebay, Depop, Vinted, Gumtree to name a few. You could also consider making it a fun day activity and do a car boot sale with your family or friends. Make memories and make some extra cash from your unused goods.

MY DEPOP – https://www.depop.com/rianj/

MY VINTED – https://www.vinted.co.uk/member/64139332-lauraspoonie

Make Coffee and Food at Home

If you still have to commute to work buying food outside will be one of your biggest temptations and what your coins will go towards aside from travel money. Even if you really like the taste of that Spiced Pumkin Latte could you consider finding a recipe online and making it at home? Or could that salad that you always buy for lunch be made night before work and bought in. Buying yourself food and drinks outside may actually be one of your treats you look forward in your day, so maybe completely eliminate this from your routine but every so often try to save a few coins by making it at home and possibly surprising yourself with your hidden culinary talents.

On another note, for the ones that are Boo’d up could you consider date night at home?? Get creative and save those coins.

Use Loyalty Cards

Loyalty cards are a great way to build up usable points and get provisions, simply because of your loyalty to a company/service. These are most likely for things you use quite frequently i.e Supermarkets, chain retailers. You are already going to use the sevice so why not get some perks from it.

Cancel Unused Subscriptions

Similarly to unused items, unused subscriptions can be a problem. Only with unused subscriptions you are actually wasting money. That £3.49 app subscription you set up three years before the pandemic and never reviewed is still coming out of your account, no hesitation and you haven’t even re-downloaded the app to your latest phone? Yeah, review your unused app, memberships and club subscriptions. Additonally, if you plan to use an app again but just know that you can go without it check on your app store to see if you can postpone payment for a couple of months, that way you can keep your subscription but take a short break from the app and also save a couple quid coming out of your account for one or two months.

Switch Off Unused Appliances

Swithching on appliances at home is something that becomes automatic for us all but it’s good to think about the appliances we aren’t using and switch them off. We don’t realise that the energy being used from these aplliances are still going towards being charged. If you’re home alone it’s likely you are only going to be using one room, so making sure appliances and lights are off in the other rooms is beneficial in saving energy. Also, if it’s only you at home making the decision to use your laptop to watcha movie instead of turning on a bigger device such as the TV is a small way to cut down on energy usee

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I hope these suggestions help you or someone you know to get by this Cost of Living Crisis and the winter!

Don’t hesitate to drop a savvy tip that you want to start practising below or something you have been doing for some time and swear by.

In the next article I will discuss different and effective ways to stay warm during WINTER.

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Thanks for stopping by.

Laura,

XOXO