If you find it tough to keep something back for yourself, you’re not alone, with a quarter of UK adults having less than £100 in savings. While you might have good intentions to put money aside, it’s often easier said than done. That’s why we’ve asked a mix of experts and consumers about the saving hacks that actually make a difference, from the latest apps to more traditional budgeting methods.
Saving hack: cash in on everyday spending
“JamDoughnut allows me to buy gift cards for retailers both online and in-store and earn cashback. Supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Aldi are included, so it’s a great way to cut the cost of a weekly shop and it takes just a few minutes to do. On average, it saves me over £5 per week, but far more around Christmas time or when I’m making a large purchase. The only issue with this app is remembering to use it. But after a couple of months, it should become second nature.”
Peter Chatfield, founder of householdmoneysaving.com
Saving hack: out with the new, in with the old
“When I’m trying to spend less, I create a ‘use up’ list of non-essential items. For example, I might set a time limit on buying new make-up or clothes for a few months and use up or reframe my mindset about what I already have. This helps me to consider my spending and cut back on impulse buys, as once the time limit is up, I often don’t feel the need to buy those things anyway. This year I said no to buying new stuff for holidays or for wedding guest outfits, I estimate that I’ve saved at least £200-300.”
Laura Turner, founder of thriftylondonder.co.uk
Saving hack: take a fresh look at your finances
“The one thing that has really helped me to save money is to track what I spend with the free quick money recorder, which I’ve been doing since 2017. You input your spending into the graph and then you can see your expenditure by day, week, month or year in the colourful graph view (so much more visually pleasing than a spreadsheet). It can be quite shocking to realise how much I’ve spent in certain areas but seeing my spending totted up gives me the push I need to cut back or look for cheaper deals. It might not work for everyone, but once I got into the habit of inputting my spending at the end of each day, it was a game-changer for me.”
Miranda Eason, Retail Trust
Saving hack: get it second-hand if you can
“We save thousands of pounds each year buying pre-loved. We get most of our clothes, children’s toys and homeware at charity shops, Facebook marketplace, and Vinted (my favourite). At Christmas, my children’s main gifts cost around £40 each, whereas if I had bought them new, they would have come to around £200 each. If you know your child wants a certain gift for their birthday, shop around and shop early. Start trawling selling sites and charity shops in plenty of time to help you spot if it comes up for sale.”
Jamie-Lee Birch, Savvy Jamie
Saving hack: start small to save big
“Putting money aside each month was always really tough for me. If I tried to save a larger amount, I’d just dip back into it at the end of the month. Instead, I started to save just smaller amounts. It never felt like much at first, but it soon adds up. Your bank may have a round up service. Say you spend £4.64 - they round up to the next whole pound and move 34p into a savings account away from your main account. You can also check your bank every day and manually move over the spare pence or pounds into saving. I save around £60 - £100 a month this way without really noticing. It’s great to have a pot of savings to fall back on if we get an unexpected bill rise, or if we need to replace a pair of school shoes out of the blue!”
Naomi Willis, co-founder of skintdad.co.uk
Saving hack: look after the pennies
“I love a savings challenge to put money away for a rainy day or specific purchase. With the daily penny savings challenge, you start by saving 1p on the first day, then 2p on the second and so on until you save £3.65 on the last day of the year. By doing this, you can put away just under £670 a year (excluding interest). These challenges can be tailored (like starting at £3.65 and saving a penny less every day for a year) so that they keep motivating you to reach your financial goals.”
Brean Horne, senior writer at becleverwithyourcash.com
Saving hack: spend more now to save later
“I try to make investment purchases that help me to save in the long-run. I have to have my morning coffee, so I bought a coffee machine for £50 to make them at home and bring them in, instead of buying them for £2-£3 from a coffee shop every day. I also cancelled my monthly gym membership and bought a treadmill for £300 to use at home. It might be more expensive up front, but that’s actually less than a year’s worth of gym membership fees. It’s also more motivation to use it as it’s in my house, I would never go to the gym before and this has really inspired me to exercise.”
