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If you’re suffering an extended financial Christmas hangover, now’s the time to get yourself on the right track. Trisha Doyle lets you in on ways to save more than 10,000 in 2009 Well it’s that time of year again. Gone is Christmas and the only pounds you’ve got spare are the ones from seasonal excess. If money’s too tight to mention or you’re feeling the brunt of the big “R”, how does an extra s10,000 sound? Unfortunately as we don’t have it going spare right now, we’ve devised five ways for you to save s10k this year. WAKE UP AND DON’T SMELL THE COFFEE
The daily s2.50 (a conservative average) for a morning caffeine kick might be deemed absolutely essential but when it adds up to s625 a year (that’s five days a week, 50 weeks per year) than it’s suddenly one very expensive habit. Sampling the office coffee or even treating yourself to a fancy blend from the supermarket are two simple ways to cut back on your expenditure. We’re not trying to ruin all your fun though – moving your daily treat to a weekly one comes in at the much healthier (both physically and financially) s125.
TOTAL SAVING: S500
SMOKING
It’s a new year and you may be hoping for a new you, but let's work on a slightly improved model first. Starting with the baddest of all bad habits – smoking. It’s unpleasant, unhealthy, unsociable and just about illegal to smoke indoors anywhere these days but unfortunately, it’s also very addictive. Far be it from us to tell you to when to quit, but the figures speak for themselves – a 20 pack a day habit over a year costs a shocking s2,920, never mind the cost of extra medication for that year-round smokers’ cough along with the higher costs of insurance for smokers and the risk of smoking related illnesses. But we’re not here to preach, we’re just pointing out that s2,920 is a nice round sum that could get you a luxury cruise or all-inclusive trip to South America on your one year smoke-free anniversary.
TOTAL SAVING: S2,920
LET’S GET PHYSICAL
The biggest Christmas financial hangover of all – your gym membership. The monthly sum leaping from your bank account is doing more exercise than you have in the past six months. In fact, there’s probably a good chance you can’t remember the last time you darkened their doors and if so, probably sweated more in the sauna than on the machines. Yet they’re still getting your hard earned cash as some sort of penance or payoff for you to carry on under the illusion you are a fully fledged gym member.
Before you commit, consider when you’re going to use the gym – does it realistically fit into your lifestyle to have a gym that opens until nine when you only finish work at seven?
Also, what facilities will you be using? Are you paying extra for the use of a pool or rock climbing wall that you’ll never actually use? Look at all the options – a smaller gym in a local leisure centre or local gym may not be as bright and shiny, but can come in at around a third of the price.
Hitting the pavements for a spot of running, joining a Sunday footie team or hopping off a few stops early on the way home are simple, pain-free ways to incorporate the recommended 30 minutes of daily activity into your life without any hefty monthly direct debits.
TOTAL SAVING: S900 APPROX.
TIP: For any would-be runners looking for a good training programme, check out www.c25k.com. With a free planner, podcasts and training advice, it puts you on track to be running five kilometres in nine weeks. WHAT A WASTE
According to a 2007 National Consumer Agency survey, the average Irish family spends s151 on their grocery shopping per week. With a 2006 survey by WRAP indicating that one third of what we buy is being chucked out – half of which is edible – that means that we’re effectively putting s1,300 a year in our very own bins.
So what to do? Well there are a few simple things to start not only reducing your shopping bill, but also ensuring you get the most out of your grub:
Plan your meals for the week. Start thinking about what you’ll be eating over the week and try to use recipes specifically for making meals from your leftovers;
Understand the art of freezing. Learning how to appropriately freeze meals, vegetables, soups and so on can mean making maximum use of all your goods; and • Get your dates right. The sell-by date is there as a guide for retailers, whereas the use-by date is advice for consumers on when they should use the product by. With meat and eggs, it’s advisable to stick to those dates but there is generally more room to manoeuvre with some fruit and vegetables. And don’t forget to shop around. On one of our favourite blog’s, Pricewatch’s Conor Pope has already highlighted the importance of shopping around for groceries. The days of supermarket fidelity are over as, following a National Consumer Agency survey last March, there’s no one supermarket that comes out on top. Instead it’s a case of playing the markets. Doing a basics shop in Aldi or Lidl and then going to Tesco or Dunnes for more specific branded products can save you around s50 per week, coming to a tidy little saving of around s2,500 per year.
TOTAL SAVING: S3,800 TIP: Learning how to properly store fruit and vegetables is essential for getting the most out of your purchases. UK supermarket Sainsburys provides a handy guide on their website, showing you how to keep your fruit and vegetables for longer: www.sainsbury.co.uk/stopwaste PARK THE CAR
The consistently horrific traffic conditions and morning motorway standstills we’ve all come to know and hate are all evidence of the passions of the Irish motoring public. Putting aside the environmental impact of driving everywhere, the cost of petrol is high, with a full tank of petrol potentially costing around s60 per week. Now depending on your commute, you could be going through s60 a week, 52 weeks a year coming to the princely sum of s3,120. Add this to the s260 yearly service you’ll need for such heavy car usage and you’re looking at about s3,380 before you’ve even turned on the ignition and the brake fluid needs changing or a brake pad has gone. Suddenly the option of public transport may seem a lot more interesting and with the tax breaks from the Revenue Commissioners, so it should be. For example – an annual bus and rail short hop ticket costs s1,190 and that means a saving of s559.30 for those on the 41 per cent rate and s309.40 for those on the lower 20 per cent rate. Not only can you count up your savings, but you’re being environmentally conscious and chances are you’re also shaving some time off your journey.
TOTAL: S2,190
TOTAL SAVINGS: S10,310
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