We might be one month into the New Year and how are you doing with those New Year Resolutions? They are quite difficult to keep, aren’t they? Here at BestUnsecuredLoans, we believe that everyone in Britain should extract as much value from each pound they work hard to earn as possible. After all, it’s better in your pocket than in their pocket, isn’t it? Our New Years Resolution to you is to help you make the most of your money.

 You might have heard of the term “life hack” before. Google describes a life hack as “a strategy or technique adopted in order to manage one’s time and daily activities in a more efficient way”. The BestUnsecuredLoans team put their heads together to come up with what we think will be the 10 easiest ways for you to save money in 2019.

 We think you might be able to save at £10,028 if you’re a homeowner and £6,128 if you’re a tenant throughout 2019 by following these life hacks. Please do let us know how you get on.

 Money Saving life hacks

 1.      Be “sale” savvy – save £1,000!

 The high street is coming under intense competition from the internet and internet retailers are subject to intense pressure from other internet retailers. You can use this to your advantage.

 Do you have sites online that you like more than any others? Sign up to as many email newsletters as you can because retailers are always keen to let you know when they have a sale. Sometimes, retailers sell things at a loss because what they haven’t sold takes up space in their stores and in their warehouses. Plus it’s better to bring in some money from an overstocked item than no money at all.

 Towards the end of the year, there’s always Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you’re an Amazon fan, why not use Keepa? You’ll be able to see if what you’re interested in is at Amazon’s best price or whether you should hang on for a bit longer.

 If you spend £2,000 for the rest of this year on clothes, electrical items, and other household goods, being sales savvy means you might only spend £1,000 instead – a saving of £1,000!

 2.      Cashback sites and credit cards – save £350

 Have you ever seen “affiliate” links on a website? What they do is track how a customer found a website and when they make a purchase, the site that linked them to the retailer in the first place gets a cash reward for doing so.

 Cashback sites take that principal to a whole different level and they share the cashback they get with you. One of the biggest UK sites is Quidco which has links to over 4,500 internet retailers. According to their site, their “average active member pockets £300 a year”.

 Certain credit cards also offer up to 5% cashback. If you spend £1,000 on your card on things you’d normally buy for the rest of this year, that’s £50 back to you. Added to the cashback sites, you’re £350 up!

 3.      Shop around for cheaper insurance – save £100 a year

 MoneyFacts reports that, by shopping around for home insurance and car insurance, you can save £100 by shopping around.

 4.      Shop around for cheaper energy bills – £300 a year saving

 The savings can tot up to £300 a year by shopping around for cheaper gas and electricity, according to the Money Advice Service.

 5.      Ask your landlord for a discount on your rent – £600 a year saving

 If you’ve been with your private landlord for a long-time and you get along well, they will probably want to keep you in there for as long as possible rather than go through the hassle of finding a new tenant.

 Thousands of Brits do it every year, according to the Tenants Voice website, by comparing what they’re paying with similar properties in their area. If you can negotiate a £50 a month discount, that’s an extra £600 in your pocket every year.

 6.      Are there any cheaper mortgages on the market? – £4,500 a year saving

 According to YourMoney magazine, two million Brits would save £4,500 a year on their mortgage by switching from their current standard variable rate mortgage to a better fixed rate.

 7.      Go to the discount supermarkets – £1,560 saving

 Discount supermarkets offer some amazing savings – particularly if you write down everything you’re going to buy before you go and you don’t go shopping on an empty stomach.

 You can use mysupermarket to compare how much you’ll save on your grocery shopping every week – the site thinks you can save 30%. If you spend £100 at the supermarket at the moment each week for your family, that’s £30 a week you could be saving or £1,560 a year!

 8.      Learn to cook – save £750 a year

 You can cook delicious meals that are healthier and tastier than ordering from your local takeaway. According to the Mirror, the average Brit spends £1,000 a year at the takeaway. Instead of making it a weekly treat, make it a monthly treat and save £750 a year!

 9.      Cancel as many subscriptions as you can – save up to £840

 We all love Direct Debits – it’s so much easier than sending a cheque or paying by card every month for the same service. But it’s that convenience that lulls us into a false sense of security too. The Mail Online reported that half of direct debit users surveyed did not know what direct debits they had set up and they might be forking out £70 a month for services they don’t need.

 Log onto your online bank straight away and, if that’s you, you’ve just saved another £840!

 10. Consolidate your debts – save £628.92 a year

 Borrowers take out Debt Consolidation Loans to pay off their existing credit cards, overdrafts, and loans at cheaper rates than they’re paying now.

 Let’s say you had two credit cards – one with £5,000 on it at 22.9% and one with £3,000 on it at 17.9%. You had an overdraft of £1,500 at 9.9% and an outstanding loan of £4,000 at 17.9%. If you aimed to pay all of them off within 5 years, you’d pay £338.58 and the total amount you’d repay for your current £13,500 worth of debt would be £20,314.67 (average combined APR of 18.86%). Try it for yourself at The Salary Calculator.

 If you took at a £13,500 debt consolidation loan at 9.9%, you’d pay £286.17 a month for 5 years totalling £17,170. That’s £52.41 you’re saving each month or £628.92 a year! Try the This Is Money loan repayment calculator here.

 Take action today

 You can save up to £200 a week by following the simple steps in our article.

 Here at BestUnsecuredLoans, we find borrowers the best unsecuredloans for bad credit applicants from our panel of lenders, including debt consolidation loans – please click here.