Around a year ago I walked out in my family due to a toxic situation. I'm only 23 so living independently, understanding bills, and supporting myself was all new to me.
Thankfully I worked very hard with multiple jobs prior to leaving home so my income was around £25,000 after tax. However, I had zero experience of bills; with rent, broadband, electricity, and my water costing around £700 a month, this was a huge wake-up call.
I decided to start tracking my money. Every single penny. I categorised my spending on a spreadsheet into travel (subcats: bus, train, Uber/taxi), food (subcats: coffee, shop, eating out), ongoings (subcats: required [bills etc], fun [subscriptions]), and other, for one time purchases.
On top of the above, I realised that I was spending around £400 per month on food shops and eating out, around £180 on travel (mainly Uber+trains), and on average around £400 per.month on one time purchases such as clothes, books etc.
After tracking my finances on a spreadsheet, I feel an unrivalled satisfaction when I get through a day without having to plot spending there. Each month feels like a clean slate and I've found myself thinking about my spreadsheet when contemplating a 'guilty pleasure' spend.
TRAVEL
I stopped getting Ubers and bought a Railcard which saves around 30% on train tickets. With this I limited my spending to around £20 a week or £80 a month.
FOOD
I got a nectar card as Sainsbury's is closest to me and decided to limit myself to one shop per week. I didn't set a strict limit but I aimed to spend around £50 per week so £200 a month on my shopping. I bought a good quality flask and do not buy coffee when in out- this saved me around £40 per month. I stopped getting takeaways which saved me a massive £70 per month.
OUTGOINGS
My required spending such as bills couldn't really shift much as I have good deals having shopped around. I limited my subscriptions and found that upon cancellation I'd actually get significant discounts. For example, I paid £33.99 a month for Now TV sports package and upon cancellation I got an offer of £20 for six months- after cancelling this I got the same deal again. Overall I saved around £55 a month just through 'false cancellation'.
OTHER
As mentioned above, the satisfaction I get through not spending now has effected my habits. I still treat myself to the odd book or film etc but I've dropped this significantlh to around £100. This includes buying the odd shirt/jumper and general Amazon junk that I find interesting admittedly!
On the whole, my outgoings in total were around £1700 per month meaning I'd have around £300 per month left. Now I track and manage my finances, my outgoings are around £1100 per month and so I have roughly £900 per month to save. £10,000 a year!
It's not just the savings but also the mentality of minimizing spend and maximising income- I'm now looking for ways to save which I probably would have sneered at when I was younger. I'm no finance expert and have a lot to learn regarding investments etc but I thought this was super beneficial and I would advise everyone on doing the same!
Thankfully I worked very hard with multiple jobs prior to leaving home so my income was around £25,000 after tax. However, I had zero experience of bills; with rent, broadband, electricity, and my water costing around £700 a month, this was a huge wake-up call.
I decided to start tracking my money. Every single penny. I categorised my spending on a spreadsheet into travel (subcats: bus, train, Uber/taxi), food (subcats: coffee, shop, eating out), ongoings (subcats: required [bills etc], fun [subscriptions]), and other, for one time purchases.
On top of the above, I realised that I was spending around £400 per month on food shops and eating out, around £180 on travel (mainly Uber+trains), and on average around £400 per.month on one time purchases such as clothes, books etc.
After tracking my finances on a spreadsheet, I feel an unrivalled satisfaction when I get through a day without having to plot spending there. Each month feels like a clean slate and I've found myself thinking about my spreadsheet when contemplating a 'guilty pleasure' spend.
TRAVEL
I stopped getting Ubers and bought a Railcard which saves around 30% on train tickets. With this I limited my spending to around £20 a week or £80 a month.
FOOD
I got a nectar card as Sainsbury's is closest to me and decided to limit myself to one shop per week. I didn't set a strict limit but I aimed to spend around £50 per week so £200 a month on my shopping. I bought a good quality flask and do not buy coffee when in out- this saved me around £40 per month. I stopped getting takeaways which saved me a massive £70 per month.
OUTGOINGS
My required spending such as bills couldn't really shift much as I have good deals having shopped around. I limited my subscriptions and found that upon cancellation I'd actually get significant discounts. For example, I paid £33.99 a month for Now TV sports package and upon cancellation I got an offer of £20 for six months- after cancelling this I got the same deal again. Overall I saved around £55 a month just through 'false cancellation'.
OTHER
As mentioned above, the satisfaction I get through not spending now has effected my habits. I still treat myself to the odd book or film etc but I've dropped this significantlh to around £100. This includes buying the odd shirt/jumper and general Amazon junk that I find interesting admittedly!
On the whole, my outgoings in total were around £1700 per month meaning I'd have around £300 per month left. Now I track and manage my finances, my outgoings are around £1100 per month and so I have roughly £900 per month to save. £10,000 a year!
It's not just the savings but also the mentality of minimizing spend and maximising income- I'm now looking for ways to save which I probably would have sneered at when I was younger. I'm no finance expert and have a lot to learn regarding investments etc but I thought this was super beneficial and I would advise everyone on doing the same!
