7 Tried and Tested Ways to Save More Money Fast (2024)

There are all sorts of clichés about pennies: a penny saved is a penny earned; look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves, and so on. But the reason for this is they are true. If you save a small amount regularly, over time your savings will grow using these simple ways to save money.

This is important because saving money doesn’t have to be about sacrifice and hardship. You can make small, barely noticeable changes to your spending habits, and the proceeds will quickly add up.

We’ve tried and tested all sorts of micro savings techniques and come up with seven ways to save money and achieve your financial goals.

7 Ways to Save Money Quickly

1. Get a Spare Change Jar

Empty your pockets of change and pick up the spare change around the house. Rather than putting it into your wallet, where you’ll be tempted to spend it on a coffee, a chocolate bar, or magazine, put it into a spare change jar instead.

At the end of each month, empty the jar and deposit the money in your savings account. If you think that you’ll be tempted to dip into the jar before it’s full, get yourself a sealed money box instead.

If you can’t see what is inside, and you know you will have to break the jar in order to get the contents out, you’ll be more likely to wait until it’s full. You can overcome that temptation and start saving money with ease.

You can get a saving jar on Amazon that would suit your style and personality to get started.

Related: How to save money without breaking a sweat.

2. Round Up Your Spending And Save

Another great way to save money is to round up your spending. How can you round up what you spend but still be saving money?

It sounds counterintuitive! But the designers of the Moneybox app have realised that the best way to make us save is when we’re already spending.

The app automatically rounds each payment you make up to the nearest pound, and then invests the spare change via a tracker fund.

So every time you buy a coffee for £3.20, you’ll be saving money as the additional £0.80 will go straight into your investment account.

What is a tracker fund? A tracker fund is simply an investment fund aims to closely track the performance of an index such as the FTSE 100.

3. Be Smart About Your Spending

Buying a coffee from a coffee shop on the way to work, or when you slip out of the office for a break, can be expensive. And often the coffee’s not that great either.

Think instead about buying yourself a thermal mug so you can make a coffee before you leave home, or getting a cafetiere and packet of ground coffee that you can keep on your desk.

If you make your own coffee (or tea!) rather than buying two or three cups when you’re out, you can effortlessly save a fiver each day.

I don’t think I can give up coffee? If drinking a cup of coffee is a relaxing part of your routine that you don’t want to give up, consider cutting back on other items. The same applies to other products. You can

• Read the news online rather than buying a paper.
• Bring a packed lunch to work.
• Buy multipacks of snacks in the supermarket rather than picking up single packets of crisps or chocolate bars when you feel peckish.

4. Save Money without Even Lifting a Finger

How much can you really afford to save? Many of us have an unrealistic idea, and this is a major hurdle when saving money.

Plum takes the guess work out of the equation. The app monitors your spending, calculates how much you can afford to save, and puts the money aside for you. This is a smart saving at its best and one of the best ways to save with ease.

Related: 5 Ways to Automate Your Savings and Save Money Faster

5. Have a Purpose for Your Money

Set yourself a goal. Humans are goal oriented, so if you are going to remain focused on saving money, you have to have something to work towards.

There are quite a few new apps which help you set micro savings goals: HSBC, Nationwide, and Barclays are all developing their own apps, and there are also generic ones you can use with any bank account, such as Folio and Squirrel.

You can automatically transfer small amounts and also track your spending habits to see where you might cut back.

The user interface is clear and shows immediately the impact of changes in your spending patterns, enforcing good habits and deterring you from falling off the savings bandwagon.

Related: How to Create a Spending Plan That’s in Alignment with Your Values

6. Become a Micro Investor

Saving money by depositing funds in a bank is ok, but as interest rates are so low at the moment, your gains might well be eaten up by inflation. Consider micro investing instead.

Companies like Nutmeg will let you start investing with very small sums, and you can add additional savings to the account each month, as well as reinvesting your profits. Smart saving like this makes your money work harder for you, so you can reap the rewards.

Related:10 Tips to Getting the Best Out of Your Investment Experience

7. Make Haggling A Way of Life and Ask For Discounts

The British are notoriously poor at haggling and it’s something we rarely do. But the reality is that plenty of companies are able and willing to give you a discount on what you buy: all you have to do is ask!

If packaging is damaged or a product is nearing its use by date, shop assistants will often mark the price down. You will also get discounts when you buy in bulk. Plan ahead, ask how much you can get off the ticket price, and put the pennies you would otherwise have spent into your savings account – that is when you are really saving money.

Over to You

Where can you save money in your day to day spending? How can you make those savings work for you? Get smart saving money, and watch your savings grow.

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