This is a collaborative post
Many families in the UK are having to decide between heating their homes or making a meal.
This shocking statistic has been revealed in a survey by prepaid MasterCard experts, icount. Higher heating and energy bills during the winter period has resulted in many of the UK’s population waiting to turn their heating on as late as November.
Fortunately, there are small steps that you can take as a family to give you that helping hand when you need it the most. Read on to discover more about the shocking statistics found from icount’s survey, as well as four helpful ways to keep your family finances in check this winter.
4 Tips and Tricks to Support Your Finances This Winter
1. Sell your unwanted or unused items
If you’ve got a number of unused toys, electronics and clothes lying around the house, why not see if you can get some extra cash for them by selling them online? This is a quick and easy way to generate a bit of extra money to help with the family finances over winter.
EBay is one of the most well known online marketplaces where you can sell your items with ease. Alternatively, if you have a large amount of extra clothes to get rid of, take a look at sites such as wejustrecycle.co.uk. They will pay you a fixed price for every kilo of clothes you sell to them, which can help you de-clutter and earn money at the same time.
2. Ditch the takeaways
If you and your family are a fan of a Friday night takeaway, this could be literally eating away at your family budget.
It is a lot cheaper to make your favourite meals at home as you don’t have to pay for the extra mark-ups and delivery costs. Not only this, but you can also make your meals more nutritious by swapping traditional recipe ingredients for more healthy alternatives – win-win!
3. Practise good spending and saving habits
Practising good spending habits starts at an early age, so it’s a good idea to start teaching children how to save as early as possible.
This can help you to keep your family finances in check as it will teach kids the true value of money.
You could start by getting the kids involved with the weekly shop by drawing up a budget and a list to stick to. This can be a fun activity for kids and they are less likely to stray from the list of items and ask for added extras, saving you valuable time and money. Encourage older kids to keep track of their savings. There are a variety great bank apps to try for your teens.
4. Find your local free festive activities
The arrival of winter also signals the arrival of the festive season. If you’ve got multiple family members to buy for and travel to, you might want to think about how you can save else where to keep within your family budget.
Fortunately, there are countless free activities held by local councils and regions all over the country, meaning you and your family can have lots of festive fun without breaking the bank.
Check out this list of the UK’s bonfire night displays to see if there’s a free fireworks event on near you, or have a look at this years Santa’s grottos to see what’s available in your area.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post