Cheap transport, groceries & more: smart swaps that will save you money

Cutting costs is easier than you think.

How smart swaps work

Cutting back on your spending doesn’t necessarily mean going without.

Swapping certain products or services for cheaper alternatives, or in some cases buying exactly the same service in a different way, can save you hundreds of pounds.

Here are seven smart swaps.

Gyms

Swap: Big brand health clubs for smaller gyms

Save: £80 a month

If you’re a member of a big brand gym or fancy health club such as David Lloyd or Virgin Active, the chances are you’ll be paying £100 a month or so for the privilege.

But gym-goers who don’t mind forgoing some of the extras such as a swimming pool or spa, can save cash by joining a low-cost or council-run gym.

Budget gym brands such as The Gym and Pure Gym offer memberships for under £20 a month – exactly how much you’ll pay depends on the location.

Alternatively, the management of council-run gyms is generally contracted out to private companies but costs are kept low.

Better, for example, runs more than 200 leisure centres on behalf of local authorities with gym membership in South London starting at £24.95 a month.

How to get cheap gym passes

Takeaway coffee

Swap: Cardboard cups for your own cup

Save: 25p per cup of coffee

Coffee addicts may find it tricky to give up their daily on-the-go caffeine fix, but there is an easy way to cut the cost of takeaway coffee: take your own cup.

Starbucks knocks 25p off the cost of a drink if you bring you own cup.

Rival Café Nero gives customers with their own cup two stamps on their loyalty card, rather than one, meaning you get a free coffee after five drinks, rather than the 10 you’d normally need to buy.

Transport

Swap: Trains for planes

Save: Up to £117

If you think train tickets are always cheaper than airline tickets, think again.

According to travel website Skyscanner.net, you can save up to £117 by flying between UK cities rather than taking the train.

Researchers looked at the cheapest fares leaving on January 9 and returning on January 16.

It found you could get a return flight from Bristol to Edinburgh for £56 but the train would set you back £173 – that’s £117 more.

The train journey would also take nearly 10 hours longer.

Flying from Glasgow to Cardiff takes one hour and 10 minutes each way and costs £79 for a return trip on the dates specified.

Travelling by train on the same dates would cost £174.20, that’s £95.20 more, and mean a 12-hour round trip.

Supermarket shopping

Swap: Branded food

Save: Up to 50% per item

Supermarket shoppers can save a packet by swapping premium brands for bog-standard basic ones. In many cases the ingredients and taste are pretty much identical.

Take Tesco, for example. Everyday Value baked beans in tomato sauce cost 24p for a 420g tin.

Heinz beans cost more than twice as much at 50p a tin.

And don’t assume that buying in bulk will necessarily save you money – a four pack of Heinz beans costs £2.69 – that’s 69p more than four individual tins.

Read more in our guide to when own brand beats branded goods.

Telecoms

Swap: Monthly line rental for an annual charge

Save: Up to £32

A handful of telecoms firms offer a discount to customers paying a year’s line rental up front rather than paying for it each month.

For example, if you pay 12 months’ line rental in advance with Virgin Media it costs £196.

Paying it monthly costs £19 a month, or £228 a year, which works out to £32 more.

BT customers can save £25 by paying for a year’s line rental up front, and Post Office customers £24.

BT customer? Learn how to slash your bills even further

Current account

Swap: Your bank for one with a switching incentive

Save: Up to £200

Current account wars are in full spring with the banks battling it out for new customers by offering up to £200 in cold hard cash to account switchers.

HSBC currently pays the most. If you open a HSBC Advance Account and switch your banking to it, you’ll get £150 within 70 days of the switch completing, and a further £50 in a year’s time.

Alternatively, First Direct pays £100 to switchers and the Co-operative Bank £110.

Before you switch, double check the account meets your needs and that you can afford the specified minimum monthly deposit amount. Learn more in our guide to finding the best account for you. 

Compare current accounts on loveMONEY

Mobile phone

Swap: Monthly contracts for SIM-only tariffs

Save: Up to £445

Swapping your mobile contract for buying a phone outright and pairing it with a SIM-only deal can save you several hundred pounds over the course of a typical two-year contract.

Unshackled.com allows mobile users to split their phone and SIM purchase and get the best deal on both.

According to the site, if you bought an iPhone 7 on a two-year contract with Vodafone, you’d pay £180 upfront and then £43 a month for two years: a total of £1,212.

Buying the phone outright from Unshackled costs £599 and a SIM-only contract with Freedom Pop £6.99 a month. This brings the two-year total cost to £767, £445 less than the Vodafone deal.