The top ways I’ve cut my spending this month
The Saveometer challenge is my way of seeing exactly how much the tips and deals I feature on Be Clever With Your Cash can actually save someone – and that person is me! I’m writing down EVERYTHING I spend, and how much I’ve saved from full price (you can read all about it in the intro blogpost). It’s a real eye opener, as consistently each month I’m spending a third less than the value of the life I’m leading!
August Total
Actual Spend £1,677.90
Value Of Spend (i.e. what it should have cost me) £2,440.05
Saved £762.15 (including interest and cashback) – that’s 32%
Here are the biggest savings in August:
Vouchers and freebies
August has been a crazy month for getting something for nothing! Free burritos from online competitions; £20 off Morrisons vouchers for the cost of four copies of The Sun newspaper; free drinks, snacks and t-shirt at a GAP 45 year old party. The list goes on. In total I got £200 in discounts, cash rewards or free goods. I’ll feature most of these on social media, so to hear about them first, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
Advanced booking hotels
We went to three weddings in August, all involving an overnight stay for a night or two. The old me would probably have forgotten all about it after receiving the invite (I still do that with the gift lists!), but as soon as they dropped through the post and RSVP sent, I checked out the hotels. We went with the Travelodge/Premier Inn type places and saved against their regular price through booking months in advance, which is the figure I’ve used here to work out the saving. All were fully booked when we checked in so if we’d left it really late we’d probably been forced into paying even more at pricier alternatives.
My own lunch
I know I mentioned this before, but I’ve saved around £75 this month just by bringing a packed lunch to work most days. By the time I’ve been working in a office (I worked from home until May) for twelve months, that’s going to be practically a grand I’ll have not spent on food. It’s a huge amount. Read my Spendonomics blogpost for more details. Those posts take a bit longer to put together but I hope to have a couple of new ones for you in September.
READ THE SAVE-OMETER INTRO BLOG TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW THE SAVE-OMETER CHALLENGE WORKS.
2014 Total so far
Actual Spend £16,639.00
Value Of Spend £25,512.79
Saved £8,873.79 – (35%)
Month By Month Totals
January 2014:
Actual Spend £2,401.21 / Value Of Spend £3,817.86 / Saved £1,416.65 (37%)
February 2014:
Actual Spend £1,305.25 / Value Of Spend £1,888.20 / Saved £582.95 (31%)
March 2014:
Actual Spend £2,209.29 / Value Of Spend £3,538.68 / Saved £1,329.38 (38%)
April 2014:
Actual Spend £2,339.99 / Value Of Spend £3,622.89 / Saved £1,282.90 (35%)
May 2014:
Actual Spend £1,883.45 / Value Of Spend £3,137.28 / Saved £1,253.83 (40%)
June 2014:
Actual Spend £3,067.50 / Value Of Spend £4,282.29 / Saved £1,214.79 (28%)
July 2014:
Actual Spend £1,756.41 / Value Of Spend £2787.55 / Saved £1031.14 (37%)
August 2014:
Actual Spend £1,677.90 / Value Of Spend £2,440.05 / Saved £762.15 (31%)