Steps you can take to get a good deal
Please note that these videos were recorded in September 2020 and reflect our understanding of the relevant Unilever benefits and tax bands, if applicable, at that time.
One of the best ways of making the most of your money is to get the best deals on items that you need to buy. You can do this with all of your spending, but perhaps start with your main items of expenditure.
| Products/services | Ways to get the best deals |
| Mortgage | Comparison websites Understand your own deal |
| Insurance | Comparison websites Paying upfront Do you need the insurance? |
| Electric/gas | Comparison websites |
| Mobile phone | Pay for the phone upfront |
| Shopping for needs | Buy in bulk Vouchers |
Go through your other items that you regularly spend money on and use comparison web sites to see if you can get a better deal. Choose one item each month and spend a little bit of time searching to find a cheaper alternative.
Consider quality. It can be a false economy to replace a high quality item with a cheaper alternative if the cheaper alternative continually breaks down and you have to spend time or money fixing it.
Sign up for alerts from websites like moneysavingexpert.com.
Ask for a discount. The shop can only say "no". And they sometimes say "yes!"
In order to take advantage of some of these deals, it would be really useful to have a buffer of money that you can use to buy in bulk or pay upfront. Having a buffer is not easy for everyone as money is tight. However, if you can build up a buffer, it will mean that many of your purchases in the future will be cheaper than they would otherwise be. We discuss how you might build up a buffer here.
Buying in bulk and paying for items up front can save a significant amount of money every year. Buying in bulk is easier if you have a buffer of money which you can use to pay for these items. A reasonable buffer could be about one month's take home pay. If you have some money set aside which you can use as your buffer then great. Using this money to take advantage of buying in bulk and paying for items up front will save you money in the future.
If you don't have any spare cash to use as a buffer, you can build one up over time. It may take a year or two. It may mean reducing the amount you spend on wants. It may also mean altering the amount you spend on saving. However, once you have saved your buffer, you will be able to use this to reduce the cost of your spending in the future.
It is well worth saving for a buffer to benefit from reduced costs in the future. To obtain a buffer you need:
- Patience - it will take time to build your buffer. Don't give up!
- Determination - to save for the buffer rather than spending on wants.
- Realism - so that you are putting aside enough each month to build up a sufficient buffer.