After an expensive Christmas and a difficult financial year in 2023, finance experts, RIFT, have taken a look at how to best reduce your spending through January and perhaps further into the new year.

Avoid the January sales
Unless there are things you really need to buy, make a choice to avoid the January sales this year. The reason retailers offer such great prices in January is because they know people want to avoid spending money, but they still need to tempt you into buying things. Don’t fall for it. Only buy the things you really need and watch your savings grow.

Cut down on food and drink spending
When we don’t pay close attention to our outgoings, food and drink can become one of our biggest expenses, and many of us spend far more than we need to do.

After a month of indulgence in December, January might be a good time to think about a more healthy diet. The good news is that this also helps reduce our food costs. Get rid of expensive fatty treats, and focus on fresh and affordable vegetable-based dishes.

Christmas can also be a boozy time, so reducing alcohol intake in January does wonders for your physical and mental health and also reduces your outgoings. Whether you stop drinking entirely for January, or follow a five days off, two days on pattern, you’ll notice the savings almost instantly.

The same goes for takeaway coffees. If we’re in the office just three days a week, we can easily buy six coffees. This quickly comes to a cost of around £100 per month. So get yourself a thermal cup and brew your own coffee at home to make good savings.

Declutter the house
January can be a time for a fresh start and decluttering the house is a great way to contribute towards this goal.

But don’t automatically throw things away or take them to the charity shop because there might be good money to be made by selling them. There are plenty of apps and websites that make selling everything from clothes to toys easy and fast.

Return unwanted items
Whether they’re Christmas presents you don’t like, or January purchases that don’t quite fit, be sure to return your unwanted items for a cash refund. It’s far too easy to be lazy or forget, eventually missing out on the 28-day returns window.

Consider your subscriptions
Without thinking about it, we can rack up six or seven different subscription services which means six or seven different standing orders for £8-10 per month. Netflix, Apple, Prime, Spotify, Audible, Now TV. Do you really need them all? Do you even use them all? Figure out which are most important to you and simply cancel the rest. Instantly, you’ve saved £30 every month.

Bradley Post, MD of RIFT, commented:

“January is a great time to get things in order and build a fresh financial start for the new year. The ways of modern life mean that we often spend so much money without even realising it, especially when it’s small, regular payments for coffee or media subscriptions. Just a little bit of thought and minor sacrifice can make all the difference to our bank accounts.

And this is particularly important for anyone who is due to file their self assessment forms for HMRC by January 31st – a big chunk of tax is about to leave your account so why not try and soften the blow with some simple but effective cost cutting?”