Monday 22 May 2017

'If I Had A Little Money... It's A Rich Man's World'


There are many ways to save money. Some are easier than others, as I've found out since the start of my working adulthood.

You can get savings accounts, piggy banks, stock shares and even saving up points on loyalty cards. As I've been saving for Florida for the past two years, there are many ways I've gone about saving up for large expenditures.


Savings Account
Each month I put away £150-£200 into a savings account for holidays, and then £30-£50 in a secondary savings account. As I have two savings accounts, I use one to make sure I have a small savings amount for any sudden payouts - such as car failure, medical issues, technology issues, and more. This way I don't take out anything from the holiday account - which is there to pile up a nice large amount, so that when a holiday does come around, I've already got a chunk of the fees covered.

Loyalty Cards
I'm a sucker for a loyalty card. I have a Morrisons card to help get £5 vouchers with every 5000 points, a Superdrug and Boots cards to get ££ off purchases after racking up points. I have about 10 loyalty cards and use them as often as I can at the tills to rack up points to help with later purchases. For example, I have £8 on my Superdrug card, which I'm saving to use for my summer holiday items, so I can save a little money!

Piggy Bank
I'm a lover of piggy banks. I have one that I fill up with 1p and 2p coins, and when it's full I bag them up into £1 bags and go bank them into my account. Currently, I also have a second piggy bank for £2 coins - and this is going towards my holiday to Florida. I had to open it recently to get rid of the old £5 notes I had also put in there, and I had managed to get about £120 in a year in mainly coins. If you were to fill it right up, you can usually get about £250 in the tins.


52 Weeks Saving Challenge
As you may have seen, I'm doing a savings challenge this year to save up £1378. You just put away an amount that corresponds with the week of the year. So week 20 you put away £20, etc and so on. I'm doing mine a little backwards and doing the larger amounts at the start of the year, and so far I've got £626 in my savings account!

Work Stock Shares
At work, for a small fee of £5 a month which you pay into a shares account, you can then save up to about £380 over 3 years. Because this is automatically taken out of my wages without me doing anything, I don't notice the money not there. In 3 years time, I'll get a nice sum of £380+ into my account, and that can then be put straight into a holiday account! Definitely worth it for that amount at a later date.


No Spends
My final resort for saving money is, doing 'no spends' now and then. I tried to do it for a month and sucked at it - so made new rules. I cancelled all my subscription boxes as I wasn't really enjoying them anymore, and also cancelled all the direct debits that I no longer needed to pay out for. I also put a ban on myself to stop buying these things for a month here and there:

  • magazines
  • no beauty items unless I need them as an essential (skin/hair care)
  • stop buying meal deals - eat what's already at home
  • no extra lottery tickets (already do a monthly direct debit for tickets)
  • home haircuts and beauty treatments

How do you save up money and stick to it? And did you find any of the ideas above helpful? Let me know! Hope you have a great day and keep safe :)

Twitter | Instagram | Bloglovin | YouTube | Tumblr | Pinterest | Facebook


16 comments:

  1. I really suck at saving money, and with cutting my working hours down substantially in September due to returning to study I really do need to start saving so this has really helped give me some ideas, so thank you! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've got a lot better over the past few months and though I'm still spending like no tomorrow, these saving tricks have meant I've got a nice savings account for a rainy day or emergency! Glad this has given you some ideas! :) xx

      Delete
  2. I suck with saving money I really need to get back into it again! Saved some money earlier this year which helped pay for my trips to Edinburgh & Manchester! Felt good knowing I had saved for them & my tips had helped to pay for it as well! I want to go away for my Birthday in November so that should be a good incentive for me to save & not spend! I hope anyway!! Haha!
    Thanks for this Tania you're a very wise girl!
    Love Sarah xoxo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes save up - can afford all the pretty things then!! Hope the tips help out Sarah! xx

      Delete
  3. Really enjoyed reading this post Tania! I love that you have a holiday savings account. That's such a great idea to separate that from car and 'adult' stuff you make need. Our Mum has loyalty cards to all those places you said, I think they're great but I don't feel like they have them the same way here in America, unless i'm not looking hard enough! I love the idea of a piggy bank too!! :)

    Kelly xx
    www.theblossomtwins.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think by having a few separate savings accounts, you're only deducting from the ones you can touch! Loyalty cards must be a British thing mainly!! xx

      Delete
  4. I love loyalty cards, struggle to find room for them all in my purse sometimes! I need to be a bit more organised with my savings pots, I wish bank accounts would let you split stuff under various headings to make it easier DX

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have far too many myself, but always nice to have them for the 'free' money you can build up! And I wish banks did that too - would be handy not to had a few different accounts! xx

      Delete
  5. This is a great post! I'm just about to start working full time and i really want to go to Florida next year with my friends so i need to get saving! I think i'm going to start saving all either £1 or £2 coins because if i have change in my purse i'm much more likely to buy things that i wouldn't put on my card/burst a £20 note on just because i have the change!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Florida is sooo expensive, so saving up as soon as you can is a great idea! Hopefully some of the above tips help you :) I think once you've broke a £5, put all that change in a pot and it will soon add up to a nice little sum! xx

      Delete
  6. Really enjoyed this post and am now inspired to go and sort out my spending and save towards those holiday dreams...thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope it helps in some way, even if it's just a small saving! :) xx

      Delete
  7. I wish I'd have saved harder last year, but I've been really knuckling down this year - I'll definitely put some of your tips in place x

    www.sheintheknow.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hopefully the tips help you in some way! I've slipped a little the past few months, but I'm getting back on track as quick as I can! xx

      Delete
  8. Ah, having two separate savings accounts is a good idea! I have one with travel money savings in there, but I have had to dip in occasionally (damn MOT failure!) and I hate seeing that money go down haha.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's really helpful for when I want to save for holidays separately from everything else! Plus, I like to be organised with the two accounts! xx

      Delete

Thank you for dropping by my blog! I read all my comments, and will try and reply when I can!