My Money Saving Tips!

With christmas just round the corner we can all do with saving a bit of money so here are some of my top money saving tips that hopefully you'll all find useful:

1. Balance transfer credit cards

If you owe money on your credit cards and you're paying interest on it why not find a card which offers 0% APR on balance transfers. There are a number of good offers out there at the moment and Money Saving Expert contains some great information if you're interested in this. Also a quick snippet of advice, if you do do this then don't spend on your balance transfer card and don't rack up more debts on the card/s you've just cleared.

2. Get loyalty cards

By this I mean a card which rewards you for shopping at a retailer and not a store credit card. These are generally bad unless you pay them off straight away. Loyalty cards such at Boots Advantage Cards, Nectar, Tesco Clubcard, Superdrug Beauty Card, can be great as in effect the shop is paying you for shopping there. Even if you don't shop somewhere regularly still grab a card as it all adds up!

3. Use money back sites

If you do alot of online shopping, lets face it who doesn't, then find a website which offers money back if you shop certain sites through them. Sites include Quidco, Top CashBack, KidStart (this is great if you have kids) and of course Boots Treat Street where you get points to spend in store (only if you have an Advantage Card of course).

4. Recycle your old ink cartridges and gadget

I think we all own printers, have old mobile phones and other gadgets and instead of throwing them away or chucking them in a drawer for years on end recycle them for cash. Tesco and Boots offer ink cartridge recycle in exchange for loyalty card points and sites such as Mazuma and Envirofone offer mobile phone recycling. Boots also offers recycling for mobile phones, sat navs, MP3 players/iPods and digital cameras.

5. Sale shopping

Yes sale shopping can be good because who doesn't like buying something with money off but one thing to remember: don't just buy something because it is cheap. If you do this you just end up wasting money. If you need it then great buy it but if you're just buying it as an impulse sale buy then don't.

6. Save

You don't have to save alot, just start by saving your coppers. I save all my 1p, 2p and 5p's but soon I want to start saving my £2 coins. By doing this you will save up a decent amount of money in no time. Also if you can afford it save 10% of your wages. Generally this is about £80-£100 and if you do this every month in a year you could have saved between £960 and £1200!

7. Ebay you unwanted items

Ebay regularly have free listing weekends which are great for getting rid of your unwanted and unloved items. If you've never Ebayed before then start small but you can make a decent amount of money. Just remember you will have your Ebay seller fees and Paypal fees to take off at the end but still, to steal a phrase, every little helps!

Do you have any money saving tips that you'd recommend? Share them in the comments below!