How to Get Value for Money from Everything you buy

Whenever we buy something we might want to feel that we are getting good value for money. However, there will be some things that give us more than others. There are things that we can do to make sure that we have a better chance of getting good value for money though.

What is good value for money

It is important to start by making sure that we are aware of exactly what good value for money means. If we get good value for money for something it means that we feel that the money was well spent. It is therefore a personal thing. For example, if we buy some carrots and get a bunch of expensive ones from our local farmers market then we might think these offer the best value for money, because although they are expensive, they are organic and they support a local business and taste really good. However, someone else might like frozen carrots because they are so much cheaper they are happy to put up with the fact that they do not taste quite as good and do not mind where they were grown because they just want to spend less. So basically, it is whether you think that you got your moneys worth or not. A more obvious example would be if you were buying a pair of tights and two identical pairs of the same brand were being sold in two shops, one priced more than the other. Assuming the shops were equally convenient to get to and the customer service was the same, then you would get better value form the shop that sells them cheaper. However, cheaper is not always better as if you have to travel miles to go to the shop where they are cheaper and you do not like the staff there and the shop is dirty then you may prefer to pay more for the same item.

Getting value for money, whatever you purchase, is always important!

How can we measure it?

So measuring value for money is tricky It is a personal thing and you will have to make the decision yourself. Quite often people might judge on quality and they will be prepared to pay more for a better quality product. However, some really high-quality products are too expensive for some people to afford and so they would not consider them to offer value for money. This means that we have a cut off point which is determined by our income or buy how much we are prepared to pay for things.

How can we get more?

So if you want to get better value for money you will need to do some research. You will need to find out about the alternatives to the item that you are looking to by and see what you think about them. Trying different products can be a good way to judge, but there are some things that you will not be able to try out like that, such as cars or houses and so you will have to rely on reviews and surveys and things like that to help us. Making sure that we are not paying more than necessary for a product by comparing prices and making sure that we are not sacrificing quality when we pay out less money will both be good ways to get a better value for money for what we buy.

We can also make sure we get good value once we own the item. We need to make sure that we use it a lot. So if it is food, make sure that we eat it before it goes off and if it is clothing make sure that we wear it lots rather than hanging it in the wardrobe and not wearing it.

Tips for Increasing your Savings

Many people would like to have more savings than they have at the moment. This is because it is good to know that you have some money behind you to fall back on or that you are saving up for something specific that you want to buy. However, it is not always easy to have any savings or to increase the amount that you already have. You may feel that you are stuck in a situation where you always spend everything that you earn or perhaps even more than you earn so cannot save anything. However, you may be able to try some different things to help you to be able to save more money.

Set up a direct debit to save

It can be a good idea to set up a direct debit to pay some money into your savings account each month. This is because you will be able to then ensure that some money is always saved. It is often the case that you might think that you will save whatever you have left in your bank account just before you get paid and save that. The problem with this is that we often will look our account and see whether there is any money left in it when we want to buy something. If we do this, we could end up drawing out the money that is left and we will end with nothing to save. Therefore, if we save money when we first get paid, then there will be money there that we can save. We will then need to make sure that we budget carefully for the rest of the month so that we have enough money to last use for the rest of the month to pay for everything that we really need.

Try to spend less

It can also be a good idea to make sure that you are not spending more than necessary. You need to think about whether there are things that you are buying that you are paying too much for to start with. If you can pay less for things that you need, then you will not need to go without anything but you will be able to spend less. You do need to make sure that you are not buying things that are not offering good value for money though. You need to think about why the item is cheap. It could be because it is not a popular brand name and this may not reflect at all in the quality of the item. However, it could be that the item is not such good quality so you need to make sure that you are checking carefully. It may also be the case that you will need to reduce the amount of things that you buy. We all buy things that we do not need as well as things we really need. It is a matter of cutting back on those things that we do not need so that we can free up some money to save.

Earn more

Another approach or an additional approach is to earn more money. This will mean that you can continue to buy the same amount of things at the same cost but you can save the extra. Of course, you could also combine the earning alongside the spending less and you will be able to save even more. To earn more you actually have a lot of choices. You can work more hours in the job you have, try to get a pay rise or promotion or see if you can get a better paid job in another company. This is not always very easy though. You might find it easier to find a second job to do alongside to get some extra money. This could be something in the evenings or weekends. You might be able to find some freelance work, some temp work, some online work or things like this. It can be a good idea to search at what it is available as you might find some things that will be fun to do and give you a bit of extra money that you can pop into your savings account. You may even be able to sell a few things that you own and no longer need to raise some money.

How to Monetise your Hobby

If you want to make a bit more money then you might feel that it would be a good idea to try to make money form your hobby. This can seem like a fun thing to do because you will be doing something that you enjoy while you are making money as well. However, you will have to give some thought to what you will actually do in order to make the money.

What can you sell?

You need to start by thinking about what you can sell. If you have a crafty hobby then you might produce paintings, knitted items, lace or things like that and you might want to sell them. However, some hobbies do not produce anything such as playing video game, going on holiday or fitness. However, you may still be able to make money by writing a guide or tutorial, perhaps such as a book, vlog, instructional video or website. There is something that you would be able to do for every hobby but you will just have to decide what you think would work for you.

How can you sell it?

Once you have an idea of what you can sell, before you actually start producing the items you need to think about how you will sell it. It is good to start by finding out if there are other people selling the same or similar things as this will help you to figure out whether you can compete in that market and if you do decide to sell, how much you will be able to charge and if you will make a profit at that price. This research stage is worth spending some time over as you will be able to find out whether your idea of making money will work. It might be that you will need to slightly change your idea or do something completely different. This means that it is important to be flexible and open minded about your idea as you may need to change it.

