As you’ve probably heard, the economic climate is harsh at present. Due to the rising prices of many goods, lots of families are feeling the squeeze and putting a lid on their spending. With all this going on, the last thing you might be thinking about right now as a young family is putting money aside for your children’s future – but there’s no guarantee that things will be any easier by the time your child leaves home to go to university, or search for work. No matter how bad things may seem, it’s always a good idea to at least consider putting money into a Children’s ISA.

But with an already squeezed budget, you might be asking yourself: How can it be done? How can I trim our household outgoings any more than I already have?

Here are some ways you can free up money if you’re finding it a struggle to put funds aside:

Cut Down on Unused Luxuries

We all have them: gym memberships we never use; digital channel packages we don’t watch; subscriptions to cookery or gardening magazines we never read but which seemed like a good idea at the time; the list of extraneous luxuries goes on. So, before you make a purchase or a commitment to something which requires a monthly payment plan, stop and think: Do I really need this? Can I live without it? There’s nothing the matter with indulging yourself every now and again, but if you’re going to spend money on a hobby, make sure it’s worthwhile. Remember that this is money you could be putting to better use elsewhere. 

Be Thrifty With Your Utilities 

You might think that switching off the lights in the rooms you’re not in, and not leaving the TV on standby overnight might not make much of a difference – but it all adds up. Being clever with your energy use will not only help to reduce your carbon footprint but will also reap you rewards when you receive your next utility bill – and in turn free up more money to put into your savings.

Eat In More

We all deserve a nice meal out every now and then, especially after a tough week. But it can be easy to cave in to temptation and let this become a regular fixture. Having a meal in a restaurant can seem like such an appetising prospect that we’re often blinded to the cost of it – which doesn’t hit us until we’ve got the check after a round of desserts. If you find yourself eating out regularly, this is a cost you can easily cut out. Treat yourself to a nice meal by all means – but remember that taking out and eating at home, or even cooking a special meal yourself instead of eating out regularly will almost always be cheaper. 

Take Advantage of Deals

In your household, a holiday might be a non-negotiable fixture of your year – and understandably so. We all need to take time out from our busy lifestyles every now and then. But if you’re looking to save money, it pays to seek out deals and offers and get in there early. If you’re booking a summer holiday, try and plan it in January or even before if you can, and the chances are there’ll be a host of early bird price deals on offer.

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There’s no shortage of personal finance information on the Internet. You’ve probably lost count of how many times you’ve read that it’s important to save money every month. While that sounds great in theory, when you have a cloud of debt hanging over you, focusing on saving becomes even harder.

Regardless of how good your intentions are, it’s hard to convince yourself that funneling money into your savings account is the best course of action when you’re receiving daily phone calls about payments that are past due.

Since this is a dilemma that millions of Americans face, you’re not alone in wondering how you should deal with it. And as you may have guessed, there’s not just one answer to this question. Instead, it really does depend on your individual situation. To decide which option is right for you, there are several factors that you need to take into account:

Rainy Day Fund

While it’s obviously important to think about the future and take steps to help secure your retirement, in terms of what currently matters most for you and your family, that would be having a sufficient rainy day fund. Also commonly referred to as an emergency fund, the reason having one is so important is you simply never know when a significant expense may come up. Although you can plan and project your budget all the way down to the penny, if an emergency situation arises, the last thing you want is for it to also be a financial catastrophe.

Given the importance of this fund, if you don’t have one yet or it’s not even close to the amount you actually need, it’s worth focusing on this type of saving before you begin dealing with getting rid of your debt.

The Real Cost of Your Debt

One important calculation to make is comparing the true cost of your debt to how much you can earn from saving. As an example, let’s say you have $8,000 in credit card debt with 9% interest. By multiplying the two, you can see that specific debt is costing you $720 a year. Then once you decide how much you either want to pay off or put in savings, you can calculate the savings yield you’ll receive and then determine which option will put you in a more favorable position.

Your Short-Term Financial Goals

The other factor you need to take into account is what your priorities are in the short-term. If you’re doing something like starting a business, it makes sense to prioritize saving so you’ll have the funds necessary to get your venture off the ground.

As previously mentioned, although there’s not a definitive answer to this question, you now have all the information you need to make the right decision for your specific situation.

James Freemont is a freelance writer who blogs about income tax planning and financial advice.

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With gas and electricity bills in the UK constantly on the rise, many people are looking at ways to improve energy efficiency in their home.

Here I look at a number of great ways of not only saving energy at home but also saving a fair bit of money too.

Keep In The Heat

There are a number of measures you can take in order to keep in the heat.

Curtains are one of the simplest measures to utilise in regards to saving energy; after all many of us have them fitted in our homes. Simply drawing them in the evenings and opening them in the morning to let a little natural light in can greatly help keep the warmth in.

Give The Home A Makeover

Now I don’t mean in any 60 Minute Makeover home decorating kind of way, but looking at the fundamentals such as cavity insulation, insulating hot water pipes and tanks and lagging the boiler. It is also worth getting your boiler serviced each year, as inefficient boilers can end up costing you much more on your energy bills than a properly maintained boiler ever would.

Loft insulation is another great way to lock in the heat, saving energy and a few quid to boot.

If you have the funds available, double or triple glazing offers another way to keep the warm in and might make the home a little quieter too, at least from external noise.

Once you keep the heat in, knocking the thermostat down by a single degree will then actually cut down your heating usage by as much as ten per cent – a great way of saving energy.

Standby Is Not Your Friend

Far too many of us are guilty of leaving gadgets and gizmos on standby rather than turning them off at the mains. It might not seem like much, but it is estimated that as much as £730m is wasted across the UK by having DVDs, TVs, computers and the like on standby rather than switched off.

Light Bulbs

By fitting energy efficient light bulbs in your home instead of regular bulbs, it may cost more in the short term, but in the long term it will save money as they not only last longer, but will also help cut your electricity bill down.

Hang Me Up To Dry

Investing in indoor clothes and hanging up your washing the old school way can also cut down the bills over using a tumble dryer, so if you haven’t already started airing your laundry out the old fashioned way, today could be the perfect day to start.

Other Measures

Draft excluders, only using the amount of water you really need, showers over baths – there are a number of other great ways to save a pretty penny on your energy bills, so experiment and see which measures work well in your household.

So if you’ve had a nasty surprise when your energy bill arrived this month, challenge yourself to save energy.

Louisa Jenkins is an energy expert who offers people advice on saving energy in their home.

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