How I saved £136 with these simple tweaks to my money habits

How much is it possible to save in one month by making tweaks to your money habits? Anna Jordan takes on the challenge to find out.

Saving money doesn't have to be a slog – it’s all about making small changes to your money habits.

I’ve read that having a goal helps you towards your saving targets, and I definitely had one in mind for this challenge. My laptop has been dying a slow death for quite some time now (as you can see below) but I never seem to have enough money at the end of the month to actually go out and buy a new one.

It’s safe to say that I’m fairly frugal. I already make some of my journeys around the city by bike and prepare my own lunch for work most days, but I wanted to find ways to stretch my cash even further.

My aim was to have an extra £100 in savings to go towards a new laptop by the end.

Here's how it went.

Download a budgeting app

The first step was to download a budgeting app.

Money Lover (it’s as close to loveMONEY as I could get) is a free and basic app. Just enter your starting balance to get things rolling, then enter your outgoings under various categories as you progress through the month. Spending is categorised using icons so that you can easily see where your money is going at a glance.

There are plenty of apps out there to help you budget. Some give you pie charts and spreadsheets detailing your finances, some connect to your payment cards and update in real-time and others even give you a nudge with helpful money-saving tips.

They can cost up to a fiver but are easy to download onto your smartphone or computer.  

Check out fixed-rate and instant access savings accounts

Switch from Sainsbury’s to Lidl

I’ve shopped at my local Lidl before and have always found that it’s incredible value for money. However, in the past I’ve been put off going because of three key reasons:

• It doesn’t stock some of the brands I like, such as Quorn;
• It’s further away;
• The queues are often horrific.

It’s changed a lot since I was last in. Not only is there Quorn but there are other big brands like Reese’s and Ritter Sport. 

I love the European goodies that you can get here that you can’t in other supermarkets – at least not cheaply. For instance, you can bag a sliced rye bread loaf for 89p.

My average weekly shop was around a tenner which is brilliant value compared to Sainsbury’s.

Amount saved: £13.18 (prices compared to equivalent products at Sainsbury's)

Take advantage of sales

Virgin Trains has been ablaze with summer sales lately, so I made sure I took advantage.

The journeys to and from Edinburgh are both 7am starts in the middle of August, but I managed to land a decent deal considering how close it is to the departure date and that it’s a hugely popular time to travel.

I managed to slice the price from my standard £140 return to £95.

It’s not just train travel, either. My mate and I have wanted to do an aerial yoga class for a while, and as luck would have it, there was a sale on at the local club. We saved a fiver each on a ‘Fly and Smile!’ session.  

Amount saved: £50

Finish what’s in the store cupboard before doing another shop

I like to think I’m quite thrifty in the kitchen but I have stuff in my store cupboard that’s long been left unused.

For the last week of the month, I didn't do a grocery shop, focusing on the food that I already had. I only bought fresh items like milk, fruit and veg (to ward off the scurvy).

The last couple of days were a struggle. Online tools like SuperCook are really useful in situations like this. You just tick off what you’ve got in the house and it’ll generate a list of recipes that you can scrape together.

I don’t use the word ‘scrape’ lightly: I had a couple of onions, some garlic, a fresh tomato, half a can of chopped tomatoes, dried herbs and some rice. I adapted a spaghetti Bolognese recipe and turned it into this delectable work lunch.

It tasted better than it looks, but I was still grateful to see pay day.

Amount saved: £10

Saving the change 

I’m on the TSB Classic Plus Account which is connected to the bank's Easy Saver account.

The meagre 0.25% interest rate on the Easy Saver isn’t much to shout about but there’s a lot to gain from TSB's Save the Change perk. It’s pretty simple: every time you spend on your debit card, the amount will be rounded up to the nearest pound and the difference will be put straight into your savings account.

Amount saved: £9.63

Compare high-interest current accounts with loveMONEY

Go small and go home

Rather than heading off on a crazy splurge weekend in Brighton with a group of friends, I decided to go down for one day instead, avoiding a hefty spend on two nights’ accommodation.

Amount saved: £48

Shop for toiletries at Boots – and actually use my Advantage card

I tend to shop for toiletries when I’m doing my food shop. However, Boots is a much better as it has a gargantuan range of products which are often on special offer, and you can use your Advantage card to save a significant amount. It’s one of the best loyalty schemes in the UK.

Read Boots Advantage: 7 ways to earn extra points

It doesn’t seem like I saved much, but considering that I got the best part of £1 back on two shops, that’s none too shabby. There’s no minimum point redemption limit either, and you can pick up a free magazine with your card.

Amount saved: 64p

Make my own candle

A little frivolous perhaps, but shops charge an extortionate sum for even the most basic candles. It’s quite a relaxing activity for an evening during the week and you can get creative with it.   

I only saved a tiny amount, but it all helps in money saving, especially as I needed a new one anyway.

Amount saved: £5

Grand total: £136.45

Any lasting changes?

Yeah, actually.

I’m a converted Lidl shopper – it’s so cheap! The only obstacle to get around is the queues but if you time your visits right, you shouldn’t have to wait too long.   

Using my Advantage card is dead easy too. It only takes a few more seconds at the till, but over time, I reckon it’ll be worth it.

Seeing my outgoings on the budgeting app really put my spending in perspective. I shell out more on my phone bill than I really should; once my contract is up I’m going to review my plan. 

Feel like you're being ripped-off by your mobile provider? Find a better deal with Recombu

More money-saving ideas: 

8 holiday booking tips that will save you thousands

Boots Advantage: 7 ways to earn extra points

31 cheap and free things to do over the summer holidays

Voucher code shopping tool review – find out how much we saved