THE clocks are going back this weekend, and many of us will be looking forward to enjoying an extra hour in bed on Sunday morning.
But why not use the extra time to get your finances in check?
Households spend an average of £3,173 in the run up to the festive season, according to the Bank of England.
But there are plenty of small jobs that will take you less than 10 minutes each and could save you thousands of pounds in time for Christmas.
Here are ten quick wins you can do to give yourself a cash boost.
Banker’s bonus
Banks are battling to attract new customers ahead of the Christmas season – and many are offering hundreds of pounds in free cash if you switch.
You’ll have to use the Current Account Switch Service (CASS) to switch, but it should only take a few minutes to do.
First Direct is offering a £175 cash bonus if you move to its current account, and you’ll get paid by November 20.
Lloyds bank will give you £200 if you switch to its Club Lloyds current account, with cash landing in bank accounts by November 12.
You can get £200 free by switching to any Barclays bank account and joining its Blue Rewards scheme, which costs £5 a month.
The bank is offering £400 free cash for customers who switch to its Premier Current Account – although you must be earning at least £75,000 qualify.
If you don’t want to change current accounts, Santander will give you a £100 Amazon voucher just for opening an account with them – and you don’t have to switch.
Find your lost cash
Brits have around £4.5billion in total sitting in forgotten bank accounts, each holding an average of £450, according to MoneyFacts.
Use website Gretel to track down your missing money, including from bank accounts, investments, pensions and child trust funds.
You can get results in just three minutes.
And even if the bank no longer exists, you can still reclaim your lost cash.
Clean up your subs
We’ve all been guilty at some point of throwing away our hard-earned cash by forgetting to cancel a subscription after a free trial.
Take five minutes to go through your banking app and cancel any recurring payments for things you no longer use.
But be sure to check that you won’t face any charges for missing a payment if you have a minimum contract.
Time it right
As the clocks change, you might need to adjust some of the tech around your home, including your heating and hot water.
If you have a smart thermostat this should change automatically.
But older central heating and hot water timers will need to be manually adjusted, so you’re not wasting energy when you don’t need it.
Get some cash back
You could be missing out on hundreds of pounds a year by not using cashback.
Sign up to cashback websites like TopCashback and Quidco, which will give you free money back on your supermarket shops, holidays, train tickets and even some household bills.
Quidco says its members make an average of £300 a year.
You could also get a cashback credit card, which rewards you for your spending.
Chase, American Express, Barclaycard and Santander all offer cashback credit cards.
Dust off your old mobile phones
Dig out your old Nokia and BlackBerry phones that are gathering dust in your drawers.
They might be completely useless, but they could be worth a small fortune.
According to online marketplace Gumtree, retro tech from the 1900s or 2000s is now selling for thousands of pounds.
Devices like the original Apple iPhone from 2007 have sold for £10,000 in the past.
The highest selling phone models include BlackBerrys, Nokias and Motorolas, as well as early iPhones.
Flog your old clothes
Second-hand marketplaces like Vinted and Depop are great places to earn some extra cash by selling your old clothes.
It’s completely free to start selling and you can create listings in just minutes.
One Sun reader made £590 in just one day flogging her clothes on the site.
Do you need to pay tax on items sold on Vinted?
QUICK facts on tax from the team at Vinted…
- The only time that an item might be taxable is if it sells for more than £6,000 and there is profit (sells for more than you paid for it). Even then, you can use your capital gains tax-free allowance of £3,000 to offset it.
- Generally, only business sellers trading for profit (buying goods with the purpose of selling for more than they paid for them) might need to pay tax. Business sellers who trade for profit can use a tax-free allowance of £1,000, which has been in place since 2017.
- More information here: vinted.co.uk/no-changes-to-taxes
Haggle on your bills
It’s easy to turn a blind eye and keep paying sky-high prices for your everyday household bills – but you could be wasting hundreds of pounds a year.
Make a quick list of how much you’re paying for each of your bills, like energy, mobile, car insurance, and broadband.
Then use a comparison site like USwitch or MoneySuperMarket to see how much you could save by switching to a different supplier.
If you’re out of contract, you could also call your mobile or broadband provider to ask them to match the deals you’ve found.
According to Which?, you could save up to £235 a year by switching your broadband, mobile and TV providers.
While you’re at it, see if you can get a better interest rate on your savings account.
Bleed your radiators
Save money on your energy bills by doing this easy five-minute job.
“If your radiators are warm at the bottom but cold at the top, you’re wasting energy – and money,” says MoneySuperMarket finance expert Kara Gammell.
“It’s likely trapped air making your boiler work overtime. Bleeding your radiators is a five-minute fix with a £1 key, and it could boost efficiency by up to 15%.”
Not only will this make your house warmer, it can also save you around £75 a year, Kara adds.
Check your benefits
Many people on lower incomes don’t realise they could be entitled to grants or freebies worth hundreds of pounds.
You could get a range of supports including childcare, free school uniforms and help with your energy bills.
It only takes minutes to check by using the benefits checker tool at Turn2Us.org.uk.
