What’s your saving style?

Picking an approach that works for you can help you save more successfully.

Whether you want to save faster, smarter or more reliably, we’ve got some tips to help!

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We’ve always opted for the “zero sum” saving when we really need to save.

Once salaries have come in and DD’s/SO’s have gone out (which are all on the 1st or 2nd of the month), we move the entire remaining balance into a savings account (minus any spend we know we’ll need that month).

This way encourages us not to dip into savings for that extra take away, or that Amazon deal of the day that you really don’t need.

There are occasions where we have to dip into it for emergencies, but because it’s a last resort, we find we need to do it less and less :smiley:

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Yes, same here. Whatever is left goes into the pot. Plus I use the round up, so any frivolous spending also contributes in a small way.

Seems like the most logical way of saving.

I use IFTTT so that any card transaction gets rounded up to the nearest 50p. Great little addition and a great money saver, usually manager to save about £10 a week! Not tried the in-app round-up though, perhaps they do the same?

As soon as salary comes in I put a certain amount in LISA, S&S ISA and general savings. I also have transaction round-ups for a Monzo pot and will put any excess cash I have after a month into general savings.

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Is “spending” an accepted answer? :joy:

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As soon as I get my salary I always transfer X amount of it to my various savings accounts as soon as possible.

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I save towards specific goals, and then have a rainy day pot. The progress bar that pots have is really great, as it lets me see how much I am towards a goal.

I’m saving for a PC at the moment, and the feature that rounds purchases up and adds the rest to the pot is amazing. Its amazing how little things add up so quickly. Most of my money goes into this saving pot, and I don’t earn much so it’s probably going to take me a while to fill it.

I keep the rainy day fund in case I have an unexpected purchase or emergency. I usually leave the £1 rounder on this pot, unless I’m saving for a specific goal.

Other than this, I leave the money in my main account. I don’t usually spend much anyway, so it’s not an issue for me.

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I’m the same, I have a standing order set up that does this for me. Out of sight, out of mind works well for me :yum:

I used to save at the start of every month without fail. Then I got married and had to run a house. Then I had a gorgeous baby boy.

You cannot put a price on happiness… But happiness also apparently makes saving almost impossible!:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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As some of the users above, I tend to add A certain amount of :moneybag: into my pot at the start of the month, have round-ups turned on and then whatever is left at the end of the month goes into the pot too! I just try to be conservative day-to-day and remind myself that I’ll have a nice chunk of money in savings at the end of each month which can be put toward something nice! :fireworks:

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I have never used a round up function before Monzo… If it even was a thing! It has definitely revolutionised saving for me. It is nearly as easy as saving with Chip! Lazy saving is the best kind of saving :sleeping:

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Haha I did use Moneybox which basically took note of all of your transactions and took the money on a weekly basis. This would then be invested and you had the potential to earn some extra cash while saving. It’s a good idea but really only for people who are willing to put a thousand or so into an investment ISA otherwise you’d be lucky to earn £1 a month.

One good thing about Moneybox is that it allowed you to round up £1 payments too. I would love it if Monzo did this! So if I purchased something for £1.50 it would be rounded to £2.00. But if I purchased something for £2.00 it would be rounded to £3.00. That would let us all save quicker, without noticing much of a difference!!

Definitely worth querying someone with more knowledge of IFTTT, my understanding is as long as there is an API (which there is with Monzo), then you can do all kinds of custom hocus-pocus. I was reading about one guy who set it up to ‘fine’ him £5/10 into a ‘sins’ pot if he made certain transactions (e.g. McDonalds). No idea how this all works in practice - it’s a bit much for me but just shows the extent of what’s allegedly possible.

Great to know before all xmas madness

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We made a spreadsheet a few years ago where we jot down recurring annual and monthly expenses. we update it every year. We divide that by 12, and keep that much money in the accounts. The rest goes to savings. If we get a one off expense, we pull that from savings into our bank accounts.