Money for Life work in partnership with the Money Advice Service, an independent organisation set up by government. Money AdviceService provides free, unbiased money guidance across the UK to help people make the most of their money. If you have a question or need help, you can chat to them here.
At Money for Life UK, we’re passionate about making sure you can make the most of your money. With this mission in hand, we’re reaching out to young money bloggers to write for us. This blog is by Annelies. Make sure you visit her blog too at Frugal Frenchie and stay tuned for more blogs from our Money Champions…
People often have the misconception that in order to achieve your money goals, you need to save save save and never spend again. How then, can people pay bills, buy food etc. and still reach their goals?
But there are loads of ways you can make use of apps to help you save while you spend.
Firstly, it’s important for you to establish your goals, know the ins and outs of them, and keep track of your progress. For this, I’d recommend Money for Life’s very own “Pennies to Pounds” saving app.
It’s free to download through the app and Google Play Stores, and is super helpful to keep you motivated and on track with your goals. You can enter as many saving goals as you like and give yourself a start and end date. They’ll then rapidly calculate the weekly or monthly savings you should be aiming for in order to achieve your goals; this definitely helps with visualisation and planning.
I have personally been using it recently, and after a recent payday, it was so satisfying to write how much money I’d saved for each goal and see the percentage complete increase. I’m currently saving for big things in life and it’s good to remember that every little helps and not to give up!
Food, whether we like it or not, is going to have to be bought regularly in order to survive. But the fact it’s an essential purchase doesn’t mean that we can’t save and just have to accept the bill. There are many apps out there that allow you to get cashback on grocery shop or get 100% of the money back on specific products.
All these apps are super easy to use. With cashback on common items like bread, or the occasional treat such as alcohol, there’s really no disadvantage to downloading it and making the most of what’s out there! Generally, they just require you to scan the receipt and the barcode (as proof of purchase) and you’ll be refunded the money fully, or a certain percent as previously advertised. Apps such as these include Checkout Smart, Shopmium, GreenJinn and ClickSnap.
TopCashback and Quidco are two cashback websites/apps that offer you money back on purchases from thousands of retailers, services and companies.
These websites are so useful and can save you thousands a year, especially if you have big purchases coming up such as holidays etc. All you have to do is shop online like normal, just access the website through TopCashback or Quidco first so they can track your purchase.
Just as an example, with it being the summer holidays approaching, you could get cashback for booking your holiday online or when you buy your summer wardrobe!
Although university and college can be very expensive, students often get better rates or discounts on everyday purchases. There are ways to make use of these, and the following apps are definitely worth downloading!
Unidays: this app is particularly useful for more expensive brands, that don’t often have discounts such as LEVIS.
Student Beans: this is another great app that has lots of great discounts from clothes, to food or even technology.
NUS extra: this app is more widely known around Britain; however, you do have to pay for the actual NUS card. It does, however, have a bigger variety of companies and is more likely to be recognised in stores.
It’s easy to get carried away with savings and then think “why am I actually doing this?” I found the Pennies to Pounds app super useful to help me keep on top of my savings and it also makes saving feel more meaningful and satisfying. Personally, I’ve been tracking my progress on big goals, because I’d rather progress through them gradually, than feel time pressure and then get overwhelmed.
I’ve gone for two main goals at the moment: “Car savings,” and “Future rent/home.” I personally always keep a track of my savings balance and always put a certain percentage, if not all of my wages into these savings. It’s a slow process, but I hope to save an extra £3.5k by the end of summer so that’ll contribute to these goals nicely. Can’t wait to see the % of process increase!
I hope that this is helpful for you and has opened your eyes to the potential savings out there! So, get onto google play store and start downloading your favourites!
Money for Life work in partnership with the Money Advice Service, an independent organisation set up by government. Money AdviceService provides free, unbiased money guidance across the UK to help people make the most of their money. If you have a question or need help, you can chat to them here.
