Your best money tips from 2024

[Stripybasket]

Mine is nothing new or exciting but I've really found using Monzo pots has helped us get a better grip on finances this year. Just wish there wasn't a limit of 10.

What's your top money tip to share?

I put all our spending on 2x cashback credit cards (paid in full monthly), these have earned me £270 this year. I use credit card offers and quidco cashback for certain shops.

I do bank switches when I can using empty donor accounts, I've earned over £1000 doing this over the years. Finally got DH to do it too, he loves free money.

I utilise current accounts that earn money, I have 3 Halifax reward accounts that earn me £15pm just by moving money around every month, takes minutes. My direct debit bills come out of Santander 123 lite cashback account, this earns me £9pm.

Finally, every spare penny is in an easy access high interest bearing account. Currently all our cash is earning at least 4.9%.

It's admin to track money and move it around but I love it and happy that every penny earned and spent is earning more money.

@Stripybasket similar except I'm using YNAB. Feels great to know how much I'm spending, how close I am to various savings goals etc.

@Goldmember I tried googling empty donor accounts but couldn't figure out what it means?

Mine are a bit boring.

I put £14 a week into a separate account as a standing order. It's only £2 a day and I don't miss £2 a day. Every couple of months I transfer that to my ISA.

Also, identify a stupid spending waste of money and stop it. For me it is alcohol. Literally pissing money down the drain. I stopped for a while last year and saved over £500 in horrifyingly quick succession. This year i plan to not drink at all, and divide the leftovers each month (I have a set budget I work with monthly) between my holiday account, my christmas present account and my ISA.

Has anyone moved away from using a credit card? We use one for vouchers, but I wonder if the £300 or so we get every year is worth it. I wonder if I’d feel more in control of my money if I went back to paying everything on my usual bank card.

Using cashback apps like jam doughnut or ever up to buy vouchers for food shopping. Managed to make back quite a bit which went towards Christmas shopping.

If you use YNAB you can link it to your credit and debit card so there is no difference. It's madness to 'turn down' £300 otherwise. I'd also think you could get a better card - which one do you use and what benefits are there?

Definitely use YNAB if you like Monzo, it's the same concept and there is no limit to the pots it's absolutely changed our financial fortunes.

Also if your bank does it do the rounding up thing where it rounds up all spends for that day and sends the extra to a savings account. I find it a good way to save without having to put big amounts in.

What I would do is: Set up a new bank account with your normal bank. It can take minutes through your banking app. Then set up 2 small DDs (if needed as part of the switch) I use PayPal and the DD repayment of a credit card I don't use. You don't have to pay out on the DDs but simply have them active on your account before the switch.

I don't ever switch my main account because your credit score uses the age of your bank account as part of the calculation, also I wouldn't want my DDs or wages to get messed up during the switch, there's a small chance of this happening and CASS should fix it but why risk it. Even paying in £1000 or £1500 as part of the switch condition, there's no reason to keep it in there, transfer it straight back out, same day if possible.

Once you have your reward you can use this account to continue to switch this throughout all available bank switches eg from Santander to HSBC to Barclays to Halifax etc. Moneysavingexpert gives details of available switches. A bit of admin gives free money, what's not to like? 🤑

Avoiding Home Bargains is my main one

Thanks @Goldmember that sounds very doable

@popandchoc that's what I do , I double the round ups on mine and have a couple of direct debits going in too , it soon adds up.

I used to use a reward credit card- and still do for purchases I may return and items I want the extra cover on- but these days I usually use the Jam doughnut app for my purchases. Takes seconds to buy a gift card through it to pay for food shopping and currently get 2.25% cash back. My referral code is YYFB if anyone would like to use it. Saved quite a bit on Christmas spends at Curry's, Argos, John Lewis and Just Eat

Check what rewards all of your accounts offer. We get free Disney and cinema tickets from the bank, free cinema tickets with our broadband and free weekly coffee with Octopus energy. All these mean I can have some little treats without spending a fortune.

