Putting savings away each month can be challenging for some people, whether that’s due to expensive outgoings, debts, low-paying jobs or something else.
Not everyone is financially stable to have the luxuries in life or jetting off each year. But according to these money-saving experts, saving money is possible and isn’t as hard as you may think.
We asked five experts to share their top tips for saving money, here’s what they have to say:
Richard Hayes, CEO of Mojo Mortgages told Revealing Britain: “Saving money can be particularly challenging while at University. For loads of young people, it’s the first time that they’ll be financially independent, so it’s important not to spend all your money within the first few weeks of term.
If saving money is your goal, I’d first and foremost recommend joining a challenger bank such as Monzo – this is no brainer for several reasons. Firstly, with a challenger bank account you can have improved control and transparency of your spending which should lead to a stronger understanding of your spending habits.
Their App will analyse your spending by both, types of purchases and frequency of buying, giving you an unparalleled insight into how you should be budgeting and subsequently, spending.
In addition, when you buy something instant notifications will appear on your phone, so delayed transactions coming out of your bank won’t catch you out.
Finally, they also have tremendous features like saving pots that encourage saving and adding to those pots on a frequent basis.
Understanding how to budget and save money will also make things incredibly easier post-University when you’re looking to buy a house and a purchase a mortgage in the future.“
Dilusha Hettiralalage, Consumer Savings Expert at Codes recommends the penny challenge: Try the penny challenge whereby for 365 days you put away an additional penny. This means, on day one, you’ll save 1p, on day two you’ll save 2p, on day three you’ll save 3p and so on.. until you get to day 365 and find yourself putting away £3.65. Within a year you’ll find that you’ve saved £667.95 (unless it’s a leap year).“
If you don’t like the idea of having pennies lying around, you could instead send them straight to your savings account each day.
Hettiralalage also recommends trying out ‘Downshift Challenge’ as promoted by the team at Money Saving Expert. “Next time you do your weekly or monthly food shop, look to drop a brand level for the products you’re purchasing and, if you don’t taste a difference, stick with the lower brand and cheaper products. For example, choose a branded product over a premium product, or a value product over an own-brand product. This could save you £1,500 a year on average and makes minimal difference to your life.“
Jon Ostler, CEO of finder.com also recommends using apps: “Personal finance apps such as Starling and Revolut can make the task of achieving savings goals much less complicated.
Benefits range from the ability to set up a variety of specific savings pots, getting real-time breakdowns of your spending along with other interesting features like automatically investing your spare change. In particular, the “pots” feature on Monzo can be very helpful when saving for a specific purpose. You can open several pots at once and money held in them is kept away from your overall balance so it’s not accidentally spent!”
Sean MacNicol, Engagement Manager at MoneyDashboard recommends switching current accounts regularly. “High street banks want your business and will often offer up to hundreds of pounds to get you to switch to them. Switching is easy thanks to the current account switch service, which automatically transfers your direct debits and contacts to the new account.
However, if you’re changing accounts often make sure to use an app like Money Dashboard so that you don’t lose track of where your money’s going and are able to see all of your spending and income in one place.“
Adam Bullock, UK Director of TopCashback.co.uk, said: “Shopping through a cashback website is a really easy way to save money. Consumers simply visit TopCashback, look for the retailer or provider they want to shop with, click through to the retailers’ site and transact as normal.
We then track the sale and give consumers a percentage of their spend back, as cashback. Our members earn around 7.5% of their spend back on everything from day-to-day shopping to household bills and insurances, although it can often be much more.”
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