Please give me your quick money saving tips?

Earn more but continue to save the same percentage as when you earned less.

@DaveyBoyWonder nothing in particular, just looking for some new tips to save money. So far I’m doing most of the ones mentioned apart from the running white goods at night one.

not saving, but budgeting

been using “you need a budget” YNAB for a number of years to make me consider my spending, and that works for me, to a degree

Less coke and lower quality hookers.

Earn more but continue to save the same percentage as when you earned less.

This sounds completely random and pointless. Working on the basis that your costs are approx level you should be able to save far more as a percentage as your salary goes up…?

( leaving aside other important factors like kids etc)

Indeed, but consider that having a lunch that cost £1 Vs £5 over your working life is potentially 16 years* earlier retirement.

That sounds extremely optimistic.  Also, it’s not over 40 years if you’re retiring 16 years earlier is it?

That sounds extremely optimistic.  Also, it’s not over 40 years if you’re retiring 16 years earlier is it?

£4 per day less expenditure has a double benefit when it comes to retirement as it’s both £4 extra compounding per day and £4 less per day needed when you actually retire.

Great, you get to enjoy another 35 years of cold, bored misery living off whatever you can get from the ‘yellow sticker’ section of the supermarket. I’d rather still be working!

I intend still enjoy myself when retired, probably more then now as I’ll not have work and won’t have as many outgoings.

Indeed, but consider that having a lunch that cost £1 Vs £5 over your working life is potentially 16 years* earlier retirement.

I’ll enjoy 16 years not working  a lot more than whatever the canteen is serving.

*£22/month, 7% interest, 40 years = £260k

What,really?  I’m not convinced.

< Edit: if you use the correct monthly total then it works>

One thing I’m working on… simplify your life.

You only need ‘X’ squllion quid in retirement if that’s the lifestyle you’re accustomed too.

We have recently switched to Starling bank. You can set up as many “spaces” as you want within your account, putting money where you like, and each space can have a virtual card so that you spend what you have allocated to each area. I was sceptical but it works really well.

This sounds completely random and pointless. Working on the basis that your costs are approx level you should be able to save far more as a percentage as your salary goes up…?

I could be wrong but I think that you’re agreeing at cross purposes.

What can happen is that people fall into the trap of setting up a standing order to save £100 a month when their salary is £X, but when they get a payrise/new job with a salary of £2X they leave the standing order at £100 and spend the extra money instead of putting it up to £200 a month. They then get used to the lifestyle that extra money gets them (as per hedonistic adaptation) and can’t imagine saving more money even though they’re earning more.

lots of “subscriptions” these days you can easily jump in and out of for no penalty.

doesn’t apply to everything, but for example do you really need streaming services over the summer months? I’ve just canned zwift, will be back on it come september. With applepay, I can cancel and rejoin in about 20 seconds. Assume android wallet similar.

If you plan to do this from the get go, then consider the option with a slightly higher monthly cost vs the “slightly cheaper to commit to 12 months”.

In general, avoid anything with an ongoing monthly payment/finance vs buying it outright. Buyers remorse can come in long before the payments finish.

Don’t “insure” anything that you could afford to replace (or is a legal requirement). from Applecare, extended vacuum cleaner warranty; all ways for companies to, on average, extract money from customers.

Some large expenses are unavoidable, but predictable. Car insurance, christmas presents, partner’s big birthday. Mark it on a calendar, save up for it. Don’t feign surprise when it appears and then borrow on a 25% APR credit card to pay for it.

as per hedonistic adaptation

That sounds like the right word but it’s not. ‘Hedonic’.

(Hedonistic adaptation definitely more fun, but dosn’t also encompass getting used to Kellogg’s cornflakes instead of the supermarket brand…)

That sounds like the right word but it’s not. ‘Hedonic’.

Every day’s a school day.

I could be wrong but I think that you’re agreeing at cross purposes.

We’re definitely pulling in the same direction!  🤩( what a ghastly phrase)

I think you’re saying that if someone had £1000 income and saved £100…

Then if they get a pay rise to £1200 then they should up the saving to £120 to keep it at 10%

What I’m saying is to try to up the savings to £200, or 17% since it’s all extra and they can live on £1,000

Clearly inflation has **** with this recently, but it’s what I am trying to do.

Can you pause Zwift rather than cancel so you kept your stats and profile etc?

Regarding streaming, you can rotate them so subscribe to one, binge everything you want then cancel and subscribe to another. Go through them all like this and by the time you get back the one you started with there’ll be new stuff. Hopefully.

What I’m saying is to try to up the savings to £200, or 17% since it’s all extra and they can live on £1,000

Riiiight I’m with you. Yes that is probably a better way.

Can you pause Zwift rather than cancel so you kept your stats and profile etc?

yes. did it last summer. all my stats, bikes and kits still existed when I rejoined in september.

@thegeneralist, whenever I get a pay rise, I split it between my various savings and current account, with the majority going to savings. That way I still get a bit of a bump from the pay rise, but I never get used to having the full amount.

I wish I as organised as some of you.

I’m with @theotherjonv – don’t leave unnecessary appliances switched on at night or when out. 32 years as a firefighter, many serious house fires attended with washers, dryers and dishwashers as the cause. As for saving, we’re both on pensions so have a spreadsheet with annual expenditures divided up into monthly amounts, as long as the pie chart has a small green segment then we’re happy. We have a monthly allowance each to spend how we wish – it stops me spending too much on bike stuff! It’s boring but keeps us out of trouble.

@Drac, start small and work up?

We have recently switched to Starling bank. You can set up as many “spaces” as you want within your account, putting money where you like, and each space can have a virtual card so that you spend what you have allocated to each area. I was sceptical but it works really well.

