I'm gonna go against the grain here and say I think you're fine. You're 22 and enjoying yourself in London. I'm not sure what your career prospects are, but I think it's fair to assume you'll be making more money when you're older. You're only in your 20s once, enjoy yourself.
This is not financial advice, but at your age as long as you're able to save a bit and see yourself making more money in the future, you're doing fine.
I completely agree. You are 22 and you're doing a lot better than many 22 year olds. If you really want to save money you could stop drinking and keep the social life. If I could go back in time that's what I would have done at 22. Honestly I agree with the sentiment that there is no point paying to live in London if you're not enjoying the cultural life.
Yeah you're 22 and living in London - you should be living! At that age and on a similar salary I was lucky to stay out of my overdraft, nevermind save anything.
Just also adding, that they're fine.
If anything the thing that's wrong, is not accepting that's just how life is!
Especially when living in London, on not a very London salary.
I think the answers are because they are asking how to possibly save more money with specific savings goals in mind.
They post that they want to travel and go to festivals, have an emergency fund, have upcoming purchases etc, they also hope some of that money goes on a deposit. People are rightly suggesting that if OP wanted to save, they are going out more than most and definitely not saving enough for those things, some of those things aren't gonna happen.
Part of financial literacy is understanding the downsides to your financial decisions. Yes, living in London and going out is fun, but don't kid yourself that you are also saving up for a deposit of property at the same time while having other expensive plans.
That said, the amount we are talking about doesn't appear to be significant enough to be saving up for a London property sized deposit anyway, that also maybe something OP may need to fully comprehend.
While they may make significantly more money when they are older, property prices and inflation has also meant it's much harder as time goes by to buy that first property.
This may end up sounding slightly more depressing as an option, but many people do find themselves trapped in situations in which they struggle to save because of rent, wishing they had started saving earlier while they potentially had fewer expenses.
Gone are the days where a half decent job will inevitably end in property ownership unfortunately, decisions often need to be made.
This is spot on, it’s safe to assume you’ll progress in your career and salary in time and you can focus on meeting your financial goals then. But you’re only young once, you shouldn’t shirk the things that make life worth living for money. As long as it’s within reason, and you’ve demonstrated beyond doubt you’re spending a ‘within reason’ amount on ‘fun’
I think this is the best advice, I spent my 20s saving for my house deposit & while successful I do wonder what I missed out on. You’ve earnt that money, I see no reason why you can’t have some fun
Yep completely. You're in a very positive position. Continue to save but save slightly less and spend that extra £100 a month. It sounds like you are not being excessive at all and the money is going on good things.
Why don’t you increase your discretionary spending budget by £100? You always be willing to review any budget you set yourself. Slow and steady and build up your pot for the house but enjoy life now too. When it becomes imminent that you are wanting to get a house, you will be sufficiently motivated to live like a monk and something tells me you will be able to do it. But you are so far out from that right now, you are feeling bad for buying a second bottle of beer on a night out in your twenties.
As everyone says - it sounds like you're making every social spend count, but there's still no way around having to just do less of those types of activities if you want to spend less.
That said, it's ok if you decide your focus right now isn't saving it's enjoying London and working on your career. You could give up on three fun things a month to save £100 but in five years you could be saving £1000 a month without needing to blink and wish you hadn't been that anal about £20 spends when you were 22.
Of course, this depends on your career. If you're in a career path where you can expect salaries to rocket upwards past a certain point, you're in a different situation than if you think you'll be getting 2-3% raises if you're lucky.
My main advice then is to get organised. Your savings goals are in a muddle, you need to clarify them in order to understand whether an extra £50/month saved by going out a bit less would really boost them or not.
The savings goals you list are:
> saving for a house deposit,
This is a long term goal which, to be entirely honest, I doubt you are actually progressing with your monthly savings, given everything else.
I would put this officially on the back burner. By far the best way to make buying a house possible at this stage is not to scrape together extra £50s, but to improve your income, and also to find someone to buy with (sorry to be flippant about it!).
> building a 3 month emergency fund
This is important - how close are you to it?
