How being money-smart can help you tackle inflation

With inflation still on the rise, households will be tightening their budgets even more and bypassing the annual summer holiday in order to save more money. Those who are paying off mortgages will be particularly affected as interest rates rise to match the rising inflation.

And whilst this all might sound like doom and gloom, there are ways in which you can tackle inflation, the of which is being smart with your money. By slightly altering your spending habits and investing in things that will bring a high return, you will find that you waste less money during this challenging time.

Learn to budget

It seems like an obvious solution, but many households struggle to keep within a certain budget, especially when there are lots of you. The key to budgeting is prioritisation; households must keep money aside for their rent or mortgage, food, utilities, insurance and transportation. The rest is optional and up to your discretion. 

Once you’ve paid your basics, you can then move onto things like paying off any debt, investing your money or saving. If these things are sorted, then you can spend money on things you actually want, like holidays, eating out or shopping. 

Intentional spending

The point behind intentional spending is to buy things that bring long-lasting value to your life. It’s ok to stretch your budget if what you’re buying will save or make you money in the long run. For example, buying a good quality bike might break the monthly budget, but it will save money on public transport or petrol for the months after, making it an intentional purchase which will bring value.

If you’re not sure if you need something, don’t buy it right away. Keep it in mind, but if you find other solutions and can live without it, then you don’t need to buy it. The lesson is not to give in to impulse buying. 

Use money-saving apps

Recording your expenses on an exceedingly complicated Excel sheet is a thing of the past. Now, with so many money-saving apps available, you can track your spendings easily and apportion your money to different things.

Some will help you find ASDA NHS discounts, others will split your money into different pots and others will allow you to compare prices of products at different stores.

Ask for a raise

As the saying goes, if you don’t ask you don’t get. In such challenging financial times, your employer will understand that things are tough. If you think that you’re doing more than your job description demands or you’ve been at your company for long enough that you deserve more money, there’s no harm in asking.

Employers are always keen to retain good employees, so put forward your case clearly and concisely and see what happens.