How To Refresh Your Finances This Autumn
I don’t know about you but I always get a bit of a fresh start feeling in Autumn. The seasons seem to change so rapidly from summer to the windy Autumn that we’re suddenly spending more time indoors. Of course this year we’ve been indoors far more than we’d like. I find it a great time to refresh your finances, declutter the house, and do deep cleans. It feels more of a fresh start than New Year. Maybe it stems from the academic year, I’m not too sure. But if you’re looking to refresh your finances this Autumn ahead of Christmas here are some tips.
Start a new savings pot now
If 2020 has taught us one thing it’s that an emergency fund and savings are so important. Nothing is stable anymore when it comes to jobs and income so start a new savings pot now. Or increase your saving into an existing pot. Even if it’s just an extra £20 a month. Anything you can add to your savings, in the long run, will help you. I’m working on boosting our emergency fund to cover 3-4 months worth of fixed expenses.
Refresh your finances by checking your ISAs
If you haven’t opened an ISA this financial year then open one. You can only open one ISA a financial year (this includes LISA/ Stocks and Shares ISAs too). But they’re a great way to gain a little interest on your savings. And you can get easily accessible ones. So to go alongside your new savings pot, open an ISA to store it in.
Work on your Christmas budget now if you haven’t
If you’re looking to refresh your finances it’s good to think about the rest of the year and most importantly Christmas. This year is going to be a bit of a strange one, but I know I want to make it even more special to round off a bit of a rubbish year. Hopefully, you’ve already started putting money aside for Christmas now, but if you haven’t started this second. If you need some tips on how to financially prepare for Christmas I did a whole post on it this summer. But then refresh your finances again after Christmas and start saving for 2021 then. If you save over a whole year you’ll need to put less aside each week/ month.
Refresh your finances by checking all your subscriptions
I talk about this a lot, but look at your standing orders and direct debits and see if there’s anything you no longer need. Or are there services you can split with a friend or family member? This could be Amazon Prime where you can be added as a family member to someone else’s account if you live together. Or the Spotify/ Netflix family subscriptions. Maybe you pay for a magazine subscription you don’t tend to read very often. Or you get a beauty sub box but you have so many products still to use up. Cancel anything you don’t need.
Declutter your house and sell items you no longer need/ use
A way to refresh your finances is to sell and get rid of things in your house you don’t need or want. I’m sure we’ve all got clothing we said we’d slim down for two years ago and haven’t. Or shoes you just never loved. Kids items your children have outgrown. Or DVDs you no longer use as you stream everything. Sort out every part of your house and sell the items you can through Depop/ eBay/ Facebook Marketplace. Or if you have enough have a car boot sale.
Refresh your finances by being savvy with your food
As we’re all at home a lot more than normal we need to think more about our food. You can refresh your finances and saving money by meal planning before you go shopping. Then you won’t end up throwing things away or filling up your freezer with things about to go off. Do a freezer audit of all the items you have and start using some of them. I bought so many freezer bits when we moved in 5 weeks ago and while it’s good to have some bits it doesn’t need to be full all of the time.
Also, think about batch cooking. If you’re cooking dinner one night then double the ingredients so you can get extra portions out of it. Then you’ve got some lunches or dinners already made up, and you’re less likely to wash fresh ingredients you don’t fully use up.
Are you planning to refresh your finances this Autumn?
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21 responses to “How To Refresh Your Finances This Autumn”
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Rhian Westbury
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This is brilliant advice. It is such a difficult time of year for money with Christmas coming and of course all that has gone on this year will not be helping a lot of people x
Managing finances is something that is of paramount importance . Having a savings account, ISA and budgeting is a good start. I agree with you that you can save money by planning your shopping making small changes in your shopping list and planning meals do save money . Budget ing and up cycling is a good saver as well .
I purposely make large meals so we have leftovers. You have reminded me though that I have to check the freezer, sometimes things just manage to hide in there and need to be tossed.
I have so much stuff in my freezer that I need to make more of an effort to use up x
We’re the same, every September we reevaluate things like subscriptions and direct debits etc… it’s a great time to start saving for Christmas too!
If there’s one thing that having to move house allows us to do, it’s declutter. With 2 kids, we end up with an alarming number of things that we don’t need anymore. Even if it’s just the three or four pairs of wellies that don’t fit anymore – every little helps! My plan is to sell the kid’s old bits and put the profits into the Christmas fund.
I bet having 2 kids you must have so much stuff to sort through. I don’t envy your move but at least you’ll be able to have a fresh start with decluttering x
Great post full of ideas to help save those pennies, we stopped subscriptions a long time ago. I think it is a good idea to look at your finances every now and then to see where you can save
I have just been told that my car is not worth fixing and really need to get saving for a new one – just checked my credit report and looks like it still needs some work, I thought I had fixed it #sign
Oh no I’m sorry to hear about your car. It’s so tough because they’re so expensive but it’s hard to be without one x
I need to review my subscriptions but I think I’m on top of the rest. I have lots of different saving accounts all set up for various short and long term projects etc. So important to be financially savy.
It’s always good to checkon things once in a while. Getting rid of unwanted subscriptions is a good idea.
I definitely need to do some decluttering and selling however I have sorted out a Christmas budget and started a new savings account – yay!
Yay, you’ve done so well x
October/November time is the time we always have a look round the house and sell some items that we no longer use to make a few extra pennies for Christmas
As much as anything it’s about making space before Christmas as well as making some extra money x
Your batch cooking suggestion is such a good idea, I actually cracked out my slow cooker this weekend to stock up on dinners, I also think that this year has made it so obvious that savings are important. I live wage to wage, so it’s been a struggle but I’m trying hard to put money away for a worst-case scenario!
yeah the whole emergency fund situation has become even more important to know you’ll be able to cope if you lose your job/ can’t work x
I need to look for an ISA. The interest rates aren’t brilliant a the moment but I think they offer one of the best rates for a savings account
Great tips. I would also suggest checking whether you can save money by switching energy suppliers. There are some great deals around at the moment, and ff you haven’t switched for a year or two, you can almost certainly save money by doing so.
I 100% agree, there’s no incentive to be loyal with suppliers like that so it’s best to shop around x