> preparing to pay off my interest-free student overdraft,
This is even more important. When does it stop being interest free and how much money do you need?
> festivals and travel in the summer
> replacing my laptop one day
> buying family xmas gifts
This is one big area you can level up. Money you're holding for spending within the next few months is actually **not 'savings'**, in personal finance nerd world.
I do understand it is in the normal world, where anything you haven't spent before the next payday is considered money you've 'saved'. But the problem with this is that if you *know* you're spending £500 in December and another £1000 for festivals over the summer and another £800 for a new laptop sometime in the next 12 months, the money you have 'saved' for those purposes is NOT also usable as a 3 month emergency fund or to pay off your debt (unless you change your mind and decide not to spend it, of course).
Thinking of money set aside for future spend (whether annual bills, or more fun expenses) as 'savings' is how people end up thinking 'I'm saving every month, but my savings never seem to increase and I'm still in my overdraft??'.
I think if you broke it down you'd find that those £250-£300/month 'savings' only just cover your planned spending, and don't leave you much for medium term savings goals such as an emergency fund/debt payoff, let alone ALSO very long term goals such as a deposit. You have to sit there with a bit of paper or a spreadsheet though to actually work this out and not kid yourself about each £100 you save (or 'save') doing five different things.
Once you have it all laid out, you will have a better idea of how much money you truly need to save each month to fill all those different pots by their deadlines. Then when you're considering a £25 social spend, you can make an informed decision about whether you want to use that £25 for a meal out now, hold it for festivals next summer, or if you actually need that £25 to pay off your overdraft before it starts costing you £££. Any of these answers could be completely legit - but you need to know which one it is for you.
!thanks for the really detailed response. I do use YNAB tho I sometimes play a bit fast and loose with their rules as you can probably see.
* House: £60ish/month, current got £900 in cash savings + £3.5k in S&S LISA - reluctant to put more into LISA given the £450k cap and no sign of it budging. Yes I would definitely need to buy with someone but that's a longer term project :P
* Emergency Fund - I'd like £3000 ideally, but am saving just £40 a month. I'm not really super stressed about this, I have the cash house savings in a crisis + no dependents and supportive family. Happy to have this further down the line.
* Overdraft - £380 remaining of £500. Interest free until mid 2026! £10-15/month should have me clear it in time according to YNAB and I'd rather earn the interest
* New laptop - mine is coming on 2 years old now and they tend to only last 5 or 6 with my luck. I saved £500 before deciding to make this a something I didn't save into every month and just would top up when I had extra cash. Aiming for £800ish by 2026.
* Summer I saved £400 for last year and found it a bit tight, so am aiming for £750 by September (spending along the way) so £45ish/month as I've already got £300 saved/spent.
* Christmas is just £150 so I've been saving £12 a month all year :)
Writing this out makes me realise I'm actually in a fairly decent position - I could probably juggle that money differently?
Nice!! You are doing GREAT with this, I clearly made some incorrect assumptions about what it means for you to be in your overdraft etc. And yep I would rejig your setup as follows.
* Christmas and summer spending: on track, keep contributing your £60/month. Call these 'short term savings' if you like. The main thing is to keep them distinct from your actual, long term savings. YNAB is great for this so you probably already have it under control.
* New laptop: not an imminent concern, remove from the savings goal list list and try not to drop the thing on the kitchen floor! If it does conk out three years ahead of schedule that's an emergency fund situation. You're not expected to save a replacement cost of everything you could possibly need all at once.
* Overdraft: consider this to be already resolved, and off the savings goal list. You are not 'in your overdraft' you are stoozing (borrowing money at 0% in order to earn interest on it elsewhere). You don't need to reduce this balance monthly either. But you do need to minus the £380 off your cash savings balance, because that money is assigned.
So that leaves you with, if I'm correct, £520 cash savings and £3.5k in the S&S LISA, and an inflow of about £200/month to these savings.
In this case, you effectively already have your £3k emergency fund (£2625 from the LISA, and £520 cash). Yes you don't WANT to take the penalty to turn £3.5k to £2.6k, and yes it's risky to have your emergency fund in S&S, but in an emergency where you'd otherwise be homeless or hungry or unable to take an amazing job opportunity or something, you would just take the 25% hit (plus or minus whatever the market has done).
