6 Essential Money Saving Tips

Six seriously good money tips which will save you thousands:

1. Spend using a card that pays you cash or air miles. You can find your best option here.

2. On your hols use a currency card – complete with a phone app to monitor your spends and check currency rates. These cards offer excellent exchange rates and bank fees, even on small amounts. We have tried and tested Revolut and love it!

3. Pay off debt before you save. Why? If you don’t you will lose money on net because you pay more interest on debt than you receive from savings.

Say you have £1,000 credit card debt at 18% interest and also have £1,000 saved in a bank account paying 1% interest. Net you are losing 17% a year which is a massive £170. 

4. Saving to buy your first home? Open a Help-to-Buy or Lifetime ISA and get a few extra hundred (or even thousand) towards those pesky taxes, aka stamp duty, and legal bills. Discover which ISA is best for you.

5. Have children in nursery school or other childcare? Apply for the UK Govs Tax Free Childcare scheme and get up to £2,000 a year.

6. Increase your pension contribution each year. For every £1,000 you put in you avoid £200 of income tax (or £400 if you are a Higher-rate tax payer). Not even Lidl offers a deal like that! Here’s the lowdown on pension tax-relief.