Top tips to reduce spending

• Review your outgoings and cancel unused subscriptions

  Do you have a costly gym subscription, but rarely go to the gym? Do you pay for streaming services that you barely watch? Do you have a magazine subscription or packaged bank account that you never use and have forgotten about? Make a judgement call on the value provided by these regular payments going out of your account. Is it a luxury you can afford? Cancelling the ones that you’re not benefiting from could save you hundreds of pounds each year.

• Write out a shopping list and stick to it

  Set yourself a food budget and make a shopping list before you go food shopping. This will reduce the temptation to impulse buy any tempting treats. Then, once you’re in the supermarket, stick to your list. Never go food shopping when hungry as you’re more likely to overspend. If your not good at sticking to shopping lists, you may want to try shopping online. The running onscreen total can help you to make sure you are within your budget and you’re less likely to be tempted.

• Sleep on it

  If you’re prone to impulse purchases, make a promise to yourself that you will sleep on it for a night before you buy it. You often find that the thing you really wanted doesn’t seem as attractive the next day once you’ve had a chance to think about covering the cost. You might also want to consider how much it would cost you to cover the cost of the purchase in hours worked e.g. if the item cost £150 and you earn £10 an hour, it would take 15 hours to fund your purchase.

• Take a packed lunch into work with you

  It’s easy to get into the habit of grabbing a sandwich meal-deal during your lunch at work, but even spending £4 a day at work equates to £986.40 per year. Taking your own food into work with you could save you hundreds of pounds each year.

• Take the “No-Spend Day” challenge

  Break down your regular income to work out your daily budget. Example: If you get paid weekly and your income is £280 each week, then your daily budget would be £40 (£280 divided by 7). Once or twice a week have a day where you try to spend nothing other than budgeted-for things. This will help boost your daily budget until your next payday.