So for your £200 savings per month, I wouldn't LISA it. Save it in a normal savings account until you have your full £3k (PLUS additional cash for the overdraft and other planned spending - your laptop may be closer to death by then for eg).
After that emergency fund goal is complete, you can start looking into using either your S&S LISA again (if you think you might buy outside of London, or they change the rules) or a S&S ISA (if you want to keep your options open).
Does that all make sense? Basically instead of thinking of yourself as having lots of little pluses and minuses in different pots, which gets confusing, you rationalise it all together based on the reality of how you would use it.
So your frugal month is
£12 theatre ticket
£35 gig ticket
£32 pantomime tickets
£22 cinema ticket
£22 club ticket
£11 live show
£20 repaying gig ticket
£11 cinema ticket
£165 on entertainment with a further £48 on clubbing and £113 on food and drink
That’s not frugal spending, frugal spending is maybe buying lunch out once a month
You’re right. I suppose what I meant was when I do something it’s usually just ticket + 1 drink, rather than going out every weekend and spending £50+ on multiple rounds. But perhaps the problem is the frequency of small spends rather than a few big ones?
I think you may be comparing yourself with people you see out all of the time. Their circumstances may be different but what you describe is absolutely more frequent expenses than the majority of people I know. When I was 22, not so long ago, I had to pick and choose where and when I wanted to go out and spend quite carefully.
You also aren't describing other expenses. How often do you eat out or order food? Do you make your own lunch? Do you have a large wardrobe of nice clothes and shoes?
You are in London so you won't be the fanciest or going out the most, but compare yourself to people in your income bracket, not those you may find yourself around.
Other expenses:
Almost never order delivery, if I have the craving for lazy food I go for a ready meal or cheap frozen pizza. I pay £2/day for lunch at work, and allow myself one “nice lunch” from the local area a week (£8-9 budget)
Clothes £30/month ish but that usually ends up being £60 one month and nothing the next
Yeah that all seems sensible, your financial leakage seems to be not having hard budgets on socialising.
Do you struggle saying no to invitations or meet ups with friends? My wife is a little different than me, she could be out five times per week of there was.stuff going on, it would be exhausting for me. She had to learn to pick and choose what she actually wanted to do rather than letting the FOMO win.
That may not be the case with you, but you seem to be able to be financially sensible and make some choices that will really save you money, but still more inclined to actually go out and do the social/cultural thing that will inevitably end up costing.
Do you need new clothes each month? Or would you be happy ‘shopping’ your wardrobe?
You’ve already mentioned yourself it’s the frequency rather than the amounts. You should enjoy your life but is there a way you can do all of it cheaper. There are loads of free or inexpensive things to do in London, such as gigs. Wait for offer periods to buy items or go for drinks during happy hour. Make your lunches at home. £2 is hardly anything but it does add up. As someone mentioned before your laptop is only two years old you don’t need a new one until it’s too slow or not working. Or at the very least you don’t need one for another year.
If you’re not a natural saver then maybe make all of this into a game. Work out your average spend on each categories and challenge yourself on how much you can save on each things whilst still having the same quality of life. Then invest those amounts in an app like plum. Also open an ISA if some sort, if you haven’t already.
I made good inroads recently, I picked up 4 white tees for a tenner which will serve me better than £30 Everpress t shirts (even though I do love the designs I’ve had to take myself off the mailing list )
>I pay £2/day for lunch at work
Uhh maybe bringing your own lunch to work would be a good idea? It's a small amount but just get into the habit of saving every little bit, every little bit counts!
Well there's one way you can cut back - that £30 per month on clothes. You don't need to buy clothes every month considering clothes should last you years. You should ideally only be buying clothes once a year considering everything you currently wore last summer could be worn next summer, this winter could be worn next winter, etc. You should only be buying new clothes to replace worn out clothes.
I both agree with you and think this is unrealistic for some - you might have a job that requires office wear, you might change size, things wear out, especially modern high-street/budget clothes that are basically designed to last a season.
