I have mentioned saving money on here a lot in 2023 so far and I won't be stopping anytime soon as this is a big focus for the year ahead and moving into the future. I am determined to clean up my money habits and get my saving accounts growing rather than having to take money out of them to cover useless purchases which I know now I really didn't need to buy. I really need to start getting my act together to increase my savings as I am still wasting money but there are so many jobs I want to get done this year around the house. When I have sat down and looked at my bank account since the start of the year I have realised just how much money I am wasting on silly purchases that I really didn't need which got me thinking about the changes I can make from now on to hopefully see my saving increase and help me make a start on those jobs I want to get done. So here are the swaps I am planning on making from now on...

Rather than spending a fortune on different shower gels like I currently do I am going to be swapping to using bars of soap. Not only will this save me money but it will also be a bit more environmentally friendly which is even better in my eyes. I am sick of buying bottles of shower gel just because they seem to be on a good offer and then I get sick of the scent before I am even half way down the bottle. A bar of soap is a lot cheaper and after trying one recently I have realised it is much better value for money, once I am through all my current shower gels I will be switching to bars for the foreseeable future, if I can stick to this I could save plenty of money. 

Starbucks and Tim Horton's trips are costing both me and Liam a fortune, it is a pretty long way for us to travel just for a hot drink so it is costing us the cost of the drinks and the use of petrol, it is ridiculous. I have got us both a flask so that we can fill that up for trips out rather than going out of our way to go purchase a hot drink. By taking a flask on car journeys we should save a small fortune and have our petrol go a lot further. 

Just like drinks we are spending a fortune on takeaway food too which we need to cut out for money saving and also for my fitness & weight loss journey. The takeaways are doing me no favours and I want to lose a fair bit of weight this year, that will only happen when the takeaways are cut back. As for the money side of things if we swapped our takeaways for fakeaways or just home cooked meals in general I really do believe between us both we could save a couple of hundred pounds. It is just down to laziness that we end up ordering in but if we just keep reminding ourselves what we are saving for I think we will happily start cooking more and we will enjoy those treat takeaways even more. 

When it comes to lunch time at work I am a sucker for a meal deal which then ends up with me adding on extras and some days I can spend over £5 on my lunch which soon adds up. Now that I have looked and seen the amount I do spend each month on those meal deals it has made me more determined to start meal prepping, just an hour out of my evening could save me a fortune whilst also making sure I am getting a healthier lunch. This is something I am determined to do each week and even those days off I have as they will certainly save me a fortune and help me put money towards those jobs in the house and I would rather see that take shape than have a meal deal any day of the week. 

I am going to do a bit of research on this next one as I think it could be beneficial if done in the correct way and that is bulk buying specific products. If I know I am going to use an item and continue to use it over and over I will look to see if bulk buying would save me a lot more than just buying it one at a time. This would be good for laundry products and bathroom products but I know sometimes companies can make you look like you are getting a good bulk buy deal when in fact you aren't saving much at all. If I find the right sort of bulk deals I will definitely be looking at them especially for laundry products where the cost soon starts to add up.

We are also going to start opting for unbranded products whilst out and about shopping on main things like food. These simple swaps again could save us a fair but over the course of the year. We have already done this swap on spices where we have gone from over £1 a jar to around 50p, even for fajita night we have gone from buying a kit to using Asda own brand sauce, salsa & wraps and it is costing us a lot less but is still as tasty. If we made these changes across more food items we will certainly see our bill reduce weekly. We can even do this with clothing, I usually go for Nike and other branded sports wear however, with me not staying in items long due to my weight loss I could swap from items from Primark and save a lot on things such as t-shirts and shorts.

When I do go shopping I need to remember to take my canvas shopping bags with me if I am planning on buying things. We are really good at taking bags with us for the food shop however, on general shopping trips those bags soon start to add up then they just leave your house looking cluttered. I have a few canvas backs which would definitely save me on shopping trips it is just remembering to take them out but I will be making sure I do start to remember as every penny saved helps plus I am sick of having a draw full of plastic bags. 

I am terrible for going out and buying items we already have loads of in the house and Liam goes mad, this is a big problem especially with cleaning products as I just buy them if I see a new scent. This has become a bit of a problem as our cleaning products are starting to spill out of where we store them and are just taking up far too much space, throw in the fact this also happens with toiletries and the house is just over run. From now on I will only be buying items when previous ones have been used up and need replacing this should save us money and help declutter the cupboards and shelves. 

I have noticed I am subscribed to a few things that I don't even use anymore so I will be going through and getting rid of those and finding free alternatives to ones which I was meant to use for the blog etc, any others will just be cancelled and I might even transfer the amount it should have been into my savings straight away so I know that is money saved and accounted for rather than seeing it as extra money to spend each month.

Finally a big swap that is going to save me a fortune, if I am bored or just don't want to sit at home all day I won't be picking shopping trips at every opportunity as this is when I spend a fortune on items I don't need and I can really save by swapping a shopping trip for a nice walk which will also help for my weight loss journey. There is also the fact that rather than going shopping I could easily swap the trip out for a content creating day where I can get ahead of myself for the blogs and social media and see improved quality and consistency on the content I am producing, this would help stop me burning out whilst also keeping me in the house and away from the shops.

There you have it those are the swaps I am planning on making from now on to try start saving a lot more money. I am determined to start seeing my saving accounts increase rather than decrease as there is so much I want to get done this year in the house to ensure that the upstairs is basically complete and we are ready to move onto the bigger job of the hallway and the downstairs of the house. It is time to get my act together and see these swaps working.