You don’t have to sacrifice your lifestyle to save money. Cutting out the finer things in life, such as meals out, the occasional takeaway and weekends away is not what this article is about. Instead, we focus on the small, incremental changes that you can make in your day-to-day life that will quickly add up. Few Small Changes you can Make to Save Money Today.
1. Adjust your thermostat
One of the simple changes you can make to start saving right now is to turn your thermostat down by a single degree. If your house is large or energy inefficient, that single degree that you’ll barely notice could make a big difference to your energy bill. With your home heating systems accounting for an average of 42% of your total energy bill, this is one expense that you can easily get under control.
2. Take shorter showers
Let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a nice long shower? But just think about how much water your 15-minute soak is wasting, particularly if you have a power shower. Cutting five minutes off the length of your normal shower will reduce your water and energy bills considerably. You could even turn the water off when lathering up your body and hair to reduce your bills even further.
3. Drink from the tap, not the bottle
Drinking lots of water is essential for good health, with experts suggesting that we should all be drinking a minimum of two litres a day. Heading to the tap to get your fix of H2O rather than buying bottled water from the store could save you an estimated $800 a year. That makes this an incredibly simple way to make a big saving.
4. Walk more
People are slowly starting to realise just how beneficial walking or cycling rather than jumping into the car for short journeys can be. Not only are you reducing your gas costs and helping to do your bit for the environment, but you’re also getting the everyday exercise that plays such a crucial role in maintaining and improving your mental and physical health.
5. Save little and often
If you have a financial goal that you want to achieve or you want to create an emergency fund, the best way to do it is by saving little and often. There are numerous programmes out there that can help you to save. The 52-week savings challenge from Wonga is one that you can start right now that will help you build a big savings pot by the end of the year.
6. Ditch one bad habit
The thing about most bad habits is that as well as being expensive, they also damage our health. Smoking, gambling and working your way through several bottles of wine a week or even drinking too much soda may be fun temporarily, but over the long-term, it can be incredibly destructive. Cutting out or moderating one bad habit, for example, making a bottle of wine last the whole weekend, will help you make big savings and provide a real boost to your health.
What small changes have you made to save money and were they successful? Please share your experiences with our readers in the comments below.
