Think election results won’t affect the person on the street too much? Think again.

The taxes we pay, the benefits we receive and the price of fuel hang on decisions made in Parliament. Add to that big businesses’ grasping profit motive and there’s every reason to tighten our hold on the purse strings.

What is the Quids in! Finance 5-A-Day?

Most people know there’s a drive to get us to eat healthily. The catchy 5-A-Day slogan to get us chomping down on more fruit and veg is easy to remember. Even if it is sometimes harder to achieve. What if there was a Finance 5-A-Day? Little nudges towards doing things a tiny bit better each day and tightening our control of our money?

The team at Quids in! has been thinking this over for a number of years. A few years ago, we published our first version. Now we’ve published our advice revamped and updated for 2024.

With every general election, what could follow is more change. Taxes could rise or fall. Benefits could be boosted or bashed. The pound in our pocket could be worth more or less, affecting prices. So, how can we ensure we stretch every penny as far as it will go?

We know that when money is scarce, it can seem like nothing will change that. Talking about managing our money is frustrating when there simply isn’t any. But most people have something or will do someday. Our Finance 5-A-Day won’t instantly boost the bank balance but will switch up how we think about it. Like with the healthy eating guidance, things will improve over time. It’s more about nurturing good habits.

Our challenge is to try these tips for a couple of weeks. See what changes. It’s not a get rich quick scheme. It’s about becoming conscious of ways to keep better control. As the hundreds of people who have attended our money events have told us: “If we haven’t got our hand on our wallet, someone else has got their fingers in it.”

If you like that, you’ll love this…

The 5-A-Day borrows key ideas from the Quids in! Future-Proof Finance Quiz. Want to see how well you’re doing at managing you money and what else you could do to get a few extra quid in your pocket? Take a few minutes to answer some simple yes/no questions and we’ll score your progress and send you an action plan, with a list of simple options for making a little cash go a lot further. (Many people taking the quiz went on to become hundreds of pounds better off!)