Save Money, Save the Planet

making money

tutoring! one of the easiest to make good money in limited time! you don’t have to make home calls if you sign up to an online tutoring agency and tutor over skype

sell your old clothes. to friends/classmates or online (eBay or depop are my favourite platforms)

sell your old notes. this is easily done online and a good way to make a little extra cash

sell your skills. sites like etsy and redbubble are good places to make money off your creative talents

saving money

save £1378 in a year with my free printable

make coffee and tea at home. those daily £3 coffees add up quickly

take your own mug to coffee shops. if you can’t resist the temptation of a coffee shop coffee take your own mug. pret a manger gives you a 50p discount if you bring your own mug and caffe nero gives you double stamps

don’t carry money with you all the time. this will just make you tempted to spend

never buy another bottle of water. carry a reusable bottle with you, bottled water is very very overpriced considering most cafes will refill your bottle for free

don’t use apple pay. if you always have access to money you’ll be much more tempted to go into that shop and buy the top you passed in the window

food prep! carry snacks and a packed lunch with you to avoid pricey snack bars and ready meals. this is also an easy way to be healthier

home cook. this is always cheaper than eating out and 99% of the time cheaper than pot noodles/ramen. home cooking is even more affordable if you do it in bulk or with friends

borrow and download free ebooks and audiobooks as much as possible

make good use of the library. instead of buying books borrow them for free, a library membership is often free if you belong to a university/college but a membership is still often cheaper than buying lots of books if you’re a big reader

bring reusable bags to avoid paying for plastic bags and be kinder to the environment.

go paperless. avoid printing costs and look after the environment

cut your own hair. going to the hairdressers is expensive and can be saved as a treat but if you just need to trim your split ends there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do it yourself or get a friend to help you

pre drink! if you are going out then drink alcohol at home it’s much cheaper than buying it in pubs or bars

other

use cash. it’s much easier to avoid spending money and stick to your budget when you can see exactly how much you have 

keep track of your saving and spending. i love the ‘pocket expense’ app. this will also show you what things you are overspending on 

collect coupons and loyalty cards. points make prizes!

Yes, yes. I know I’m showing up to the typical deluge of New Year’s articles 15 minutes late holding Starbucks. (In my defense, I spent most of the past three weeks moving across the country!)

But the truth is, it’s never too late to turn over a new leaf – especially when it comes to your personal finances. So here are five simple choices you can make that will help you make 2016 the year you finally get your finances in order.

Because there is a big difference between the two, no matter how similar they may seem on the surface. And whether you’re earning six figures or a student’s stipend, you can still live by certain (often unspoken) rules that make you savvy, instead of that person that no one wants to go out with because you’ll start a fight over the bill.

These are those rules.

1. Don’t agree to things you can’t afford. It’s really tempting to say “yes” to things your friends really want you to go to, even if you know you don’t have the money for it. But the primary source of financial stress when a check comes — or lingering resentment after the day is over — is agreeing to things you could not afford in the first place. You have to be open about what you can and cannot do, and if everyone is trying to go to a hip new restaurant that will put you out $75 for dinner and that’s not an option for you, you have to say no. You can’t say yes and then agonize every time someone orders and appetizer for the table, because that’s what makes you look like a cheap asshole.

2. Don’t be a penny pincher with friends. When it comes to good friends, you should not be venmo-ing each other every time someone buys you a two-dollar tea. While people are perfectly allowed to pay you back for whatever they want, it’s just generally a bad vibe to constantly demand every penny from someone you’re close to. Good friends should have a relationship of “your treat, my treat” when it comes to little things, and should honestly find joy in the act of buying one another a round or a coffee or a little gift. And obviously if someone is abusing this, you can stop it, but being afraid of not tracking every cent with a friend just makes you kind of a Scrooge.

3. Invest up-front in the important things (when you can afford it). When it comes to things that you’re going to want to have for more than a season — boots, winter coats, certain furniture, etc — it’s important to not be cheap with yourself if you have the option. For things that are going to cost a lot up-front (but be worth it), following the strategies of “wait for things to go on sale or go to a discount store, and buy high-quality” leads to saving a lot of money over time. We all go from “replacing our shitty everyday bag at least twice a year because the straps break,” to “putting a couple hundred dollars into an actually-quality bag that changes our lives.” And it’s an important life change to go through.

4. Don’t be afraid of turning down an invitation. Part of being frugal, socially, is doing your best to get rid of FOMO. Even if you can technically afford something, saying “yes” to everything generally leads to having little money, or wasting it on things you wish you hadn’t. Even if you can afford to be the belle of the ball four nights a week, no checking account needs to suffer that damage.

5. Start upping your at-home entertaining game. Hand-in-hand with not saying “yes” to everything social is making your house somewhere you actually enjoy spending time. This means investing a little in things like nice drink ingredients, learning to cook some of your favorite take-out or restaurant recipes, and generally accepting that a night in (by oneself or with friends) can feel just as ~special~ as a night on the town. Those people who use their oven as storage and have to run to the liquor store every time they want to have a drink are probably spending about 15x as much as they need to on takeout, social events they don’t even enjoy that much, and “last-minute” runs they pay out the nose for. Domestic Goddesses (and Gods) are frugal in the best way.

6. Don’t squabble over a couple dollars. When it comes to things like dinners out with friends, squabbling over four dollars on a bill because you didn’t share a full 50% of the queso, and you also ordered two drinks instead of three, is just ugly. Don’t be the guy that insists on making the server split the check 18 ways, or gets huffy and passive-aggressive over a couple dollars. Let it roll, and if you are really getting the feeling that a friend is taking advantage of the bill-splitting, have that conversation separately. If it’s really egregious, stop going out with that person. But you and your friends should generally be in a place where you’re able to cover for one another by a few dollars without it getting weird.

7. Wait for sales, and shop discount. Basically a golden rule of frugality is never paying full price for things. Whether that means you live like me, and basically exclusively shop at TJ Maxx and Marshall’s, or you are religious about buying off-season and waiting for things to go on clearance, it’s all effective. It’s just important that you never be the person who gets so caught up in a ~must have~ item that you waste 100 more dollars on it than you would need to if you had a little patience. (And this goes hand-in-hand with not buying ultra-trendy crap, because if something is unwearable after the season in which it was popular, you don’t need to be buying it).

8. Be honest about what you actually need. You’re never going to get ahead of your own finances if you are convinced that you need four of the same jacket, or a blender you never use, or a fur vest that you are way too ashamed to put on in polite society but looked so cool on the Nasty Gal website. Learning to prune your life down into things you actually want, need, and will use — and be honest about what is just a waste of money — means saving your precious money for the things that actually merit it. (I know myself, and that means I will never again buy a bright-purple designer bag. I am not that girl, and never will be.)

IKEA wants you to shred their catalogue. Really.

They offer 5 crafty DIY ways to shred your IKEA catalogue and, as they say on their site, “We’re cool with it!”

I love that they address the issue of potential waste that could result in tossing or even recycling their catalogues by offering fun and useful ways to give new life to a well-thumbed-through edition.

Garlands, coasters, and wall hangings are just three of the 5 suggestions–what else can you think of?

Learning to be confident is clearly important, but what is it that truly confident people do that sets them apart from everyone else?

1) They Get Their Happiness From Within.

2) They Don’t Pass Judgment.

3) They Don’t Say Yes Unless They Really Want To.

4) They Listen More Than They Speak.

5) They Don’t Seek Attention.

6) They Aren’t Afraid to be Wrong.

7) They Celebrate Other People.

8) They Aren’t Afraid To Ask For Help