A Financial Overhaul – Make it your 2016 New Year’s Resolution

Everyone should take some time to look at their finances every once in a while, why not do it now? It is perfect timing now with the new year intentions of improving things for the future. Maybe you overspent in December? Mrs Mummypenny is certainly not perfect and I managed to spend far more than I had wanted to. According to the Money Advice Service 1 in 3 of us felt pressurized to spend more than we could afford over Christmas so now with a possible credit card debt looming its time to cut back a bit and get those finance under control.

I like to divide things into where you can make money and where you can save money. So here are my top 5 tips where if you did them all you could be saving and making £100’s.

Mrs Mummypenny Money Saving Tips

Get a hold on where you are at with your money. Go through all your accounts and credit cards if you have them and work out how much debt & savings you have. Face the reality and things can then start to improve. Next go through your current account for your regular bills and have a good look at where you can save money.

1. Check that you recognise everything leaving your account by direct debit, do you 100% need all of it or have you stopped using the service?
2. Gas and Electricity should be reviewed once a year. Grab your latest bill and enter the details into Uswitch. This brilliant comparison site will check what you are currently paying and will recommend a cheaper alternative.
3. TV subscriptions, I often chat to people who have several on the go. Maybe Sky TV, Netflix and Amazon Prime at the same time. Assess what you really need and cancel the subscriptions! With the more expensive packages such as Sky or Virgin phone them up and threaten to leave them/or to switch. Give them the opportunity to see what they can do to reduce your monthly bill.
4. Is your mobile phone contract up for renewal, are you due an upgrade? You could save a lot by keeping the same phone that you were using and were happy with and moving to a SIM only contract. Mobile phone companies will not chase you to remind you that your upgrade is due, why would they when they are still getting their £40 per month for that 3-year-old IPhone??!
5. For lots more money saving tips take a look at the cutting costs section of the Money advice service website.

Mrs Mummypenny Money Making Tips

1. Have a good sort out of your household. And sell, sell, sell. EBay is great for branded clothes and smaller items. Find your local Facebook selling sites for bigger items like toys, bikes, furniture. Or maybe you have bags and bags of clothes for less hassle take them to a local clothes recycling site who will normal pay around 70p to 80p per kilo of clothes. CD’s and DVD’s will add to up to a nice amount on Music Magpie. And check through the drawers for old mobile phones, you’ll be surprised how much they are worth on sites like Mazuma.
2. Join a cash back site like Topcashback, I use these all the time when buying anything online. Great for this time of year when renewing things like broadband, utilities, insurance. And for when you buy anything online such as furniture, holidays. Its simple and really reliable just find the service you are wanting to purchase on Topcashback and click through from their website to your site of choice. Simple. I have had an account for 3 years and I earn around £400 per year in cash back.
3. Whenever I buy anything I buy it with my Tesco Credit card, this card is paid off every month in full to avoid any interest payments. Then every quarter I get a nice chunk of clubcard vouchers. Normally around £50 per quarter. I then triple or double up the value of these for Tesco boost times (free Christmas pressies) or use them for car hire on holiday or restaurant vouchers.

So there you have it, if you did all of these you could save/make yourself easily more than £1000 per year. Go on give it a try and give your finances an overhaul.

Don’t forget to check back as over January I will be writing in more detail about

1. My cash back journey, how I earned £1200 in 3 years
2. The full process on how to switch energy providers
3. How to maximise selling value on EBay
4. The best 0% credit card deals.

Disclaimer

This is a paid post, written in conjunction with the Money Advice Service