In today’s world, saving money doesn’t need to be a daunting, stressful task.
There are so many ways to automate your money, so that saving “just happens”. I suspect that over the years to come, this trend will only grow.
To get you started, whether you’re saving for an emergency fund, a holiday, a house deposit or to invest, here are five effortless ways to save money in 2023/2024.
Automated Rounding
One of the simplest and stress-free ways to save money is to use what’s known as “automated rounding”, also known as “save the pennies”
In its simplest form, this refers to a saving method whereby any purchase is “rounded” to the next pound up. The difference is then automatically moved into a savings account.
For example, if you were to make three £0.99 purchases in one day, your account would automagically know to send £0.03 to your savings, or 1p for each purchase.
Most banks now allow you to do this, and is usually incredibly easy to set up.
Obviously, unless you’re making a lot of purchases each day, this isn’t going to save thousands of pounds a year. But it is a fantastic place to start for those who are struggling to save any money at all.
Set Up Standing Orders
This might not sound like a way to save money, but hear me out.
You’ll roll your eyes at the mere mention of the phrase, but “pay yourself first” hasn’t become such a staple without good reason. It’s because it works.
If you know your income is high enough that you should be saving, then pick an amount – even if you start small – and set up a standing order to go out on the day after payday (just in case). This money is to go straight to a savings account. I can practically guarantee that you won’t even realise it’s gone. You’ll just see a slightly smaller paycheque.
To make this even more effective, ensure that the savings account is with an entirely different provider than your current account. This way, it’s out of sight, out of mind.
Automatic Cashback
One of my favourite ways to save money has always been through cashback. Over recent years, it’s rare to find any company that isn’t a part of at least one cashback scheme. So whatever you already buy on a day-to-day basis, it’s worth checking to see if you’re missing out on cashback.
Cashback can be effortless. There’s usually minimal set up; from there, it just works. For example, using cashback credit cards, or signing up to an app like Airtime Rewards. There are a few options that require a little more effort, but are still worthwhile. Such as: Shopmium (cashback on groceries), TopCashback or Quidco (money back by shopping via the links on their site).
The best thing about cashback? You can occasionally “double up” – even triple up – your savings. For example, using a cashback credit card that you’ve attached to Airtime Rewards, via an offer through TopCashback!
This can result in a significant savings over the long-term, and all you have to do is shop as you normally would!
Use An AI Money App
Looking for an all-round solution, where you don’t even need to think about how much to save, or when? Then one of the greatest ways to save money for beginners, is utilising AI Money apps.
These apps might seem intimidating, but they’re incredible pieces of technology.
Essentially, these apps will look at your spending habits and make calculations on how much you can save – and when – according to these habits. But that’s not all, as many of these platforms can also take into account your savings goals. The AI will automatically move that money across to your savings account, so you don’t have to.
Got a question? In the case of many of these AI apps, they also come with a chatbot who can assist you, as well as motivate you.
AI money apps include:
Utilise Web Browser Extensions
Last on our list of effortless ways to make money, is the use of browser extensions.
These can be a great tool to automate your online shopping and ensure you’re getting the most out of your money. From scanning the internet for the best discount codes and applying them automatically, to weeding out fake reviews on Amazon, or providing a full history of an item’s pricing, there’s an extension for almost everything.
Here are some of the most popular extensions out there:
- Honey – This extension scours the internet for discount codes to use during checkout. Not only will it apply this discount automatically, but some brands even give you “Gold” for using Honey. This gold can be redeemed for gift cards or money directly via PayPal.
- Rakuten – The Rakuten extension has largely the same functionality as Honey. However, the company claims that they offer the best cashback available. So, it could be worth trying out both.
- TopCashback – This goes hand-in-hand with your TopCashback account and keeps you informed of where you can get cashback while shopping online.
- Fakespot – This extension automatically filters out reviews it deems to be fake. It works for both Amazon and eBay.
- The Camelizer or Keepa – With either of these extensions, you can track the historical price of items on Amazon, to find out how high or low prices have been at any given period. A great tool to check if you’re really getting a deal or not.
There we have our top five ways to effortlessly save more money!
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