How has lockdown impacted your spending and saving?
Our series, How I Save, has been documenting the effects of a year of Covid on our finances.
Each week we ask a different person to share their approach to money, and to track their spending for a week. Then we get an expert to give advice we can learn from, too.
Last time, we were nosing around the finances of a ‘grossly underpaid’ business development manager who spends his money on beer and cigarettes.
This week we’re chatting with Anika*, 27, who lives and works in London.
How Anika saves:
I earn £31k a year. In my savings account right now I have £24,000.
I’ve saved this much money mostly by living at home, and because the lockdown has been great for my savings. I’ve also pretty much been working since I was like 17, putting away a fraction from each of the 20+ jobs I’ve had.
Before the pandemic, I was still contributing £500 towards rent/living at home costs but in the last few months, I’ve stopped, instead paying for certain house bills (phones, internet) and the food shop.
I’m not saving for anything in particular. I don’t dream of owning a home but will probably get roped into it eventually because #society.
I’ve recently left my full-time job, so my savings will help with my expenditure in this time (and my Uber Eats/Deliveroo addiction).
I would also love to do some long-term travelling when it becomes possible, so my savings will help with that.
The main way I save is by not paying rent anymore! That, plus not commuting to work anymore, nor paying for lunches and coffees at work, plus a social life.
I used to also get a lot of Ubers to my ex-boyfriend’s place and back, but we broke up so I’m saving on that too. The pandemic has been good for many of us by killing our social lives.
I used to spend £150-£170 commuting, plus the gym, and used to pay rent before the pandemic too. But thankfully no more.
I think I’m pretty good at saving (and the fact that my expenditure isn’t too high obviously helps – I don’t imagine I would have been able to save without having lived at home the past few years).
I try not to limit myself when it comes to spending frivolously. If I want to eat something or go somewhere, I’ll do it.
But for health purposes, I probably should order less takeout, especially Pret breakfasts! I think I would be better at saving if I had a tangible goal like buying a property. For my future self, I should probably do the sensible thing and save for this.
How Anika spends:
Monthly expenses:
- Phone bill: £45
- Netflix: £13.99
- Landline, internet: £31
- Apple: 79p (I think this is for iCloud storage or something, I’m not 100% sure)
- Direct debit to my mum (just because. I think she saves it to spend on me anyway): £25
- Food shop: I usually do this every two weeks or so, averaging anything from £10-50 depending on how much we need, as I’m the ‘healthiest’ in the family so have been nominated resident shopper during the pandemic. My dad will do the ‘big’ shop where he buys everything in bulk i.e meats, toilet tissue, etc. He does this every few months. And I usually do a smaller shop in between.
A week of spending:
Monday: My Netflix bill goes out. Before, I was paying £11.99 but Netflix changed their pricing for premium, so now it’s £13.99. This bill is for £11.99.
I order Deliveroo for breakfast, it costs me £12.47. I can’t remember which restaurant I ordered from but it’s most likely Pret or any of the other string of cafes and coffee shops I have near me.
During my lunch break, I walk to the market, where I pop into Iceland, for bread and milk and snacks. I spend £7.90.
I have a Greggs gift card so I head in to buy some lunch. The card doesn’t work for some reason, so I just get a vegan sausage roll, a cookie, and a latte. £3.90. Greggs is so much cheaper than Pret, I should spend here in future.
Total spent on Monday: £36.26
Tuesday: We do a big Costco shop, my dad pays for it. I pay for two large pizzas on the way back because it’s delicious and we’re famished from walking around this gigantic store. £14.98.
Total spent on Tuesday: £14.98
Wednesday: I spend nothing, but my Apple bill of 79p goes out. I hope it’s for something useful.
Total spent on Wednesday: 79p
Thursday: I have a Deliveroo voucher so get KFC, paying the remaining £2.60.
Later in the night, my siblings and I go for a drive, I get two (Oreo) milkshakes and two caramel tarts for whoever wants it. Only two of them do. What a waste. I eat the caramel tart the next day. £19.95.
