By Cassandra
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Why not use Lockdown to sort your finances out?
So, the UK is now back in Lockdown for the next four weeks and I don’t know about you guys but I’m planning to use some of the time that I’m going to have on my hand to make a bit of extra money. If you want to join me and sort your finances out over the next month then here are six ideas on how you can do it.
1. Sort your finances out with a monthly budget review
OK, I say this all the time but if you don’t have an accurate monthly budget then you don’t know where you’re going wrong or what you’re doing right. How can you sort your finances out if you don’t know where you need to improve?
So why not use some of your free time to print out my monthly budget planner, gather together your last couple of month’s bank statements and sit down and work out a proper budget. Do have a read of this post about the mistakes you could be making with your monthly budget before you start. 😁
Cancel any payments you no longer need, look at where you spend your money (or where you spent it before lockdown) and make changes to make your budget look healthier where you can.
2. Make sure you have the best deal for everything
Once you’ve worked out your budget then the next thing you need to do to sort your finances out is to make sure that you’re on the best deal for everything – from your energy to your mobile and from your insurances to your bank accounts. I wrote a post a while ago about how to use cashback sites to earn extra cash when you’re switching to better deals if you want to have a look. If you can’t switch providers then ring your current one and ask if they have a better deal they can offer you.
3. Get all the little jobs done around the house before they turn into big jobs
Fix that leaky tap, sort out that fence that looks like the next gust of wind could take it down and do the garden jobs that you’ve been avoiding. If you can do them now, before they get worse then it’ll save you money in the long run. YouTube is amazing for tutorials and I’ve learned a few new skills by watching videos on there!
This one might not seem like it’s going to help you sort your finances out but it’s a case of prevention is better than a potentially expensive cure so you’re thinking about your future self here and making sure that you reduce the chances of having to spend a fortune fixing something you could have fixed.
4. Declutter and make some money
Another thing you can do to sort your finances out is to add a bit of extra income into the mix and even in these difficult times, that’s still entirely possible.
Whilst you can’t have a clear out and pop along to a car boot sale like I would have recommended in previous years but this year you can absolutely still sell your unwanted items on eBay or on your local Facebook selling site.
Have a good old declutter and make yourself some money at the same time of making some space in your house and there’s no reason why you can’t still do it even in Lockdown.
5. Sign up to survey sites and earn some extra money
I’ve said this a few times recently but while you have some extra time start setting aside some time to make some extra money. Sites like Swagbucks and OhMyDoshtake a little bit of your time but will gradually build up a balance that’s never going to make you a fortune but will absolutely help make you some extra money. I shared a few ideas here on how to do that in this post and believe me, if you start now you’ll have a good little amount built up for Christmas.
6. Read my ‘How to make £50 this month’ series
I only ever wrote four posts in this series but if you work your way through them all then that’s £600 you’ll have made.
Each post only has three ideas because I was conscious of how much time people had to spare but now that we have so much time on our hands then you might have more time to do more.
April – three ways for you to earn £50 in a month.
May – three ways for you to earn £50 in a month.
June – three ways for you to earn £50 in a month.
July – three ways for you to earn £50 in a month
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Why not pin this post for later so you can keep going back to it as you sort your finances out over the next month or so:
