3 reasons why saving money is important

Humans love to label themselves - as either a ‘saver’ or a ‘spender’.

I see myself as a saver. But if you see yourself as a spender, my advice to you is to invest time in learning how to save.

Don’t just sip on your £7 iced mocha and say ‘ah well, I am just not good at saving’  because that attitude will get you nowhere ! Because it is all fun and games now until 10 years’ time when your friends have bought houses, travelled the world or set up their own businesses, and you are still sipping a mocha, living at your parents, with no stamps on your passport, wondering where the fuck all your money over the past years has even gone.

Saving money, even a tiny bit every month, is super important. The consistency of saving is just as important as the amount you save.

When I was 19,  I had a full-time job paying a £12,000 salary and within the first year of working, I had managed to save £2,100.

As my salary increased, so did my savings and I quite honestly became interested obsessed with seeing my savings account grow. Not only because I got a thrill out of it, but it also gave me the financial security of relying on myself.

Every single month I would put money in savings no matter what and that would be my main priority (after bills), before spending it on anything else.

All that monthly stashing away allowed me to save £15,000 in 3 years.

I got more enjoyment out of saving, than I did spending (truth be told, I actually hated spending any money and that is one of the cons of loving to save).

I literally went months without buying new clothes unless I HAD to (like when your jeans split doing cartwheels – true story. Gymnastics + Jeans = bad idea & a cold arse).

I was still able to do incredible things, whilst saving money because I had no qualms wearing a winter coat from the year before that I’d bought in the charity shop for £10 (bloody bargain).

I was super proud of how much I saved on my own; I constantly opened my banking app to stare at the balance (every hour no joke), in admiration like a proud mum that gave birth to a little money baby.

That money truly gave me the freedom to have life experiences I could never have imagined before.

In August 2015, I made an last-minute decision to quit my job and go travelling with my two best friends. I ended up staying the other side of the world for 7 months and only had to work for the last 6 weeks of my trip. It was a total dream. You can read more about it on this blog – My Money Journey – the route to saving £15,000

My top 3 reasons why saving is important:

1. Freedom to do what you want

Money doesn’t buy happiness, we all know this, but it does buy you freedom baby!

It gives you flexibility and choice in your own life – what more do you want?! The choice to do the big things like go travelling or buy a house. But also, the little things like dinner out or a cheap last-minute weekend trip to Paris because the Eurostar has a £50 return ticket deal on and you thought “fuck it”.

2. Stress-free living

You have the security that if anything goes wrong in your life, you have the money sat right there to sort it out.

e.g. your car breaks down, or your flight to Ibiza gets cancelled and you need money to buy another flight like ASAP or you throw a NYE party, and no-one got the memo it was a ‘bring your own booze’ sitchu so you need to spend £100 on tequila.

Ahhh feel the stress just melt away…

3. You will feel like a proper adult

When you crack the spending vs. saving code and can balance the two, you will feel liberated.

You will feel on top of the world, like you have really matured into someone that has control of their life (even if other areas of your life are going completely tits up… we all know how stressful tinder is).

Even if you open your bank account app and see £200 sat there… that is YOUR £200 and no one can take that away from you.

So with all of this in mind, you can check out my top tips to saving here. Now go open a savings account, or buy a money pot, or set up a standing order to your mum, or whatever it takes… start small, but just start saving.

Happy saving!

Laura x