A survey has shown that many families - as much as 30% - have reached a tipping point financial with regards to their monthly outgoings. The point referred to in the survey, is described by a family who would be unable to afford to live if their monthly outgoings went up by more than £100 per month.
A more worrying set of data is revealed with the fact that 22% of households' monthly budgets are stretched so tightly that any rise in living costs would be beyond the ability of a family to afford. The leading culprits for this crisis are the rising costs of fuel, foodstuffs and home utilities.
Moving Back From the Edge: Although we are unable to make a difference to the cost of the goods and services that we pay for, it is possible to reduce your monthly outgoings by just using a little more caution, and by cutting costs on various monthly outgoings, such as household bills, food shopping and mortgage repayments. We will now explore these various cost cutting ideas.
Simple actions like clearing out the odds and ends from the boot of your car, making sure tyres are at the correct pressure and being frugal with luxury features like air conditioning can make a huge difference to your fuel economy. Think money when you are driving, motoring in a sensible manner, by accelerating and braking gently, also enables fuel to go further.
To reduce your weekly food bills, consider buying supermarket own brand or budget products which tend to be cheaper than popular brands. Buying items in bulk - such as 'buy one, get one free' offers - can also save money, particularly if you have a large storage area or freezer at home. Being more careful with your weekly grocery shopping can take some time although it can help you make significant savings.
Reducing the temperature on the thermostat by a couple of degrees, and ensuring the power shower is off are simple measures that can reduce energy bills by a significant margin. Energy efficient bulbs are now much cheaper and much more economically sound than traditional bulbs.
It is also important however to actually give your finances a look into to see if there are ways that you can save money on your financial outgoings, such as mortgages.
Remortgaging Options: If you happen to have a fixed rate mortgage on your home which is drawing to a close, the monthly savings you could make by looking at remortgage rates might be sufficient to escape from the tipping point.
A five year fixed rate mortgage agreed between 2006 and 2007 will be far more costly each month than one carried out in 2011, with the Bank of England's base rate of interest set at 0.5% compared with 5% at the end of 2006.
But with interest rates set to be increased by the Bank of England in the near future, now is the time to remortgage if you're going to do it, as once the base rate increases the mortgage deals will follow suit.
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