Young Adults MoneySaving Tips

escortg3

just thought of another.

* Know the difference between your banks current balance and available balance.

* open a seperate bank account and transfer your bill money into that account every month. Cut up the card for that account so you are never tempted to withdraw from it when you are out.

* One day a week do all your meal cooking and freeze. Beef mince can be turned into cottage pie, lasagna, spagetti bolognaise, chilli con carni, Burgers, meat balls etc

yvettehartland

Buy your branded toiletries from the pound shop:j

giraffe5

All young people should sign up to a cahback site eg quidco -my son booked even europeon hostels through this and is pleased with the extra savings!

Cinny91

It isn't so much a tip for cutting costs, as it is advice for savings. But make saving a priority, work it into your budget high up on your list and not as an after thought. Let's face it, when it's late on in the month all your bills have cleared and you see £X in your bank account you don't think "Oh, I'll move that into savings" you think "Oh! I have £X spare this month and >insert random object here< is only £X" and le !!!!!! - it's gone.

I'd also suggest having an instant access type of saver that you can build £500 in for emergencies, then put your other savings into a secure saver. A lot of people say to keep a credit card for emergencies, but an emergency saver is better.

phoebeee

I've just finished uni and feel I'm coming away from it as well off as possible - obviously got my student loan debt but I'm comfortably out of my overdraft with some savings. My policy has always been that you don't need to make very grand sacrifices, just ensure you don't overspend in any one area. This may be a little long!

Pre uni tips:
* Whilst I knew I couldn't afford a car, I decided to get my test passed whilst I still lived at home and so my outgoings weren't as high as when at uni. I struck a deal with a local driving instructor to buy lessons in blocks of 12 (2 hour lessons). I ended up buying one block and then one more lesson the morning of my test. From memory I think each block was £450, whilst normal 2 hour lessons were £50. It seemed like an awful lot of money to be spending at the time, but knowing that expense is out of my way for is good peace of mind to have for the future. My 21 year old boyfriend has yet to pass his test because he can't now find the money to take lessons after paying rent.
* Another driving test tip - although the cost of using your driving instructor's car on the day may seem extortionate, just do it. Incorporate a lesson into the time before the test to 'get in the zone', my brother chose to use my mum's car - had to spend money getting mirrors etc. for it to use in the test, and had a stressful morning juggling use of the car with my mum. I passed first time, he has always said the stress of using mum's car was a reason he failed his first time - it works out more expensive to retake test in long run so give yourself every chance to pass!
* Public transport wise, see if you can get a discount card. I had a 'saver' card which halved the cost of local buses.
* .... but walk or cycle where you can. I used to buy a return to town where sixth form was, walk half an hour each way to go feed horse, then use my return from that town home again. It was a bit of faff but it saved me £1.20 a day - and I've never been fitter than then!!!
* Whatever you do, don't pop to the corner shop or chip shop for lunch. It's easy to spend a fiver in one go, make some pasta or sandwiches. If you really want convenience food, bulk buy at a supermarket and take one of the item in per day.


At uni/left home tips:
* Don't feel you have to spend a lot of money to have a good time. Yes, freshers will be expensive and it is probably something you need to do to meet the people you will know for the rest of your course, but for the rest of the year try to stay away from big expensive nights out. I may have been spoilt in London but there's always good free things to do - go see TV recordings, museums, wander along Southbank etc
* Try not to drink too much.......... yes we all like to have a drink now and again, but I had a housemate who would have at least one or two bottles of cider every single night even if she was just sat at home watching the TV! Try to have at least 3/4 days a week you're not shelling out on alcohol - your liver will also thank you
* Charity shops and ebay for clothes if you really need them. Regular trips to Hollister will not a healthy bank balance make...
* Mystery shopping. I used Retail Eyes and Gfk. Retail Eyes do lots of Pret a Manger Subway jobs so good way to get a free lunch. My favourite Gfk jobs were Natwest ones. All they involved was paying in some money to my account in branch, timing how long it took and perhaps asking a simple questions like 'How could I go about getting some Australian dollars?' and they paid me £10 each time.
* Research studies. I've taken part in focus groups at uni for lunch or an Amazon voucher, and have done many studies at a behavioural research lab. They typically take 15-20 minutes and pay £10+ a time.
* Learn to cook! Nothing too exciting, just learn to make things which can be made in advance and frozen like chilli so when you can't be bothered to cook you don't resort to takeaways or microwave meals. There are plenty of simple 'student' cookbooks you can buy for little money, I like the BBC Good Food website for some ideas as well. For those on a tight budget I love A Girl Called Jack's recipes (give her a google, she's an inspiration).
* Make bread and pizza! I love making bread and I would guess it has saved me a lot of money given that I've always refused to buy 'plastic' supermarket bread and used to go for bloody Seed Sensations... I make my own with Lidl bread floud (just using the recipe on the pack) and add in toasted sunflower seeds, linseeds and pumpkin seeds. Pizza dough is literally the easiest thing to make and I regret all premade pizzas I've ever bought.

