How to Deal With the January Financial Hangover

The expensive Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays are over, and for many Swiss, all that remains of that fun is a gnawing financial hangover. January is time to cut costs and save money.

1. Be your own chef

Cooking your own food and taking lunches with you to work can save you a lot of money. The take away options and cooked meals at canteens and restaurants are typically much more expensive. The same applies to taking sandwiches from home instead of buying overpriced, ready-made sandwiches at a supermarket or bakery.

If you do end up eating out at a restaurant, you can save money by following these tips for cheaper restaurant dining in Switzerland.

2. Slash your grocery spending

Using budget brands like M-Budget and Prix Garantie, and discount supermarkets like Aldi, Denner, and Lidl can save you money. The January hangover is the ideal time for consumers to try out cheap alternatives to expensive brands. Checking out other stores to see if they sell your favorite items cheaper is also a good idea.  

You can find all kinds of saving tips in the guide to saving on groceries in Switzerland.

3. Plan and create a budget

Another way to prevent January hangovers is by making a budget. A budget helps you spread your expenses – including your December spending – across the whole year, and avoid the January sledge hammer.

You can find useful tips in this guide to creating a budget in Switzerland.

moneyland.ch offers a Swiss budget template in Excel format.

4. Cancel your app subscriptions

It happens in a flash: You download an app and in doing so, also subscribe to some paid service. Particularly if you hardly use an app, the January hangover presents the perfect opportunity to suspend your subscription. There is a good chance that you may have subscriptions which you do not even remember signing up for.

Normally, you can terminate subscriptions anytime. You can generally continue using the app during the time which you have already paid for.

If you use an iPhone or iPad, you can find and terminate your active subscriptions under “subscriptions” which you will find by tapping on your profile picture. On most Android-powered smartphones and tablets, you can find and terminate your subscriptions in the Google Play app by clicking on your profile and tapping “payments & subscriptions” and then “subscriptions.”

Carefully searching your credit card statements and bank statements for recurring charges will help you find subscriptions that may not appear elsewhere. Subscriptions are often charged every month or year.

5. Optimize your banking

The start of January hails the arrival of bank statements for the tax season. A quick glance at them is enough to let you know that bank fees are high, and interest is miniscule or non-existent. That makes the January hangover the perfect time to rethink your accounts, cards, and investment solutions.

Take a moment to think about which services you (still) need. Many bank customers only use the most basic services provided by their private accounts, namely: receiving money, paying bills via online banking, paying for purchases by card or Twint, and withdrawing cash. If that pretty much describes your banking needs, then your current banking package may include services which you do not even need.

Do you really need a credit card which has a 100-franc annual fee? Or would a no-annual-fee credit card work just fine for you? If you travel outside of Switzerland a lot, then a card from a neobank may be a better fit thanks to the lower currency exchange costs.

The banking comparisons on moneyland.ch make it easy to find out how much money you could save by switching to different banking services.

6. Optimize your insurance

Many Swiss have insurance which they really do not need. Having unnecessary insurance or overinsurance is basically throwing money out the window. Take time to consider which insurances you really need. For necessary insurance, think about which coverages make sense for you.

There are huge differences in the prices charged by different insurers for the same insurance. This applies to health insurance, household insurance, personal liability insurance, car insurance, travel insurance, life insurance, and many more.

Comparing insurance on moneyland.ch can easily save you hundreds to thousands of francs per year.

This moneyland.ch guide explains which insurance types are really necessary, and which ones are not.

7. Change mobile and Internet plans

Most Swiss pay too much for their mobile and Internet plans. Here too, you should carefully consider which services you actually need. For example, many mobile plans include roaming allowances which you pay for in the plan fees. If you only travel abroad once or twice per year, paying extra every month for a plan with roaming usually does not pay off.

You should also pay attention to the numerous special promotional offers. Mobile service providers try to outdo each other when it comes to discounts. Compare special promotional offers with standard offers. Standard prices for Swiss mobile plans with unlimited local calls and data start at around 20 francs per month.

Home Internet is another ongoing cost. You can save up to several hundred francs per year by changing to a cheaper Internet service provider.

Home Internet is another ongoing cost. You can save up to several hundred francs per year by changing to a cheaper Internet service provider.

The mobile plan comparison and home Internet comparison on moneyland.ch make finding the cheapest offer quick and easy.

8. Cancel streaming services

If you want to save money, suspending your streaming plans from Netflix, Disney+, and/or Spotify provides a good way to do that. There are numerous free streaming alternatives. You can also find many shows in the online media libraries of popular TV stations.

Most streaming services can be suspended at any time. You can still use up the time you have already paid for to watch any unfinished series, but you will not be charged any more.

9. Sell unneeded items

When money runs short, it is time to seek out new sources of income. A tried-and-proven approach is to sell off stuff which you no longer need. Whether at the flea market or on Tutti, used items in good conditions can often still fetch you a few francs. This will both help to ease the January hangover, and give you a head start on your spring cleaning.

You can find useful tips about the Swiss second-hand market in this guide.

More on this topic:
How to save at restaurants
How to create a budget
How to save on mobile plans
Tips for choosing a home Internet plan
Tips for free video streaming
How to sell second-hand items in Switzerland