A young couple have revealed how they managed to save £20,000 between them in just 12 months to go towards their mortgage deposit.
Marketing manager Callie O'Grady, 23, and her partner Karl, 28, an engineer, live together in Staffordshire and plan to buy their first home this year.
The couple knew that saving up for their mortgage as first time buyers wouldn't be easy going, but they claim by making a few small changes they've managed to stash away £10,000 each.
Callie said: "I'm fortunate to have continued working throughout the pandemic, so I have been able to put over £600 in savings each month.
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"I would budget at the start of every month how much I could save from my salary and then put this into a locked savings account each month, so I could not touch it, unless absolutely necessary.
"Thanks to my money-saving swaps, I've saved £10,000 in just 12 months, and so has my partner."
Callie says that due to the pandemic, the couple, who usually spend a lot on eating out, have started cooking more at home. That and restricting their takeaways has helped them save about £1,000 in a year.
She said: "We've enjoyed cooking our own meals and with carefully planned out meals, we are able to utilise leftovers instead of throwing them away.
Another way to save was on the weekly shop.
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Callie said: "The own-brand products taste just as good as the branded ones.
"I also always take a shopping list with me when I go food shopping and pre-plan my meals beforehand so I know exactly what to get.
"This allows me to buy only what I need and save any food waste on impulse buys."
Coffee-lover Callie would go to her local shop around three times per week to get her caffeine fix but has now traded this is in for coffee at home.
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She said: "I bought my favourite coffee syrup from Amazon and began making my iced lattes from home.
"This saved me £10.50 per week, totalling £550 over 12 months."
She's also managed to save £400 over 12 months on gyms, instead opting to workout at home for free with YouTube videos.
As a self-confessed 'spreadsheet freak', Callie made sure to track her incomings and outgoings every month.
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She said: "You can't manage what you don't measure.
"I calculated my outgoings per month, including food and fuel, and added these budgets to my Monzo bank account, so I can keep on top of how much I'm spending throughout the month."
Callie also managed to save £1,000 a year saved on fuel thanks to working from home - which went straight into the savings account - and also made an extra £400 from investing in shares.
She said: "I use IFTTT's 1p Savings Challenge which has saved me over £650 over the past 12 months.
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"The app, which stands for 'If This, Then That', automates moving money on conditional triggers.
"For example, when I purchase something using my bank card, IFTTT's app rounds up the amount to the nearest £1 and puts this money into another pot.
"Over 12 months, my roundups have totalled over £150, and I hadn't even noticed the extra pennies moving out of the account - every little helps.
"Never wait until the end of the month to put your money in savings.
"By knowing how much I'd need per month, I knew how much I could put into my savings account at the start of every month, so I would do this as soon as I was paid.
"I knew that if I didn't do this, I'd be more inclined to spend it on things I didn't need throughout the month and save less."
Featured Image Credit: Jam PressTopics: UK Community, Money