Too many of us let cash languish in accounts or in products paying rotten returns. Shake off this laziness to give yourself better returns, and hunt down any forgotten funds or concealed cash. You may be amazed at what you find.http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/make-money#workharder
1.
Give yourself a 25% pay rise
There's nowt more powerful than sorting out your own finances. By shifting to the best deal on every product you can give yourself as much cash as a 25% pay rise, without cutting back. Before anything else, this is the most important starting point.
How much? The average UK family could gain £2,500 to £5,000 a year doing this.
How do I do it? Use the step-by-step Money Makeover guide.
2.
Get paid every time you spend
Cashback credit cards pay you back a proportion of what you spend each time you use them.
Set up a direct debit to pay it off in full each month, so there's no interest cost, and you can earn £100s/year. Just use the card for all your normal spending.
How much? The top cards pay 5% cashback for the first three months. It's also possible to get 3% for petrol/transport and 1% for supermarkets.
How do I do it? For updated best buys, see the Top Cashback Cards guide.
3.
Don't accept pitiful savings rates
If you've got savings, ensure they're working well for you. Too many people leave their savings in pitiful high street bank accounts where the money is actually shrinking.
Even worse, you may have it in a current account earning just 0.1%. Stop! Five minutes' work will let you increase the interest massively.
How much? For every £5,000 you have in a top savings account, as a basic rate taxpayer you'd earn £120 a year more than in a poor account.
4.
Always pay off debts with savings
Most people who try to save while they're in debt are simply throwing their money away. The amount you pay in interest to borrow is much more than you earn on your savings, so pay the debt off with savings and you're quids in.
How much? Someone with £5,000 on a credit card and £5,000 saved is likely to be £700 a year better off by paying off the debt with the savings.
Find out more: See the full Should I Pay Off My Debts?, Should I Pay Off My Student Loan?and Should I Pay Off My Mortgage? guides.
5.
Get all benefits/state pension
There's a plethora of benefits available - the key is working out whether you're entitled to them. The rather nifty tool from benefits specialists Entitledto and Turn2Us in ourBenefits Checkup guide does the work for you. It has a regularly updated calculator that works out everything you can get in one go.
Plus it may be possible to get more in your retirement by purchasing extra National Insurance Contributions (NICs) though there are drawbacks here, so read the full State Pension Boosting guide.
How much? If you've a family income under £42,000 it's worth checking, but in rare cases families with £72,000 can qualify, as you could get any of these: working tax credit; council tax and housing benefit; pension credit; child benefit; child trust fund and child tax credit. Plus, by boosting your state pension, you could end up £1,000s better off.
Find out more: Read the full Benefits Check-up, State Pension Boosting, Housing Benefitand Childcare Costs guides.
6.
Use your credit rating to stooze
Many credit card companies are willing to lend you money at 0% interest, so why not use this cash for everyday spending, replacing all other credit & debit card spending?
This means you'll now have debts on your 0% card (make sure you make the min repayment each month) and a similar amount in your current account, which you can save in a high interest ISA.
Pay off the full balance before the 0% ends, having earned interest on the money saved. This is known as stoozing. It's legal and can be profitable; yet it's only for the really financially savvy.
How much? This depends on what you'd normally spend. It's this amount that will be gaining interest in a top savings account, but if you stoozed £5,000 in a top rate ISA, you'd earn around £100 over the year.
How do I do it? Use the step-by-step Stoozing: Make Free Cash guide.
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