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Top Tips To Trim Your Spending · A Little Bit Richer

0:02
Kia: Hey, Kia here. The cost of living has made everything
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Kia: so much more expensive. Not just the price of things
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Kia: that we buy regularly, but our more significant outgoings too.
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Kia: Energy bills, rent and mortgages have seen some huge increases.
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Kia: With everything seemingly on the rise, knowing how you can
0:19
Kia: cut back to make your money stretch even further is
0:22
Kia: something that we all need to know. Welcome to another
0:24
Kia: episode of a Little Bit Richer, brought to you by
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Kia: my friends at Legal & General. Here to help us with
0:32
Kia: the top tips to trim your spending is Charlotte Jessop.
0:35
Kia: Charlotte is a financial educator, writer and vlogger, and the woman
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Kia: behind the Looking After your Pennies platform. While working as
0:42
Kia: a maths teacher, Charlotte noticed a gap in the education
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Kia: system around personal finance skills. She shared her own experiences
0:48
Kia: with money online, which led to a recognition that poor
0:51
Kia: financial education is a national, even global problem. Welcome, Charlotte.
0:57
Charlotte: Hello. Thank you for having me.
0:59
Kia: Thank you for coming on. I'm really excited to delve
1:02
Kia: deeper into how we can trim back our spending. So
1:05
Kia: first things first, let's touch on day- to- day spending.
1:08
Kia: So, can you share some ideas on trimming your spending
1:12
Kia: when it comes to food?
1:13
Charlotte: I don't think there's any other part of our lives
1:16
Charlotte: where you get this intersection where you are dealing with
1:20
Charlotte: your finances, your health, and also your time management as
1:23
Charlotte: well. Because when you go food shopping, you're looking for
1:27
Charlotte: things that are going to nourish your body, but they
1:30
Charlotte: also have to stay in budget and they also have
1:32
Charlotte: to not take too long to cook because you're busy.
1:35
Charlotte: Then yes, it is one of those things that we
1:37
Charlotte: can control a little bit more with our spending. We
1:41
Charlotte: have a choice about how much it costs, but also
1:43
Charlotte: it is a mammoth task. So, some of the things
1:47
Charlotte: that I recommend people do are things like meal planning.
1:50
Charlotte: So, sit down and decide what you want to eat
1:53
Charlotte: for the week, and sometimes that restriction, that can be
1:57
Charlotte: a little bit controlling for some people. Actually for me,
2:00
Charlotte: I just like the freedom of going, " What we're having
2:02
Charlotte: today? Oh look, we're having chicken nuggets and chips," or
2:05
Charlotte: whatever it is. And the benefit of doing this is
2:07
Charlotte: you can think about what you need to buy. You
2:10
Charlotte: can also think about what time constraints you might have.
2:12
Charlotte: So, if I go out to the shops and I
2:13
Charlotte: buy something that's going to take two hours to prepare,
2:16
Charlotte: that's going to sit in the fridge and go to
2:17
Charlotte: waste. Whereas if I go, actually this needs to be
2:20
Charlotte: a quick in the oven, 15 minute (inaudible) , then
2:23
Charlotte: I know I've got that on the menu. So, that
2:25
Charlotte: really helps reduce things like food waste and keeps the
2:28
Charlotte: cost down. Other things like just choosing your supermarket wisely.
2:33
Charlotte: Some supermarkets are cheaper than others and this is widely
2:36
Charlotte: acknowledged. Do a little bit of shopping around. I also
2:39
Charlotte: do want to acknowledge that I live in Norfolk and
2:41
Charlotte: sometimes you don't get a choice about what supermarket you
2:43
Charlotte: can shop. But yeah, I think just being a little
2:46
Charlotte: bit of aware of things like the pricing. All the
2:48
Charlotte: tickets these days have to have how much it costs
2:51
Charlotte: per kilo or per hundred mil, or whatever it is.
