When you’re trying to fond money to tackle debt problems, you won’t want to miss out on easy important money-saving ideas. Saving money on your everyday living costs can help you end your debts sooner as well as helping good causes, helping the environment and helping you maintain a better standard of living in the meantime.

Whilst these money-saving tips can certainly help, the best way forward for anyone with debt problems is always to get independent, good quality debt advice. You do need to get expert input to find the best solution to your problems. Whatever stage you’re at in dealing with your problems though, here are some simple and proven ways to save cash on everyday essentials.

Shrinking Your Household Bills

Supermarket loyalty cards are well worth the five minutes it takes to apply. If you use the card regularly, you can receive money-off coupons by mail, and even ‘cash vouchers’ to use against the cost of your shopping in store or online. You can also find discount coupons at the better savings sites, such as Money Saving Expert.

You can also slash your utility bills sometimes by using a price comparison website (such as USwitch) to find a cheaper local supplier. Another tip is to use the Energy Saving Trust’s advice on cutting gas, electricity and water use at home to keep your bills well under control.

If you’ve got less outgoings for groceries and utilities, you could put more away to put towards ending your debt problems sooner. Again, do take the time to get proper debt advice though – don’t try to simply scrimp and save on your own to manage problem debts.

Low Budget Travel

Car drivers can use less petrol and diesel if they drive more slowly, keep the windows up, turn off the engine if at at standstill in traffic and make sure the tyres are all properly inflated. ‘Carpooling’ has become more popular recently in the UK and there are now free online message boards to help you find rivers that are willing to share particular journeys with other passengers. You’ll all pay less for petrol or diesel than travelling alone and keeping your own car off the road lowers the amount of greenhouse gases produced by dense traffic.

When you know in advance you have to make a trip, book a train ticket straight away as advanced purchased seats are less expensive than buying nearer the time or when you travel.

Mega bus and National Express offer coach journeys with fares sometimes as low as £1 and frequently you’ll find their fares lower than the cost of fuel to drive alone in a car for the same distance.

Find Free Home Furnishings

Freecycle is an online community founded to stop unwanted household (and various other items) from clogging up the UK’s landfill tips. When a member has finished with an item, they pots a message to their local group announcing someone can contact them and ask to collect it for free. It doesn’t cost a penny to use the service, it helps the local environment and you can often find an amazing selection of items freely given away.

Times You Really Have To Buy

For the times when you can’t avoid buying an item, always check whether it’s being sold on a second hand site, such as EBay or Preloved. It will often be much cheaper than going to a regular store and you could also use the site to get rid of some unwanted clutter and perhaps make some much needed money in the process.

Charity shops have improved their image in the last few years and have even lately been the subject of glowing articles in the better press for one-off bargain finds. It is true that the stock in charity shops can be quite different according to the location, so it might be worth investigating those in more affluent first.

Even car boot sales have had a better press in recent years, pooping up in Sunday supplements and so on – perhaps a reflection of just how many more people are trying to deal with debt problems in more recent times by hunting for decent bargains. The better sales are often reviewed or advertised in local media such as Time Out.

All of our money-saving tips can help you save money on everyday purchases and all are very easy to try. You might be able to use them to conserve more cash to put towards ending your debt problems sooner, You might even find you have a great day out browsing around a colourful local car boot sale, or perhaps meet like-minded souls through collecting something on Freecycle. Whatever you do, do pause to get good quality debt advice, to help you find the best way to legally resolve your problems and look forward to a debt-free future.