I know I’m a travel blogger but money and savings are such a huge part of travel. The biggest hurdle stopping people from travel is money.
I’ve been on an eye-opening financial journey over the past few years. When I split up from my husband I was terrified about finances. I had no idea how I’d keep up with the mortgage and a 5-bed family home while raising 3 kids and working in a very unpredictable industry (yeah, travel blogging is a wild ride!)
This is my journey towards financial freedom and being proactive with my money
1. Cutting out the impulse buys
To begin with, I cut out ALL unnecessary spending and I was amazed by how much I saved. Like seriously, amazed! You know when old people say Millennials should cut out their daily iced matcha and they’d be able to afford a house….yeah…there’s some truth in that.
I thought I might save hundreds, but I saved thousands. I stopped all online shopping and didn’t go anywhere near the middle of Lidl.
I didn’t stop the things I loved, like travelling and days out, and I even managed to keep my static caravan too. But the savings were slowly piling up.
This was when everything changed for me and I realised I had much more financial control than I realised. Those ‘little treats’ really were making a huge difference to my life, and not in a goodway!
2. Cutting down on alcohol
I believe a huge amount of my savings came from cutting out alcohol and finding new ways to socialise. I swapped nights in the pub for sunset hikes and realised this made me much happier.
It’s not just alcohol that costs money. It’s one drink that leads to two that leads to a takeaway. Then the next day you need an extra coffee and a sweet treat. It doesn’t seem like a lot at the time but it adds up.
3. Actually talking about money
I then started talking openly with friends and family about money. I found that half of my loved ones are incredibly switched on and half know absolutely nothing at all!
I started listening to podcasts (Dairy of a CEO is a fave), reading books, subscribed to newsletters (Martin Lewis) and started following financial influencers (@HayleyRubery) on Instagram. I stopped burying my head in the sand and started being proactive.
4. Changing my mindset
Basically, I stopped with the attitude of ‘I’m just a girl, I don’t know anything about investing or saving…’ and swapped it for one of being a mature and financially independent woman. I don’t want to be the woman who is clueless, I want to be the woman who is knowledgeable and aware of her options.
I previously thought that as long as I didn’t spend more than I earned then I was ok…but I now realise I can do better than that! Much better.
5. The game-changer of a podcast
I listened to the podcast episode – Diary of a CEO with Nischa Shah – and this was a bit of a game-changer. One thing I took from the podcast was that saving is psychological and it’s about how it makes you feel. It might make more financial sense to put your money in investments, but if you feel better putting it into property then that’s still valid.
Mortgages also work best for some people because it’s an enforced form of saving. Once you’ve signed up, you’re kind of stuck and some of us need that enforcement or we’ll just flitter our money away on iced lattes and holidays…
I realised I was that person and I need some form of saving enforcement which had led to me direct debits into my ISA, savings and pension.
Her advice was…
- Begin by saving 6x months your core expenses
- Then start putting money in an ISA
- Then start investing in stocks and shares
6. Snoop App – Track spending
I downloaded the Snoop app, a money management app that tracks your spending and helped me see my core expenses. I was embarrassingly clueless about how much I spent and it was eye-opening to see all my spending collated together from every account I have. Yeah, I’m one of those people who has loads of different credit and debit cards and I can convince myself I’m not spending much if I spread it out across them all! The app also suggests a monthly spending budget which is helpful.
7. Quickbooks – Track income
I then downloaded Quickbooks. As I’m self employed my income is erratic to say the least, so this app helps me visually see my income and show how much I should be putting away for tax. I know I can track it in a spreadsheet but I’m a visual person and, honestly, seeing a bunch of numbers in a spreadsheet means nothing to me. That January tax bill always comes as a shock! I can also track expenses and store receipts in the app so it makes all my business accounting a little easier to stay on top of.
8. PensionBee – Upped my pension contributions
I then upped my monthly pension contributions. I use PensionBee which is good for self-employed people with earnings that fluctuate. I previously made a small monthly contribution, simply to help with my mortgage application, but I’ve upped it to something more substantial!
PensionBee also has a really nice visual calculator that shows you what you need to be saving to hit your goals.
9. Sprive – Mortgage overpayments
I then downloaded Sprive. This is an app that helps you make overpayments on your mortgage and get it paid off faster. A big part of the app is using cashback on shopping cards which I mostly ignore. I just like being able to visually see my mortgage and how much money I’ll save in interest by making small overpayments.
10. Moneybox – ISA savings
Finally, I downloaded Moneybox, a money saving app with a range of ISAs and savings accounts. I set up my first Cash ISA, along with a direct debit to make weekly contributions. There’s a minimum deposit of £500 on the ISA I have and you can deposit up to £20,000 a year.
My goal?
The goal here isn’t to stop having fun. I don’t want to stop spending money on the things I love and lead a life of deprivation to save more money!
The goal is to stop wasting money and make my money work for Future Me.
When I cut out all my impulse buys following my divorce I genuinely didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything. I don’t remember the trainers I briefly pined over or the football cards my kids were disappointed I wouldn’t buy.
I’m aware that I do buy spontaneous ‘little treats’ for me and the kids when I need a little dopamine hit.
My goal is to get that excited little hit of dopamine by watching my savings grow, not by spending money on a new water bottle or a scented candle or a new gadget I didn’t know I needed 15 minutes ago…
Oh and I also wouldn’t mind paying my mortgage off before I’m 100!
