There’s an old proverb: “Look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves.” First coined in the 1700s, it has been attributed to William Lowndes, Britain’s secretary of the treasury until 1724.
It remains good advice today. There are many little savings you can make that can quickly add up to much bigger ones.
Given the cost-of-living pressures, now is a good time to have a look at some of those ways of saving. While individually they may seem insignificant, these little savings could end up saving you heaps.
A little savings technique that’s worth it
In William Lowndes’ last years as secretary of the treasury, George I was king, – and so was cash.
When old Mr Lowndes handed out his advice back then, the internet was the stuff of dreams.
But it’s online where many of these little savings can potentially be made. Take your monthly subscriptions, for example. The dangerous thing about subscriptions these days is that almost all are paid for automatically.
Do you pay for an online streaming service? And how many are you signed up to? Sure, you’d love to watch season three of The Witcher on Netflix, or that new Apple TV thriller, The Crowded Room. By all means sign up and enjoy the shows. But make sure you do actually watch them. Otherwise you’re paying for nothing at all.
Alternatively, you may have signed up to a streaming service and watched that show you’d heard about. But have you watched other shows on that service since? If the answer is ‘no’, have you cancelled your subscription?
If you’re like me, there’s a good chance you won’t have. And because your subscription is being directly debited from your bank account monthly, you hardly notice it. Unless it takes the account into overdraft, who’s going to notice $7 a month?
But even that basic fee (Netflix’s cheapest plan is $6.99/month), amounts to $84 over a year. At the high end of Netflix the fee is $22.99 per month. That’s $276 a year. Some not so little savings on offer right there.
Trials causing tribulations?
And did you say you also have a Disney+ subscription? Or was it Binge? Maybe you can’t remember. What you can remember is signing up for a free one-month trial for one of them. But you had a busy few weeks and never got around to checking it out. No problem, it was a free trial anyway.
The word ‘was’ is pretty important here. Your trial was free, but almost certainly when you signed up for it you would have provided your billing details. And now, in accordance with the fine print, you are paying a monthly fee to them. The offer said, ‘You can cancel at any time’, but did you?
My son taught me how to deal with such offers. He sets not one, not two, but three alarms on his calendar reminding him of an upcoming end to a free trial. That’s a good idea.
So far, I’ve focused on streaming services. I haven’t mentioned that yearly subscription I pay for an online science magazine that I never get around to reading. And when was the last time I actually went to the gym, which costs me $32 a fortnight in membership?
Remembering Mr Lowndes’ advice
There’s nothing wrong with paying for any of these services if you make good use of them. But if you don’t use them but are still paying for them, no matter how small the amount, you’re losing money.
Cancelling those services could provide you with some little savings. And those can soon add up to big savings. That would make old Mr Lowndes very happy.
Do you keep track of the streaming services you sign up to? And if you’re good at making many little savings, why not let us know in the comments section below?
Also read: Power bill savings tips to get you through winter
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That is what I have done with FOXTEL. We were never using it so we decided to cancel it and return the box saving $195 per month.
Mobile phones are now a necessary evil sadly, and I would add buying phones on a plan versus paying fully upfront. I have always bought upfront because I didn’t want the worry of an ongoing monthly payment to deal with both while working, and now on a pension. I have continued because it has made me more disiplined about what phone I have in terms of caring for it, getting advice when I need to replace it (son), and making sure I have the full cost always available by maintaining an emergency buffer between flat broke and staying afloat with some ballast. The main value is reduction of stress admittedly, but also keeping aware of how vulerable they are to breakage or loss keeps me disciplined by ensuring I always have enough to replace it – and that affects self discipline re financial health overall. It also means I don’t fall into the trap of trying to buy cheap and possibly shoddy if I suddenly have to replace it.
Wow, $195 per month is very high. Did that include every optional extra package?
We pay about $30 per month.