Are you struggling to save money? Sometimes the hardest thing about saving money is just getting started. Being a Mortgage Advisor, I like to think that I am good with money and being in my line of work I have seen lots of people who would benefit from some direction. I bought my first house at a young age of 21 when I was earning the national minimum wage as an administrator. I’ve always had a really strong work ethic and paid my way even from a young age. I wasn’t handed anything on a plate and have always had to be frugal.
Here I talk about my own ways of how I’ve saved money, which may help you develop a simple and realistic strategy, so you can save for all your short and long-term savings goals!
- Record your expenses
The first step to saving money is figuring out how much you spend! Take note of all the expenses you have and organise them into categories. Make sure you are as accurate as possible and don’t miss things out such as daily coffee trips! These all add up.
- Budget for savings
Once you have got an idea of how much money is coming in and how much is going out in a typical month, you can start to think about your overall budget. Add some additional spending in there for things that come up less regularly such as car maintenance or house repairs. Include a savings category in this and aim to try and save 10-15% of your income.
- Think of ways that you can cut your spending
Often in doing this exercise, you will realise that your expenses are so high that you can’t save as much money as you would like each month and it might be time to cut back. Do this by identifying any non-essentials that you can spend less on, such as dining out, coffee stops or memberships that you don’t use. Think about your purchases… I am not impulsive – I sit on something for a while before buying it!
- Set a savings goal
Start by thinking about what you might want to save for, as one of the best ways of saving money is to set a goal. This might be getting married, a deposit for buying a house or saving for retirement. Make sure you decide on your priorities and remember the long-term goals as well as the short-term goals. You need to make sure that saving for retirement doesn’t take a back seat to shorter-term needs.
- Pick the right tools
It is a good idea to use tools and accounts to help with your goals. You could consider overpaying on your mortgage (subject to your mortgage terms) to build more equity in your home and reduce the amount of interest you pay overall. Or you could look to invest in some Premium Bonds as the interest rates on savings accounts aren’t great at the moment.
We hope you have found this useful, you can download our easy to use BUDGET PLANNER here!
At KB Mortgage Services, we can help find you the best deal and save you money over the term of your mortgage.
How KB Mortgage Services can help:
- Help for first-time buyers
- Buy to let mortgages for investors
- Reviewing your current buy to let mortgages with remortgaging
- Mortgage protection insurance
Note: Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. You may have to pay an early repayment to your existing lender if you remortgage. Second charge mortgages are arranged by introduction only.
Not all Buy to Lets are regulated by the financial conduct authority & we are unable to provide Inheritance or tax advice
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