With the likes of Amazon, big national companies and super fast delivery up and down the UK, the art of using local services is starting to be forgotten. However, often when we do make the effort to use local companies we actually save money – and support local small businesses so it’s a win-win. Here’s a look at 3 local services you should make use of.
Local Retail
Retail shops are struggling, especially with the cost of energy bills and rent on the increase. Whilst it can sometimes feel more convenient to simply shop online and get things delivered, wouldn’t you miss local retail shops if they weren’t there? The truth is that in many places we’re in a use it or lose it situation, so where possible we should definitely be shopping local. Bakeries, clothes shops, charity shops and more all can be great places to pop in and shop locally – whilst bagging yourself a bargain in the meantime. Local markets often have some amazing local produce which not only saves you money but tastes amazing compared to fruit and veg that has been bagged up and shipped across the country to be stocked in a big supermarket.
Local Handymen
Doing everything yourself is hard work and sometimes it can be much easier to call in the skills of someone that knows what they’re doing. Sometimes we can be tricked into thinking that tackling these things ourselves is much cheaper but often working inefficiently means that we not only spend more than we expected, but we become time-poor in the process. However, for example, if you use a local man and a van company then you can be confident everything will be moved quickly and efficiently – we can save you money on numerous trips to a new place if you’re trying to do it yourself.
Local Entertainment
You don’t head off to a big city, a staycation or jet off abroad to have fun – actually, if you look locally you’ll find that there are loads of options when it comes to local entertainment. Whether you want to be a tourist in your area and visit some places of interest, you fancy a pub quiz, you want to join a dance class or simply enjoy a trip to the cinema if you look up the options locally you’ll be pleasantly surprised at just how many options there are – and they’ll disappear if we don’t continue to use and support them.
Not only does supporting local services often mean that you save money, but supporting small, independent businesses really does make the difference in how likely they are to still exist in a year’s time – so it’s really worthwhile doing. These might not be services that you use every day but most of us would agree that the times we do need them are super handy, so having them disappear would be a shame. Supporting them now helps to ensure that this doesn’t happen.
If you have any ideas of local services we should be using then please share them below
*Collaborative post
About Debz Louise
Debz Louise is a UK-based lifestyle expert and the founder of several lifestyle blogs, including Wannabe Princess and Under 5s. Specializing in everything from interior design and home renovation to body-positive fashion and early years development,