Customer top tips: smart savings

Members of our Wonder Women customer group and over 30 customers from our anyone@home digital involvement group, shared their top tips to help with the cost of living. Here are their ideas on making smart saving choices.

Shop around

• “Shop around as much as you can and always compare prices before you buy or renew things.”
• “Consider going to local shops, markets and charity shops, they’re happy for the business and you don’t have to buy more than you need.”
• “Challenge price increases with suppliers for things like your broadband and phone. If you say you’re leaving, you might get a good offer.”
• “When online shopping, try leaving stuff in your basket for a little while and they might send you a discount to encourage you to buy.” 
• “Loyalty and club cards can reduce prices at certain shops.”
• “Visit cheaper shops. Some things are half the price in shops like B&M and Home Bargains.”
• “Keep your eye out for coupons and vouchers – in particular when you are buying large items.”
• “Always take a shopping list so you don’t get things you don’t need.”

Cut down where you can

• “Consider whether you can cancel any subscriptions like Netflix, Spotify or Audible.”
• “If you smoke, try to stop or cut down – it's not easy but the average cost of a packet of cigarettes is around £12 and if you smoke one pack a day, this equates to a yearly figure of over £4000.”
• “Consider cutting down on drinks on nights out, or drink water in between drinks.”
• “Remember it’s only a bargain if you can use it!”

Make smart choices

• “When budgeting, try to put a bit of money to one side each week so you have a savings pot.”
• “Keep any loose change in a jar and save your change up for a treat.”
• “Some banks have something called a round up savings scheme. For example, if a transaction is £18.50, they round up and charge you £19 and then they'll place the other 50p into an account of your choice. You don’t really miss it and it adds up.”
• “If you can, buy quality – for example if you buy one pair of quality shoes, they’ll last longer and won’t need to be replaced so frequently.”
• “Cut off the ends of plastic containers for things like shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste – you can normally get quite a bit more out of the bottle.”
• “Consider car sharing with neighbours or friends to save on travel costs.”

(Originally published July 2022. Updated with current information).