2:54
Charlotte: So, you can make a little bit of a comparison
2:57
Charlotte: when you're in the shops itself. The things on the
2:59
Charlotte: end aisles might look cheaper, but they're not necessarily, they're
3:02
Charlotte: just the promotions. So, take your time with some of
3:06
Charlotte: these things. I'm a big fan of having my shopping
3:10
Charlotte: delivered, and this is mostly because I then have the
3:13
Charlotte: freedom to shop around and compare prices. And one trick
3:17
Charlotte: that I really like, and I use this when I'm
3:19
Charlotte: doing my meal planning, is I will go online and
3:23
Charlotte: look at the supermarket's pricing and go, " Oh actually, what's
3:26
Charlotte: on offer?" Because sometimes chicken might be on offer that
3:30
Charlotte: week and that's a really good price, whereas I was
3:32
Charlotte: thinking about having pork chops or something, but actually the
3:35
Charlotte: chicken might be cheaper. So, I can combine the two things
3:39
Charlotte: and create meals around what's cheaper that week. So, just
3:43
Charlotte: tweaking some of these things can help shave off a
3:46
Charlotte: few pounds off your food bill each week.
3:48
Kia: Absolutely. I think one big thing that my dad got
3:50
Kia: me into before I went to university and that I still
3:52
Kia: do today, and that he loves to do is the
3:54
Kia: yellow stickers. Because it does feel like sometimes everything's always
3:58
Kia: on the rise, but there are so many different ways
4:00
Kia: that you can bring down that spending.
4:01
Charlotte: Absolutely.
4:02
Kia: When it comes to treat spending, because I think this is
4:06
Kia: a big thing, as people life is very stressful. You
4:10
Kia: want to spend some money and treat yourself, but what
4:13
Kia: are some ways that we can make sure that we're
4:15
Kia: not just splashing the cash, but we're actually being a
4:18
Kia: bit more measured with our treat spending?
4:20
Charlotte: So I think one of the things that I love
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Charlotte: to do here is actually pre- determine what I want
4:27
Charlotte: my treats to be, because we can get caught up
4:29
Charlotte: in the moment. So, I like to set a list
4:32
Charlotte: of things that actually mean something to me. So, I
4:36
Charlotte: have various hobbies like paddleboarding and I like eating out,
4:40
Charlotte: and I like travel. So, I'm trying to make sure
4:43
Charlotte: that if I'm going to treat myself, it's on something
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Charlotte: that actually is meaningful to me and I'm not just
4:49
Charlotte: trying to fill in a gap and an emotional splurge,
4:53
Charlotte: but also budgeting that in, allowing that to be part
4:58
Charlotte: of your spending. So many people that I see when
5:01
Charlotte: they are preparing a budget or they're sitting down there,
5:04
Charlotte: they've got a spreadsheet or they've got an app, and
5:06
Charlotte: they've planned out what they want to spend their money
5:09
Charlotte: on, they remove all of the fun, and that makes
5:12
Charlotte: it hard work to stick to a budget, instead if
5:16
Charlotte: you allow some of those things to be in your
5:18
Charlotte: budget. So, if you want to takeaway, put a little
5:21
Charlotte: bit of a takeaway buffer in there. The point of
5:23
Charlotte: life isn't just to sit in your house bored.
5:26
Kia: No, it's not. I completely agree. I've had a treat
5:28
Kia: yourself fund, that's what I call it, for ages now. So, when I
5:31
Kia: see something I don't feel bad. I can spend and say, "
5:33
Kia: Okay, it's within my budget. I've got X amount set
5:36
Kia: aside. I can buy this." So, let's talk more about
5:39
Kia: budgeting then. What can people do when it comes to
5:42
Kia: making more significant cutbacks to their spending and their budgets?
5:46
Charlotte: Yeah, so we've talked about things like food shopping. We've
5:48
Charlotte: talked about those treats and reducing those things, but actually
5:53
Charlotte: these are smaller tweaks. What we want to do is
5:57
Charlotte: look at some of the more significant purchases we are
6:00
Charlotte: making in our lives and see what changes we can
6:03
Charlotte: make there. So, I have a budget spreadsheet, I have
6:06
Charlotte: all my outgoings, all my income. And what I do
6:09
Charlotte: is I look, and I'll highlight maybe a category on there.
