Too many weeks at the end of your loan payment? Do you find yourself scraping around for pennies under the sofa, in your old coat pockets and the bottom of the laundry basket? Then you might be pleased to hear that there are a few little tricks you can use to make your money last that little bit longer so that you don’t have to go without.

1. Look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves

Your mother might have told you this before. It’s true though! If you have a collection of small coins hanging around on the dresser annoying, put them to good use by spending them.  If you regularly use a debit card, try to carry a small coin purse with you too. When you are shopping at self-serve tills/ scan and go in the supermarket, instead of just popping in your card, first empty out your coin purse into the machine and watch the balance go down. Then put whatever is left on your card. Not only have you got rid of that annoying loose change, but you’ve also taken less money out of your bank account.

2. Plan ahead for presents

If you have a month where you need to buy a lot of presents for your family (i.e Christmas) but you know you won’t have loads of money at that time, think ahead a shop around a bit longer for a present to ensure you don’t have to panic last minute and spend more than you can afford. A great site for gift buying is Kelkoo Select Deals. They offer luxury products at up to 90% off. You’ll be sent a voucher for the product which you can then either pass on as a gift (if you’re lazy) or use the voucher to get the product in time for the special occasion. The person in receipt will think you’ve spent loads, when most offers cost under £30.

3. Make a weekly menu

Ideally before you go shopping, write out a plan of meals for the week. You can often save money by buying larger measures of products such as meat or canned vegetables. See how many meals you can plan using one different product. If that sounds a bit monotonous to you, and you are lucky enough to have a freezer, make double quantities of whatever you’re cooking instead and freeze them. You’ll have a homemade microwave meal ready for when you’re in a rush and you could save around 50% from buying larger quantities of products.