Seven five-minute jobs to boost your finances by almost £4,000 in 2025
AS the cost of living crisis continues to bite for families across the country, it is worth exploring the small things you can do to ease your financial burdens in 2025.
Some of these suggestions are quick fixes, others might take more time.
But by next Christmas, you could have some money put aside or have paid for that big purchase.
1. Cancel unnecessary subscriptions - £500
It’s a good time of year to have a subscription service declutter, as you might find some ongoing payments you’ve forgotten about for a service you never use.
These could include streaming services, food delivery, pet food or magazines.
You can usually cancel them by either contacting the service provider or cancelling the direct debit with your bank.
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A survey by Vision Express last year found that the average Brit pays out nearly £500 every year on subscription services, so by reducing this amount even by half would save a significant chunk.
2. Write a shopping list - £800
According to Tesco, the average British family is wasting approximately £800 worth of edible food a year with staples including bread, bananas and milk topping the bill of most binned items.
By sitting down and taking five minutes to work out what your most wasted items have been lately, you can plan for next year’s grocery bill to be a lot lower, and you’d be doing your bit for the planet too.
It’s also worth shopping around for the best price for common items, or switching from branded ranges to supermarket own brands.
3. Create a budget tracker - £100s
Writing down every penny you spend over the course of a week or month can be a revealing exercise.
It is virtually impossible to track spending in your head, and small purchases like coffees out, treats for the kids, or the odd takeaway can quickly add up.
By getting a handle on your expenses, you may find ways to dramatically reduce your spending next year.
Perhaps you will be shocked at the amount of money you’re spending on lunch each day.
Or at the mounting cost of your kids’ football sticker habit.
Setting up a simple Excel spreadsheet or keeping an account book can help you manage your outgoings.
How to get free debt help
By being watchful about your spending, you can save hundreds of pounds, if not thousands.
4. Swap your credit cards - £765.24
Taking five minutes to check in on any credit cards you have could help you to manage your debt better.
Often cards start with a good deal, but over time the interest on any balance becomes higher and the cards are no longer good value.
Comparison website suggests that moving existing credit card debt to a 0% interest balance transfer card could help you save up to £765.24 in interest in the first 12 months.
You can use any comparison website to find the best current deals - but always make sure to check the terms of the card before you commit.
The deals you can get in terms of interest rates, interest-free periods and credit limit will depend on your credit score and income, among other factors.
Comparison websites and credit card providers will often have an eligibility checker that can do a soft search without affecting your credit rating.
Always remember to pay off at least the minimum amount off your credit card each month. And if you're transferring a balance, avoid spending more on the card.
How to shift your credit card debt quickly
By James Flanders, Consumer Reporter
UK Finance reports that we spend a whopping £2 billion a month using our credit cards.
While that little strip of plastic makes everyday spending easy peasy, it comes at a huge cost.
According to The Money Charity, the average credit card debt sits at £2,485 per household or £1,312 per adult.
And if you're stuck on a credit card with a high APR and only making the minimum repayments, you could be forking out hundreds of pounds extra in interest charges.
For example, if you owe £1,312 on your credit card and are charged 24.8% APR.
If you don't make any more transactions and pay £100 a month in repayments, you will pay off the card by September 2025 but at £207 in interest.
However, by hunting around for a better deal elsewhere and switching to a balance transfer credit card with a lengthy interest-free period, you can save yourself £162.
If the same person was accepted for a 28-month-long zero-interest credit card with a 3.4% balance transfer fee and made the same £100 repayments each month.
They would pay off the debt sooner, in July 2025, and only fork out £45 towards the 3.4% balance transfer fee.
Before taking out a new credit card or increasing the amount you borrow, it's vital to consider the consequences.
You should only borrow money if you can afford to pay it back.
It's always vital to ask yourself if you need to borrow before committing to a new credit card, personal loan or overdraft.
If you use a credit card, I'd recommend that you always pay off your balance in full at the end of each statement period.
Lenders have a responsibility to help customers who are in debt.
If you're in a debt crisis, your first point of call should be your lender.
They might help you out by offering you a reduced interest rate or a temporary payment holiday - so check in with your lender if you're struggling.
5. Prioritise expensive debt - £100s
Along the same lines, it’s worth taking time to look at all the debt you have, such as credit cards or loans, and prioritise them in terms of which is costing you the most.
