Success Doncaster

Here are our top tips for saving money:

The most important way of staying out of financial trouble is to manage your finances effectively. This sounds easy but is not, although with some practice and help you can quickly gain confidence and control over your financial affairs and avoid some of the pitfalls of not doing so.

The key points to remember are:

• Work out how much you have to spend and do not exceed it.

• Keep a record of every penny you spend for one month
  - you’ll learn a lot.

• If you don’t already know how to do it, learn how to balance your bank statement. A bank statement does not tell you how much money you have. It only tells you what has gone through your account at the bank so far that month. If you want to know how much money you really have on the date of that statement, you must do a bank balance, or reconciliation, to your own record. Do this as soon as your statement comes in.

If you run into difficulty, or think you might as a result of any change in circumstances, don’t panic, but seek immediate help.

Locally, both the Doncaster West Development Trust and Citizen’s Advice are experts at helping people get support and/or manage their affairs effectively and their service is free of charge. There may be a lot more options than you think!

When thinking about making a non-essential purchase, pause for thought and ask yourself do you really need the item. Give yourself time to compare prices elsewhere, or to come up with an alternative, or even to decide that you don’t need or want it.

These can be either direct from the retailer or via online money saving forums.

Be brave and try to negotiate a discount - especially when paying cash or if you are buying more than one of the same item.

Online stores often give a discount as they don’t have the same overheads involved when selling online. Search for the goods that you want using a search engine or ask the retailers themselves if they have an online store. Use price comparison sites like www.moneysupermarket.com to find the cheapest Nintendo Wii or iPod on themarket.

There are several credit card companies offering 0% interest on balance transfers at the moment. Shop around to get the best deal and save on the interest that you would be paying each month. Additionally, make money on your spending and use cash-back credit cards. Do look carefully, however, at any smallprint – make sure you can comply with any rules relating to these schemes. Take advice if you are unsure

Whenever you need borrow money to buy goods or make catalogues purchases check the interest rates charged against those of competitors. There can be large variations and you might be able to make savings buy using providers with lower rates.

Many large shops and department stores provide loyalty points that can accumulate when you shop with the stores. Points can be redeemed against the cost of goods.

Contacting a comparison company such as Energy watch or U-switch, who will advise of the most appropriate providers to switch to, can lead to savings of up to 25%. If you are worried about your energy bills please speak to our Energy Team on 0800 028 1067 who will be able to advise you.

If you are paying a standard rate mortgage that you are not tied into, you could save one or two percentage points. A financial adviser, bank or building society should be able to help identify a good deal to suit your circumstances.

There are various ways in which you can save money on your motoring:

• Consider car share - Two people sharing the journey and the petrol to work halves the cost. Better still, reduce reliance on the car – Travel South Yorkshire offer a wide range of value for money travel tickets allowing you to travel anywhere in the county, anytime, on train, tram and bus from less than £3 per day. Using public transport regularly allows you to make savings with the range of value for money ticketing options.
  
  To find out more on any of these options, check the Travel South Yorkshire web site at www.travelsouthyorkshire.com or ring traveline on 01709 51 51 51.
  

• Use a petrol prices comparison site such as www.petrolprices.com. By typing your postcode into a database, the service will provide you with details of the cheapest petrol stations close to your home.

There is no competition in the water market as you have to use your local supplier
However, if the number of people who live in your house is the same or less than the number of bedrooms in your house, then you may be wise to switch to a water meter.
Contact your local water supplier for more details.

Every day spending a cappuccino (£2.10) and a sandwich (£2.40) every day at
work would cost £97 a month or £1,169 a year! Taking pack-ups and a flask could save you £500 or £600 a year!

Avoid using credit cards or debit cards for regular items where you can. Spending ‘real’ cash tends to make us think about where our money is coming from. Its estimated that people spend approximately 30% more when shopping with a plastic card!

Newspapers, books and magazines – these can get expensive if bought regularly.
Pop into your local Library, where you might be able to read them free of charge. If you buy a magazine every month, you could save money by subscribing to it or why not share with friends and colleagues and take it in turns to buy.

Weekly Shopping
Write a menu for the week before you go to the supermarket, and buy only the food you need for the meals you’re planning. You could plan your menu by seeing what is on special offer in the supermarket. Make sure you set a manageable budget for your meals. Avoid buying ready meals and pre-prepared food so you don’t pay for someone else’s work. When you’ve got some time, cook large portions of meals (e.g. chillies, soups) and freeze some to provide cheap, tasty, convenient and nutritious ready meals!

Check for goods you need on the reduced counter and look out for basics such as bread, cheese and milk which you could stock up on and freeze. Avoid branded goods if you want to reduce your shopping bill. Supermarkets’ own-brand products may be produced by the same manufacturer and be of a similarly high quality as branded goods.

Consider if a ‘pay as you go’ option would help you to budget better. Cut down on the number of texts you send.

There may be help available through www.warmfront.co.uk. Ring the Energy Team on 0800 028 1067 for further details.

When getting a renewal quote for any type of insurance, shop around and compare what other providers are offering. Shop around for travel insurance and don’t automatically go through the travel agent, because they are usually more expensive.

Keep up to date with the latest offers on money saving websites such as:
www.Moneysavingexpert.com and www.thisismoney.co.uk.

They may be much more costly than they seem. Seek advice first!

Never borrow money from an illegal lender (or where no paperwork is issued). Loan sharks are on the increase.

For confidential help and advice contact the Illegal Money Lending Team on 0300 555 2222 or email them on reportaloanshark@stoploansharks.gov.uk