Energy bills, sports TV subscriptions, impulse buying: how we're wasting money during Coronavirus lockdown

It's important for everyone to make their money stretch further at the moment.

The ongoing Coronavirus situation has had a profound impact on the incomes of millions of people across the country.

With so many of us having to make our money stretch a little further, it’s incredibly important to look carefully at precisely where you are spending your money and identify areas where you aren’t getting much back.

Energy bills

An excellent place to start is your gas and electricity bill.

An inevitable result of us all spending so much more time at home is that we are using more energy, and as such are in danger of running up some massive energy bills.

So now ‒ even though the sun is out ‒ is the right time to review your energy tariff.

Millions of households across the country are on their supplier’s standard variable tariff, which is basically the most expensive deal they offer.

It’s precisely because these deals are so rubbish that the government felt compelled to introduce an energy price cap, to at least limit the extent to which suppliers rip off customers on these deals.

But you can save hundreds by switching to a new fixed tariff today, ensuring that even with your additional energy use you are going to be better off.

Search for a cheaper energy deal here. Or, if you can't be bothered to switch regularly go for an automated service like Look After My Bills.

Broadband

It’s not just the gas and electricity that’s taking a hammering at the moment ‒ millions of us are hugely reliant on our internet connections, for work and for entertainment now that we can’t leave the house.

So it makes sense to check you’re on the best possible broadband deal for your actual use. Now, more than ever, you will have a decent idea of just how much streaming you do and whether the speeds and allowances included in your deal are worth the money you’re paying.

What’s more, if you haven’t switched deals in a while, you may find that you can save money AND find a more generous package from a rival provider.

The same goes for your home phone and mobile phone packages.

You have time now to analyse just how you use your phones and whether the deals you are on actually line up with your typical usage.

If they don’t, finding an alternative deal that does will likely save you some cash.

Search for a better deal on Broadband Genie

Sports TV packages

Subscriptions to sporting TV channels are expensive at the best of times, but when every sport under the sun is on an indefinite hiatus, it’s even more painful.

So what can you do? Unfortunately cancelling your subscription could well land you with a hefty cancellation fee, so that’s far from ideal.

However, you can still save some cash.

Sky has said it is allowing customers to ‘pause’ their subscriptions without being charged. 

With BT Sport, you can get a bill credit for two months by going to www.BT.com/sportsupport. If there is no live sport broadcast on the channel in June, it will automatically add another month’s credit to your account.

Compare Sky TV, broadband and phone deals

Gym subscriptions

With the nation’s gyms closed, many of us are relying on Joe Wicks and the like to guide us through a little daily exercise. But what about the money that normally comes out of our accounts for gym subscriptions?

This will vary depending on who your membership is with, but thankfully plenty of the big names have said they will be pausing payments for the duration of the current lockdown.

These include the likes of Virgin Active, Pure Gym and David Lloyd, so don’t be hasty in cancelling your direct debit.

However, if you workout with a smaller, independent gym it’s worth getting in contact to establish exactly how they are handling your membership and whether you can save some cash by pausing payments.

Impulse purchases

Just as the devil makes work for idle thumbs, the Coronavirus makes work for Amazon drivers. 

Let’s be honest, it’s all too easy to end up spending some cash on something we hope will provide a little added entertainment during the lockdown, whether that’s additional exercise equipment, board games or even a new gaming system.

And while doing a little retail therapy may lighten your mood a little, it will also lighten your wallet.

Give yourself a cool-off period to reflect on whether this purchase really is essential, and whether you will actually put the item to use. That pullup bar may seem appealing right now, but how often are you really going to use it?

Online shopping tricks that could save you hundreds

The ‘just in case’ shop

There is more food in our homes than usual at the moment.

In some cases this is very understandable ‒ I have two hungry kids who normally eat a decent lunch at school who need feeding for example ‒ plenty of people have understandably felt the need to stock up more.

It’s one thing to do this with tins and items that you can leave in the cupboard for a while, and still use, but it’s quite another to buy more than you really need with fresh food.

So rather than buy more than you are going to use, just in case, stick to what you are most likely to use.

It cuts down the chances of you wasting both the food and your money.

Food waste charity explains how to cut down amount we throw away