I’ve no idea about Starling, but be wary of ‘new’ banks, some of which are not actually UK banks, aren’t part of deposit protection schemes, or have a very tough attitude around fraud.

This wasn’t the story I was looking for (there was something this week) but https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/oct/31/tsb-reimbursed-15-times-more-customers-losses-than-monzo-in-2022

This wasn’t the story I was looking for (there was something this week) but

Was it the Revolut horror show you were looking for ?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/money/2024/apr/10/im-a-victim-of-scammers-but-revolut-says-no-to-a-refund

A very wealthy man told me the best piece of advice his accountant ever gave him was “keep it in your trousers”.

@BigJohn if it flies, floats or fornicates then rent it rather than own it.

Great, you get to enjoy another 35 years of cold, bored misery living off whatever you can get from the ‘yellow sticker’ section of the supermarket. I’d rather still be working!

Look at it the other way round.

Compound interest means you need to give up very little in your 20’s in order to retire much earlier or more comfortably.

Clearly inflation has **** with this recently, but it’s what I am trying to do.

The good thing is that things like your mortgage are fixed in time when you bought the house (interest rates aside) and that’s a big chunk of your outgoings. So the pay rise is actually much bigger compared to your day to day expenses.

e.g. if I’m paid £2k and have a £1k mortgage then I’ve got £1k disposable.

If I get a 10% rise, then I’ve actually got 20% more disposable income.

Only ever buy bike stuff in the sales. I’ve saved thousands over the years 🤣

I hate tesco club cards.. They basically blackmail you into signing up to get a fair price on your shopping.

So I have a picture of my mates QR code on my phone that I scan.

1. I pay normal price instead of the inflated non-member price

2. My mate gets free points

And most importantly…

3. We both sleep better knowing we are screwing up tescos data slurping user profiling algorithms.

Everyone’s a winner!

Get a supermarket credit card that gives you bonus points (we use Tesco) and put all of your monthly budgeted spend on it (making sure you pay it off in full each month). We usually end up with around £200 a year which we then use for our big Christmas food shop.

We used to have a cashback CC, but I don’t think there are many around these days.

Step back in time. Do you really need an expensive mobile? In fact do you need one at all? “I’m running late” or “do you want any shopping? calls are not needed.  I have a 10 quid phone and use about a quid of credit every 3 months and that is mostly unnecessary.

Why on earth buy a coffee out? Or a pre assembled sarnie. Avoid big names and anything trendy.

Why the hell pay for telly? Books are virtually free in charity shops.

Why have Sky telly?

Mend things. 10 minutes with a needle saved me from a new rucksack.

And why on earth buy Harry’s razors?

When shopping with a scanning app, put stuff in your trolley and tell yourself to check at the end whether you actually need them.

You’ll either decide against it and leave them out, or forget to check and walk out with scanning them. Oops.

Make your own packed lunch, rather than buying in work

Save money on expensive carpets by buying 2 small carpet samples and gluing them to the soles of your shoes

Bit late, but don’t take up cycling other than riding a beater to work for a mile or so ! Oof…. Take up boring running instead.

Key to being rich… ! Your fancy cars are now’t compared to bikes…..

My tips are not about saving money per se, rather making the money that you have to spend work for you.

As mentioned above, a “round up” works and can quickly add up.

Id recommend opening a Chase bank account to get 1% cashback on all spending. Again this can add up (although there is a max of £15 cashback per month).

If you have a big spend (holiday, bike etc) consider getting an Amex card then converting your amex points to nectar points to spend on your shop in Sainsbury’s (or do as I do and treat yourself to a trip by converting to Avios, although flyingblue is sometimes a better scheme)

If shopping online use Quidco/top cashback.

Keep an eye out for bank switching deals which pay you to switch banks. I made about £1k last year by doing this.

Open a regular saver account and pop any spare money from that month into it. It will soon add up for you.

This is the most British thread ever.

Don’t eat avocado toast or drink latte…

Ride your bike instead of reading about bikes on the internet.

Use drivetrain wearing parts made entirely of steel, no aluminium.

Have a “holding area” list for things you fancy buying – you may well not feel like buying it after a couple of days or a week.

Keep a list of bike stuff you fancy together with reasons you don’t need or want it. So when a good deal on whatever comes up and I’m bored and it’s payday etc., you can look it up.

Tie purchases to goals that must be achieved beforehand. I wanted a running watch years ago, think it was £200. The price was something like running 5k three times a week for six weeks, which I did. Then I got into MTB and this this rule went out the window.

Simple spreadsheet with all your monthly outgoings and lots of little pots that save up for upcoming costs. For example, we save £10 per month for car tyres, a small enough sum that we don’t notice it but when the big bill comes along it’s all covered. This planning pulled us out of a largish hole many years ago and still serves well today.

This.

Earn more, spend the same.

Really important point here. Provided you’re not being silly with your spending, there’s far more to gain by advancing your career through e.g. education, going the extra mile, making sure you’re getting paid what you’re worth.

Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves – doesn’t work. Don’t worry about the pennies they won’ make much difference.

Indeed. It’s a poor person vs. rich person mindset, people can only optimise what they have control over. But when your circumstances improve you have greater control, and old habits are hard to look beyond.

This sounds completely random and pointless. Working on the basis that your costs are approx level you should be able to save far more as a percentage as your salary goes up…?

My approach is to keep the inflation of my lifestyle lower than the increase in my net income. Broke the rule last year though as I want to enjoy life to a modest extent and had taken this approach pretty conservatively for the past decade meaning I had room to.