Does anyone use any nifty savings tricks for small amounts?

[DonnyAndVladSittingInATree]

Not sure if that title is clear at all

I am on a very tight budget but of course overspent on Xmas and will be eating cold beans for the next month

So I have set up a standing order to save £10 a week into another account from the first of January. I get paid weekly so weekly saving should work for me.

I am now wondering if I can squirrel away a few £ here and there on a regular basis without really noticing and if so how much and what for? I know if I don’t label what it is for then I will dip into it and spend it. I don’t use cash much but I guess I could save my loose change at the end of every week.

Does anyone else do anything like this?

Get one of those piggy banks that you have to smash to open, that way you won't be tempted every time you need some change! You can buy them on ebay, Amazon, card shops. My dc have one each and we won't be breaking them until next summer. Stick in 50ps, pound coins, maybe the odd fiver if you're feeling flush. It all adds up!

we did the "penny a day" thing a couple of years back.

The idea is that you save an extra penny each day, so Jan 1 is 1p, 2nd is 2p, and so on up to £3.65 at the end of the following December

The flaw in this is that the later months mean there is a sizeable chunk going out into the penny pot, but what we did was to write down 1-365 on a bit of paper, and then go through the change we had every couple of days and cross off a matching amount/amounts as we went.

so a fivers worth of change could be a £3 and a £1 and 49p and 51p iyswim

we were not that regulated about it and had plans to bank it in November so we had already discounted most of the most expensive month of December, but without missing it we had about £300 I think.

I log into my online banking every day and transfer a bit to my savings to make my current account balance a round number.

So, if I had £1970.54 I could transfer £170.54, £70.54 or even 54p. It not only appeals to my orderly nature but it gives me flexibility to save a chunk or just a little and doing a little every day and you hardly notice it missing!

I've found this much more effective than doing a set chunk on a set date.

I definitely need this thread as have gone way over budget this Xmas and need to rein back in! Last January we started by putting change and cash in a jar and not spending it, very quickly built up! Also setting strict budget and sticking to it, which needs resetting now lol but going to try the rounding down bank balance for something new and see how it goes, is anyone doing no spend January? good luck everyone!

@dementedma - good interest rate at the credit union?

Another vote for Chip. It has been an absolute gamechanger for me - an app that just takes small amounts of money now and then from my current account. I can also make manual payments in when I have extra money (like cashback site payout or birthday money). You can get upto 5% interest, which a lot better than normal savings account. The balance just creeps upwards without effort from me. I have a referral code if you want an extra percent interest.

The penny a day thing doesn't have to start on January 1, which will make December very expensive. You could also do it in reverse, starting in a month with fewer expenses.

Reverse penny a day is genius! The highest amounts are at the time you are most motivated, heh!

This thread is complete genius! In the last 24 hours I've signed up to Chip, swept up my current account balance and transferred the odds and ends into my savings account and have set up the 1p a day on my 'Life' spreadsheet to start on January 1st . I work full-time and earn a decent amount but never have any savings (just an empty savings account ) so this is brilliant- thank you Donny for starting the thread!

I save pennies. A jar full is usually about £12-16 pounds over a year - not a lot but it's a handful of Poundland stocking fillers when you exchange the pennies at Metrobank at Christmas.

Now I'm single again I have to be very careful with money. I always have to have a minimum of £2000 in savings in case of disaster.
I put all my coppers into a very big glass bottle and when it's full cash it in. I got £30 last time.
I ebay all my junk or have a local yard sale.
I plant seeds and sell them outside my house. I scooped £50 one year, I do things people like such as annuals and perennial geraniums, black eyed susan that type of thing, most people are too lazy to grow that stuff themselves and I'm cheaper than garden centres.
You can earn quite a lot cat/dog sitting with an advert in the local papers, you don't need any qualifications. My friend earned £60,000 doing that over 10 years and now has the money in her retirement fund.
I used to do agency work on a weekend if I needed money quick when I was a single mum, cleaning, packing, anything. I have a good job now so don't need to but my friend does it and earns a fair bit of money.
Get a short term lodger if you can, I have lodgers and foreign students in my small box room and get £300 a month.
i hope that helps.

