We can always make improvements in order to cut down your daily spending, whether you’re looking to work towards a saving goal, you’re wanting to pay off more of your DRO or in general you just want to improve your spending habits. These things may require a small amount of time investment, however it can save you significant amounts of money! So, let’s get into it and help you to cut your daily spending. 

Follow A Strict Budget

First up, one of the best things you can do to cut your daily spending is to follow a strict budget. Often we don’t realise just how much we spend on certain things and end up spending a lot of money early in the month and leave ourselves short towards the end of the month. So, to help you take control, put together a budget. 

Start by listing out all of your outgoings, from rent and bills through to savings, car payments, debt repayments, food shops, going out, holiday savings and everything in between. Write down what you currently spend on each of these things, then also write down your income, and see where you need to make cutbacks in order to ensure your income exceeds your outgoings. Perhaps you realise you’re spending too much in a particular area and you’d like to focus more elsewhere, for example you’re spending too much on going out to restaurants and you’d like to save money to put down a deposit on a house. 

You can get great apps that pull in the data from your banking apps, so you can create budget pots and keep up to date with everything. This can make such a significant difference to your spending, so make sure to spend some time putting together a proper budget and you’ll reap the benefits!

Create A Weekly Food Plan

Something else that can significantly reduce your spending is to create a weekly food plan. It’s so easy to get carried away when you go to a supermarket and just pick up whatever you fancy, as often you don’t have many substantial meals and end up nipping to smaller, more expensive shops to fill in the gaps for the week. When you don’t have ingredients ready in the house, you’re also more likely to order takeaways, which really adds up. 

Instead, sit down and plan out where you’ll be each day of the week and what you’ll be eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you’ve got to go out one evening for something or work late, you can plan around this with a quicker and easier meal. You could plan to bulk make a couple of things on a Sunday to set you up for the week. Make a list of everything you need, then go to the supermarket (one of the cheaper ones to save even more money) and you can stock up everything for the week. Plan meals that are easy to make if you’re not big into cooking mid-week, and also plan a few quick meals that you can have ready in your freezer if plans change and you want a tasty meal. 

Another tip that may seem trivial but can really help is to make sure you go to the supermarket when you’re full! If you go to the supermarket hungry, you’ll likely pick up things you don’t need but want at the time, so you could spend quite a bit more than you need to. 

Read: Financial advice and strategies to consider for your family budget in 2024

Assess Your Energy Consumption 

Another way that you can make a real difference to your spending is to assess your energy consumption. How much energy we use in our home is something that we have direct control over, so think about all of the electrical outputs in your home and how you can reduce them. Get a smart metre for your home and turn your thermostat down. Take more showers than baths and have your hot water on a timer. Turn your appliances off standby and always switch off lights when you leave the room. Look for energy efficient forms of cooking, such as batch cooking or using an air fryer instead of heating a full oven. 

Every home is different, and so is the energy consumption, so consider what you use most and look for ways to make improvements. You’d be shocked at just how much you can save when you carefully consider your energy consumption, so give it a go and prepare to be pleasantly surprised! 

Final Thoughts

There are so many different things that you can do to cut down your daily spending, so it’s just about analysing your spending specifically and finding the best ways for you to make cuts. Make a few sacrifices now and get planning, then you’ll be able to reap the benefits. Whether you are trying to reduce your debt with a DRO or cutting back on your daily expenditure, following these tips will help you cut down on your spending.