6:14
Charlotte: So, it might be like my electricity bill and I'll
6:16
Charlotte: be like, I'm coming for you electricity bill, and that
6:19
Charlotte: month I'll work on how I can reduce that. And
6:22
Charlotte: that might mean I switch my provider or it might
6:26
Charlotte: mean that I look at ways that I can reduce my
6:29
Charlotte: spending around the house. Look at those big expenses that
6:31
Charlotte: we have in our lives, rent, mortgage, all of our
6:34
Charlotte: utilities. Here is where we can make the big difference.
6:37
Charlotte: So, things like if your mortgage is out of your
6:41
Charlotte: fixed deal, go speak to a mortgage advisor, speak to
6:45
Charlotte: them and try and get a deal that maybe lowers
6:47
Charlotte: some of those payments. All of these things are very
6:49
Charlotte: much worth looking at and trying to reduce. Because ultimately,
6:55
Charlotte: if my mortgage costs me less, I still get the
6:57
Charlotte: same quality of life. I'm still living in the same
7:01
Charlotte: house, it's just my mortgage is costing me less. Same
7:04
Charlotte: with my electricity. So, these are less about lifestyle choices
7:07
Charlotte: and just significant financial changes, and they can make a
7:11
Charlotte: real difference to your budget.
7:12
Kia: I think there's a key thing that you said there,
7:14
Kia: is that to speak to someone. So, I drive and
7:17
Kia: I have my car. Every year, I do not renew
7:19
Kia: my insurance or go over new insurer without picking up
7:22
Kia: the phone and see if I can get the best
7:24
Kia: deal. I think that is a very key one that you mentioned
7:26
Kia: there. Just pick up the phone and speak to someone.
7:28
Kia: And if they don't give you one, you're no worse off.
7:30
Charlotte: Yeah, absolutely.
7:31
Kia: And I think often a lot of people have this
7:33
Kia: consensus that, oh, I'm just bad with money, because they
7:36
Kia: feel as though they have no control over how they
7:39
Kia: spend their money. So, what would be some of your
7:43
Kia: tips when it comes to actually controlling how much you spend?
7:47
Charlotte: I think you need to start with an awareness of
7:49
Charlotte: what you're spending. A lot of people jump straight in
7:53
Charlotte: with trying to just cut out all unnecessary expenditure. And
7:59
Charlotte: what there needs to be is a period of reflection.
8:02
Charlotte: What are you currently spending your money on? And I
8:06
Charlotte: can speak to this, because a couple of months ago
8:08
Charlotte: I realized that there was certain areas I was like,
8:11
Charlotte: how is this costing me this much? And so, I
8:14
Charlotte: reflected a little bit on where my money was going
8:18
Charlotte: and I'm shifting in my seat, because there was some
8:22
Charlotte: almost embarrassing, there was some online shopping that came in
8:26
Charlotte: to 400 pounds. It wasn't like I was like, " Oh,
8:29
Charlotte: I have 400 quid's worth of stuff." Off the back of
8:31
Charlotte: it, it was, " Oh, well where did that go?" And
8:35
Charlotte: there were little trips down to the local shop for top-
8:38
Charlotte: up shops. This was not my grocery shopping, this was
8:42
Charlotte: just the odd, we'll need a pint of milk and
8:44
Charlotte: a chocolate bar, and this and that. So, I needed
8:48
Charlotte: to start from the point of, this is where my
8:51
Charlotte: money is going and why is that happening? What am
8:54
Charlotte: I not doing? So, things like those top- up shops,
8:58
Charlotte: I was like, well, what is it that I'm getting?
9:00
Charlotte: What is it that I'm not getting on my weekly
9:03
Charlotte: shop that I feel the need to go down to
9:05
Charlotte: little Tesco for in order to get every couple of
9:09
Charlotte: days? And then, I was able to make a change
9:12
Charlotte: to my habits. I wasn't able to make a change to
9:14
Charlotte: my grocery shopping and go, " Oh, okay, I need to
9:17
Charlotte: buy more milk." I was like, I'm running out of milk,
9:20
Charlotte: but if I just got six pints a week rather
9:21
Charlotte: than four, that's going to fix my problem and then
9:24
Charlotte: I don't have to go down the shop. So, control
9:27
Charlotte: and spending isn't about completely eliminating some of these things
9:31
Charlotte: that you're doing. It's about just having an awareness of
9:34
Charlotte: why, and that's when you start feeling a little bit
9:38
Charlotte: more in control. So, I don't recommend that anybody goes
9:42
Charlotte: cold turkey on changing their financial habits around their spending.
