How to reduce your cost of living from Right at Home Barnet& Edgware

Review your contracts, subscriptions & prescriptions

When money is tight, it’s important to review your outgoings and assess what is necessary.    

• Prescriptions

If you are paying for multiple subscriptions a year, you could save money with an NHS Payment Prescription Certificate, this will allow you to get all your prescriptions for a set price

• TV

Most people are you paying for unnecessary channels, packages, or subscriptions they don’t use.

One way you can reduce you cost is trying to haggle for a better price to reduce costs. Another way is to extend you tv package for a lower price if you sign up to a year/2-year contract.

• Mobile phone

When choosing a mobile phone contract, you need to check how much data, minutes, and texts you are using average per month. Then you can decide on what contracts is the best for you and this could mean you can find a cheaper contract elsewhere.

Plan your weekly food shop

Plan out your weekly meals, including lunches, and check your cupboards before you update the shopping list. First way to save money and avoid buying unnecessary products you can set a budget for food shopping. Secondly, buy non-branded alternatives or buy from budget supermarkets instead of branded products.

Cook in batches so your money is going further. Freeze the leftovers to come back to for lunches and meals when you are short on time.

Consider a slow cooker or an air fryer as they can help you batch cook and are energy efficient so it will reduce your energy costs.

Limit the amount you eat out or buy lunch, assess how much you are currently spending on meals, food and drinks out and try to reduce this by a couple of trips a month.

Here are Right at home Barnet & Edgware’s top tips for living as cost effectively as possible

Fuel prices have reached an all-time high this year and as homecare workers, our petrol and diesel costs are already significantly higher than employees in other industries, the fuel price rises have simply added more strain.

There are lots of ways we can reduce our fuel consumption while driving, helping you minimise the number of times you have to refuel and save you money while fuel prices are at a record high

When it comes to refilling, find your cheapest fuel options in Barnet& Edgware using PetrolPrices.com

• Check your tyre pressure
  • Under inflated tyres increase vehicle drag, which increases fuel consumption
  • Tyres under inflated by 15psi can use 6% more fuel
• Empty your boot / declutter your car
  • Ditch the roof rack when you’re not using it
  • The lighter your car is, the less fuel it will use
  • On average, every extra 50kg of weight will increase fuel consumption by 2%
• Drive efficiently / stick to the speed limit
  • Driving smoothly and changing gears early can reduce your fuel usage
  • Anticipate the road as far ahead as possible to avoid unnecessary braking and acceleration
  • Avoid excessive speed
• Be smart with your air con and window usage
  • When driving at low speeds, open your windows instead of using air conditioning
  • If driving at higher speeds, use the air con as the additional drag caused by open windows could use additional fuel

Energy consumption & water bills

Energy bills are set to reach record highs this winter. There are ways to reduce your household spending to limit your energy prices:

• Layer up and reduce the central heating temperature
• Get or set a timer to avoid heating your home when you aren’t there
• Check the hot water temperature setting on your boiler and reduce it
• Gas and electric - review your direct debits to make sure you haven’t overpaid
• Water - If you get a water meter it will save you money as without a water meter, your bill is based on “rateable value”. A water meter could save you money as you only pay for what you use

Be money smart with your credit cards

• Never let credit card bills go unpaid
• Try consolidation or moving existing credit card debt to a cheaper rate card
• This can simplify repayments and increase flexibility in payment options
• Stay up to date with your direct debit payments and cancel anything you don’t use
• Factor in paying into your savings account into your monthly budgets if you can. Even a small amount is better than nothing and it will help in the long term

Rewards and discounts / [Barnet & Edgware’s best rewards and discounts / Take advantage of rewards and discounts in Barnet& Edgware.

• There are lots of reward schemes and discounts you can take advantage of that will help you save money during the cost of living crisis
• Honey and Pouch are browser extensions (internet add ons) that work by finding coupons automatically and applying them at more than 21,000 retailers
• Top Cashback gains you a percentage of what you pay back as a reward when you shop via their site
• Blue Light Card provides those in the NHS, emergency services, social care sector and armed forces with discounts online and in store. If you are a Right at Home CareGiver, you can sign up using your payslip

How Right at Home Barnet & Edgware is supporting our CareGivers with cost of living increases

• Right at Home pay at least National Living Wage and 30 pence per mile to cover fuel price increases
• Right at Home offices have written to local MPs to call on them to introduce a fuel subsidy and increase the care workers' 45p/m tax relief
• A Right at Home CareGiver spoke in front of the Health and Social Care Select Committee to discuss how the cost of living crisis is affecting CareGivers
• Lucy Campbell our CEO has met with her local MP to campaign for change

Right at home Barnet & Edgware caregiver said “ Right at home Barnet & Edgware office team has being paying the carers advance Salaries to help us pay our bills.”

Call to Action

If you are looking for an employer that will support you with increased living costs and campaign for change, check Right at Home Barnet & Edgware’s vacancies today