The government’s new Help for Household scheme has attracted plenty of headlines. Not all of them have been good. For example, the child-friendly meal offers run by supermarkets have already been criticised for their lack of nutrition. It may have some benefit to some people. Overall, however, it’s advisable to look for other ways to get ahead of the cost of living.
Check your entitlement to benefits and grants
Benefits tend to be subject to qualifying criteria. Often this translates as means-tested. Sometimes it means limited to people defined as vulnerable in some way (e.g. due to age). Grants, however, can be offered to a wider range of people. They can help you to play a longer game with your finances. For example, getting a grant to insulate your home can help you save on both cooling and heating bills.
Entitlement to both benefits and grants does tend to change over time. It can therefore be worth making a periodic check on sites such as the Money and Pensions Service. This is often a straightforward route to finding out if you qualify for any kind of government help. If your situation is more complicated, you could check with Citizens Advice.
Check your employment benefits
Now is the time to take a close look at what employment benefits your employer offers. See if you\’re making the best use of what\’s available. One of the key points to check is whether or not your benefits are taxable. If they are, make sure that you\’re getting enough use out of them to justify the tax.
If you\’ve been put off accessing benefits due to the paperwork involved, then you may want to reassess. For example, if you\’re still working on site, then getting a loan for an annual season ticket can really cut your travel costs.
If your employer doesn\’t offer a benefit that you\’d like, suggest it to them. Ideally, get some evidence that other people would appreciate the benefit too. This is very likely to be the case if it reduces costs.
For example, if your employer doesn\’t already support the Cycle to Work scheme, ask them to sign up for it. Even cycling part of the way to work can do a lot to reduce your travel costs.
Consider starting a side-hustle
Starting a side-hustle will probably require you to register as self-employed. This means filling in tax returns. While this may seem intimidating, for basic self-employment, it’s actually very straightforward. If your side-hustle turns into a major source of income, then you can justify hiring an accountant.
There really is a side-hustle to suit everybody no matter how little time you have or what your skills are. Even if you can only earn a little extra, that really can make a significant difference. For example, if you have credit-card debt, making the minimum repayments can mean that more of your payment goes towards interest than to reducing the amount you owe. Just paying a little extra each month can do a lot to get you out of that cycle.
As with everything in life, the more you can put into your side-hustle, the more you can expect to get out of it. The only real question is how quickly the results come. If you’re looking to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible, then freelancing is often the best way to go. If, however, you have a bit more time, you can build up a long-term business under your own brand.
Learn new skills to save money
There are times when you really need a job to be done by a professional. Regular household tasks, however, can be done by most people. Generally, they just take some organisation and possibly a bit of research on the internet.
For example, cooking everything from scratch at home is achievable by most people with advanced planning. So is doing basic repairs and alterations to clothes. Both of these can do a lot to reduce general housekeeping costs.