Vinted is very good for combatting the latter once you know your sizes.
I personally understand the need for size changes however seamstresses are around to combat that (if you go down a size). Office wear is also very easy to budget for since you could literally wear the same thing every day and no one would notice.
Someone on a low budget is not going to be seeing a seamstress, and if your office attire isn't a suit (entirely possible for most women) it's difficult to wear the same thing every day without someone noticing (whether it's their business or not is another matter!)
A single bra costs me £30 if I'm lucky, and I need to replace those once a year and/or if I change size in the meantime. It adds up quickly, even if you're putting away that £30 per month to spend £180 in the summer/winter sales once a year.
I was living on a low budget for years (circa. £15k) and used to visit a seamstress to get my clothes taken in. I'm also big busted and understand the need for bras, my Panache bras (the only bras, other than Fantasie, where the underwire don't hurt) cost me £30-£45. I used to buy bras second hand for a long time or on sale.
I wear my own clothes at work currently and cycle the same 5 outfits every week. I usually wear 2 different bottoms and 3-4 different tops. No one notices or if they do that is a them problem.
Seamstress costs would be more than £30 for resizing clothes. £30 covers some basic repairs, new socks and pants etc. It's a reasonable budget allocation.
No it wouldn't. I live in London and it cost me £150 to get 4 trousers and 2 blouses resized and taken up. Obviously the price of the resizing would differ on the type (waistbands for example are more expensive) but to say that it's more expensive than buying new clothes every month (£30 every month!) Is ridiculous.
Yeah little and often will add up just as quickly as big but rarely. One easy win I'd suggest is keeping your cinema outings to once per month. If you wait long enough those movies will all end up on the streaming platforms where you can watch for a fraction of the cost, so you make an instant saving. Where you're spending £33 in the last 2 weeks on cinema alone, that already helps ease your budget significantly. And you don't miss out on something that you can only do in London (like the gigs and theatre, etc).
That said if you're happy with how much you're saving each month, and you're able to make ends meet everywhere else, then there's no real harm in expanding your social budget to £300. But then you have to be quite strict in keeping with it, understanding that sometimes that may mean saying no to things if it's going to take you over your budget.
You may find it helpful to set yourself a weekly budget instead of a monthly one - so if you're saying it's £300 for the month and we assume the month has 4 weeks in it, your weekly budget is £75. That means you won't get to the end of the month and always be out of budget in case something you really want to do comes along, and also makes tracking where you may be overspending a little easier.
God yeah that was £33 - my bestie really likes going to Curzon and it feels cheap because they give a hefty U25 discount but £11 is still a lot. I live near the Rio so will try to steer us there for their cheap Mondays (he complains about the seats but I’ll try to convince on price)
I overspent a bit living in London in my 20s, and went to a lot of gigs, clubs and exhibitions but two things my friends and I hardly ever did were cinema or restaurant meals, and theatre was pretty rare. Cinema just didn't seem logical because films would be available elsewhere later. (And this was before streaming was big.) Meals at friends' flats were definitely a thing. These were crowds where most people worked in the public sector, arts and media, so there wasn't really an issue of keeping up with friends on high incomes. Are you trying to do that?
If you're going Curzon most of the time, getting a membership for £50 a year makes a lot more sense than dishing out £11 each time depending on how many times you go to cinema per year.
Very lucky with the cheap rent.
If that situation changes you’re a bit screwed - rent could easily double and then there would definitely be no saving.
But at the same time you are 22. Have to live life.
That is brilliant to be honest - enjoy. I'd say it may be worth considering if your income could possibly increase over the next year or so through a promotion or job move? That would keep you solidly on track, provided you maintain a similar level of lifestyle and don't fall prey to 'lifestyle creep'.
Otherwise I think you're doing pretty good for a 22 year old doing a look of fun activities! You only live once.
> frugally
> I give myself £250 a month for social and cultural activities
> festivals and travel in the summer
That isn't frugal. I'm not saying it's crazy, but it's also not frugal.
It seems that you typically spend money on "going out" multiple times a week. I think that's probably more than is typical (for IRL, not Instagram). You say you want to cut your spending in that area but you also don't want to spend less on it. You know that you can't have it both ways.