I use an app on my phone called Plum savings. It takes money from your account once a month based on a formula. Usually a couple of quid. You can also message the app and tell it to save more. I used it to save up for Christmas and I love it. It also regularly reminds me of my current account balance which helps keep me on track. I was unsure and asked my bank about it (HSBC) and they said it was fine, it was mentioned in the guardian too

I use the Plum app - it saves small amounts and uses algorithms so it doesn’t take when bills etc are due, I never missed the money and last year I saved nearly £500!

I don’t work for them btw, I am just hideous as saving and this was brilliant.

Thank you for these suggestions. I've started January determined to avoid the Christmas overspend next year. As a result of reading these threads I realised that a reverse 365 would pay for presents and adding just a bit onto the monthly average saving would pay for everything. I've opened a regular 12 month savings account with 5% interest and set up a standing order - should be able to take the money out of the account just in time to pay off the credit card bill next January.

I bank with TSB and have a ‘save the change’ savings account as a PP mentioned. This is my spending account and every time I use my debit card it rounds up the spend to the next pound and puts the change in my savings account.

I also take advantage of current account switches for the incentives. So my wages, tax credits and maintenance go into my first account. I got £125 for opening this account and £5 paid in every month I keep it open, pay out 4 DDs and use online banking.
I pay 4 DDs out of there once a month, rest of the money goes into account number 2. I got £100 for opening this account and get £3 every month I pay in £800 and pay out 2 DDs. I leave enough money in there to cover 2 more DDs and pay the rest into my TSB ‘spending account’ as above with the linked savings account. The £5 and £3 monthly bonuses go into my savings account.

I save £50 per month into a savings account for Christmas and £50 into another savings account for holidays.

I use topcashback for all online spending and have made over £600 in just over two years.

I have a 0% credit card which gives me cashback in the form of vouchers.

I like the idea upthread about budgeting for weekly shop and if you spend under that amount, put it in savings. I’ll be trying that and the Plum app too. Great thread!

We have a big jar in the pantry, and every day or so fill it with our change. I put in change up to 20p but my DP puts all his coins in. It soon mounts up!

A trick that my DM has done for years - she has cups in various cupboards where puts £1 or £2 (or so) a week. One cup is for car tax, one for MOT, one for TV licence, one towards holiday or day out spending money etc. She's done it all my life and is still doing it now in her 70s!

There are still real bank accounts that pay interest without having to fart about with childish apps, refer friends and so on.

Tesco current account 3% on the lot up to £3k.
5% regular savers from nationwide and a couple of others.

Won't earn much but more than you'll get on apps.

And now is a great time to declare a tatmas amnesty. Stop all adult presents, waste less money, time and resources.

Stop all adult presents, waste less money, time and resources

^^ Agree with that, and love the expression tatmas .

I do save £2 coins - that's paid for DS's last three school ski trips. Also save coppers and 5ps and 20ps from change.

But also have a couple of standing orders for holiday funds and pension contributions etc.

I save the new £5 notes plus £2 coins.

We save about £20,000 - £30,000 pa for tax. This year I'm going to be disciplined and put it all in premium bonds.

£20-30k per year... small amount?!! Sometimes 20-30 pence is good for me! 😀

I set up standing orders in the new year, was meant to be £1 on Monday, £2 on Tuesday etc for a week, then back to £1 again the following week. Bank wouldn't let me set up standing orders for the weekend, so I added some of the figures together so overall I'm saving the same amount. I can honestly say I'm not noticing the money going out, and it works out at £28 per week, nearly £1500 in a year which will make a vet comfortable Christmas. I might even split it, half for holiday, half for Christmas.

We've got a First Direct account with a sweep facility. At a point in the month that you specify, you can say how much money you want to leave in your current account and anything over that gets swept into your savings account. We're not very good at saving, but a significant figure has just been swept this month - after all the bills went out but before pay day. I really recommend this method!

Sorry, obviously it's not a small amount but it is all the tax for two people (both self employed) so we have to have the discipline to save short term, we have no choice. Was trying to say that for the piddling amounts you get in interest for any savings, you might as well put everything in Premium Bonds. At least then you have a chance of winning.

We save 5ps in a jar, they are so annoying in your purse or wallet.