Money saving advice

Whatever your situation, it’s always recommended to look at maximising your disposable income. There are two ways you can do this:

Increase your income

For example:

Are you receiving all the benefits you’re entitled to?
Could you work longer hours or get a second job?
Could you take in a lodger or rent your car parking space (if you live in a well-situated location)?

Reduce your expenditure

For example:

Are you entitled to any tax reductions / exemptions?
Do you have any savings you could use to pay off debts?
Are there any luxuries you could live without for a while (i.e. gym memberships, expensive hair treatments)?
Could you switch to a cheaper utility supplier?
Could you benefit from changing the way you pay?(i.e changing from quarterly bills to monthly bills can help you manage your cash-flow better and is often cheaper for doing so).

Apart from improving your situation, maximising your disposable income could also help us negotiate with your creditors as it will demonstrate commitment to improving your situation. When they see that you’re doing everything you can to ‘free up’ money and repay your debts, they’re more likely to accept the lower payments we propose to them, or they may agree to reduce or freeze interest.

Maximising your income

To start with, if you want your money to go further you need to get rid of all the unnecessary luxuries that you don’t really need. For example:

Cancel satellite/cable TV monthly subscription – saving approx £35
Reduce your broadband speed – saving approx £5
Monthly gym subscription– saving approx £60
Cancel any monthly magazine subscriptions – saving approx £5
Cut out the fags. Smoking 15 cigarettes a day typically costs around £4. Giving up could save you around £120 a month.
Take a break from alcohol. The UK pint costs well over £2 on average, so you could save £110 a month if you currently drink 12 pints a week.

Cut your energy bills. Try saving money by using less gas, electricity and water – i.e. shower instead of taking a bath, consider changing your supplier and investigate reclaiming any utility overpayments.
Do all these things and you’ll probably save around £20 a month.

Try switching from a contract to a pay-as-you-go phone, or reduce your talkplan if you aren’t using the full minutes/texts allocation. By limiting yourself to £10 credit a month you could easily save £30 or so each month.

When doing the weekly food and grocery shopping, try swapping from famous names to own-brand items – and buy in bulk where possible to make greater savings. You could also make the most of 3-for-2 or buy-one-get-one-free offers, especially on items you’ll always need (like on toiletries, toothpaste/toothbrushes, deodorant, shampoos etc).

Taking a packed lunch to work, instead of eating out, could save you over £100 a month – based on a packed lunch costing around £1.50, rather than a £6 lunch (for 23 working days). And cutting out the coffee fix could save you an extra £100 per month if you currently buy two, £2.30 coffees a working day.

Also:

Complete the form above and one of our experts will provide FREE debt advice. To talk to an adviser, for immediate debt help, call FREE on 0800 043 2332.

Important Information About Our Service & Fees

Whilst we strive in all cases to negotiate the best deal with your creditors, we cannot guarantee a reduction in interest or charges. Also as one of the largest providers of debt management solutions in the UK, we are able to provide initial advice over the phone without charge, however, if a debt solution is taken out, please be aware that fees will be charged. We aim to keep these fees as low as possible and believe that we are very competitively priced. View more detailed information on our fees including examples for each product here.

Further Additional Information

The insolvency service has produced a guide for people who are struggling with debt, which outlines each of the available solutions.

If an IVA is not maintained it could lead to bankruptcy.