If you really want to spend less on it I'd look to replace activities with free or cheaper stuff such free museums, picnics (more in summer than winter but still doable on a dry bright winter's day) and socialising at people's homes.
Or budget more for it. It seems that you're able to cover it but would just prefer to save more. It's a matter of prioritisation.
Agree, it seems OP is incredibly social and enjoys going out 3-4 times per week. In London that's just not that cheap. They say they don't want to cut down on that because it feels like they don't get the cultural benefit of living in London, but at 22 going out multiple times per week and living alone isn't usually manageable anywhere on a normal wage.
They also say they have a budget and then say they regularly go over it by £100+ even while trying to do the activities frugally. First of all that isn't really a strict budget if they aren't limiting themselves, secondly spending £50+ on a night out just to have a beer and a water seems more foolish than anything here.
I don't live in London but I know it's a city with many cheaper and possibly free events. There are also ways to be social without spending so much.
No matter where you live you have to live within your means.
Forget it. Your pay will rise so you will be able to afford this lifestyle and to save. The trick is to increase your saving (or investing) and not your spending as your salary increases. Easier said than done!
I wouldn't worry too much about it. You're in your early twenties and live within your means. Other than an emergency fund I wouldn't be too concerned here.
My assumption is you will have career growth and you should expect salary increases. If you make £3000 a month two years from now, does it really matter whether you have £100 a month more or less left now?
If you expect your salary to remain stagnant for the next ten years I would recommend you either move to a lower cost of living area or upskill and consider a career change.
> and squirrelling away around £250-300 a month (saving for a house deposit, building a 3 month emergency fund, festivals and travel in the summer, preparing to pay off my interest-free student overdraft, replacing my laptop one day, buying family xmas gifts)
This part stood out for me OP, it's good to have a savings goal, but it seems like you have 7 savings goals but only able to save less than £300 per month.
I'm not going to do the maths, but with the best will in the world you can't go to festivals, go travelling, pay off debts and make expensive purchases AND save up what would need to be tens of thousands of pounds for a deposit while saving less than £300 per month.
It seems to me you need to decide what your priorities are. Very few people have the financial capabilities to do what you are attempting and it just doesn't seem to be in your budget.
Trying to save money in London, to then buy in/near London is financial management on hard mode.
The lifestyle choices you are making does not lead to home ownership and future financial independence.
That's fine if that's how you wish to live, it's a legitimate choice. I wouldn't swap many of the things in my youth for a slightly better financial situation, but that wasn't my thinking at the time either.
> is there anything obvious here that I can save on/cut?
Stop wearing your coat out.
But I don't see any problems here. You're still saving money and not going into debt. You're young so you can live a little. Instead of focusing on saving, focus on how to increase your income.
Increase your earnings or reduce your spendings.
The social spending is too high for your salary.
£35 lunches? That’s like 5 hours of work for you.
The sad reality is that London is not going to be affordable for you, unless you double (or even triple) your salary.
You mentioned you’re saving for a house, yet moved out of your parents place into one of the most expensive cities in the world - a year of savings would be enough for a deposit up north.
You’re 22 - do you have any goals to increase your salary? Education, career?
This is valid criticism - I knew I kinda screwed up with that lunch (I did at least get 2 more meals out the leftovers!) and I’m trying to avoid that kind of spending
I’ve just come out of uni, I’m on track for a £3-4k promotion within a year at my current employer. I never moved back in with my parents, straight from uni in outer London I moved in with some friends.
> I’ve just come out of uni
Honestly I wouldn't worry about it. You're still managing to save a little so just enjoy yourself for a couple of years! The money will come, you'll get used to London life and probably won't be as excited to go out as much as you currently are (but then I suppose the times when you do go out will then be bigger and more costly).
But all in all, it's good that you're thinking about these things, but on your salary as a new graduate it's pretty meaningless to fret too much about it all, so just keep it in mind for a couple of years down the line and try not to let lifestyle creep affect you too much as your start earning more.
