Young Adults MoneySaving Tips

StevieJay_2

Set up a standing order on your bank account to transfer a small amount of money into a savings account every payday. This way you're much less likely to spend it, and even small amounts add up!

Shop around for car insurance, by ringing up companies and asking them to beat the best price. Putting your parents on the policy can be a big help. Some companies offer a '10 month bonus', so you only pay for 10 months at a time but it counts as 1 year no claims - very handy to speed up the process and get cheaper insurance sooner!

Browse charity shops for bargain brand new clothes, the best buys can be found in main cities. For even more savings, buy shorts in winter and jumpers in summer, sale prices are cut massively.

Download the money saving shopping app, it compares prices at main supermarkets, even telling you when the deals are on

Don't assume that places such as poundland, home bargains, 99p stores will be cheaper. If you're not bothered about branded items then they can actually be found much cheaper in major supermarkets. Just because its £1 doesn't mean it's cheap!

I hope this helps some people

clc600

You are young and fit so avoid the car or public transport and use a bike! Many more places have cycle paths and bike racks now so check these out near you. In London ditch your oyster card and use a Boris bike - save at least £1 a day and even more if you take advantage of the 24 hour hire period over 2 days. When travelling into London don't automatically opt for a Travelcard - just pay to get into the mainline station and then walk or cycle onwards from there.

Good_tips

Learn your sale of goods act so you know your rights about returning items or complaining about faulty items. Knowing this means your better prepared and don't feel put off or intimidated by shop assistants or managers just because your young.

Miniella1

My best tip for anyone my age is when out shopping, before buying something, particularly clothes from high street stores, check for any discrepancies, whether it be a slightly misshapen hem or some beading missing. If you then take it to the checkout and point it out to the cashier they will often be happy to give you a discount for a piece that just needs an iron or a carefully angled pair of scissors! It sounds bizarre to think that they would do that for the tiniest of things but be confident in yourself and approach saying: 'I would like to take this item but I have noticed this problem with it. Therefore I would be happy to take it off your hands for X amount.' (NB the 'X amount' should be slightly under what you would be prepared to pay for it, just in case!)

I have often picked up items like this, most notably and recently, my sister and I went shopping and a top she liked had some (very, very minor) beads missing. I took it to the counter and showed it to the woman there and offered to take it for £7 (half the asking price of £14). Much to our surprise and delight she said we could take it for £5! In my experience, that store and many others like it, have a very generous approach to such things.

The same is true of supermarkets. I work in one where if a product is slightly bent, crumpled, torn on the packaging or other such small imperfections, we are allowed to give the customer a significant discount (up to 50%) - but only if they ask for it.

The message is don't be afraid to ask! Stores want to be as accommodating to customers as possible so start hunting for those money-saving signs of scruffiness!

oliverlambington

If your like me and overlooked uni to get a job when you left college/school/6th form then here is my tips to make your paychecks work for you:

The first and most important thing to do is sign up for the MSE monthly email. There are so many brilliant tips & hints, I done this when I first started my job at 18, on my Mums recommendation. Make sure you designate a good hour of your day (lunch break) to read it in detail and act on any limited time offers.

In order to get the most of your bank accounts, switch them every so often to make the most of introductory offers. In the last 2 years since I started my job I have switched to Santander (£100 introduction), Halifax (£100 introduction) & First direct (£125 introduction through MSE link). Now I am taking a break from work to go travelling, I have switched to Norwich & Peterborough Gold account which offers free cash withdrawals abroad.

HOWEVER you must read the terms and conditions carefully - most of them would charge you a monthly fee if you did not have income of over £1,000 a month & you may have to have the bank account open for a certain amount of time before you are entitled to the introductory offer .

You may think it is a hassle to switch over but (other than Santander) the switch over process with all the banks listed above has been brilliant and hassle-free. They will transfer all your DD's & SO's for you and will even inform your employers. HOWEVER make sure you keep enough money in both accounts until you have confirmation that all DD's and SO's have been transferred over. You do not want any overdraft charges.

