How You Can Survive The Cost of Living Crisis
Living costs have risen sharply over the last few years. With energy and food prices rising faster than wage growth and inflation levels well above their long-run averages, many families are being stretched to the extreme by their monthly cost of living bills.
There is no magic to ending the cost of living crisis, but some cost-free strategies could make a difference in how you budget.
Utilise the discounts and promotions
If you have not already, consider downloading your supermarket’s free loyalty app. This will make it quick and straightforward for you to collect points while making purchases. These tokens can be redeemed for a cash discount of a certain percentage of the cost of your grocery shop.
You can find bonuses and promotions for almost anything and everything in life at the moment. Indeed, a lack of money can harm your ability to do a number of things, however whether it be playing the casino games at the sites that have been popular recently for entertainment purposes because of the change in regulations and the level of convenience they offer, or whether it be shopping for a range of products that are needed in the home, it is possible to access discounts and promotions for most things.
Avoid paying credit card interest
Paying interest at a standard 20% APR, a variable on credit card balances that you cannot pay off, is incredibly expensive and, in essence, money down the drain. You can transfer balances from several card issuers to a card with 0% balance transfer fees up to 90% or 95% of your available credit limit.
Although you will need a good credit score to be accepted, an eligibility checker allows you to assess your prospects before submitting an official application. This shields your credit record from obvious searches that can turn off prospective lenders. Change your credit card to one that offers an interest-free purchase term if you realise that you rely on it to pay for necessities.
Make the most of free digital
If you haven’t already, downloading your bank’s app will simplify managing your accounts and enable you to monitor your spending while on the go.
With a budgeting tool, you could take it a step further. These applications let you examine all your accounts in one location via an open banking agreement, which can increase transparency about the amount of money you spend. If you select the basic version, many are also free.
Make positive lifestyle changes
Over time, little adjustments to ingrained daily routines might also be beneficial. For instance, deciding to consume less energy. This may entail turning down the heating by one or two degrees, hanging out laundry to dry when the weather improves and shutting off the lights and radiators in unused areas.
Understanding which household appliances consume the most energy compared to others is a brilliant place to start regarding energy conservation. A straightforward energy monitor is a valuable and affordable instrument that may be used for this.
Conclusion
If you’re still feeling the pinch after reading this article, we hope you’ll explore some of the sources we used to compile our analysis. Of course, there’s no magic solution that will instantly solve all of your problems. But arming yourself with knowledge will help you make better decisions in the future and perhaps help your family weather the storm.
