Money saving tips

You aren’t alone. As household budgets are being stretched to the limit by this unprecedented cost of living crisis, there are more and more of us struggling to manage our finances.

Heating and energy, food, fuel and clothing...the list goes on. We know it can feel overwhelming.

That’s why we’re here to share approachable money saving tips to help your money go further. Alongside these tips below, you’ll also find helpful resources, from budgeting tools and discount sites to food bargains that can lighten the load.

If you are having difficulty in paying your rent, contact us as soon as possible.

We don’t have a magic wand that we can wave to fix everything, we wish we did. But we do have good people here with a lot of financial knowledge, skills and experience between them. They will talk to you and help you find the best way through and the right people to help you.

Please read through the practical tips and links below, here on our website and in our dedicated leaflet.

• Click here to check what support is available from the Government
• Money Helper website has some great step by step guides and offers guidance based on your particular situation. Whether you’re worried about your future finances, you’ve lost your job, or are self-employed and can’t do your job
• Martin Lewis has many great ideas about saving money
• Barclays bank has some interesting money saving tips here
• Work from home? You could claim tax relief
• If you are going to another area, check the petrol prices before you go as some places are considerably cheaper than others and you could fill up in the way back.
• These websites have money off codes for everyday essentials: MyVoucherCode and Groupon

Bills

• Your home broadband and TV packages can sometimes be re-negotiated. After you have been with a provider for a period of time the costs do creep up so it’s worth checking for new deals for new customers
• When any renewals come through for home insurance, pet, car, etc make sure you compare with others as your current provider will not always give you the best deal. If you call them, they will normally give you discount
• Do you have an unnecessary subscriptions that you can cancel?

Banking

• If you do need to get a credit card shop around as they differ hugely in interest rates. Many offer a period where you can use it without paying interest if you need to buy a larger item
• Sometimes an authorised overdraft is cheaper if you need to borrow short term. Speak to your bank about rates.

Food

• Bulk cooking and freezing can save money
• Always follow a shopping list when shopping and avoid going on an empty stomach
• Community Fridges - find out where your nearest is. There are also some great articles on ways to save money on your food bills.
• Many local shops and restaurants now have a “too good to go” bag of goods which are coming to the end of shelf life – these are normally hugely discounted and this app advises where you can go locally
• All major supermarkets reduce food either at the beginning or end of the day. Please see when for each supermarket below – these items can normally be frozen and are around their best before date.

Shop	Best Time to go	Info
Tesco	After 8pm or around 30 mins before smaller stores close.	The later in the evening you can shop the more chance a 50% off discount, or more.
Sainsburys	After 7pm	There may be some discounts just after lunchtime but the majority of discount stickers get put on food around 7pm.
Morrisons	Try from around 5 pm for reductions of around 75% off.	Morrisons reduced items times can start from late morning, but again you will find the best reductions later in the evening when food can be sold for pennies.
Asda	Asda reduce to clear food in the morning	You’re looking for “whoops” yellow stickers.  They can have a second round of discounts from around 7 pm onwards but there won’t be much left after 9pm.
M&S	Either go first thing in the morning or later at night.	At around lunchtime, they reduce their food by 20p here and there, but around 30 minutes before the store closes you can see food drop to around 10p if you’re lucky.
Aldi	Aldi starts to reduce their foods in the mornings.	Instead of a yellow sticker, look out for red 50% off stickers. When food is a day before its use by, they also add an additional 75% off stickers. Aldi has also introduced discounts of 30% off imperfect packaged products.
Lidl	Price reductions start early, so go and grab cheap food if you’re an early bird.	Lidl have orange stickers on their foods that get you a set 30% off the marked price.  If food doesn’t sell, final reductions often start around lunchtime onwards and stickers get replaced with green “Waste Not” 20p or 70p stickers! Before lunchtime, you could find a whole create of cheap fruit and veg for £1.50 like mine.
Co-op	Discounts applied all day	As it moves into the evening, you can get discounts for up to 75% off the original price.
Waitrose	After lunchtime	They then do a second batch of reductions on the food around two hours before the store is close where you can get around 50% off.