Top Tips To Reduce Debt

Whenever I have to tighten the belt (which is quite often to be fair) - these are the top items I find appearing on my bank statement which I can reduce to help with the cash flow problem and start to reduce my debts and increase my available finances.

1. Reduce spends on the dog!
I always pamper the dog - I can't help it, so this is an area I can always find money in. If I stop buying treats and toys and clothes I save some money, but I have also looked at her daily food to help reduce the outgoings. Initially she started on IAMS dry dog food, hugely expensive. From here we went to Bakers Complete. This took our spend on dry food down to £40 per month. More recently I have discovered WAGG. And a giant 17kg bag of this for under £10 does her for the month - taking the bill from £40 to £10. A huge saving!

We also use the wet dog food, and have found Tesco's own or Asda's own to be cheaper than Ceaser and Webbox sausages to be even cheaper still.

Obviously here we make sure that the dog enjoys the food we are giving her and take care to ensure that the changes to her diet are over time so she does not suffer with an upset tum.

2. Give up smoking (if possible) or reduce your cigarette bill!
I used to smoke Benson and Hedges - and reached about 20 a day for 15 years. I really couldn't afford it. I changed brand of smokes to Benson and Hedges silver when they came out and this decreased my bill. I still couldn't afford to smoke but my addiction kept me helplessly smoking. I then swapped to rolling my own - horrible at first but I ended up unable to smoke a 'normal' cigarette so adapted well to my rollies. This took the bill from over £5 a day to £40 a month - one 50g packet usually lasted me for a week - and if I went abroad at all (or did anybody else I knew) and I had the option to purchase duty free tobacco this reduced the bill even further.

Finally I decided I had to give up altogether and tried many different things, including help from the NHS. Nothing worked for me - usually by 10am I just panicked and desperately needed a fag.

I decided to try hypnotism and found www.soundlife.org in my local area who offered the service for a £140 fee. Desperate to be free of the monthly bill I saved, and then splurged on the treatment... And the good news is, that it really worked for me.

Its now been 15 months and I haven't so much as wanted a smoke and have more than recouped the money back. I also recently had a lung test and found my lungs to be functioning at 103% so any ill effects from the smoking are well on the mend!

3. Cancel the Gym Membership!
If like me you never go anyway - cancel it. If you are a regular gym person resolve to try and have a more active lifestyle and cancel it anyway. Walk more, jog in the park, get a fitness video to use at home. All are so much cheaper than the gym membership and infinitely better and more healthy for you than being stuck in a stuffy gym.

4. Reduce the food shopping bill
Plan a weekly menu and stick to it. Only buy the food on the plan. Cut out any junk food, like crisps and biscuits. Swap to the value range or supermarket own brand wherever possible to save money and reduce spends. Swap from fizzy pop to cordial and water or just water altogether. Find cheaper alternatives and consider things like diluting fruit juice with water to make it last longer and make it a little better for you. Not only is this a good exercise for debt reduction but it is also very good for the diet!

5. Cut any unnecessary spending!
For example clothing. If you don't need it to live on, don't buy it. This doesn't have to be for ever - but for now, to reduce your monthly outgoings cut out all unnecessary spending. Make up, home decorations, plants - all really don't contribute to making sure that you have enough to eat and can afford to pay all your bills - so don't spend any more money on them.

6. Reduce spends on nights out!
So if you are going to the pictures - go on Orange Wednesday night and get somebody else to send you a voucher if you don't have an Orange phone. Or invest in a cheap Orange Pay as you go sim card. Instead of buying the well over priced pop corn and cinema sweets, take your own with you, and your own fizzy pop or water. Why not suggest that instead of going to the cinema you have a DVD night - invite your friends and either all bring an item of food for a buffet or prepare cheap nibbles for everybody and save a fortune. You can do the buffet - if somebody else can provide the dvd's, popcorn, wine etc. It might appear cheeky but be bold - its important!!

7. Start a small savings fund.
It doesn't have to be massive - but if you can put £5 in it every time you get paid it will slowly begin to mount up and can be used to make a payment, as a treat or as an emergency fund if required. Best of all I suppose is to use it as a treat when you have reached a milestone although paying of some debt doesn't seem very rewarding - but actually will be in the long run.

8. Reduce your mobile phone bill!
Or your cable TV bill if you have one. Swap to a cheaper package - I had to threaten to cancel my account before offers for new customers became available to me - but I did manage to save a small amount and reduce my bill. If it isn't possible to do this make sure that you stay within your monthly limits and don't face any further charges. A big help if usually you have to pay much more than you're supposed to.

9. Shop around for the best deals!
On everything household. Shop around for gas and electric, house insurance, car insurance, pet insurance, cable/sky tv, broadband and anything else you can think of. Make sure you get the best rate of interest on any savings you have, and also on your debts if possible. If you can get a better deal on your mortgage, without incurring ridiculous fees, do it. And keep shopping around - never get complacent about it.

10. Use retail sales wisely!
Nobody who cares about you wants you to buy them a birthday present that puts you into the red for the month, and anybody who doesn't care isn't worth a present. Trawl the bargain bins and shops with sales on to find cheap items that can be purchased instead. This could save you oodles of cash and you may find unusual gifts for people. It may make you feel like stig of the dump but at this stage its important to cut costs and save money so at least give it a try - you never know what you might find.

So these are my top tips - they may or may not help you. But if you look at your bank statements to find out what you have been spending money on and start from there you might be lucky enough to find things that you can reduce your outgoings on and start the money saving process.