Shaila, retail assistant at Ollie & Quinn
Saving hack: hold onto your side-hustle earnings
“We realised a little while ago that we’d collected lots of bits and bobs that we didn’t need but could sell on eBay, gumtree and so on. Rather than just putting the odd £20 we made into our current account or spending it on a takeaway, we opened a separate savings account for those little gains. It’s great seeing them add up and now we could really do something interesting with what we saved, otherwise we’d probably have just spent without realising it.”
Dan Russell, Retail Trust
Saving hack: check for discounts before you buy
I’ve added a browser extension called Honey to help with online shopping. It’s a free tool that automatically searches for discount codes and applies the best ones to your basket. You can use it for a wide range of purchases like clothes, food, activities, and sometimes even hotels. If there’s a valid discount code for the site you’re shopping on, Honey will apply it for you. Discounts typically range from 10% to 20%, which can really add up, especially on larger orders. Using Honey, you can also create something called a “Droplist,” which works like a wish list of items you’re not ready to purchase yet. If Honey detects the price of the item drop they will notify you, so you will never miss a deal.
Darta Burkovska, Retail Trust
Saving hack: curb overspending with ‘money pots’
“As a family, we use a free app called HyperJar. It is a pre-paid debit card account where you can segregate your money into ‘pots’ and select the ‘pot’ you want to spend from. This way we set money aside for car insurance, tax, maintenance, socialising, holidays and so on and we can see how much is in each ‘pot’ and available.”
Helen Goldsby-West, Retail Trust
Saving hack: ditch your card for a cash budget
“Before I stumbled across the cash-stuffing method, my income was lasting only the month. 18 months later I have money set aside and a small amount growing each month in my bank account. With cash stuffing, you set aside real physical money by placing it into a binder. The binder has individual envelopes labelled such as food, petrol, birthdays, Christmas, holidays and so on. Each month I set aside a specific amount and divvy it up into my saving envelopes. Having a budget and placing money into the envelopes means I no longer overspend in areas that I once did. I also think more before I spend now.”
Lisa Woodley, mumwhobudgets
Saving hack: write it out
“I prefer writing down my weekly budget and spending on the notes app on my phone. I’ve tried using budgeting apps, but it hasn’t helped me as it doesn’t feel real. Every week, I look over my expenses and put them in categories (groceries, travel, rent), and I review them at the end of the month to have clarity over what I spend. It’s more efficient, and the physical act of writing them down helps me feel more present with my spending.”
Anda, retail assistant at Neuhaus
Saving hack: put your money aside before you spend
“I use the 50/30/20 method which means using 50% of my income to cover essentials like my mortgage and bills, I then spend 30% on my weekly shop, clothing and socialising, and then 20% goes on my savings and investments. I use an app called Plum for my savings, where I get money taken out my current account as soon as I get paid. I set up rules with the Plum app so that it takes money on specific days of the month, I do round-ups on my spending, and I even set it to save £2 when it rains. It’s very clever and it only takes money if it knows the money isn’t being spent elsewhere. I usually save around £200 a month without even thinking.”
Maddy Alexander-Grout, founder of ‘Mad about money’ app
Saving hack: supplement your food shop with freebies
“I claim at least £50 worth of free and discounted food and drink every month by using apps like Shopmium, Too Good To Go and Olio. Shopmium is a cashback app that has offers for free or discounted food from your local supermarket, you just need your receipt to claim the cost of your items back once you’ve bought them. Whereas Olio is a food sharing app that lists free food available within your local area, often from your neighbours. Similarly, Too Good To Go connects you to local businesses that have surplus unsold food. You might pay £3 for a box of food worth £10+ from Morrisons, One Stop and lots more. Being able to supplement my food shop this way means that I buy less and reduce my grocery bill.”
Emma, founder of beemoneysavvy.com
Saving hack: try a low-spend challenge
“A saving hack that works for me is challenging myself to a low-spend week (or month). For me, this can be trying to use up all the food in the freezer, putting new outfit combinations together from my wardrobe or planning free days out at art galleries or museums. I have a chart that I tick off each day if I’ve managed to hit my goal. I reckon I’ve been able to save around £50-£75 per week when completing a low spend challenge, so it definitely adds up.”
Taryn, founder of Savinginlondoncity.com
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