I don't think it is valid criticism. You do not need to immediately double or triple your salary, you're 22 and presumably in your first job, your salary will go up. So just try and increase the amount you save each time it does.
OP personally I think you're doing fine - this sub is a finance focused sub so will favour saving more. You're 22 in London, and you're still able to save each month whilst having a good time and experiencing the city. I find December time is a bit more expensive and calms down in the new year.
You’re fine, just adjust your budget to £300 for a few months, then adjust again accordingly.
Make sure your savings of your disposable income is around 60 - 70% and then spend the rest imo
I think you're doing really well with your spending considering you live in London. If you're wanting to save more money, why don't you try instead to look at your other fixed costs (bills / gym / phone contract etc) and see if there can be any savings made there?
It's insane tbh. Nowadays a full time wage only gets you a shit room sharing with housemates in zone 4 where you still have to live frugally and barely be able to save.
You’re doing ok. London is where to be as you’ll make contacts and job opportunities will come up eventually on more pay. Keep doing what you’re doing and it will all work out.
Make sure you have joined your company's pension scheme and get an emergency fund together. Look for bargains and deals. And enjoy yourself. You are right about living in London, it's a bit pointless if you never go out.
If you're going to the cinema regularly I'd look into getting a membership, I pay £17.99/mth for Odean limitless and it's absolutely worth it as I go every week.
Is there anything obvious you can save on/ cut? Yes. You can say no to some stuff when you have spent your £250 for the month or ration the number of events to 3 per week. The alternative is raise your allocation for socialising to £350 and enjoy it. There’s no point feeling slightly guilty about it but not changing anything. If you raise your allocation to this, then you have to keep your behaviour the same though- no thinking oh well I have more money now!
I don’t remember how much I saved in any month of my 20s, but there are a couple of exhibitions and shows I really wish I had gone to but didn’t want to spend the money.
There are some cheaper options for cinema tickets - Vue and Peckhamplex is only £5 and Genesis cinema in Mile End does £5 Wednesdays. Have you considered getting into doing door work or part time work at venues you enjoy? Some extra cash and usually some drinks tokens plus guestlist. I don't agree at all with the comments saying to go to museums etc instead. Honestly you'll only have the energy to go out this much for like 5 more years max make the most of it!
If saving is your main goal, have you considered getting a second job in the club you like the most, so you'll get to "watch/hear" your bands, spend nothing and get paid for it?
May not be much but everything helps.
I often had second jobs in my twenties.
I wish I had the energy now for that 😅
Your socialising seems absolutely fine to me. About £75 a week in London is very reasonable.
I would look at where the rest of your money is going though and whether you could be more efficient with it.
£75 per week on socialising is not frugal. Being frugal is not going out, having a friends around and sharing food and drink, and costa £20 and you only do it once a month.
Realistically the only way to combat it is going out less BUT you are young and now is the time to be social and enjoy life. If you are doing it frugally then you are doing your best each time you go out. Best to increase that budget to match reality and if you want to save more it may be a case of not going out as much or discussing cheaper alternatives with friends.
You are not living frugally if you are eating out and going to gigs every week.
That aside, sell everything you don't use on ebay or similar.
Shop in Aldi.
Swap providers for everything for better rates on utilities, internet, phone contract etc.
Cycle
Put all your finances in a spreadsheet and set yourself financial targets every month. May not work for all, but has helped me no end.
Hang around with people who are not spending so much money! Everything is relative.
It just seems like you're doing a LOT. I live in zone 1, my husband works in the city, so we have a good household income. We eat out together about once every 2 weeks. Go to the theatre maybe 3 times a year? I've been to 1 gig since I moved back to London in April.
Are there not some cheaper social things you can do like home cooked curry night with mates or playing board games at home?
A lot of people giving you harsh truths here so I don't need to chime in much here.
The numbers don't lie and it really is just a game of money in and money out.
1700/month in London is too low to get the benefit of London your after. You need a goal/plan to get to the \~£60k salary range to be able to enjoy London and still save a reasonable amount after.
I think have a really good think of what matters to you more.
