What can you do to save yourself some money?
1. Claim all your allowable expenses
There are lots of expenses, you can claim to reduce your tax bill. Claim them!
You can claim expenses for your office, travel and staff costs, clothing expenses, costs for your business premises, advertising and marketing, and training courses. Remember, expenses need to be wholly and exclusively used for the business.
I’m all for going paperless and making business more eco-friendly. It takes up the space and pieces of paper get lost. The easiest way is to get an app on your phone and snap the receipts as you go, so you don’t have to worry about it. With Xero, you can do just that. You can also download your email invoices into the software, so no more printing.
Create a folder on your laptop and drag all the invoices into it, so you can easily find them. Every receipt you lose will increase your tax liability. 😊
2. Check your bills
Check your bills and see if you can get a cheaper quote on any of them.
It’s all very convenient to just let the insurance renew, but… could you get it cheaper somewhere else? I did just last week and saved myself £104 on car insurance. Partner's car insurance can be cheaper if your name is as an additional driver… It’s worth looking at, especially if you are working from home like me and hardly ever drive it.
The same goes for your electricity, phone, and broadband. You could be saving yourself there a few hundred £££.
Check when your renewal dates are and compare some quotes. You might earn yourself £100 in an hour, that’s quite good, isn’t it? 😊
3. Get cashback on your bills
You may be able to get some cash back and change providers for some of your bills.
Few tips to get the best deal on sites like Quidco or TopCashback:
- Withdraw money, as soon as it’s in there, don’t store it there.
- Don’t focus on how much money you get back, focus on the cheapest deal.
- TopCashback & Quidco gives a guarantee, to beat the best rate, but do check the T&C before you purchase.
4. Check your direct debits
Are you still using all of your subscriptions? There might be direct debits you no longer use or need.
5. Credit Cards
Credit cards can be tricky things. See if you can change to a better deal with 0%. Would it be cheaper to get a business loan?
How much did you save up? It's quite amazing what you can get when you follow these how-to money-saving tips on regular bases.