A 28-year-old woman has revealed how she has saved nearly £50,000 thanks to a series of clever money-saving tips and tricks.
Matilda Littler, from Hertfordshire, has been financially savvy from a young age, but after graduating university decided to kick things up a notch to build up some savings.
While earning an entry level graduate salary, she thought of ways to increase her income with side hustles and following five key rules.
As a result, by the age of 26 she had saved £40,000 and now, two years on, is about to hit the £50,000 mark.
Matilda, who shares advice on Instagram (@amillennialsaver), has shared the five rules she lives by to maximise her savings – which have now set her in good stead to purchase a property in the future and feel more financially stable.
SET YOURSELF AN ALLOWANCE
To start off on the right foot with saving, she recommends setting yourself a rather stern allowance.
“I gave myself an allowance for spending after bills and, as my salary grew, I tried to keep my allowance the same – allowing for inflation,” Matilda, who works as a project manager, told NeedToKnow.co.uk.
“It meant I didn’t become accustomed to another lifestyle so that allowance still felt comfortable.”
IGNORE TRENDS AND FADS
Matilda says it is important to ignore trends, fads and giving in to buying the latest gadgets.
She said: “I don’t buy the latest tech. I have a Ford Fiesta from 2007, I purchased my iPhone outright and a lower model so I’m not paying a contract and this has saved me a lot of money.”
SIDE HUSTLES
The savvy saver said: “First, do all you can with the money you have – create a budget, save where you can and cut where you can as well.
“Once you’ve done this and you feel you’re saving as much as you can, look to increase your income whether it’s a new job or side hustles.
“There are so many side hustles out there that can give you a good income.
“For example, I did a user interview last week on my lunch break and for 45 minutes I got £50.
“It all adds up!”
DEALS, DEALS, DEALS
Matilda also supplements this with scouting for the latest deals before any bigger purchases.
She said: “Look for deals and doing things cheaper – whether that’s activities, getting cashback on booking that holiday, or shopping non-branded food.”
BE SAVVY WITH BANKS
Finally, Matilda says to shop around when it comes to where you actually store your savings.
She said: “In a time like today, make sure your savings are sitting in a high interest savings account.
“Also, look at ways to utilise your money from ISA allowances and investing if you are wanting to save that money long term.”
For the millennial super saver, she has been practising what she preaches since her teens.
Matilda said: “I had a mix of jobs growing up and I’ve saved from a young age. I started working as a pot washer at 14 in a local cafe and worked in similar jobs and as a store assistant until I was 16.
“I was on minimum wage during this time but still managed to put away a small amount for savings.
“When I was 16, I started making jewellery as a side business and sold this on Etsy, at vintage and Christmas markets and sold in local shops in my area.
“I put a lot of the profit from this into savings and I was lucky that during this time I was living at home and then at 18 I moved out of my parent’s home permanently.
“At this point, I had around £5,000 in savings.
“At 18, I stopped doing the jewellery business and went to university. During my time at university, I didn’t touch my savings but lived off my student finance and also worked in a sunbed shop for extra income.
“When I graduated university, I really wanted to save for the future, like buying a house, as it seemed so out of reach so wanted to kickstart my savings journey.
“After graduating, I moved to rent in a new city with friends and started a graduate scheme at an entry-level salary at 23.
“At this point, earning a full-time yearly salary I started tracking my spending even more and updating my budget each month to see where I could cut costs.
“I also started doing side hustles from user testing – testing out websites and apps and interviews – and selling my project management skills on Fiverr.
“On my entry level salary, I was putting away around £750 every month and £150 of this was from side hustles.
“In the first year, I’d been able to save £11,000 – this was from the £750 a month and an additional £2,000 where I’d over-saved – and I had £1,600 at this point.”
As her salary increased, Matilda crucially stuck to the same monthly allowance she had given herself for food shopping and living costs, and says from then on she was able to save “dramatically”.
She added: “With the savings that I had, I started maxing out my lifetime ISA, which I opened four years ago, and also put money into stocks and shares ISA and started investing in March 2020 just as we went into lockdown.
“I also do side hustles in my own time such as user testing for new apps or websites, surveys etc so I can make extra income on the side.
“Lockdown also helped as I was able to save even more over this period and I saved around £20,000 during this two-year period.
“In lockdown, I also had a side business selling portable Kanban boards, a project management tool, and launched this with friends on Kickstarter.
“We made £12,000 in sales in a month when we launched.
“By 26, I was able to save £40,000.
“I’ve recently turned 28 and in the last year, I’m about to hit the £50,000 mark.”
