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5 tips to help you make more room for your debts
15 June2011
Think you've done everything you can to free up more money to pay towards your debts? Think again. Even if you budget carefully every month, the chances are there are areas in which you could cut back to make more room for repaying your debts.
These aren't tips for people who are really struggling with debt (if you are, you should seek expert advice on the help available). But if you're just looking to make your finances a bit more comfortable, the following tips could come in handy.
Switch energy provider
Energy prices have soared in recent years, so now more than ever it pays to keep a close eye on how much you're paying.
There's only so much you can do to bring down your own energy usage (for example, by switching off lights whenever you leave a room or by turning your heating down by a couple of degrees) - the next step is to make sure you're on the right tariff. With prices changing all the time, the savings made from switching tariff could be very helpful.
Comparison websites make it easy to compare different energy deals, but as most comparison sites ask you to enter your annual energy consumption figures, you'll only get an accurate result if you enter the correct details (which can be obtained from your energy supplier).
Change your supermarket
You've probably seen the adverts in which one supermarket claims to be cheaper than the other, but the only way to really put it to the test is through your own experience. Try shopping in a few different supermarkets for a couple of months and see which seems to work out cheaper on the whole.
If you want to be really clever you could do different parts of your shopping in different stores, but this can get complicated and time-consuming - so you may just want to pick whichever supermarket you find cheapest overall.
Take advantage of offers
Retailers are always putting on special offers to tempt customers, and if you're not careful it's easy to end up spending more than you planned. But if you are careful, you could make these offers work to your advantage.
To stay on the safe side, you should only really go for offers on things you were already going to buy (or a similar alternative). Buying 'three for the price of two' won't help your finances if you were only going to buy one in the first place!
On the other hand, offers like 'buy one get one free' are usually better, because you're essentially getting the product for half the price you would another time.
Consider an interest-free credit card
Unless you repay your credit card balance in full every month, you're probably paying more than you'd like to in interest. Credit cards can be one of the most expensive forms of credit available, with the average credit card rate currently sitting somewhere between 16% and 18%.
However, an interest-free credit card doesn't charge any interest (for an agreed period). There are two types of 0% interest credit card:
- 0% purchase credit card (for making interest-free purchases)
- 0% balance transfer credit card (no interest charged on balances transferred from other cards)
Either could help you, depending on your circumstances, but if you're unsure which is best for you, talk to an expert.
Switch to a 'pay as you go' mobile phone If you're on a mobile phone contract, some of your monthly payment probably covers the cost of the handset itself. Most contracts seem to cost in the region of £25-40 a month these days, and that's a lot of money over the course of a year.
If you're happy to stick with your current phone (or a new phone that doesn't cost an arm and a leg), using it with a 'pay as you go' SIM card could save you a lot of money. Several networks currently offer pay as you go SIMs that give you plenty of inclusive minutes, texts and data for more like £10-15 a month.
Tags: debt, pay debt, pay off debts, pay more to debts, save money, special offers, mobile deals