9:47
Charlotte: Instead just reflect, go through this period of understanding where
9:51
Charlotte: you're at now and looking for areas where you can
9:54
Charlotte: make improvements. And it might be that I allowed myself,
9:58
Charlotte: for example, one trip down to the shop and then
10:01
Charlotte: that change was enough to let me go, "Well actually, I
10:03
Charlotte: don't need to go anyway." It was just a little
10:05
Charlotte: outing. And making those smaller steps is much better than
10:09
Charlotte: trying to make one huge leap to something that feels
10:14
Charlotte: a long way off.
10:15
Kia: I think those small steps just feel more achievable and
10:18
Kia: more attainable and they keep you motivated on that journey,
10:21
Kia: and it gets you building up that good habit. So
10:25
Kia: speaking of habits, I want to ask you, what are
10:28
Kia: some good or positive spending habits? We've spoken about things
10:33
Kia: to be aware of, but what are some good ones
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Kia: that we can make sure that we're enforcing?
10:37
Charlotte: Yeah, so I think when it comes to positive habits, having
10:40
Charlotte: a budget, any budget is a great place to start,
10:45
Charlotte: because this isn't just about your own financial awareness. It's
10:48
Charlotte: about knowing what you have coming in, and income is
10:52
Charlotte: just as important as spending, but also things like seeing
10:57
Charlotte: where your money is going. Knowing it's so easy to
11:00
Charlotte: get those little subscriptions crop up. So, having a budget
11:03
Charlotte: that is all encompassing with your spending is an absolute
11:07
Charlotte: place to start. The next habit that follows on from
11:10
Charlotte: that is making sure that you actually bother to look
11:13
Charlotte: at it.
11:14
Kia: That's a crucial one. Don't just make it and leave it,
11:16
Kia: make sure you're referring back to it.
11:17
Charlotte: You need to be able to check in with that. It
11:20
Charlotte: needs to be a functioning document, something that adapts and
11:24
Charlotte: changes. I think another one is to just have that
11:27
Charlotte: knowledge around your own wants and needs as well. So,
11:31
Charlotte: when it comes to spending, I always sit there and go, "
11:34
Charlotte: I know I want this, but does it align with
11:37
Charlotte: my bigger vision for myself?" Do I want this meal out
11:40
Charlotte: because I can't be bothered to cook, or can I
11:43
Charlotte: just shove a pizza in the oven and then actually
11:45
Charlotte: that can go in my holiday fund, because I want
11:47
Charlotte: the holiday more than I want this meal out today."
11:50
Charlotte: So, just knowing what you're trying to achieve, and having
11:53
Charlotte: goals and being clear about where you're trying to head
11:56
Charlotte: with your finances, can really help you keep on track
11:59
Charlotte: with your spending. And this was huge for me. I
12:01
Charlotte: went traveling with my kids a few years ago, and
12:04
Charlotte: that was literally knowing that we were going away and
12:07
Charlotte: knowing that we needed some money for that really helped me.
12:10
Kia: I agree. I think having a clear goal keeps you
12:13
Kia: on track and just keeps you focused. But let's talk
12:15
Kia: about when things don't always go to plan, especially when
12:19
Kia: it comes to budgeting. What would be some easy ways
12:23
Kia: that we can correct that and get back on track
12:26
Kia: with our budgeting and spending?
12:27
Charlotte: I think one of the key points here is not
12:30
Charlotte: to be too hard on yourself. If you're hard on
12:33
Charlotte: yourself because you've overspent, normally that leads to further overspending.
12:38
Charlotte: It's so easy to draw parallels with the world of
12:40
Charlotte: health and fitness. You have a cheeky muffin and you're
12:42
Charlotte: trying to lose weight, and then you're suddenly like, " Oh
12:45
Charlotte: well, I've messed that up. I might as well have a McDonald's."