How can you promote it?

You will also need to think about how to promote your good or service. You might put it on a platform that will already have people looking at it such as on Etsy or Youtube but that will not automatically mean that you will find customers. You also need to think about how to get people to buy your items over other peoples. You might want to think about using social media or other things to promote the item so that you are more likely to make sales.

As you can see, there is a lot of things that you will need to think about and do. It will not just be able continuing with your hobby but you will have to do a lot of other things as well if you want to be successful at making money form it. This might actually take time away from your hobby and might even mean that you hobby becomes less fun as a result. You therefore need to think carefully about whether you really want to do this. It can depend on the amount of time that you have because you might still want to be able to do your hobby to have fun and relax as well as spend the time trying to sell. You may decide that you do not want your hobby to be stressful or feel pressured because you need to make money from it. It is good to make this decision early, so that you do not spend a lot of time starting to try to sell and then decide that it is not right for you and will have wasted that time.

Where to go to Learn About Finance

As adults there are quite a few of us that leave school knowing very little about finance. This is because schools do not tend to teach us a lot, but then we have to start work, go to university and enter adulthood and be expected to know how to handle money. Unfortunately, some of us do not manage to do that very well. Even if we do manage, it could be the case that we could do better. Therefore, it could be a good idea to have a closer look at finance and make sure that what we are doing is right for us. However, we need to make sure that we are getting information from reliable sources.

Websites

There are lots of websites with information about finances and money. However, not all are as good as others. Some have bias in them because they are trying to sell you things such as emergency loans, books or courses. However, there are others which have really good information on them. It is good to look for an unbiased source which has information put forward in a clear and simple way. The government has a money advice service which can be a good place to start. Money Saving Expert is also a useful page, although it has a lot more information on it so might seem daunting. If you search for the specific areas you need help on though you will find some useful guides.

Websites are a great way to learn more about personal finance.

Books

Like websites, there are many finance books and they vary a lot in the information that they provide and how good it is. The first thing to check is to make sure that you choose a book that is based on UK finance as information can differ greatly between countries. Also make sure that it is an up to date book so that you are getting information that is still relevant. Check out the reviews and see what others think as that could help you choose the right one. Make sure that you find a book that is right your level of understanding and the types of financial aspects you want to find out about. If you are short of money, remember to try your local library – they have lots of ebooks you can read if you cannot get out to a library or do not have one close to you.

People we know

It can be really handy to learn from other people as well. Chatting to others to find out any advice they would give can be great. Whether they had problems that they have learned from or always been good with money, it is likely that they will have some useful things to tell you. It is not always easy getting people to open up though as speaking about money is not always seen as a topic of conversation that is acceptable. However, it does not have to be too personal, you can ask people what they have learned about money, what advise they could give and why and they will not have to reveal more than they feel comfortable with.

It can be good to gather lots of information from different places. This will allow you to be able to learn lots. By learning a lot of things you will be able to make better financial decisions yourself. This should help you to borrow and budget more wisely, spend more sensibly and feel much more in control of what you are doing. Having an understanding of different financial products and the options open to you will also help you to make better decisions through your life.

Should I Set up my Own Business to Make Money?

We might often hear about these entrepreneurs that are able to make a lot of money form setting up their own business. It can be really easy for us to them think that this will be something that will work for us and that we will make a lot of money from as well. However, this is not something we should move into lightly as there are sadly a lot of people who start up businesses and do not even last a year. So, make sure you are well prepared first.

It is hard work

It is worth being prepared for the fact that it will be hard work. It is easy to think that it will not be because we hear about people who come up with a successful business idea and then are able to sell their companies to make lots of money. We do not hear about how hard they worked to get to that position first. It is likely that you will be working very long hours every day of the week for a long time to get things going. You will need to start by doing a lot of things yourself because you will not have a big team of helpers or if you do have help, you will need to teach or train people to your way of thinking.

You will probably need to learn a lot

Running a business means learning lots of new things. This can be fun and exciting but it is wise to try to learn as many things as you can before you start. You will need to learn about how to do accounts so that you can keep a close eye on your income and expenditure to make sure that you are doing the right thing. Many people pay an accountant or bookkeeper to do this but then as it is only reviewed yearly they may have no idea as to whether they are making much money or not or whether they are overspending in certain areas. You will also need to learn about marketing so that you can make sure that your goods and services are purchased. You will need to know how to use the internet to publicise your business too, probably social media as well as a website. You may need someone to design the site for you but you will need to keep updating it so that you attract new business and visitors.

You may not be able to pay yourself

It is worth being aware that you may not be able to afford to pay yourself any money when you first start out. You will need to pay for all sorts of things and therefore may need to plough all the money you make back into the business. For example, you may need to buy stock, hire premises, pay staff, hire equipment as well as pay insurance, tax, utilities, domains, to name but a few things. It is well worth working out everything you will need to pay for to start with so that you can work out how much you will need to pay out each month to cover those costs. From that you will be able to work out how many items you will need to sell to cover the costs and how many more you would need to sell to give yourself an income. This is a useful thing to do before you set up as it will allow you to think about whether your business idea is realistic as you can work out whether you will be able to sell your items for enough money to be able to make enough money from them to cover your costs which includes everything that you need to pay for. If there is not enough for this then you will need a different plan and if there is enough for this you are then in the position to work out whether you have enough left to give yourself a decent income as well.