Spending less is essential if you have payday loans to pay off. Tightening your belt is never fun but imagine a life free from payday loans! It will be worth it. If you keep some of this up when you are payday loan free you will find that your paycheque goes much further.

Transport

Getting to and from work is obviously a neccessary expense but could you be doing it more cheaply?

• If you use public transport a season ticket could be much cheaper than paying as you go
• Don't always go for the obvious choice. A friend of mine lives in zone 6 of London and commutes to zone 1. She has found that it is much cheaper for her to get a zone 2-6 travel card and then take a short bus ride to work than it is to buy a zone 1-6 pass.
• Get a bike. Obviously this depends on your journey to work. This will not only save you money but will also make you fitter.
• Walk one way if it's not too far. Even if you only do this 3 times a week it will save you cash. It will also make you fitter and often walking is much more pleasant than being stuck in a strangers armpit on a packed bus!
• If you drive to work would it be cheaper to get a bus? Or maybe you could share lifts with people who live nearby. You could take it in turns to drive meaning that you need to spend less on petrol and it is much more environmentally friendly.

Food

Obviously food is another necessity but you can probably spend less money on it than you do now.

• This is a great tip from the Money Saving Expert website. Most supermakets have 3 tiers of pricing ie economy (ie ASDA smartprice, Sainsbury's basics etc), normal and premium(ie Tesco's finest). Next time you go shopping drop down one  price tier - ie if you usually buy finest get the normal brand and if you usually buy normal buy the ecomomy brand. If you notice a difference go back to your usual brand but if not then stick with the cheaper product. 
• Try shopping from discount supermarkets at Lidl and Netto. They aren't very glamourous or particulary well laid out and you have to pay for plastic bags but they are a lot cheaper than a lot of the main supermarkets.
• Eat less meat. It is expensive and vegetarian food can be delicious. Check out the vegetarian society website for great recipe ideas  
• Buy fruit and vegetables from a local greengrocer or market. It is often much cheaper than going to the supermarket
• Take your lunch into work. Spending £4 a day on a sandwich costs around £90 a month which is roughly equivilant to the fees on a £350 payday loan for a month. If colleagues notice that you are doing it and you are too embarrassed to say it's about money tell them that you are on a diet or a healthy eating plan. You don't need to stick to boring sandwiches. You can take salads and left over stir-fry and chilli are fantastic in wraps. If you have a microwave at work you can bring in soup and filled jackets to heat up.

Free Stuff!

Freecycle is great place for picking up free furniture. It is very useful if you move house and can save you a fortune!Once you have signed up you can get in contact with people in your local area who are looking to get rid of furniture. They save the price of having it collected and you can get some really lovely furniture for the price of a local taxi ride.

Gumtree also has a selection of things that people are giving away. This isn't confined to your local area though so make sure you don't end up paying more to transport the stuff that it's worth!

Give something up

I have given up alcohol for the month of November. I have saved a lot of money as well as lost weight. It sounds a bit drastic but I will end the month with one less payday loan than I started it with so it is a step in the right direction. As a smoker I know how difficult it is to give up smoking, especially if you are worried about debt but this will also save a lot of money if you can do it. Cutting down on these things doesn't really work as one drink / cigarette always leads to another!

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