When you’re a parent, finanial things can feel more important; suddenly you’re responsible for the welfare of another human! Here are some things to consider:
Get life insurance
Becoming a parent is a good time to look into getting life insurance. It sounds morbid, but it gives you that little bit of extra peace of mind that if something were to happen, your offspring would be provided for. These days it’s fairly easy to get term life insurance quotes by answering a few simple questions online.
If you’re relatively young and healthy, term life insurance can be very affordable and a good way of ensuring that your family will be taken care of in the event of your death.
Set up a savings account
Trust me when I tell you there is always something to pay for when you’re a parent! Whether it’s new school shoes, the next greatest gadget or a big school trip – things pop up all the time. My top tip for this is to set up a savings account in a different bank to the one you use for your day to day banking, so that accessing the money will be inconvenient. I have one of those building society accounts that comes with a pass book. I have a regular weekly standing order of a few pounds that goes into savings; it’s small enough that I don’t notice it going, but over time the pennies add up and we have an emergency fund in case something pops up.
Sign up for Money Saving Expert
Martin Lewis began sending out his weekly emails since 2003, and although he has since sold the company it’s still well worth joining the mailing list. You can find advice on everything from the best credit card to switch to, to voucher codes for small freebies with your weekly shop. Well worth a look each week.
Use loyalty & cashback schemes
These days just about every company has a reward scheme of one sort or another. Everyone knows that of the big high street names, Boots has the best loyalty card in terms of the points rewards you receive; I always make sure to check whether something I want to buy is available in Boots before going to a supermarket. You can also use cashback sites such as Top Cashback to get money back on your purchases. Basically, if you want to buy something from a particular website, check to see if they’re on Top Cashback, and use their link to access the site; then you’ll get cashback for any purchases you make. These are only small amounts, but they soon add up. I save mine for Christmas shopping or birthdays throughout the year.
Audit your subscriptions
You might think this one is silly, but honestly I did it recently and found that I had monthly payments of a few pounds here and there for subscriptions I hadn’t used for ages! Take a look through your bank statement and see what’s going out regularly; do you really need it? Bear in mind that if you have a TV streaming subscription you’ve not used for a couple of months, you can always cancel it, and then reinstate it if you hear of a particular show you want to watch on it. Some services will also offer you a special discounted price if you do go to cancel your subscription so it’s worth taking a look.
0 Comments