Living it up in London is all fun and games… Until you realise you really should be saving for the future.
Once you’ve realised it’s time to start pinching pennies, life tends to become a whole lot harder. Trust us, we know how hard it can be to save money when the temptations of all of London’s pop-ups and restaurants are pounding on your door. There’s got to be a better way to save money without missing out, right? Just read on or click here to find out…
1. You resorted to packed lunches of leftover pesto pasta tupperwares and sad-looking tin foil-wrapped sandwiches.
And you didn’t even have a nice lunchbox to stop them from turning into tin foil pancakes by the time you got to work.
2. You walked all the way from Vauxhall to Farringdon just to save the £2.40 tube fare.
You subsequently arrived at your destination dripping with sweat and with blisters all over your feet because you weren’t wearing appropriate footwear.
3. You ‘pre-drank’ before going out to eat in order to save money on wine.
Hell no would you have consented to pay £16 for a bottle of Pinot Grigio when you could get the same bottle for £4 in Tesco.
4. You bought an outfit, wore it to your mate’s party with the tags still in it, then returned it afterwards.
Sorry Topshop.
5. You made flasks of tea to take into the office with you instead of splashing out on snazzy Pret coffees.
Tea from a flask really just does not taste as satisfying as a barista-made coffee.
6. You set up a ‘food blog’ on Instagram in the hopes of blagging yourself some freebies.
Inevitably though you got bored two weeks later, once you realised that people were not, in fact, lining up to get a look at your budget-friendly sandwiches.
7. You sold all your ‘unnecessary’ worldly possessions on eBay.
Things like coats and scarves were more luxury than necessity at the time.
8. You queued for 2 hours outside a toast-based pop-up for a free piece of ‘unicorn toast’.
This turned out to just be a piece of bread topped with cream cheese and rainbow sprinkles.
9. You agreed to go out for a Friday pub lunch and ended up sitting alongside your work colleagues, staring longingly at everyone’s meals whilst nursing a solitary beer.
Dark times. Dark, desperate times.
10. You started ‘meal prepping’ and ended up eating the same chicken and rice dish for lunch every day for a week. You now passionately hate chicken and rice.
We cannot possibly understand how we ever thought that was a good idea.
11. You finally cancelled that £40 a month gym membership that you never used.
Ok, that was actually kind of a good thing. We’ll let that one slide.
12. You ordered the Spaghetti Pomodoro instead of the Corn Fed Chicken you really wanted because it was the cheapest thing on the menu.
Nobody should ever have to compromise on their meal choices.
13. You put your room on Airbnb and retreated to your parents’ house during rentals.
Your flatmates were certainly not impressed.
14. You walked all the way to your nearest Waitrose just to get the free coffee.
The best things in life are free. Well, almost.
15. You contemplated moving *shudder* ‘up north’.
There’s nowhere like your beloved London. We can’t believe we could have even entertained such an idea. Luckily, we’ve found a better way to save money and carry on doing the things we love…
Moneybox makes saving part of your everyday life through ‘round ups’. Say you buy a coffee for £2.40, Moneybox will automatically set aside the 60 pence change – meaning you’ll start to save money without even realising it! You can even start investing your savings with a choice of three simple investment options – you really don’t need to be an expert to get started. Get going from as little as £1!
Investing can be a powerful way to grow your money over time and see higher returns than you would with your savings sitting in a current account. You can even opt for their Lifetime ISA, which gives you a 25% government bonus on all savings up to £4,000 a year towards your first home. So, if you’re a first time buyer, you could get £1,000 free from the government every year!
You can find out more about Moneybox on their helpful website, but we reckon you’re best off just downloading the app and giving it a go. You’ll start to see the benefits in no time.
This post was sponsored by Moneybox. As with all investing, capital is at risk and you may get back less than you invest. Government early withdrawal charge applies to the Lifetime ISA. If you withdraw your money for any reason other than buying your first home (up to the value of £450,000), or for retirement after age 60, you will pay a government charge of 25%.