In order of size: rent or mortgage, energy, council tax, insurance, food, transport, subscriptions. Work down the list, because ten per cent off the biggest line beats eliminating the smallest one entirely.
- List every recurring payment from three months of bank statements. Not from memory, which is always wrong.
- Sort by annual cost, largest first.
- Work down the list rather than starting with the small easy ones.
- Check entitlements. Council tax reduction, single person discount, Pension Credit, Child Benefit and Universal Credit are routinely unclaimed. A benefits calculator takes ten minutes.
- Check you are not paying for things you have forgotten, which is where most subscriptions live.
If debt repayments are the problem, free advice exists and is far better than anything advertised. StepChange, Citizens Advice and National Debtline do not charge. Anything that charges a fee to consolidate debt should be treated with real caution.
Savings compound by size, not by effort. Cancelling a small subscription feels like progress, but a single successful council tax band challenge or insurance switch is worth several years of it.
Tipking is general household information, not professional advice. Test anything on a hidden patch first. Full disclaimer.