How to live on less than £1000 a month and be happy

While life and everything within it can be incredibly expensive, the phrase ‘Money can’t buy you happiness’ is inherently true. A lot of us spend because it’s a status, showing new purchases and shiny technology shows people that we’re happy and successful, but it isn’t always necessary, or the truth.

It is possible to be happy and survive on living with under £1,000 a month. While life might not be glamorous and you may not be able to go out and blow your cash on a spending spree it doesn’t mean you can’t live a content and happy life. Having the people you love around you in a healthy, happy environment is all you really need for a content life.

Consider the location where you live
A lot of people continue to live in the same neighbourhood as where they grew up but this may mean paying more for where they live. By looking around and perhaps moving ten minutes outside of the city centre, or the other side of the town you could save considerable money and perhaps get a property which is even nicer than where you currently are.

Shop around for deals on your bills
When you think of the endless bills you have to pay each month including electricity, energy, water, mobile phones and internet it can be worrying thinking how you can afford them all. The great thing is most service providers are highly competitive and want your custom so shop around for your electricity, energy and water rates.

When it comes to your mobile phone think about whether you really need to upgrade your phone when your contract comes to an end, if you don’t think about swapping to a sim only contract which is much cheaper. Similarly, if you don’t use your home phone don’t pay for it each month, plenty of providers can now offer internet packages without the need for a home phone line.

Be sure to visit MoneySavingExpert.com where you can find valuable resources to help reduce your utility bills.

Use cash back sites to make purchases
If you do need to purchase something which isn’t necessarily an essential buy it through a cash back service because over time you will earn money back on your purchases. Even if it’s only 5% the money adds up over time, especially if it’s on a product you were going to buy anyway.

Here are two Cashback sites you may want to consider:
Top Cashback
Quidco

Once you sign up to these sites, you’ll be able to browse products from your favourite retailers and buy as usual. These sites earn commission when you shop through them and they in turn give you cashback.

Plan your meals carefully
So many of us are guilty of throwing away food because we buy it and then it goes out of date before we’ve had a chance to use it. By making a meal plan for your week before stepping foot into a supermarket you’ll know exactly what you need to make those dishes, what you can buy now which will last and what needs buying later in the week. When you are shopping keep an eye on price comparisons/ price matching that some supermarkets offer which can save you some money when you buy products.

Take advantage of free days out
There are quite a lot of free things to do if you’re looking at having a day out. A lot of museums are free to visit and you can spend hours exploring them, especially in and around city centres such as London. Why not explore a traditional food market and taste all the tempting treats out for sampling, or maybe enjoy a bike ride in your local park. Days out can cost hundreds of pounds, in contrast they can also be free.

Timeout.com has great ideas on free days out. Change the location at the top of the website to the city you will going and check out what’s on.

There are lots of other things you can consider doing to cut costs such as buying a bike and cycling around rather than using a car, cancelling your gym membership and going for runs outside, and taking coffee to work rather than buying one before you hit the office. All of these small things will help in the long run to create a happy home life.