My pizza dough recipe - makes 2 pizzas:
I used Allinson dried active yeast and keep in fridge to keep it fresh, add a table spoon of the yeast to a table spoon of sugar in half a pint of hand hot water.
Leave yeast to froth for 10 mins, add this to 250g of Lidl bread flour with a splash of oil and knead on floured surface for 10 mins.
Leave to rise for ~20 mins, then knock out air split into 2 and roll out (I use an absinthe bottle...).
Cook in large oven proof frying pan, add toppings etc.
When bottom is cooked, transfer under the grill for 5 mins = TASTY PIZZAS.
Dough can also be made in advance and kept in fridge.

* Get a student account that gives you a good overdraft and a railcard. It's inevitable that most students will end up using the overdraft at some point, it's just something that tends to happen when your loan doesn't even cover accomodation! I got a free 4 year railcard with my Natwest account and it has saved me so much money on trips home.
* Share bills between housemates. I had the misfortune of being the organised one amongst the people I lived with and as such set up water, gas, electricity, broadband account with my bank account. Most of them were very good about paying me when they needed too, but there will always be one or two who moan and put off paying. Give every housemate a bill to look after!
* If in London, link your railcard to your Oyster card. Takes a few minutes and a form at the station and you save 1/3 on off peak journeys and it also lowers your daily price cap.
* APPROVED FOOD. Share postage costs with some housemates and get your cupboards full. I am still getting through a case of cous cous (12 packets of 2 sachets) I bought for 22p...!
* Savers for toiletries and cleaning products.
* Get a job in a pub kitchen........ The amount of free food I got over the years is amazing. Most Sunday lunches I would come home with a beautiful bit of leftover roast sirloin which would make amazing chilli!


I now seem like the most boring university student ever haha... but it's worked for me!

fantasticmum69

Rather than putting money into the electric meter go out to the pub - they are heated and the alcohol will keep you warm over night.

lippy1923

SAVE ££££'s - Only go to Uni if you know what you want to do for a living and need specific qualifications. Don't go just because your mates are going, picking random subjects. If you cannot decide straight away, have a gap year or two, get some work experience, make some new friends and wait until you do know what you want to do.

You never know. You might land yourself a nice tidy job on a decent salary which you enjoy and don't even need to go to uni.

Make £££'s - Complain. Any service/ product you are not happy with make yourself heard - example mobile phone providers, banks, energy suppliers, tv providers etc. Anything that goes wrong or inconveniences you, make a complaint and you could get a nice sum of compensation.

DKLS

Dont have kids or pets.

Drakelet

I have a few. I can go into more details if anyone wants.

I'm 21.

• Ensure your credit history is correct and get a credit card to build your credit score. Repay it in full every month. Set yourself a reminder.
• Read books about money: Rich Dad, Poor Dad; The Richest Man in Babylon; The Four Hour Work Week; etc
• Save 10% of everything you earn every month and put it into some form of savings/passive income (I've turned £400 into £500 in 6 months with a 5 minute phone call)
• Student account = free overdraft. Take it all out and invest it (INVEST, not spend)
• Don't get premade food, including meal deals in Tesco or Pizza Hut takeaway. They're horrifically overpriced. Do my tactic (not eat), or take food with you. Or find a cheap local non-chain place. If you're out with mates/a date, don't be a miser - feel free to grab something! - but don't make it a daily habit like some people I know...
• Spend your money on things you love. It'll make you WANT to save it and be careful with everyday spending. I'm going abroad 3 times this month; all are because I've saved enough to do so without feeling guilty.
• Every month do a quick finance check: What you've spent (in categories, such as rent, transport, food etc if you want); What you've earned; What you've put into savings
• Uni students: Write down how much you owe in student loans. It's a scarily high figure: I'm £17k in the red and I'm only half way through uni. Don't think of this as a negative; uni is very useful, and everything in life costs money. Use it as inspiration to save and earn.
• Get groceries delivered. From Asda (cheaper food, great quality, cheap delivery). The extra £3-£5 for delivery is easily saved in time in the supermarket selecting your items (time = money), the stress and effort of getting loads of food home (again, time = money and stress causes many health and other problems) and impulse buys (read about product placement psychology, it's fascinating but scary)
• Amazon.co.uk is your friend for pretty much everything. As is MSE.

Ryan_coote

:jI recommend:

1. Babysitting as it can be an easy way to earn extra money.

2. Wash peoples car in your spare time

3. Become a tutor my using your own skills to teach others. Youc an charge quite large sums of money for doing a relativley stress free job.

4. Visit local businesses and ask the if they want any leaflets delivered. This can be a nice little earner in your spare time.

5. Visit your local car boot sale and buy item cheaply and then re sell them on auction websites such as ebay or gumtree.