I had to pop to Tesco to buy something, £4.80.
Total spent on Thursday: £27.35
Friday: My Hyperoptic (landline and internet) bill goes out: £32.03, a bit more than usual probably because someone used the landline to call a number you have to pay for.
My sister takes me to a car park to teach me to drive her car. I get her Greggs as a thank you, and this time my gift card works! I pay the remaining £1.10.
My other sister wanted me to pick up some razors and wipes or something from Superdrug so I pick up some toiletries – £7.48.
Total spent on Friday: £40.61
Saturday: I spend nothing.
Total spent on Saturday: £0
Sunday: I buy breakfast on Uber Eats again. £20.78. Told you I have a problem. But in my defence, I don’t just buy for myself. I usually throw in a couple of croissants and coffees for any family members who want it.
Total spent on Sunday: £20.78
Total spent this week: £140.77
How Anika could save:
We spoke to the experts over at Plum, the smart app for managing your money, to find out how Anika can put aside more (and what we can learn from her spending). Please note that tips from Plum do not constitute financial advice.
Here’s what they said:
Hey Anika, thanks for sharing your week with us!
Lockdown life has certainly put our social lives on the backburner, but while we wait for a time when we can ditch drinks over Zoom and hug freely again, let’s take a deep dive into your saving and spending.
Saving
Wow Anika, you are truly a savings pro. Having £24,000 in the bank is awesome. Well done you!
It has helped that you’ve moved back home (goodbye rent), and lockdown has cut your spending pretty drastically, but your long-term money-saving habits also deserve some serious praise.
Tucking away some money from each of your jobs since you were a teenager has definitely stood you in good stead. We think you’re being a bit modest when you say you’re ‘pretty good’ at saving, you’re a star.
Having stashed away this huge amount of cash, we get the impression you might be in the savings wilderness right now. We’ll let you into a little secret though: it’s okay to distribute your money across several different goals.
In money management apps like Plum, you can create pockets to organise your cash with clear, customisable goals to achieve over a certain amount of time. You could set up one for your travel plans, and another for a house that you can keep running in the background until you decide what you want to do.
Alongside these two pockets, it might also be worth setting up a third ‘emergency fund’ pocket that you can access should any sudden, unexpected expenses pop up. Financial experts typically recommend building this up to cover three months’ worth of your living expenses.
Plum can make saving for this as easy as possible by analysing your income and spending patterns and calculating the perfect amount to set aside automatically. While we know you can summon up the willpower to save, Anika, this should come as a nice break.
Spending
Now, your spending can mostly be attributed to your UberEats/Deliveroo addiction, which you’re very open about. If you really wanted to cut back, you could think about swapping the odd takeaway with a home-cooked meal.
That being said, this seems to be your only vice at the moment, so if a cheeky Pret breakfast pick-me-up is what’s needed to get you through lockdown, then by all means go for it. At Plum, we fully endorse treating yourself every once in a while!
Also, it’s clear you know yourself very well and have found ways to reduce the cost of these eats. Using gift cards and vouchers is a great strategy, but you might also want to consider adding cashback services to your collection.
There are plenty of websites and apps out there that do this, and Plum is one of them. If you shop with one of our partner brands through the app, you can get a small reward when you spend. Even if you’re only getting 5% of your cash back, it all adds up over time and could get you one step closer to that trip away or new pad.
Finally, as things slowly start to go back to normal, it might be worth thinking about making a budget for all those ‘treat yo’ self’ moments. That way, when your social life returns, you can have some fun while still keeping your bank account happy.
*Name has been changed.
How I Save is a weekly series about how people spend and save, out every Thursday. If you’d like to anonymously share how you spend and save – and get some expert advice on how to sort out your finances – get in touch by emailing ellen.scott@metro.co.uk.
If you want more tips and tricks on saving money, as well as chat about cash and alerts on deals and discounts, join our Facebook Group, Money Pot.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2021/03/11/how-i-save-the-27-year-old-who-says-lockdown-has-been-great-for-money-14224370/
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