How to financially prepare for winter

In winter, preparation is key. The good thing is it’s no secret what is on the way: icy roads, short days, and mulled wine. Because we know what’s coming there are steps that you can take to get yourself ready for winter. Your preparation can help you overcome common winter situations and can save you money too. 

Get your car ready

For many people, their car is essential to getting to work, which is why it’s important to look after it over the winter. Whether you drive an old or new model, cold weather is never good for a car. Therefore, If you have the budget, it might be worth spending a little on your car now, to save a lot in the future. Here are some things you might consider to prepare yourself. 

Check your battery – along with the engine, your battery is like the heart of your car – without it you’re not going anywhere. Batteries do not like the cold nights winter brings. To make sure yours is going to make it through winter, we’d recommend getting your battery checked. Many places offer a free battery check service including Halfords and Kwik-Fit. 

Book a service – although it costs money, getting your car checked by a professional can be good for your piece of mind. They can make sure your car is winter ready, and advise you on anything that you may need to keep your car going during the tougher months.  

Top up engine coolant with antifreeze – over the year, some people only top up their engine with water, meaning antifreeze becomes diluted. On cold winter nights this can cause the water to freeze, creating costly damage to your car. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you. 

Buy some de-icer – keeping de-icer in your car can save you a real headache in the morning and get your car cleared of ice much faster. 

Check the tyre pressure and tread – over winter this can be a life saver. The legal minimum for tread in the UK is 1.6mm, but over winter the more tread you have, the better. 

Utility switching 

No matter who you are, your energy bills will inevitably go up during the winter. That being said, there are a few things you can do to try to and keep your bills as low as possible, such as using a price comparison site to see if you can find a better energy deal. 

Keep your doors closed – warming up a room takes much longer if you keep your doors open. Keep them closed and watch your energy bills fall. 

Only heat the rooms you are using – warming two rooms is much better than your whole house. If you’re only really using your living room and your bedroom, why not just heat those two rooms. If two rooms are too few, that’s fine.  

Enquire about free loft insulation and boilers – some low-income families could be entitled to free loft insulation of a new boiler.  

 

Eat well for less

You might start to think we are food obsessed here at Financial Wellness Group. To tell you the truth, we are. But that’s not why we write about food all the time. We know through experience that a significant portion of your monthly house budget will be used on food. It’s always an area in which you can save. During summer people tend to eat lighter but in the winter, meals become larger and more expensive. Here are some ideas to keep the cost down. 

Cook from scratch – this tip you will have heard before, but there is no substitute to cooking from scratch if you want to reduce your monthly food expenses. 

Use a slow cooker – using a slow cooker makes cooking completely effortless. Because it’s so easy, you’re more likely to use it again and again. The type of food you can cook with a slow cooker really lends itself to winter weather too. We put together a list of our favourite slow cooker recipes.  

Make a plan – to get your food budget under control you need to make a plan. If you know what you’ll be cooking you can figure out how much you will be spending. We put together a 14 day food plan. Take a look and modify it to suit you.  

Christmas shopping 

It’s hard to think about preparing for winter without talking about Christmas. Whether you’re on a debt solution or not, the key is to keep things manageable and sustainable. To make sure you manage your money during this time, we put together some top tips to help you save money this Christmas.