7.5 Ways To Improve Your Personal Finances

It's the big things that count, but the small things add up too! Here are some big and small things to make and save a fair bit more money.

At The Fool we like to focus on the big things, because it's the big things that count the most: switching mortgages, reducing debts using balance transfer cards, and cheaper personal loans. But small things do add up too, so my editor suggested I write an article with some tips on less obvious ways to save or make money. In fact, he asked for seven-and-a-half suggestions, the jester! I've thought of some which may be particularly useful when you're a bit low on funds.

1. Get a second job

In other countries, when people are low on cash for a few months, they get a second job. When we are low on cash, we just start switching off the lights when we leave a room. I don't see why we should be so horrified about getting extra work. It shouldn't be stressful, because you don't care if you lose the job and, if it does turn out to be stressful, you just leave! Sounds like a bit of a doss to me.

A few evenings a week or a Saturday job might give you £50 per week extra after taxes. Besides, just one full day's work will probably do as much for your finances as six months of switching off lights.

2. Take in a lodger

Under the government's Rent-a-Room scheme, you can make £4,250 a year without paying tax on the income. You'll have to seek agreement with your mortgage lender or landlord, and your insurance company too, but it can be a fairly easy way to make some money. If you use this scheme, you can't claim tax relief on your expenses.

3. Take up a hobby

If it takes you ten hours to build a model railway, paint a picture, or shape your plants into amusing shapes --I'm talking about animals! What were you thinking of? -- then that's ten hours that you're not drinking. If you work to John McCabe's Standard British Imbibing Law of one drink every forty minutes, that's fifteen pints you haven't drunk. You've saved yourself about £30 by doing something you enjoy.

4. Use the library

We should use the library more often rather than buying books, DVDs and CDs. Even if you don't read much, you could still borrow guide books when you plan to go to another country that you never intend to return to.

5. Make your own lunch

With the amount I eat, buying sandwiches every day would bankrupt me by the end of the month. Instead, I cook two roasts at the same time on Sunday and use them for salads during the week. You could easily save £20 per week by doing the same.

6. Cut up your credit card

It's hard to find a more expensive debt than standard credit cards. Although you can save or even make money by getting the right credit card and using it wisely, the card providers are still stinking rich. This means many of us aren't using them properly. If you can't be bothered to switch, then just get rid of it as quickly as possible. Easier said than done, I know!

7. Lose the overdraft

Overdrafts are also a very expensive way to borrow (unless you get an introductory zero percent deal, like Alliance & Leicester's Premier Direct account). You should aim to keep a minimum balance of at least £100 in your current account, just in case you forget about a bill.

7.5 No fooling a Fool

At the weekend I walked past a bookshop here in London. Prominently displayed was an Oxford Spanish Dictionary. I checked this out and I can save you money straight off -- they don't speak Spanish in Oxford!

None of these tips will make you £35,000 better off, but you have to admit you can certainly improve your finances with them.

Save lots more! Compare credit cards, compare personal loans and compare mortgages. Then switch!