Six ways to ‘spring-clean’ your finances and pocket up to £1,300 a year – it takes just minutes
SPRING might just be the best time to freshen up your finances as well as your home.
By making some simple changes or taking action, you could boost your bank account by hundreds of pounds a year.
And it can take just a matter of minutes to get started as well.
Liz Edwards, money expert at comparison website Finder.com, has shared six ways to give your personal finances a “spring-clean” over the next few months.
From clearing out any unused subscriptions to switching your current account to a new lender, you could pocket up to £1,340 this year.
Here, we reveal six small changes to make to get the cash.
Switch to TV with ads – £144 a year
Plenty of households use subscription-based streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.
Recent figures from telecoms regulator Ofcom revealed 66% of UK households reported using a subscription video-on-demand service in the first three months of 2023.
If you’re one of the millions of households using a streaming service, you could make a substantial saving by opting into packages that include ads, if that’s something that doesn’t bother you.
For example, a standard Netflix subscription now costs £10.99, but you can downgrade to the deal with ads for £4.99 a month, saving you £72 a year.
Likewise, a standard monthly deal for Disney+ is £7.99 a month, but opting for its package with adverts is £4.99 a month – £36 a year cheaper.
Amazon Prime recently started showing adverts on its platform, which customers can remove for an extra £2.99 a month.
But stick with the ad-based version and you’ll save £35.88 a year.
If you’re on all three streaming platforms, making this simple change could save you £143.88 in total over 12 months.
Clear out unused subscriptions – £120 a year
One of the biggest financial frustrations is when you subscribe to something based on a free trial and forget about it.
This means you end up being charged for something you may not even be using, or likely didn’t really want to pay for.
One way to avoid this is to set a reminder for just before the trial ends so you don’t miss the deadline to cancel.
If it’s already too late, there’s never a bad time to wade through your bank statements and figure out what you’ve signed up for unintentionally.
There are also some free budgeting apps which will do all the work for you.
Emma and Snoop both connect to your bank account and notify you of any unwanted subscriptions.
It could be the difference between having to fork out an extra £10 a month (£120 a year) or not when you could really do with the cash.
Switch around your subscriptions
Last year we revealed you could save £800 a year by simply switching around your streaming subscriptions.
Research for us by AJ Bell found running six of the most popular TV streaming services – Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, Apple One and Youtube Premium – for a year would now cost a family around £1,000.
But households could save £829 – 80% of that cost – by swapping the services throughout the year instead of running them all together.
Here’s the full run down of calculations.
Stay local and save big – £281 a year
Apps such as Olio and Too Good To Go let you pick up food that is due to go in the bin at massively discounted prices.
You can also pick up other essential items such as furniture and baby clothes.
Both apps are free to download on your smartphone via Google Play or the Apple Store.
With plenty of people potentially looking to do a home clear out this spring, now could be a great time to sign up to either.
Ms Edwards said she recently bagged a bundle of Greggs sandwiches and baked goods for just £2.59 instead of £8 – a 68% discount.
If you made this saving once a week for a year, you’d save £281 overall.
Social tariffs – £100s
Social tariffs are available to households on benefits including Universal Credit, but millions aren’t claiming them even though they could.
These tariffs are typically cheaper than standard tariffs, typically costing between £10 to £20 a month.
Most offer super-fast speeds of more than 30Mbps and aren’t usually subject to price rises or exit fees like regular deals.
The average saving you can make on the tariffs is a couple of hundred pounds a year.
But one woman revealed in 2022 how she reduced her yearly bill by almost £600 by switching to one of the tariffs.
It’s worth shopping around for the best social tariffs as some providers offer better value for money than others.
Ofcom has a list on its website of all the providers currently offering them, as well as the eligibility criteria for each one.
Switch bank accounts – £100s
Banks and building societies regularly run switching offers for new customers.
All you have to do is switch your current account across to them using the Current Account Switch Service (CASS).
The vast majority of lenders are signed up to CASS, but you can check out the full list of the CASS website.
Six banks are currently offering switchers up to £200 in up front cash for making the move across.
NatWest has a £200 cash switch incentive, plus you can get up to £36 a year in cashback – worth £236 in your first year.
Santander, Lloyds, HSBC and First Direct also all have incentives live.
HSBC’s is the most generous offer with a potential cash giveaway of £220 in total – but only £100 is paid upfront while the rest is cashback throughout the year.
There are a lot of hoops to jump through to get the full bonus, which we explain here.
Santander is also offering £185, while First Direct announced it was bringing back its £175 switching bonus this week.
Lloyds is also offering £175, plus a 12 month Disney+ subscription worth £79.90.
Give yourself a credit card breather – £10s
Balance transfer credit cards can offer an opportunity to condense your debt into one account which is easier to manage and pay off.
These types of credit cards will usually offer you a promotional period where you pay very little to no interest for a number of months.
Currently the longest deal is with Barclaycard, which offers 28 months at 0%.
Free cash schemes if you're struggling
Many of us are still struggling with the high cost of living - but there's help you can get.
New or expectant parents can get up to £442 a year to spend on food through Healthy Start scheme.
Some new parents can get £500 via the Sure Start Maternity Grant. The money is designed to help you cover the costs of having a child.
Councils also offer support through the welfare assistance schemes, to help cover the costs of essentials, from buying new furniture to food vouchers.
The amount you can get varies but an investigation by The Sun found that hard-up Brits can apply for help worth up to £1,000.
Discretionary Housing Payment is a pot of money handed out by councils to those struggling to keep a roof over their heads.
A scheme is available for those who find themselves unable to cover housing costs, though the exact amount varies as each local authority dishes out the cash on a case-by-case basis.
Many energy forms offer grants to help cash-tight customers. The exact amount varies depending on your supplier and you circumstances, but could be as much a £2,000.
Some do charge you an initial fee for moving your debt across from one credit card to another too, but not always.
Shop around for the best deals as each one will come with its own positives and drawbacks.
Liz suggested NatWest’s Balance Transfer Credit Card, which is offering up to 13 months at 0% interest on balance transfers.
Before opting for a balance transfer credit card, make sure you will be able to pay off all your debt before the end of the interest-free period.
If you don’t manage to pay it off, you’ll be hit with interest charges that could make paying off any outstanding debt harder.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing squeezeteam@thesun.co.uk.
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