Money saving tips: Ten steps to save yourself £3,000 If you believe the surveys, more than half of all workers have spent last month's pay packet already. They are preparing to scrimp and save their way through January, having blown all their cash on Christmas. It gets worse. New figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies have shown that the typical family will be £1,200 worse off over the next five years thanks to changes in the tax and benefit system. But help is at hand. If you have started 2012 in a financial fog, we have found eight easy ways for you to save yourself more than £2,500 this year. Get paid to shop - potential earnings: £327 If you are about to give your finances an overhaul, make the first step signing up to a cashback website. Websites such as quidco.com and topcashback.com list retailers that pay commission when shoppers click through to them and in turn the website rebates some of this commission to the consumer. Over the following seven money-saving steps, signing up to a site such as this could save you as much as £327 with just a few clicks of the mouse - even after you pay the £5 membership fee. Picture: Alamy