12:49
Charlotte: And it's the same when it comes to our money,
12:50
Charlotte: so just be like, " Whoops."
12:53
Kia: It happened. We can draw a line under it.
12:55
Charlotte: Exactly. So just be gentle. Be kind on yourself. And
12:59
Charlotte: I think then the next thing is to actually think
13:02
Charlotte: about your budget in terms of monthly or longer term
13:06
Charlotte: progress. So, let's say you set a budget, week one
13:09
Charlotte: of the month it all goes wrong and you've overspent
13:12
Charlotte: a little bit. You don't need to go like, " Well,
13:15
Charlotte: next week I've got to spend nothing." You just take
13:17
Charlotte: what you've got and you get your calculator out and
13:20
Charlotte: you divide it by three and spread it out over
13:22
Charlotte: the next three weeks. But actually, that will get you
13:25
Charlotte: back on track.
13:26
Kia: Charlotte, you've been incredible. You've given us some of the
13:28
Kia: top tips that we need to trim back our spending
13:31
Kia: and ace budgeting. But before you go, I want to
13:33
Kia: ask you, what are your top three budgeting hacks?
13:37
Charlotte: So the first one is to just be gentle on yourself.
13:41
Charlotte: We mentioned this already, don't try and over- restrict yourself.
13:46
Charlotte: Your budget should be about creating freedom in your life,
13:49
Charlotte: and you need to start from a place where you
13:54
Charlotte: feel like you are going to actually achieve it. You
13:57
Charlotte: don't want to set any rules in your life or
14:00
Charlotte: cut back so much that it's not going to be
14:02
Charlotte: successful. So, that's the first one. So, the second one
14:06
Charlotte: is I love to team up with my friends. So
14:09
Charlotte: I had a neighbor, she's moved now, and I'm not going to hold
14:11
Charlotte: this against her, but we used to team up on
14:14
Charlotte: that bulk purchasing. So, if there was a deal that
14:16
Charlotte: was two for one on toilet roll or something, I'd
14:19
Charlotte: be like, " Mate, I got you some toilet roll." And
14:21
Charlotte: then we'd split the cost, so then-
14:23
Kia: That's great.
14:23
Charlotte: ... we were getting the benefit of the deal and
14:27
Charlotte: actually seeing a reduction in some of our spending. And
14:30
Charlotte: we also did things like pressure washers. We both went
14:32
Charlotte: halves on one of those, because we knew that we
14:34
Charlotte: could share a bit. We wouldn't need it that much.
14:36
Charlotte: So, look at big purchases, even look at those little
14:39
Charlotte: things like toilet roll and see if you can share
14:41
Charlotte: those between family and friends. Now, we started off talking
14:45
Charlotte: about food spending as well. One of my favorite things
14:50
Charlotte: to do is use food waste apps. So, there were
14:52
Charlotte: some examples like Olio and Too Good To Go where
14:56
Charlotte: you can either get free or reduced priced food. And
14:59
Charlotte: what I love about this is not only the monetary
15:02
Charlotte: benefits, you're stopping food waste. And there's a real sense
15:05
Charlotte: of community, like local cafes giving away cake or something,
15:09
Charlotte: and it's just nice to be a part of that process
15:12
Charlotte: and save some money along the way.
15:13
Kia: Charlotte, you have been an absolute gem on this episode.
15:18
Kia: Honestly, so many tips that I'm going to go away
15:20
Kia: and write down and start implementing from today. So, thank
15:22
Kia: you so much for coming on and blessing us with
15:25
Kia: your tips on this episode.
15:26
Charlotte: You are absolutely welcome.
15:29
Kia: Some great advice there. Thank you so much, Charlotte. So
15:32
Kia: many ways we can trim our spending and beat the
15:34
Kia: budget. Next time, we're talking cryptocurrencies. Where to start and
15:40
Kia: what to be careful of. I'd love it if you
15:43
Kia: could review the podcast, spread the word, and help others
15:46
Kia: get a little bit richer too. Keep up with the
15:48
Kia: show on TikTok and Instagram at Legal & General. Thank you for listening.
15:52
Kia: See you soon.