The transfer process is only going to get better as George Osborne announced in February he wanted to make switching banks swifter..for the full story google 'George Osborne bank switching' (new users aren't allowed to post links apparently)

Set up a standing order each month to a savings account- comparing all the best savings accounts (use MSE/money supermarket) when you first start your job. Review whether you are really getting the best interest from your savings account once any interest has been paid. Increase your savings payments in line with any pay increase.

I would also recommend using a reward credit card for spending. I use an aqua reward credit card which gives me 3% back on all my purchases. It also welcomed people with bad credit ratings, or like myself and many other young people my age people with no previous credit history. If you keep an eye on the MSE emails they will warn you of any reward credit cards worth having (its how I found out about aqua). Having a credit card allows you to build up a good credit history, which may come in handy when you want a mortgage in future.

ALWAYS SET UP A DD TO PAY BACK CREDIT CARD IN FULL.

Beckyy

Don't waste money on rubbish you don't need.

Faith0518

For those who love being creative, instead of buying new clothes such as tops/jeans re-model them into new tops and new jeans maybe by transforming the classic white t-shirt into a tank top, or some jeans into a shorts or add slits to join that popular trend of 'distressed denim'. Lots of inspiration can be found online, especially on YouTube. Just type DIY 'T-shirt' or whatever you want to create and lots of results are bound to come up!!! Hope this helps those of you who may have money struggles to come up with a new wardrobe or those who are just interested in trying it out! (y)

StudentLiving

When buying a luxury item instead of thinking of how many pounds and pence it costs think of it in terms of how many minutes and hours of your life it is equivalent to. Using money distracts from the actual value of an object so, for example, if you want to buy a crate of beer for £12: instead of thinking "£12, yes that's fine I have that money in my bank account", think "£12, I'd have to work 2 hours to earn that money again, is this beer really worth it?". You'll be surprised how often you change your mind!

fishforsale

Most important tip for students

If you have a health issue that you do not think is important, TELL YOUR UNIVERSITY! I cannot stress this enough, the majority of those that dropped out of my course were suffering from anxiety issues or other issues for which they didnt get help, then they would apply for extenuating circumstances after such instances had occurred. You can aply for DSA and get "equipment"to suite your needs,


Hardship grants and loans can help pay for rent and other items if you are seriously in need, so you do not need to go homeless.

- If you are using a gym, look for your nearest "the gym" , they have ridiculously low fees , but at the expensive of staff.

Sign up to all the major fashion brand newsletters, create an email specifically for it if you want, and you will save £££ on clothes purchases, due to recieving sales emails, and therefore knowing about the sales before they are posted here/HUKD so you get access to better sizes.

If you are buying branded items , always make sure you check on amazon, i found a £200 leather jacket going for £60 on amazon , while on asos and the designers website, it was £200.

Another tip; If you have a barclays account, and a smartphone, DOWNLOAD PINGIT, i cannot stress how much easier it is to control impulse buying when you can see your account balance at a touch of a finger. (protected by a pin and free mobile kaspersky ). Also barclays provide kaspersky for free with a 3 - user license if you have any current account with them

EDIT

Saving money off Oyster train fairs in london:

If you have a 16-25/disabled/HM Forces/Senior railcard, you can go to a tube station and ask for your railcard to be linked to your oyster card. You then recieve 1/3 off all single off peak rail faires((NR, tube, DLR and Overground) and the same can be applied to weekly, monthly or annual passes!

The card only costs £20-£30 and you can buy it with tesco clubcard points, also you dont need to be a student to claim it!( you can easily make the clubcard points off topcashback doing the free offers or other offers, then convert them to clubcard points max £50 in 1 year)

Ronda

Work out a weekly budget at the beginning of the month when you receive your payslip/student loan and at the beginning of each week take that money out of your account and set it aside at home. So you can see how much you're spending and how fast