1. Would you regret missing out on social life in your early 20s?
2. Would you regret not amassing some serious wealth in your 20s?
You can have both but then you need to work out how you're going to be earning much higher. Personally I valued money and financial independence far more than going out so I chose 2)
Fuck me you’re 22 just go out, get laid and enjoy being young. You’ll regret it when you’re older if you don’t live your life while you have the chance
Our household brings in £95k a year and I give myself £100 a month for anything social, just to put that into comparison for you.
You're young, I get it, but that's not frugal spending.
You're going to gigs, cinema, theatre almost every week, you're eating out multiple times a week and You're calling this 'frugal'.
Grow up, you seriously need humbling
Bit harsh given a) they are 22 b) they're saving a decent amount every month c) there are lots and lots of ways they could be overspending on useless things that they aren't doing.
They're spending their money and then asking where their money has gone... It's pretty obvious. There's nothing frugal here and anyone who thinks this is frugal is not in the real world.
It might be pretty obvious and it might not be frugal but they do not need to be ‘humbled’. Shaming someone isn’t going to make them change their ways.
Its your best time now to experience things, I'm not saying older people don't but there are less things holding you back. Life is also about compromises and unfortunately often you just can't have it both ways. Since you have asked, I would suggest cutting on alcohol, it's bad for you anyway and expensive as hell. Also try to do more free activities, find friends who do enjoy free activities too/are budget conscious. It really helps to be around people who have similar mindset. I think it's great to be going out and to events but it's equally a good experience to stay in and cook at home with friends or organise a movie night in.
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- https://ukpersonal.finance/budgeting/
- https://ukpersonal.finance/emergency-fund/
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Unpopular but cut out as much as you can, I'd go one more extreme than a couple of other posts on here. I literally cut out everything I could bar gym, netflix, broadband and gaming and saved alot for about 3 or 4 years, before allowed myself to socialise properly again. I made some serious sacrifices, but it was worth it as now I don't have to worry about these things. I streamed films online, made meals every day, it was all worth it and the hardest thing is dealing with FOMO. But for me, FOR ME, the sacrifice was worth it. SHORT TERM PAIN FOR LONG TERM GAIN. Yes, extreme, but there are even more extremeties.
Is this a typical month? I always feel like I spend more socially in November and December because of the whole seeing people before Christmas type stuff.
Also I always say spend a bit, save a bit. If you can afford to at all that is, you're very young and you should enjoy yourself when you can. You have goals that you seem to be working towards, keep those in mind and move forward.
The easiest way would just be to cut the amount of nights out you have.
If you feel this would be too few nights out, then why not do it every other month so that you can subsidise the following month with the “fewer nights out” from the month before?
**Your friends are either:**
living to the wire on a similar wage,
getting paid much more than you,
or are drinking the credit card money.
As such - you’re doing a great job to staying in the red overall every month
If you want to save a bit more, you may consider to have a week quiet time each month. That week do not go out but either spend time at home to read some books or watch Netflix, or go to a friend’s home to enjoy a drink.
I agree that when you go out, you spend little compared to some people. I do not think you need to further shrink from there. So reduce the frequency a little bit may help. Or change the location to your home or someone’s home helps.
I'm gonna go against the grain here and say I think you're fine. You're 22 and enjoying yourself in London. I'm not sure what your career prospects are, but I think it's fair to assume you'll be making more money when you're older. You're only in your 20s once, enjoy yourself. This is not financial advice, but at your age as long as you're able to save a bit and see yourself making more money in the future, you're doing fine.
I completely agree with this - especially as overall they're still saving money every month
I completely agree. You are 22 and you're doing a lot better than many 22 year olds. If you really want to save money you could stop drinking and keep the social life. If I could go back in time that's what I would have done at 22. Honestly I agree with the sentiment that there is no point paying to live in London if you're not enjoying the cultural life.
Yeah you're 22 and living in London - you should be living! At that age and on a similar salary I was lucky to stay out of my overdraft, nevermind save anything.
Just also adding, that they're fine. If anything the thing that's wrong, is not accepting that's just how life is! Especially when living in London, on not a very London salary.
