During this time of financial uncertainty, many opt for emergency small term loans to cover the cost, however these are for financial emergency only and alternative funding will be needed. Here we are going to give you our top tips for saving money and avoid using your credit card.

Make A Shopping List

One of the main ways to avoid making payments on your contactless credit card is to have a shopping list and stick to it. In doing this, you can ensure that you have bought all the food that you need for the week at one time without spending large sums of money as a result. By having everything in the house that you could need, this reduces the need for you to travel to the shops and get tempted by a chocolate bar or other sweet treats that can be bought on impulse with your contactless card.

Avoid Fast Food

Although it may seem tempting to opt for fast food when you have had a long day in the office, it is important to avoid this temptation. One of the ways that you can do this is through making food the night before and freezing it. This not only helps you to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but it saves you money as a result. This is ideal particularly for students as this will allow them to save excess money and maintain a healthy diet.

Don’t Use Mobile Banking

Mobile banking is something that you should definitely avoid if you are looking to save money. This is because applications such as Google Pay, and Apple Pay make it easy for you to pay for items with a fingerprint or simple passkey. This will not aid you in saving money as this makes it to easy to overspend and end up buying items that you do not need. One way that you can get around this is through travelling to the bank to look at your finances or even restricting your online banking to one desktop.

Pay By Cash Not Card

When going out for a night on the town or on a shopping trip, it is very easy to opt for a contactless payment to purchase items quickly, but what about just taking cash? By taking cash with you and leaving your card at home, you restrict yourself to the amount of money that you can spend. This is particularly important if you are limited on funds as this allows you to budget accordingly and ensure that you do not overspend at any point. If an item is out of your budget at this time, you must then wait till next month to afford it.

Buy Your Own Lunch

Although this may seem like an extremely small transaction per day, purchasing lunch can actually amount to a large portion of your spending per month. In order to combat this and save yourself more money, begin packing your own lunch. This could save you an average of £5 per day which can amount to a large amount at the end of every month. This can then be saved and placed within a bank account for a financial emergency or a treat later in the year.

Whether you are looking to completely avoid using your card on a daily basis or you are looking to limit the amount that you are spending in general, you can be sure to find the solution that works for you by following one of these top tips.