If you are concerned about the rising cost of living, and want tips on how to make your money go further, Crosslight Advice will be running a free three-week Money Course at St Mellitus Church in Hanwell. The sessions will run on Friday 10, 17 and 24 March, from 10:30am – 12pm – followed by a light lunch, which is also free.
Act now to register for The Money Course.
Crosslight Advice specialise in providing debt advice and money education, for individuals and families who are struggling. The course will share information, tips and tools for money management, budgeting and saving money.
Help is at hand
Anyone attending the Money Course will also be eligible to sign up for Crosslight’s free Budget Coaching programme afterwards, providing one-to-one support to follow up the course content.
Councillor Steve Donnelly, Ealing cabinet member for inclusive economy said: “It is so easy to find yourself struggling with debt and worried about money, but help is at hand.
As well as checking what support you might be eligible for from the council, these free sessions will help you to plan and manage your money.”
Top tips
Ahead of the course, Crosslight share their top tips for managing your money and expenses:
Your calendar is your friend: Set a reminder for the renewal of services such as your mobile contract, broadband costs and insurances, to ensure they don’t auto-renew. It’s vital to shop around, and then either negotiate with your provider, or switch to a new provider with a better deal. Online tools such as USwitch or MoneySavingExpert can help with this.
Shop Strategically: Meal planning is a good way to cut down on grocery bills and avoid food waste. Start with an inventory of your cupboards, fridge and freezer. Ignore ‘deals’ unless they fit with your plan, or you can store the items for later, and avoid supermarket aisle temptation by shopping online. Try a food price tracker, such as Trolley, to get the cheapest deals.
Save on Energy Bills: The Energy Institute has developed an interactive tool which allows you to click around a virtual house, to see how much specific appliances cost to run. You can also visit Healthy Homes Ealing, who can assist with saving energy and cutting fuel bills.
Spend Consciously: Notice things you spend money on without even realising, such as a coffee on the way to work, or a takeaway at the weekend. Make a conscious decision about your spending and consider your priorities. Martin Lewis offers a ‘Demotivator’ tool to calculate what you would save annually if you gave up a particular item.
Shop Pre-loved: Shopping second hand not only saves substantially on your spending but will also help to save the planet. Visit Vinted and Depop for clothes, Shpock and Ebay for household items, and local groups such as Facebook Marketplace, Nextdoor, Gumtree or even Freecycle. Or try out local charity shops [CC1] [SC2] where you can get more than just clothes. Ebay users – visit Fatfingers, a website that allows you to search for items listed with a spelling mistake – search by category and leave with a bargain!
If you are concerned about your finances or worried about the rising cost of living, Crosslight also run The Money Course online so you can take it at your own pace.
Find out more about Crosslight and their range of courses.
More Money Management Courses
If you are interested in find out more, but cannot make the location or dates above, there are a number of other courses offered by Learn Ealing.
Be smart with your money
Starts on Friday, 10 March 10:15 – 12:15 at Northolt Library Learning Zone.
Register here: Ealing ALS MTPY2018FR Be smart with money (learnealing.org.uk)
This four week course allows us to stop for a moment and consider where our money goes, and where it comes from. This course helps us to understand our relationship with money, learn to budget and see how savings can increase and debts decrease through small changes.
Topics:
• Understand your relationship with money
• What is budgeting and how to differentiate between fixed and flexible costs?
• How to save?
• Debt: risks and advantages
To find out more about face to face and online courses visist:
Learn Ealing | Courses and workshops for adults, parents and families.
