5 tips to make your pay cheque stretch further

Struggling to save?

When trying to save it’s easy to get disheartened at how little you have left to spend. But with these 5 practical tips hopefully you can make your pay cheque stretch that little bit further.

1. Negotiate with service providers

This is as simple as it sounds. Service providers value their customers and will usually go out of their way to keep them happy.

There is an abundance of ways to save with service providers, from purchasing bundle deals to looking up discounts and promotions for new customers. If you’re not interested in the hassle of switching constantly then try contacting your provider directly.

As with all negotiations, being polite and persistent is key. As anyone who has worked in customer service will tell you, the majority of customers can be ill-mannered when they don’t get their way. If you’re polite to the person on the other end of the phone, they are more likely to try and be helpful to you.
Sometimes achieving a discount just requires asking and mentioning your loyalty to the company.

If you’re not getting anywhere, you can mention that you want to cancel for whatever reason you choose. This will sometimes transfer you to a retention department where the customer assistants have more authorisation over what discounts and rates they can give out. Again, it is important to always be polite and patient.

2. Organise your bills to be paid just after pay day

This tip is more for budgeting. If you find yourself stressing throughout the month, checking your account constantly to see if you have enough to pay all the bills, this may help you.

Bills are something that are best sorted out as soon as possible. The problem most people have, myself included until recently, is that their bills are due at random points in the month. Trying to keep track of what you can spend until each bill is paid can be unnecessarily complicated.

A way to make this easier for yourself is to pay your bills at once right after you get paid. This is surprisingly easy to do. All you have to do is contact your provider and ask to change your billing date. When doing this it is important to check there’s no specific criteria required to do this or hidden fees. However, if you tell them you’re doing it to make sure you can afford to pay your bills they are likely to let you change your payment date.

By paying all your bills, at once, just after pay day, you then don’t have to worry so much about budgeting for the rest of the month. This will remove a huge weight off your shoulders and allow you to enjoy living the rest of the month, knowing exactly what you have available.

3. Save before you splurge

The point of financial freedom is when we see something we want we have the choice to buy it. However, this can make budgeting and tracking finances harder.

The impulse to buy something we really want when we see it can be a strong one. ‘Why shouldn’t I treat myself, I work hard’ is usually the reasoning we give ourselves for buying something we know we shouldn’t.

Rather than spending your hard-earned cash straight away, consider saving the amount first. If it’s a pair of new shoes or a phone upgrade, then save towards it over a month or two. Cut out a takeaway or an extra coffee here and there, to set the cash aside. Waiting a small amount before purchasing will also let you think about if you truly want what you’re saving for or if it was just a spur of the moment decision.

This will make it easier to keep your savings on track, rather than spending on impulse and realising afterwards that you don’t have enough for essentials.

4. Remove unnecessary subscriptions

Part of saving is being honest with yourself. Do you really need to buy that? Would it be better if you put these savings into a saving account? And do you really need all these subscriptions.

There are so many subscription services, many of which provide extremely similar services. Be honest with yourself, how often do you use them? We like to keep a few of them for the small differences they have and the illusion of choice it gives us. But is there really enough you want to watch to justify multiple payments?

Removing one or more subscriptions could save you hundreds of pounds over a year and if you change your mind, you can always sign up again.

5. Manage the big energy users

Saving energy is always a big point when trying to save on bills. The easiest way to do this is to spend a load of money on energy efficient washers, dryers, lightbulbs, and all sorts of household items. However, there are much cheaper ways to save.

Substituting a tumble dryer with a drying rack is a great way to save on energy. Now this doesn’t mean you should stop using your tumble dryer completely, but if you use both it will ease the amount of energy you have to use to dry your clothes.

When it comes to washing up, it’s better to do it just after you eat. The longer you leave your food on there the harder it is to clean. We’ve all forgotten a dish at one point and then had to spend 20 minutes furiously trying to scrub off the mess left behind. The less time you spend trying to clean each dish, the less water you use, and less money you spend.
If you have a dishwasher, then rinse of the dishes immediately so you can use an eco-setting on your dishwasher. Again, this will save you from using extra water and spending extra money.

Implementing money saving tips

Stretching out your pay cheque doesn’t require radical changes in spending or complicated budgeting. Some simple thoughtfulness and small efforts can make all the difference.