Take your cash farther by optimising your budget.

Whether you are spending more than you earn or earning more than you spend, having a financial overhaul could save you thousands! This isn’t a complicated idea: by simply making sure you have the best deal on bills and products, you will save money.

Energy bills
There are a number of comparison websites that allow you to quickly and easily compare gas and electricity prices for your house to discover which is the cheapest for you. They are free and, if they can do the switching for you, you can often claim freebies or cash back on top.

Popular comparison services include Energy Helpline, Money Supermarketand Uswitch. When you switch providers it is only the price and customer service that will change. Everything else, including pipes, wires, etc will remain the same. If you’ve never switched before it is possible you could save up to 20 per cent on your bills.

Mortgage
If you are a homeowner then your mortgage will probably be your biggest expense each month, so it makes sense to get the best deal you can. This may mean switching your mortgage provider, but be aware that if you are in a fixed rate deal or have high redemption penalties, this may not be the right time to switch.

The Money Saving Expert website has guides available for Getting a Mortgage and Remortgaging. You could also look at some of the comparison services mentioned in the ‘Energy Bills’ section of this guide. You can find further information on remortgaging on the Teachers Building Society guide to remortgaging, here.

Food shopping
Supermarkets are designed to make us spend money so plan ahead and only buy what’s on your list. Before you leave to go shopping find out which supermarket is the cheapest for your particular shop. There is a free website calledMy Supermarket which allows you to effectively do your food shop online and calculates the cost at the four main supermarket chains to show which is the cheapest for you. It will also offer cheaper alternatives to items you’ve picked. Even if you don’t do your food shopping online, it’s a great way to compare the overall cost at the main stores.

Time your shopping right and you could pick up the reduced items as they happen. This will vary from store to store but as a general rule the later in the evening you can shop the more chance you will have of picking up the reduced items. Some can be reduced by as much as 75 per cent after 9pm.

Loyalty cards can also be a great way to save money whilst you shop. Tesco (Clubcard) and Sainsbury’s (Nectar Card) both offer loyalty points so if you shop in these stores it’s worth getting one.

If you can set a budget before you leave and then try to stick to it you will minimise your impulse buys and being taken in by offers that appear better than they are! This should be part of a wider budget so, if you haven’t already worked this out, take a look at our budgeting section below for some tips and advice on how to do this.

Council Tax
If you are a homeowner in England or Scotland then it’s possible that your home has been classified in the wrong Council Tax band. If you have been overpaying your council tax then you could get that changed to reduce future payments and even get some of the payments you made back dated.

There is a helpful step by step guide here from the Money Saving Expert website. This will help you to find out if your house is in the correct council tax band and if it isn’t how to reclaim some of that expense.

Childcare Costs
If you pay for childcare from a registered provider then you could be saving using the ‘Childcare Voucher’ scheme. This allows you to pay for childcare from your pre-tax income, which might not sound like much, but you could save thousands on fees each year.

For every £1,000 a basic rate taxpayer earns, after tax and national insurance is deducted, they only actually receive a little less than £700 in their pay packet. Using the Childcare Vouchers, the whole £1,000 pays for childcare so there’s a £300 gain per £1,000 of childcare.

The Childcare Vouchers cover childcare up to the age of fifteen, and they are useable by any nursery, playgroup, nanny, childminder or au pair who is registered and regulated by Ofsted. Any parent, or those with parental responsibly for a child living with them, is eligible for the vouchers but to get them your employer must run a scheme. For more details on the Childcare Voucher Scheme and how to set one up at your workplace, see this article from Money Saving Expert.

Water meter
For many households having a water meter installed can save you money.As a simple rule, if you have more bedrooms in the house than people then it will save you money having a water meter installed.

Installation is free in England and Wales but unfortunately is rather expensive in Scotland so it’s probably cheaper to stick with the bills. Try using this calculator from Uswitch to work out if you would be better off with a water meter installed.