Unless you happen to be one of those enviable types who are just “naturally good with money”, you’ll be forever left wondering: a) where did the money go? b) will I ever get better at saving?
In theory, saving is easy if you combine a bit of effort with willpower and common sense. For instance, you can save on heating bills by insulating your windows for less than a fiver, save on shopping by sticking to your shopping list, and it’s hardly rocket science to figure out your lunch expense can be slashed by packing your own.
And yet our busy lifestyles means it's all too easy to fritter away our paycheque away on morning lattes, cocktails after work, and retail therapy at the weekend.
Penny Gee from Penny Golightly tells Huff Post UK that this is totally understandable: “A whole generation in the UK has had no formal education about money management or personal finance, and at the same time we have been marketed to since birth. Since we are bombarded with status symbols and the trappings of celebrity culture on a daily basis, it's really not surprising that we're finding it much easier to spend instead of save.”
So is it possible to save money without making any drastic changes to our lifestyle? Vivi Friedgut of Black Bullion suggests that to stick to a budget, we could use the same tricks we use to stay in shape.
“Saving money is, in many ways, similar to staying fit,” she explains. “There are the little things you can do that become a seamless part of your day (like walking up escalators) and then there are the specific events that make a big impact (like Sunday morning spin, or training for a marathon).”
We teamed up with a few leading money saving experts to compile a list of those little changes you can easily make on how you spend. Try a few to see the impact they have on your bank balance at the end of the month.