The cost of living right now is at a record high, and being able to put anything aside at the end of each month is a challenge – particularly when you have children
One mum has shared how she manages to save thousands of pounds each year with three simple saving rules. The cost of living right now is at a record high, and being able to put anything aside at the end of each month is a challenge – particularly when you have children.
Council tax, water, energy, and broadband bills were hiked again this month in what was coined “awful April,” and families across the country have felt the added squeeze on their finances. Many households are now trying to manage these more expensive bills while also trying to put away some cash for a rainy day.
Mum of two, Gemma Bird has garnered nearly 500,000 followers online as the “Money Mum” for her money-saving hints and tips. She first catapulted to fame after sharing how she’d paid off her £225,000 mortgage on a £25,000 salary due to her extreme savings tactics.
Recently, the 43-year-old influencer and MandM ambassador shared how you can save over £5,000 over the course of a year without really having to try. “It’s never too late to start saving – small changes can add up to big results,” she said, “It’s all about making saving a habit, not a hassle. Some of my favourite tips are small changes that you don’t even have to think about and might not even notice leaving your account.”
Cash stuffing
First, Gemma says you can use a cash-stuffing method that she dubs “a simple yet effective way to save.” This approach is best for those who like to be a little more “hands-on” with their finances by using cash instead of it being online.
The method started gaining traction during the pandemic and consists of taking a number of envelopes and writing numbers on each one. There are many ways you can approach this, with Gemma’s tactic requiring 100 envelopes and labelling them from £1 to £100. You then put away the cash for each week, when you can.
Gemma, who is from Essex, said: “Set your own amount of time and fill each envelope with the corresponding amount. By the end of the year, you could save £5,050. If you finish the saving challenge before the end of the year, you could even add more envelopes to your stash – helping you save even more money!”
52 week saving challenge
If you want a little more structure, you can also do the 52 weeks cash stuffing savings challenge. You then need to label them from week one to week 52, and each week you add in the amount on the envelope. For example, on week one, you put away £1 and on week 14, you put away £14, and finally, on week £52, you put away £52. Overall you would save £1,378 through this method.
Another method using the weeks of the year as a baseline is the 52-week savings challenge. Gemma says savings, finance and budgeting can be “repetitive and boring”. The MandM ambassador says a solution to to this, and to add some variety to your savings is a weekly challenge. She explained: “This hack works by saving £1 in week one, £2 in week two, £3 in week three, and so on, increasing the amount by £1 each week.”
With these types of challenges, Gemma noted you could actually change this timeframe to suit you. So, with just 37 weeks left in 2025, if you were to start today, you could save over £600 using this method.
50-25-25 and automation
This is the combination of two popular methods which are the 50-25-25 rule and automation. Before you are able to save, you need to work out how much you can comfortably put away without it impacting your day to day life too much.
For example, if your take-home pay sits at £1,600 a month and your outgoing expenses – e.g rent, bills, etc – totals £1,000 saying you would save £500 a month is not doable. The 50-25-25 method sees you split your earnings into different groups.
Gemma explained: “50% of your income covers necessities, 25% is for flexible spending, 25% goes straight to savings, ideally through an automatic transfer on payday. So, if your monthly take-home pay is £2,000, setting up an automatic transfer of 25% means you’ll be putting away £500, without even thinking about it.” Over the span of 12 months, this could build your savings to £6,000.
Gemma says automating your savings is a simple way to start putting away cash consistently even if you’re a big spender or forgetful budgeter. By creating standing orders or direct debits to send money to your savings account as soon as you get paid, your savings will automatically disappear from your account before you get a chance to spend or even notice it’s there.
