I have always thought life in your 20s is a decade where you will see huge change as you enter the worlds of adulthood. When I was younger, I imagined this time would be when you got your dream job, got a house, got married and so on. But it turns out life is a bit more complicated and expensive then that!
Now I have finished uni and am in the “real” world, I have realised that all of the things may not happen straight away and that is okay! In fact this last year in particular I have found some of my priorities have changed and there are other things I want to do over the next decade. Of course a lot of these goals are rather expensive, more expensive than I realised.
The idea of seeing the world or buying a house or having a family seems so easy when you are a kid. My sister and I would play pretend and buy a house for £100, hope on a plane to go on a family holiday with no idea how much it all cost. Now I actually wanting to do these things myself, I can only dream that a nice house would cost £100 and you could just hop on a plane a go abroad haha!
Money among many other adulting things isn’t really something that is taught about in school, it is something you either learn about from your parents or figure it out as you go. So I wanted to star a little series and share some tips and advice on those things they don’t teach you about in school on my blog in the hope that it helps some of you as you enter the world of adulthood.
This week, I thought I would share some tips on how to save money.
I have always thought of myself as being quite good with money and knowing how much I can spend whilst being able to save too. When leaving home and heading to university, I learnt a lot of about money and the priorities of saving and spending as well as learning some tricks to help save. After taking out expenses of student accommodation, I didn’t have any student loan left for myself. So I was extremely lucky and my parents would give me £30 a week. At first you may read this and think that’s amazing, £30 to go out and have a good time! No. This £30 had to pay for food, toiletries, cleaning products, using the washing machine/tumble dryer, nights out and any other things like new clothes etc. So, I had to be very clever with my money in order to make this last.
Here are my tips that not only helped me get through university, but life since leaving university:
- Be aware of your monthly or weekly income - knowing exactly how much you have coming into your account is a good start to saving money as you are aware of your incomings.
- Know your monthly or weekly bills -Things like rent, phone bills etc. all need to be taken into account so you know how much of your incomings you need to save to cover these costs. I would even recommend putting an alarm on your calendar to remind you of when this money is due to come out.
- Have a savings account - This is so important as the money you put in here is harder to spend because you don't have a card for it. You can take the idea of having a savings account that step further and set up a standing order where each week or month you put in a set amount of money. By doing this, even if it is £5 a week, it will add up. I now have a help to buy ISA too so I can put away a set amount for a house and then use my savings account to save for things like holidays.
- Are there any special occasions coming up - by looking at this you can decide how much you are going to put aside for this occasion when looking at your expenses for the week/month. Remember not only do you have to think about the gift, you also have to think about what you doing so are you going out for drinks or dinner, have you got an outfit, are you getting a taxi etc. The more you can plan, the more you will know how much you’ll have left in your account.
- Think. Do you really need it - We all like to treat ourself but it is so important to get into the habit of thinking do I REALLY need it and am I REALLY going to use it enough make up for spending. This can be the case for so many things like clothes, gadgets even a car. You can also look at it with food and drinks. Yes, I could buy a meal deal every day for work, or I could take in packed lunch and make my own hot beverage. This lockdown has also taught me to enjoy home cooked meals where you don't always need to go out for a date night, you can still cook a nice steak and save a few pound!
- Sell to spend - this is something I got into over the first lockdown. I have always loved a good clear out even when I was little giving old toys to charity etc. But last year I began to do a rule where if I sold an item of clothing I no longer wear I could use this money to treat myself to a new item. Obviously I still stuck to the do I need it rule and if I didn’t the money I made from selling I put away in my savings. But this is a good habit to get into as it helps with money and storage!
- Look for the bargins - I don't know about you, but I love a good bargin and I try to shop in the sale or use a discount code/coupon where I can. When it comes to buying food, not only should you look for the deals but the dates to find the products that will last the longest - I even lift up the palettes in Tesco as the later dates are often at the bottom! You could take this one step further and put the difference into you savings account, so if you buy some bread on sale for £1.50 when it should have been £2 you can put that 50p difference into your savings account. I know this may not sound much, much every penny counts.
- Classic penny jar - I have always had a penny jar since I can remember and now my boyfriend and I have one where we put any loose change. We have now decided to collect pound coins too as it is surprising how quickly it can all add up. This money can then be used for holiday spending money or even a date night (obviously we would have to cash it in to the bank as it might look a little odd paying for dinner with a load of pennies haha!)
