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Often, we think with our hearts and not with our heads. Every year people make New Year’s resolutions and most generally fail within the first month. One of the most common resolutions people make is to cut down on spending, and although it may seem achievable, if you don’t have a proper strategy in place, the likeliness of failure is high.
Sometimes in life, we are unfortunately hit with an unexpected expense — a home appliance breaking for example, or forgetting to pay for your parking and getting a ticket. It all adds up. For that reason, we’ve made some assessments on how those extra savings can come in handy if something like that was to happen.
Start off with something small, but something that will make big changes when it comes to your bank balance. Using a megarider ticket, you will be able to travel as much as you want and can tailor your own needs to the ticket type. Whether you’re in need of a weekly bus pass for your travels, or a monthly one – you will find yourself making a huge saving in comparison to buying a ticket every day.
Did you know that the average motorist in the UK will spend a crazy £168,880 over their lifetime? Public transport is getting better and better, so there is no reason for you not to consider making the bold move that could help you fulfil your resolution this year and save you a fortune.
When it comes to payments across the year, petrol costs a driver £1,052.04. Servicing a vehicle costs can add up to £441 over a twelve-month period – changing depending on the individual’s situation. MOTs can cost up to £168.46 annually. Cost of parking is on the rise, and with more vehicles on the roads, there seems to be a higher demand. Over the year, a motorist can find themselves paying £145.80 on parking. When it comes to insurance, this can sway dramatically as younger drivers will find themselves paying a higher cost to be on the road – on average, insurance costs an experienced driver £436 every year. Tax can equate to £116.35 on a yearly basis. Car supplies can cost a driver £29.61 and if you were to go abroad and wished to drive, holiday rental cars can leave you £180 out of pocket. Speeding tickets equal £25.12 for the average driver here in the UK. This would cost a driver £2,594.38 in total where commuters find themselves paying considerably less for a significant service – imagine the saving you would make with a megarider ticket!
Coffee
According to research carried out by MyVoucherCode, people in the UK visit coffee shops at least three times per week and there are now over 21,000 outlets around the country! This means that Brits visit coffee shops around 156 times a year with an average spend of £8.52 – with travel expenses, this could go up to £13.85. This creates an annual average spending of £2,600, a majority of which could be saved if you were to opt for taking your own coffee to work.
Branded coffee company, Douwe Egberts, has said that a 250g pack of ground coffee can make up to 30 cups. When looking to see how much a 1kg pack would cost, Amazon has priced the coffee at around £15, meaning that each cup of coffee would cost close to 13p. Try taking a flask to work and even purchasing an on-the-go coffee cup that will see you through your day.
Smoking
If the rise in prices for cigarettes hasn’t already put you off, knowing that you could save a whopping £3,796 (if you smoke 20 a day) should be the driving mechanism for you to quit. MoneySupermarket.com has stated that non-smokers pay around £6,309 less for life insurance, which could be something worth investing in for the new year.
An alternative that many smokers are trying to save money is vaping. A 10ml bottle of liquid costs around £5 on average – saving those who turn to vaping around £1,900.
Lunch
Many of us find it easier to just buy lunch on the way to work or we go out on a lunch break. But would you believe that, on average, forking out for lunch every day could cost you £1,288 according to research carried out by VoucherCloud. Evidently, you could make a huge saving by preparing your lunch at home whether this is making a quick sandwich or taking in a tin of microwavable soup to heat up. When we looked at the total working days in 2017, there was 252 – if we went by Poundland’s price of tomato soup, which is 50p, you would find yourself paying £126! A massive saving for anyone looking to cut down on costs.
We’ve all been victim to an unexpected expense, with 54% of 2,000 people asked saying that they suffered from an unexpected expense within the household. On average, these costs totalled £248.70 — showing that any saving is beneficial for occurrences like these. 47% of these issues happened in the kitchen, a room which is essential to the day-to-day running of any home, and if you don’t have the money to pull out instantly, it could cause an everyday stress. Using the savings you would have made by taking your own lunch and coffee to work, quitting smoking, and travelling smarter — you will be able to make life easier. It was also found that 35% of people had to use a credit card to cover the costs of unexpected expenses. With 18% of them not being able to pay more than £100 on their own, 17% had to borrow from friends and family!
Thinking smarter for 2018 is a must, how will you be changing your ways to save money?
This is a collaborative post.
Sources:
http://uk.businessinsider.com/new-years-resolutions-courses-2016-12
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/782992/car-costs-uk-service-repair-MOT-petrol-fuel-price
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4680432/Britons-spend-2-210-YEAR-coffee-shops.html
https://www.stagecoachbus.com/regionaltickets/north-east/newcastle-upon-tyne/megarider
http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/new-years-resolutions-save-you-4927896
https://vapeandjuice.co.uk/blogs/vaping-ecig-and-eliquid-news/how-much-does-vaping-cost
http://www.work-day.co.uk/workingdays_holidays_2017.htm
https://www.providentpersonalcredit.com/unexpected-expenses/
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
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