_{Photo by Christopher Bill on Unsplash}

It’s January; grey and dismal with a never ending side of “how much?”. With prices increasing almost daily in some areas it pays to shave off the pennies wherever you can. For example, the instant coffee I like has gone up by 90p. Yes, 90p. I’d love to try and find another but it took ages to find a coffee that was in my price bracket and which I liked. So I’ll suck this rise up. However others I will not. Take the humble toilet rim block. I worked out that I was spending 84p on each rim block. Looking at it simply in that way isn’t that bad but add up all the blocks you use in a year. Yeah, more than a few pennies. So I set myself a challenge to find one of equal quality but cheaper. I quick root on the internet and I found one that worked out 11p cheaper per block – and bought in a pack of 12 (x2) gave me nearly a year’s worth. Total time spent? 5 minutes. Only pennies but a deal like that soon mounts up.

So that’s an example of a quick search getting a saving.

Savings: It is the time of sales so don’t be afraid to hunt them down. Towels, bedding and curtains are always a discount to be had along with homewares and electrical goods. Research, see what you can get for your filthy lucre. Do you have discount codes to use? A voucher? A couple of code hunters I use are Pouch and Hot Deals, both of which do those fiddly searches for you, usually at checkout, to see if there are discount codes you can apply to that basket. Take full advantage of any flash sales on sites you regularly use and make sure you check those spam email folders for any notifications. You even get ones offering more money on resell sites on certain days.

Another type of saving is the piggy bank, virtual or otherwise. NEVER and I cannot say this enough, NEVER, use a coin machine at a supermarket to count your loose change. They take a cut! So that coin money you’ve been diligently emptying your purse of after a night out gets emptied into their bank balance! Sit down in front of the TV with a few bank bags, or ordinary bags, or even envelopes and count it yourself. It’s actually fun AND you won’t be giving any money away. Then pop into your bank/post office, bank it and it’s YOUR money in YOUR account. Yes it takes a bit of time but you’re not giving your money away for free.

Then there’s the savings accounts. I could talk about this for ages but my tip is find a high interest account with a small minimum monthly deposit and put that in every month. Last year I found the best on offer and put £20 in each month. By the time it matured in time for Christmas I had most of my spend covered. It’s like a Christmas present to yourself. You can get great deals as the financial people try and tempt you in January. Good sites are the comparison ones such as USwitch and of course Money Saving Expert who I have been a fan of since the start. It takes minutes to set all these up and then you can sit back and feel smug knowing that you’ve got a savings thing going on.

Side Hustles: Three words, Sell. Sell. Sell. With the rise of the online selling platform it’s a great way to not only buy but also SELL. Ebay, vinted, preloved – whatever your choice but always check to see what the average sold price is. There’s no point going too cheap and if you price something higher than others, well who will not sell their item? Especially clever if you re-use old packaging you’ve got to send on. As for buying many times I have seen something, thought “Oh I don’t want to pay that” and behold, a few months later there is the item on a resell site for a fraction of the cost. If you have lots of CDs, DVDs and books and can’t be bothered listing them all there are lots of sites who will buy off you such as Music Magpie and World of Books but always check between any sites that you are getting the best price you can for your item.

Another side hustle is any job you can do around your schedule that will bring in a few extra pennies. Shift at the pub? Walk next door’s dog? Cut somebody’s grass? Explore any avenue you can to get those extra pennies in if you are so inclined. Or alternatively if you want to do something for free see if any local papers or websites want reviewers for local events. Even volunteer at an event. From personal experience volunteers are like gold dust……

You can go down the vlog route but it takes a long time to get to the level where you get sent items for free but, don’t ask, don’t get. If quid pro quo is more your style – “you paint my fence and I’ll put up your shelving” – there are websites that promote such alliances such as Barter’d and Time Bank. I’ve not used either but only because there isn’t one near me.

Savvy: It’s not so much about not spending money at all but making that money work for YOU. A quick shopping around can save you some money. It may not seem much but add it all up and you would be surprised. Sign up to saving hints and tips from your utility providers. See what restaurants near you do deals such as early bird – it’s usually sitting down before 6pm, or lunchtime deals or even a set menu but it is always worth looking. Even the humble pub now does 2 for 1 or 2 for a fixed price. No need to pay through the nose for your dinner.

Money doesn’t grow on trees but you can grow it yourself be just being a little bit persistent when looking for a deal.

_{Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash}