Whether you rent or own your home, if you’re living in a property that’s bigger than your requirements, you could save money during the cost of living crisis by moving house.
Although it’s not always an option, and you might not want to make a change at the moment, why not put together a theoretical budget to find how you could cut your outgoings if you did make the move?
The main problems during this cost of living crisis seem to be:
- Heating – so fewer rooms and smaller spaces to heat could help you cut costs. And, if you move into a newly-built property it may have better insulation and triple-glazing, so will help you to stay warmer.
- Electricity – again, a newer home may have better facilities such as solar panels on the roof or newer appliances with A++ ratings, which could help you save money on electricity.
- Interest rates – if you’ve got a mortgage on a bigger house than you really need, you might be able to reduce your monthly mortgage repayments by moving to a smaller – and therefore cheaper to buy – house or apartment.
- Interest rates again – In fact, you might even be able to make money by moving, as your home may have appreciated in value since you bought it and you might be able to sell it for more money than you spend on a smaller property. That’ll give you cash to put in the bank, and then you can take advantage of the high interest rates by saving your money in a tax-free ISA and gaining interest on it.
- Rent – the cost of renting a property is increasing because landlords are having to pay more interest on their buy-to-let properties. If you’re in a larger house than you need you could cut the monthly rental cost by moving to a smaller property.
So, if you put all your current income and outgoings into a budget planner (find one for free in my resources library) you can see where you currently are. Then, create a theoretical budget for a smaller home, with a lower mortgage or smaller rental cost, and the potential reduced heating and electricity bills.
At least then you’ll have a clear idea of whether it would make sense to downsize your home during these difficult times. I’ve previously shared my budgeting tips for first-time renters on my blog, which may be useful when considering the cost of moving. And, if you do decide to make the move, there are other ways you can get extra money as part of the process.
For example, if you move to a smaller home, it’s likely that you’ll have an excess of stuff to get rid of – furniture, rugs, bedding, and it might even be time to clear out some of your belongings and declutter your wardrobe. Therefore, you can sell these items second-hand via online marketplaces, at car boot sales or even on local noticeboards.
But, if your finances can’t hold out so you’re in a hurry to make the move and start saving money each month, you can pack up the items that you can’t fit into your new home and could keep them in a self-storage unit with a company such as Now Storage to temporarily house your belongings while you’re in the process of moving house.
Then, you can work your way through selling all the items after the move is complete, getting extra cash in your pocket every month. And, if you’ve only got the storage unit for a short period of time you’ll be extra motivated to get the stuff sold as quickly as possible.
Who knows? You might even become a minimalist in the process – I’ve blogged about the money-saving benefits of being a thrifty essentialist minimalist so be sure to check out that blog post, too.
Also, if you choose the location of your new home carefully, you might be able to reduce your monthly travel costs, too. For example, if your new property is on a public transport route, it could be cheaper to get a travel pass than to run your vehicle, which fuel, insurance and road tax.
Or you could simply move closer to your work or the kids’ school so that the distance you need to travel is reduced. Could you even cycle or walk to work? Any of these options would help to save money on your travel costs every month, that’s an added bonus from moving house.
Even though it might not be easy to move house to cut costs, it’s worth looking at the possibilities and seeing what kind of savings you can make on your monthly bills if you do make the move.
Let me know if you can think of any other ways to save money during the cost of living crisis in the comments below – I’d love to hear your hacks for minimising electricity, heating and travel costs.
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This article is a sponsored collaboration. The pink links in the content indicate a sponsored link or information source. The blog post reflects my own experience and the sponsor hasn’t had any control over my content 🙂
