9 Ideas To Help Your Money Go Further

Saving the pennies is something on every ones mind right now but even more so if you're a freelancer. I wanted to share some ideas to help us all make our money go a little further each month but would also love to here your tips too so remember to leave a comment!

1. Quit the gym! Summer is the perfect time to cancel your gym membership as you can make the most of the nice weather and start walking, running or cycling in the great outdoors. If it's the classes you love club together with some girl friends and buy some workout dvd's that you can all do together a couple of times a week. You'll get fit and have a laugh too! I love the Ministry of Sound workout series.

2. Sign up for as many pro discount schemes as you can. Click here to find out more.

3. Do your research so you can make educated decisions and get the most out of your budget when buying something new for your kit. Often impulse buys turn out to be a waste of money. Trawl makeup blogs, forums and sights like inmykit.com for recommendations.

4. Look out for discounts, multi-buys and budget disposable products and bulk buy. You can never have too many tissues, cotton pads, q-tips, wipes ect so stock up and save money in the long run if you come across a great offer.

5. Got something to celebrate? Lots of restaurants are offering great deals at the moment, particularly if you eat out mid week, so sign up to receive emails from your favourite restaurants and Google to see if there are any money off vouchers you can print off before you book a table for a special night out.

6. I recently discovered the designer outlet village, Bicester which is an hour away from me in Oxford. I now visit every few months to stock up on discounted products from Molton Brown, The White Company, The Cosmetics Store and Cath Kidston which I keep on hand for birthdays and any occasion that requires a gift. I rarely need to spend more than £10 on a gift (not that anyone would know) with a little though and some sensible shopping. Use Google to find your nearest designer outlet.

7. My latest money saving find has been Read It Swap It which you must sign up to if your are a book worm like me. The site puts you in touch with like minded people to swap your old books with and the best bit is all you pay is the postage. I just got The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee and only spent 90p at the post office!

8. I am a magazine junkie but have cut way back since discovering sites such as Design Scene, {a glamorous little side project}, deMode and Fashion-ation. I save images I want to keep for reference to my desktop and now I have a really great body of work to refer to when I need some inspiration.

9. Get yourself a Cafetiere, some really good coffee (no instant pls!), and some lovely big coffee cups and stop spending your hard earned cash in over priced coffee house chains. You can then have a gossip with your friends over coffee and a cake in the comfort of your own home.