Get your finances in order for 2023

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New year, new me, or some nonsense… I’m NOT a big fan of that sort of mindset these days, however, the start of the year is a great time to get your finances in order.

I feel that I’m well and truly settling into the new year, and it happened quite quick this year. I started planning late in December, for 2023, ready to ensure that I’m doing what I can to start the year off right.

I’m doing what I always do every year and looking at our finances, to ensure that we aren’t overpaying for anything. I will be reviewing our bills, outgoings, and a few other things too.

I want to share with you some of my old posts and methods to save and make money for the New Year. Get your finances in order for the new year with this post!

Review your insurance policies

Now I know that most people will want to groan at the idea of insurance, I get it, however, when you truly need it you’ll be absolutely kicking yourself if you haven’t bothered! No-one wants to have their home burn down only to THEN realise that they really DID need contents insurance!

In a lot of areas an insurance policy is a necessary evil, such as home ownership or car ownership, and I would NEVER advocate cancelling those policies to save money. It IS possible to save yourself some money though by shopping around.

Have you got car insurance? I was able to save us £280 in just 10 minutes on our car insurance policy. You don’t even need to be at the end of your policy to make savings depending on the terms of your own insurance policies.

Life insurance is something that I have written about before. I think it is REALLY important, particularly if you are the main breadwinner for your family. Here are my reasons why you need life insurance. Also, I’ve got a post to help you save money on life insurance.

Set a reminder for upcoming policies:

If your policies are not up for renewal yet then be sure to set a reminder for around 30 days before your policy expires.

With car insurance it is typically the cheapest time to get quotes around 20 – 26 days before your current policy expires / before you want any new policy to start.

Setting a reminder is a great way to ensure that you can search properly when you have some available time to get the best deal possible. You can save £100s on your car insurance by shopping around versus allowing your policy to automatically renew.

Use price comparison sites and then check through *TopCashBack or *Quidco to make sure you’re getting the best deal AND scooping up any potential cashback too.

Be sure to consider any recent changes that may impact your policies

Make sure that any policies have up to date details, ensure any additional children have been mentioned on policies, make sure any additional expensive items are listed and that your insurance company is aware of anything that may require a review of your policy.

While this CAN add a little money on to your policy it is far better than your insurance company being able to find a loophole if they need one to avoid them paying out.

Look to start a savings challenge

The New Year is a great time to take part in a savings challenge. Now that Christmas is over it is never too early to be thinking about how to manage your money better for next Christmas.

I’ve compiled a list of some great money saving challenges. There should be something to suit most budgets and it is never too late in the year to get started, so if you’re seeing this a little later into 2023 then don’t be disheartened as any savings are better than none.

Check out Plum:

I absolutely LOVE *Plum. It has to be one of my favourite savings apps. In the last 2 years I’ve saved nearly £3,000, and I have barely noticed this leave my account each week.

Plum is where I store my sinking funds and I love knowing that I have money available for whatever unexpected eventualities that life throws at me.

At present I have 10+ pots, including things like dentist, opticians, school holidays, Christmas 2023, spending money for a holiday etc.

Look for new credit card deals (only when needed!)

If you’ve overspent this Christmas, and have a bit of debt, then ensure you’re doing your best to get it paid off. In the meantime look for a 0% credit card deal.

Saving money on a 0% credit card deal will help you save money on interest which you can plow into paying off debt.

Check in on your grocery spends!

Take control of your grocery shopping and you can save £100s or even £1000s over the year. We have been able to live on £1000 a year in the past, although this has gone up now we have a child with FPIES, and since prices have changed quite considerably in the last few years! I expect this is only going to keep getting worse at the moment.

We have quite a bit of specialist food to buy, as both our daughters have allergies, and as such I find that my meal planning tips, meal planning with mince and using my slow cooker can all help a little.

Also, I follow my own tips on ways to reduce food waste. I also cook up recipes from leftovers such as ultimate lazy tuna fishcakes or air fryer mashed potato balls.

Taking care of our food, and storing it correctly, is a great way to make our money and food last longer. Cutting back on takeaways is another way that we save, although we also try to save money on takeaways when we do buy them!

Make a little extra money!

For me personally, I LOVE to save money almost as much as I love to make it. Looking after my hard earned money is great but also I love to make money online and offline too. I’ve got a HUGE list of ways to make and save money.

I love to take part in paid surveys, and my top 5 survey websites will help you get started too! I also make sure that I use things like cashback websites, check HotUKDeals for special offers and I have *Honey installed to my browser, to help me find vouchers and coupon codes I would have missed out on otherwise.

Check through your bank accounts

Over the year those little subscriptions and payments can really add up. I’d recommend looking through your bank accounts and checking your Paypal too.

If you’re someone who uses an App store on their mobile phone then look for hidden subscriptions there too to make sure that you’re not paying for anything you no longer require.

Keep your inbox organised

Unsubscribe to those emails that always tempt you into shopping more, or just filter them into a folder to look when you actually have money that you’ve earmarked for shopping specifically.

Be sure to organise your inbox to minimise the time you spend in it, so you’re less likely to see sales and adverts as they are received.

Make a budget

Start making your money work better for you. If you find that you get paid, cover your bills, and the rest just seems to evaporate, then it is probably time for you to have a budget!

It doesn’t take long to prepare a budget, but it can be life changing! Working in things like sinking funds, savings, investments, charity donations, health expenses, Birthdays and Christmas can make a big difference to your mental wellbeing as well as your finances overall.

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