My Top Money Saving Tips

I have always been relatively good with money and any time I get any money I have always tried to make a conscious effort to put some of it into savings. I am currently not saving for anything in particular, however, I have a general savings account and a help to buy ISA. At the beginning of every month over the past year, I have been putting a small amount of my money into both of these accounts and have so far managed to save just under £3000, which is the highest amount I have ever saved. I have managed to do this by using these three simple tips that I am about to share with you and if you have not already been doing these, you should be able to save this much too.

Before I start, I feel it is worth mentioning that in the majority of cases, any money I put into my two accounts is split 50:50. However, as you can only put £200 a month in my ISA, if I end up saving more than £400 in one month, £200 goes into my ISA and the remaining money goes into my savings account.

1. 10% goes into savings

This is the one saving tip I have been using for as long as I can remember. Essentially, any money I get, whether that's birthday or Christmas money, my student loan maintenance money, or my wages, 10% of all of this gets put into my savings accounts. Say I get £100 for my birthday, £10 gets split between my two accounts (so £5 each). I actually got this idea from F.R.I.E.N.D.S and whilst 10% may seem like a small amount, it all adds up over time and you can actually end up saving quite a decent amount.

2. Every penny counts

I can't remember where I saw this advice but it seemed like a good idea and whilst you don't end up putting that much into your savings from doing this alone (it's often less than £10), it all adds up in the end. This may sound a little complicated, but hopefully, it will make sense. Essentially what you do is any time you buy something (say, a cup of coffee), however much would add up to the next pound you put into savings. So say you buy a cup of coffee for £2.50, you then put 50p into your savings account. This means each time you buy something, you are also saving money (albeit, not that much money) at the same time.

3. £13.70 a day

I don't know how many of you saw this viral tweet last year, but I did and it made me rethink my way of saving and has been the most successful way for me to save money. I decided to change this and instead of spending £13.70 a day (which I wasn't doing anyway), I decided to save £13.70 a day. The way I have done it is to try and kick my spending habits as it's all too easy to spend £3 there and £1.50 here, but eventually, it all adds up. To help keep a track of my spending and save in the process, this is what I did:

If I don't spend anything in a day, I put £13.70 into savings.

If I spend up to £13.70 in a day, the remaining money goes into savings. So say, for example, I spent £10, I then put £3.70 for that day into savings.

If I spend more than £13.70 in a day, no money will be put into savings for that day and the remaining money will be taken out of the next day's savings. So say, for example, I spent £20 today. I would put nothing into my savings today and would then take the remaining £6.30 out of tomorrow's savings, so tomorrow I would only put £7.40 into savings.

It is also worth noting that I only do this for non-essential items. For me, my essential items currently are petrol and car insurance. Obviously, for you, this may be something different. I'm also aware that you may not be able to afford that £13.70, so you can change this to whatever amount you may be able to afford.

Hopefully, this post has given you some tips you might never have heard of when it comes to saving money. If you are a little confused about anything I have said, please feel free to ask me in the comments below (because I can reply to those now), on Twitter, Instagram or email.

Also, if you have any of your own money-saving tips that I haven't mentioned, please feel free to mention those in the comments also.

What are the best methods for saving money?

Love Beth xx