5 Money Saving Tips Which Might Not Work

When looking for money-saving tips, there’s certainly no shortage of places where you can get information from. We’ve covered the matter a few times! However, some advice you hear will actually have the opposite effect – and may end up costing you cash.

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As your money deserves the truth, here are five tips which you may want to take with a pinch of salt:

1. Buying value packs

If you’ve ever been to a supermarket (which we’re sure you have) you will have seen products advertised as ‘value’ packs. Occasionally though, the packaging can be misleading. A product which claims as having value doesn’t do you any favours.

Instead, skip past the pricing and read the text which discusses unit pricing. Here, you can compare which product is more value for money. You might find out the ‘value’ pack is no better for your wallet than a premium brand.

2. Shopping during the sales

It’s often said that if you want to grab a bargain, you can’t do better than shopping during a sale. Generally speaking, a lot of items are reduced in cost which typically makes financial sense. However, the problem with shopping during a sale is that you’re more likely to pick up items you don’t need.

As a result, a quick trip out for one item can quickly lead to several extra purchases.

3. Choosing the cheapest option

Although choosing the cheapest option can be good for your wallet in the short term, the quality of these items means you’ll typically need to replace them more often. This means a £10 pair of shoes will usually be worn out much quicker than a pair which costs £30. If you continue replacing these cheap items with similar products, you’ll just get stuck in a cycle of always buying low-cost goods.

In the long-run, paying for quality is often more affordable than buying cheap.

4. Buying in bulk

There are times when buying in bulk can be a great idea. After all, buying a bunch of five bananas can be cheaper than buying five separate ones. However, if you don’t manage to eat all those bananas before they expire, you’ve just wasted food – and money.

When buying in bulk, decide if you’re going to use everything in time. If not, you might do better just shopping for what you need.

5. Taking out a store card

Store cards are often advertised to customers as a way to save money. Frequently, these come with introductory offers or ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ deals. However, these cards often come with high interest rates and are sold by retailers – not financial advisors. This means a person with a bad credit history – who would be refused credit by many organisations – can usually easily get a store card.

If managed well, a store card can help you save cash. However, fall behind on payments and this can become very expensive indeed.