For example, if you have £1,000 on a card at 18%, landing you with a £180 per year interest bill, and, at the same time, £1,000 in savings earning 1%, giving you £10 a year, then you would be better off using your savings to pay off the card.
Simply doing that would save you £170, although it would eat up your savings.
We spoke to experts about when it's better to pay off debts versus saving money - read what they said.
Always tackle priority debts first though. These are ones where the consequences for not paying are most severe, like rent, mortgage and council tax.
How to cut the cost of your debt
IF you're in large amounts of debt it can be really worrying. Here are some tips from Citizens Advice on how you can take action.
Check your bank balance on a regular basis - knowing your spending patterns is the first step to managing your money
Work out your budget - by writing down your income and taking away your essential bills such as food and transport
If you have money left over, plan in advance what else you’ll spend or save. If you don’t, look at ways to cut your costs
Pay off more than the minimum - If you’ve got credit card debts aim to pay off more than the minimum amount on your credit card each month to bring down your bill quicker
Pay your most expensive credit card sooner - If you have more than one credit card and can’t pay them off in full each month, prioritise the most expensive card (the one with the highest interest rate)
Prioritise your debts - If you’ve got several debts and you can’t afford to pay them all it’s important to prioritise them
Your rent, mortgage, council tax and energy bills should be paid first because the consequences can be more serious if you don't pay
Get advice - If you’re struggling to pay your debts month after month it’s important you get advice as soon as possible, before they build up even further
Groups like Citizens Advice and National Debtline can help you prioritise and negotiate with your creditors to offer you more affordable repayment plans.
6. Check your insurance bills - £700
Your insurance premiums might look more affordable in any list of quotes, but there’s often a sting – many firms charge high interest if you pay monthly.
According to consultancy Pearson Ham, the average home insurance premium rose to £420 in 2024.
And the average car insurance bill has hit nearly £1,000.
Drivers can now expect to pay £995 for their car insurance, on average, according to price comparison website .
Monthly payments can cost up to 50% more than paying annually, so if you can afford to pay upfront, you could save yourself up to a whopping £700.
7. Set up a savings challenge - £1,000
There are lots of ideas for saving over a year, but an easy way to do it is by using a savings account that automatically rounds up your purchases.
For example, investment app rounds up your bank account transactions to the nearest pound, and moves the money into your Plum account.
For example, if you spend £4.50 on a coffee, Plum will round it up to £5 and move the extra 50p into your Plum account.
Sun reader Jacqueline Poutney, 30, put aside £1,000 by doing this and said it was all done without her noticing the money leaving her bank account.
You can also use money management app to do a similar thing.
Other savings challenges include the 52-week challenge, where participants put aside £1 for the first week, £2 for the second, £3 for the third and so forth, until the end of the year.
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Before you start, consider whether the larger amounts at the end of the year will be achievable.
But if you can stick to it though, the payoff is huge as you'll pocket a whopping £1,378.
Money saving challenges
HERE are some popular money-saving challenges you can use:
- Weather saving challenge - Save the amount equal to whatever the highest temperature was that week. £1 = 1C.
- 1p challenge - save 1p a day for everyday of the year, but it increase the amount by 1p each day. So day one you save 1p, 2p on day two and 3p on day three. When you reach 100 days you start adding a £1 coin each day too, while this increases to a £2 coin each day plus pennies at 200 days, and £3 each day on top of pennies at day 300.
- 20p a day challenge - Start by putting 20p in savings, then increase the amount by 20p every day. For example, the first week will look like this: 20p, 40p, 60p, 80p, £1, £1.20, £1.40.
- £5 a week challenge - Like the 20p challenge, put aside £5 a week and increase it by a fiver each week. Eg £5, £10, £15, £20
- Round-up challenge - Every time you buy something, round up the purchase to the nearest £1 and put the difference in a savings account. Eg. You pay £2.60, so you put 40p in savings. You can use an app such as Monzo or Starling to do this.
- Bingo challenge - Here you have a bingo card with different numbers on it and you tick them off when you’ve put that amount in your savings account. It can be ad hoc but you have to tick them all off by the end of the month.
- Monday to Sunday challenge - With this challenge, you simply save £1 on Monday, £2 on Tuesday and so on until the weekend where you don't save on Saturday or Sunday.
- 365 day challenge - Every Sunday you put aside £1, followed by £2 on Monday, £3 on Wednesday and so on. On Saturday you’ll put away £7, and then the process repeats and you’ll put aside £1 on Sunday as the new week begins