1. Take advantage of cashback and reward credit cards. NatWest is offering Cashback Plus credit card-holders 5pc cashback on all spending in department stores (online or in store) between January 1 and March 31, 2015, while Santander 123 credit card holders can earn cashback on everyday spending, including 1pc cashback at all major supermarkets, 2pc cashback at major department stores and 3pc cashback at all major petrol stations, National Rail and TFL.
Both cards have a £24 annual fee – so they are better suited to those who will earn enough cashback to offset the fee. [Best cashback credit card deals]
2. Recycle old mobile phones, DVDs, CDs and clothes. Mazumamobile.com is one of many websites you can use to sell your old mobile phone. It will pay up to £45 for a fully functional iPhone 4, or £10 for a faulty handset. MusicMagpie.co.ukwill give you money for your old CDs, DVDs and games. You can also sell any unwanted clothes on the website, or alternatively, use sites like eBay. [eBay loophole: how you can exploit listing typos]
3. Use comparison sites to find the cheapest supermarket prices.Mysupermarket.co.uk compares the prices of individual items at Tesco, Sainsbury's, Ocado, Waitrose, Asda and Aldi so you can get the best deals. For example, the site today shows Innocent's Strawberries and Bananas fruit smoothie (750ml) costing £2.79 (or two for £5) in Tesco, but £1.39 (on offer) in Waitrose.
4. Use balance transfer credit cards to transfer debt from your current credit card that charges a high rate of interest, to one that charges 0pc interest. Barclaycard's Platinum credit card is currently offering 0pc for 35 months, with a one-off fee of 2.49pc.
5. Buy own-brand goods at the supermarket. Tesco's Everyday Value baked beans in tomato sauce costs 24p for 420g. Heinz baked beans in tomato sauce costs 68p for 415g. Quite often, these non-branded options can taste better.
6. Cancel your yearly gym membershipand opt for monthly pay-as-you-go instead if there is a strong likelihood that you will stop going. Around 2,200 gyms – more than a third of all gyms in Britain – have signed up to "pay-as-you-go" (PayasUgym.com), allowing you to buy discounted day, 30-day, 90-day and class passes. If you want to try a different gym, or to stop altogether, you won't lose the money that you would have lost with a contract.
7. Bulk-buy foods that don't go off, particularly if they are on offer. For instance, Morrisons and Tesco are both offering packs of eight 330ml cans of Coke Zero for £3, or two for £5. If you bought 10 packs of eight cans on offer it would cost £25. If you bought 10 packs seperately over the year – if it remains at the same price and not on offer – you would spend £30.
8. Switch energy suppliers. Households could save up to £405 if they switch energy suppliers, but millions don't. In fact, only around 15pc of homes change their gas and energy tariff each year. The process is simple. You can check to see if you would save with our comparison tool.
9. Use discount websites to save on days out. Sites like groupon.co.uk, vouchercodes.co.uk and wowcher.co.uk offer daily deals and discounts on events, activities, travel and restaurants, to name a few.
10. Cycle/walk to work (if possible) rather than drive or take the tube. Getting the bus will often save you money too. A single bus fare in London is £1.50 using an Oyster card whether at peak time or not. Travelling at peak time on the tube will cost a minimum of £1.70 one-way (with oyster), and can cost up to £9.20. There is also a daily price cap of £4.40 on oyster cards when using the bus, meaning your fourth bus ride will be free.
11. Grow your own herbs. Keeping pots of herbs in your kitchen can save you money on having to repeat purchase packs of herbs. A basil plant costs £1.25 at Sainsbury's, and will survive as long as it gets sunlight and water, and is kept away from draughts in winter. A 28g basil bunch costs 80p from Sainsbury's and will only last a few days. Growing from seed can be even more cost effective.
12. Pay less for your holiday in 2015. Falling oil prices and changes to Air Passenger Duty mean holidays should be considerably cheaper in 2015. For the best deals, check out Telegraph Travel's best holiday deals, new tours and offers. Right now, for instance, you can get a seven nights’ all-inclusive stay at the four-star SENTIDO Cypria Bay on the south-west coast of Cyprus in Paphos, costing from £399 per person. The price includes a return flight from London Gatwick departing on March 24.
13. Find cheap flights for your holidays this year. Look on websites like cheapflights.co.uk or skyscanner.net for the best deals. Make sure you delete your cookies (which can normally be found under Tools – Options on your browser) after visiting each site as prices often go up if you visit a website multiple times. Kayak.co.uk is another comparison site, and offers a useful guide on how to get the lowest air fares. Read it here.
14. Rent a new dress rather than buy one. If you have a big event in 2015 but don't want to fork out for a new outfit you'll only wear once, there are a number of websites you can go to to hire a new dress, for a fraction of the cost of a brand new one. GirlMeetsDress.com has hundreds of dresses to search through, and for around £50 you can rent a designer dress (often retailing for hundreds of pounds) for two nights, or pay slightly more for seven nights. If you sign up to the website's newsletter, you'll get £10 off your first order.
15. Share travel to cut costs. You can join websites like liftshare.com or GoCarShare.com to meet other people who wish to share long-distance travel in order to cut costs. Drivers and passengers can benefit from travelling together, with the driver getting contributions for petrol costs, and the passengers saving on expensive train fares.