Posts Tagged 'spending'
This is why You’re Skint!
Wondering why you always seem to be creeping dangerously low on funds two weeks before the next payday? Ever sit and wonder just where on Earth your money goes? Maybe this is why you’re skint!
Spending at Work
Assuming you work Monday – Friday, have 20 days annual holiday per year plus bank holidays, you will go to work on 233 days each year. With that in mind….
- Buying lunch at £3 per day will set you back £699 per year!
- Buying a coffee at £2 per day will cost you £466 per year!
- Buying a newspaper at 30p per day will set you back £69.90
Now surely that’s a good reason to make lunch at home, skip the Starbuck’s and read the free Metro newspaper!
Brand Buying
Supermarket’s own brand products are often no different to their more expensive branded counterparts. How much more are you spending than you need to?
- A 500g box of Kellogg’s Cornflakes will set you back £1.92. Tesco own brand will cost just 95p for the same quantity. That’s a saving of 97p per box. Buy one a week and that’s a difference of £50.44 a year!
- Fairy’s standard washing up liquid costs £1 for a 450ml bottle. The Tesco equivalent is 51p. That’s a saving of 49p per bottle, or £5.88 eachyear if you buy one a month.
- Heinze 400g cans of soup will set you back 74p each. The equivalent is just 52p per tin if you buy the Tesco brand. That’s 22p difference per can. Let’s assume a family goes through 5 a week, that’s a difference over a year of £57.20
Credit
The cost of credit is rising. Always! Depending on your rates and any charges you incur, anything you buy on plastic is going to cost more than buying it in cash! Get a grip on your hire purchase habits.
Utilities
Of course, we all need our water, gas and electricity. But you might be surprised in the differences in prices between the gas and electricity companies. Shop around and save up to £65 over the course of a year.
Just the few savings illustrated here amount to savings of well over £1000 per year. For someone on a £20000 salary, this is a significant saving.
We all make unecessary purchases from time to time… cutting back on them could save you a small fortune.
The Recession’s Silver Lining?
According to a survey conducted by the Post Office, consumers in the UK are thinking about their finances more than ever before, since the start of the recession. In particular, 16 – 30 year olds have changed perceptions of finances, with a quarter of this group claiming to have saved more money since the start of the recession.
The improved attitudes are largely being attributed to the fact that conversations around personal finances are being held more openly now and frugality and conservative spending are commonplace. Attitudes towards frugal living, in fact, have changed drastically since the beginning of the recession. Frivolous spending simply was not possible in the face of rising unemployment, continually rising living costs and less disposable income and so thrifty spending habits were adopted by families on all income levels. It is hoped that these habits long outlive the recession itself.
So is this a silver lining to the worst recession to have gripped the nation (and the world) in a generation? If the attitudes persist, then that in itself could go a long way to eradicating the huge personal debt problem prevalent in the United Kingdom and USA. Or will the attitudes fade as the global economy recovers? Will we start spending as thoughtlessly as we ever had and find ourselves, another generation from now, facing the same economic crisis?
In much the same way that Great Depression changed the lives of the Americans who lived through it and permanently altered their perception of money and spending habits, I believe that the scars of the current downturn will probably serve as enough of a reminder to have a long lasting impact on spending. For those of us who lived through it, at least.