5 tips to detox your finances

If the improving weather is getting you in the mood to be healthier this spring, don’t stop there. Now might be the ideal time to make a fresh start and rethink any habits that might be toxic to your financial health. To help you get more out of your money, we’ve put together five tips to help you detox your way to healthier finances.

1. Put your outgoings on a diet

We all like to treat ourselves to something nice every once in a while, but when that treat becomes a habit, it can become a financial health toxin. Simply rethinking how you spend your money could help you to get more from your income.

One quick and easy way to save money is to put your outgoings on a diet. Not buying coffee from coffee shops is one way you could make your finances healthier. For example, a Grande Latte from one of the Starbucks close to the Raisin UK offices currently costs £2.90. If you were to buy a Starbucks Latte every weekday, it would cost you around £750 a year. Even if you don’t buy a Latte for five weeks of the year, you would still spend around £680.

Brewing your coffee at home or work (if you can), as well as avoiding eating out whenever possible is a simple switch that could make a noticeable difference to the health of your savings. Not using disposable cups is another way to save money, as well as a great way to reduce waste.

2. If you like your fitness tracker, why not try a finance tracker?

If you’re a busy person, you might not have the time to pour over your bank statements, to check what you spend your money on every month. Many challenger banks have come up with a handy solution for this; accounts with built-in budgeting tools.

Banks such as Monzo offer a spending summary and “pots”. Tools like this make it easier to take control of your finances, as your spending habits are broken down into categories, making it clear where your money is going and where you can improve your financial health.

3. Don’t fill up on long-term contracts

It’s common for mobile phone contracts to tie you into 24-month contracts, or longer. Although you might find the odd great deal, you may find that it’s cheaper to buy a mobile phone outright and sign up to a rolling SIM only contract. This way you aren’t tied in if you can find a better price elsewhere.

Be wary of signing into other services that feature lengthy contracts, especially if you’re pressed for time to research all of your options. Whatever you’re signing up for, make sure that you’re getting a good deal, and don’t be afraid to negotiate. You may get a better deal, or at the very least, negotiate a less restrictive contract.

4. Cut down on weighty subscriptions

Detoxing is, in essence, the act of removing unnecessary and harmful toxins from your body. When it comes to finances, unnecessary subscriptions to services you might not need could be considered toxins that are poisonous to your financial health.

The simplest way to detox your subscriptions is to think about which services you infrequently use (if at all). If the latest issue of that magazine you subscribe to is still in the shrink wrap do you still need it? If you’re happy listening to playlists and you don’t mind the odd advert, or if you’re buying music from an artist anyway, do you need Spotify Premium? Or maybe you’re a member of a gym that you haven’t been to in a few months? As the days get lighter and longer, you might want to exercise outdoors and save some money in the process?

The same applies to services which overlap. For example, do you need to subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime at the same time? By cutting out subscription waste, you may see notable savings that you could put to good use.

5. Flex your newfound finance muscles with healthy savings

Once you’ve detoxed your finances and gained some healthy savings, the next step is to decide what to do with them. It’s essential to consider all the savings opportunities that might be suited to what you want to achieve. After all, variety is the spice of life.

For instance, if you don’t plan to touch your savings away for a while, even though you might have found a great rate on a shorter term savings account, you might get a better return by locking your money away for a longer fixed term?

It’s essential to check the terms and features of each savings account to ensure that the type of account, the term, and all of those features hidden away in the terms and conditions are right for you.

Save time and make money with Raisin UK

If you want to choose from a marketplace of secure savings accounts, then at Raisin UK we may have the solution for you. The Raisin UK Account enables you to easily apply for savings accounts from a variety of partner banks, with deposits made into savings accounts from UK banks guaranteed by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and deposits made into savings accounts offered by European banks are guaranteed through the locally applicable European Deposit Guarantee Scheme.

It only takes a few minutes to register for a Raisin UK Account. You may be pleased to know that once you’ve registered with us, you won’t have to fill in a new application form every time you apply for a savings account, regardless of whether you’re applying for savings accounts from a bank you haven’t applied to before.

Register for a Raisin UK Account

Once you’ve opened savings accounts through our marketplace, you can see how all of your savings are doing in one place by logging into your Raisin UK Account, making it easier to keep your finances healthy.