Saving money can be challenging to say the least. Here are 4 ways that make saving money a lot easier.
Make a Manageable Plan
It helps if you establish a monthly savings goal. A study from the Money Advice Service people challenged to save £100 a month. The research concluded that when people are working towards a manageable target they are more likely to succeed.
Having a savings plan needs to start with you deducting money for necessities, this includes, food, rent/bills, toiletries, travel etc. After deducing an average amount for each necessity per month then you will have the total amount left over. Set aside how much money you think is reasonable to spend on extras, for example, a night out, a takeaway, a day out etc. You should then have an amount left over. If you are bad for spending money, then this amount would normally get flittered away on useless things. Instead, put it in a savings account, do this every month until you have you’ve gone over your target. This will help you to start saving again after you’ve spent the money on whatever you were saving for.
Trust in Technology
If you struggle to make a manageable plan then new technology can do the work for you!
Try downloading Chip, the UK’s first automatic savings app. It works by analysing your income and spending and works out what you can afford based on that. It will automatically move from £5-£25 into a Barclay’s savings account every few days.
There is also an app called Plum, this “little savings butler” works in a similar way. It monitors your spending and automatically sets an affordable amount of money that you can set aside.
Transfer Cash on Payday
Most of us fall victim to “millionaires weekend,” people tend to spend more freely on the first Saturday after payday and during the start of the month. But you can sometimes forget just how quick the money goes.
Transferring money out of your account, leaving yourself an affordable amount to spend will help you cap your overspending. What I did was set up two savings accounts, one for real savings, and one as a place to put my necessity money so I don’t spend it all. This allows me to manage my money more efficiently.
Cut Your Debt Costs
If you have debt then this can interfere with your savings, but it doesn’t have to. Go into your bank and talk about potentially reconstructing your debt to make it more affordable and to pay it off sooner. Recent research has concluded that there are more than half a million British people who are paying more interest on than they need to be because they are not switching to a better deal. This has shown an average over-pay of £1,134.