The best money saving tip though is to put money into savings on pay day and meal plan, boring but it works

I was having this same thought yesterday. I paid off and closed one small credit card balance which was linked to my amazon account. And I think I need to use my debit card more as then it's paid for and I can see exactly where I'm at.

I have a credit card (one) that has a limit of £5 k. This is mainly because my parents live in Australia and are chronically ill and I need to be able to pay for a plane ticket fast, if the need arises.

I do dip into it often at the end of the month when things are getting tight but i pay off as soon as i can. I currently have £114 on it because my DS1s school blazer was put in a hot wash by mistake by DH and the results were unsalvageable. I only got a credit card for the first time 2 years ago (at the age of 51) because I have a true fear of debt having grown up with bailliffs knocking on the door and us all hiding behind the sofa. It does mean that I only buy what I can afford. But then again I am very very lucky because I can mostly afford what I need to buy.

@coolcahuna that’s interesting. Of course, £300 extra is a nice to have, but I am wondering if it doesn’t help my overall spending. If I spend £301 unnecessarily due to using a credit card and not money in actual bank, then it’s actually costing me over the course of the year. I know this is a behavioural thing, but such a lot of money stuff is these days.

Lord yes that is true- alot of money stuff is behavioural. That's actually a lightbulb moment you have given me.

It's worth thinking about isn't it. There's something about seeing the transaction live and already gone from your account. I think credit cards are good for the big transactions where you want protection but £3 coffee , debit card or cash all the way

I've really found using Monzo pots has helped us get a better grip on finances this year. Just wish there wasn't a limit of 10

@Stripybasket I've just had a quick count and I have 14 Monzo pots right now. Google tells me the limit is 20 so might be worth double checking.

Can I ask what Monzo pots people are making/how you are using them? For food, bills etc? Just trying to think of 10... thanks!

Bookmarking for later study!!

I am thinking the same. I want to set monthly budgets for food eating out etc and an account with pots I think would help massively.

Agree with the pp's about credit card spending possibly not being worth it.

We gave up spending on a cashback credit card for exactly this reason...because we ALWAYS ended up spending more on the weeks we'd used the credit card, even when we tried not to. Not big, luxury purchases, just everyday crap.

When we looked at statements, it would be spending £168 in Sainsbury's for a week shop rather than £150 ish when using the debit card. Taking a dc to buy new shoes and I spent £60 rather than £50. £50odd a week on random stuff in Coop rather than £40odd on weeks we used the debit card.

Just constant dribs and drabs of £5 more here, £15 more here when using the Credit Card on basic everyday stuff.

I honestly think it was just that psychology of us having a credit card in hand, of knowing there was no limit to the spend (well there is a limit but not one we'd hit with a Sainsbury's food shop 😂), no cash credit balance to watch drip away, and it subconsciously influences your spending habits.

My current Monzo pots are:

• Mortgage
• Utilities (Gas, Elec, Water, C Tax)
• Car (Ins, AA, Tax, MOT)
• Optician and dentist
• Comms and subscriptions (V.Media, 4 x mobiles, Prime, Netflix, Xbox, couple others)
• Kids activities (various regular costs)
• Childcare bill
• Dog (Vets, also collects money for food orders)
• Kids allowance and extra costs
• Misc (for emergencies)
• General savings (longer term, gets transferred out every few months elsewhere)
• 2025 Holidays
• 2025 Birthdays
• 2025 Xmas

For the bills pots, each of the Direct Debits or Standing Orders come directly from that pot.

Some pots I use to collect a credit balance so the cost is spread. Like in the kids activity pot, ds3 does swimming lessons for which we have to pay £100 every 12 weeks. I put £34 a month in there for that so the money's always there, in advance, when the invoice is received.

Placemarking

Also for Monzo users - try Salary Sorter if you haven't. I've only used it twice so far but it's great.

Any credit received, if you view it and scroll down you'll see 'Salary Sorter' and a blue button for 'sort payment'.

If you click it, it brings up a list of all your pots that you can add a balance to. You enter a £ amount in each box, then press sort and your salary will move to the respective pots in one click.

You can also save the sort so next week/month when you go in to do the same, the amounts are pre-input. Quick check, edit if needed and once click and you're done.