Life Hacks to Make it Through to Pay Day

If you’re feeling skint after all of that Christmas spending don’t worry, you’re not alone. Millions of people across the UK spend billions (literally) each year buying presents, booking travel and entertaining the family with a big Christmas dinner.

January then hits and budgets are seriously stretched, in many cases to breaking point. Now we’re half way through the month we’ve put together our top life hacks to help you make that last bit of money extend through to pay day.


 

Eat well for less

Use up the ingredients in your cupboard rather than spending anymore on food for you and your family. You can check out these two simple recipes that will feed four for under £5, and you should also download the free Change4Life app, which we reviewed previously. The recipes are incredibly simple, don’t use exotic ingredients and are guaranteed to keep the food bill to a minimum for the rest of the month.

Make sure you always have healthy snacks to hand so that if you’re out with the kids, you’re not forced into spending more money on a packet of crisps or choccie bar.

If you do have to do a grocery shop, read our tips first on how you could save even more by using comparison site MySupermarket.co.uk, as well as being a savvy saver and checking if there’s a voucher code available for your favourite supermarket.



 

Entertain the kids for free

Days out can be expensive, especially when you add together the cost of travel, entry to the attraction itself plus any extras throughout the day.

We’ve compiled a list of really simple (and most importantly cheap) indoor activities for kids. You can also use a couple of ideas for your own entertainment, including hosting a coffee morning so that you don’t have to spend £2.50 going out for a caffeine fix.

Don’t worry we’re not expecting you to stay indoors for the rest of January so we’ve also got a list of really cheap days out (in some cases completely free) that will make sure everyone is kept busy at the weekends.




 

Change your beauty habits

Maintaining your beauty regime can be expensive, but you can cut it down instantly with these beauty hacks from leading beauty vlogger Amia Amos.

Our favourite hack has to be using multi-purpose products – you should be able to make it through to the end of the month by spending around 1/3 of what you would normally.

Also take note of the fake tans recommended if you’re a regular visitor to tanning salons, as you can strip the cost of these visits straight out of your budget and no one should be any the wiser.