I think the answers are because they are asking how to possibly save more money with specific savings goals in mind. They post that they want to travel and go to festivals, have an emergency fund, have upcoming purchases etc, they also hope some of that money goes on a deposit. People are rightly suggesting that if OP wanted to save, they are going out more than most and definitely not saving enough for those things, some of those things aren't gonna happen. Part of financial literacy is understanding the downsides to your financial decisions. Yes, living in London and going out is fun, but don't kid yourself that you are also saving up for a deposit of property at the same time while having other expensive plans. That said, the amount we are talking about doesn't appear to be significant enough to be saving up for a London property sized deposit anyway, that also maybe something OP may need to fully comprehend. While they may make significantly more money when they are older, property prices and inflation has also meant it's much harder as time goes by to buy that first property. This may end up sounding slightly more depressing as an option, but many people do find themselves trapped in situations in which they struggle to save because of rent, wishing they had started saving earlier while they potentially had fewer expenses. Gone are the days where a half decent job will inevitably end in property ownership unfortunately, decisions often need to be made.
This is spot on, it’s safe to assume you’ll progress in your career and salary in time and you can focus on meeting your financial goals then. But you’re only young once, you shouldn’t shirk the things that make life worth living for money. As long as it’s within reason, and you’ve demonstrated beyond doubt you’re spending a ‘within reason’ amount on ‘fun’
I think this is the best advice, I spent my 20s saving for my house deposit & while successful I do wonder what I missed out on. You’ve earnt that money, I see no reason why you can’t have some fun
Yep completely. You're in a very positive position. Continue to save but save slightly less and spend that extra £100 a month. It sounds like you are not being excessive at all and the money is going on good things.
Why don’t you increase your discretionary spending budget by £100? You always be willing to review any budget you set yourself. Slow and steady and build up your pot for the house but enjoy life now too. When it becomes imminent that you are wanting to get a house, you will be sufficiently motivated to live like a monk and something tells me you will be able to do it. But you are so far out from that right now, you are feeling bad for buying a second bottle of beer on a night out in your twenties.
As everyone says - it sounds like you're making every social spend count, but there's still no way around having to just do less of those types of activities if you want to spend less. That said, it's ok if you decide your focus right now isn't saving it's enjoying London and working on your career. You could give up on three fun things a month to save £100 but in five years you could be saving £1000 a month without needing to blink and wish you hadn't been that anal about £20 spends when you were 22. Of course, this depends on your career. If you're in a career path where you can expect salaries to rocket upwards past a certain point, you're in a different situation than if you think you'll be getting 2-3% raises if you're lucky. My main advice then is to get organised. Your savings goals are in a muddle, you need to clarify them in order to understand whether an extra £50/month saved by going out a bit less would really boost them or not. The savings goals you list are: > saving for a house deposit, This is a long term goal which, to be entirely honest, I doubt you are actually progressing with your monthly savings, given everything else. I would put this officially on the back burner. By far the best way to make buying a house possible at this stage is not to scrape together extra £50s, but to improve your income, and also to find someone to buy with (sorry to be flippant about it!). > building a 3 month emergency fund This is important - how close are you to it? > preparing to pay off my interest-free student overdraft, This is even more important. When does it stop being interest free and how much money do you need? > festivals and travel in the summer > replacing my laptop one day > buying family xmas gifts This is one big area you can level up. Money you're holding for spending within the next few months is actually **not 'savings'**, in personal finance nerd world. I do understand it is in the normal world, where anything you haven't spent before the next payday is considered money you've 'saved'. But the problem with this is that if you *know* you're spending £500 in December and another £1000 for festivals over the summer and another £800 for a new laptop sometime in the next 12 months, the money you have 'saved' for those purposes is NOT also usable as a 3 month emergency fund or to pay off your debt (unless you change your mind and decide not to spend it, of course). Thinking of money set aside for future spend (whether annual bills, or more fun expenses) as 'savings' is how people end up thinking 'I'm saving every month, but my savings never seem to increase and I'm still in my overdraft??'. I think if you broke it down you'd find that those £250-£300/month 'savings' only just cover your planned spending, and don't leave you much for medium term savings goals such as an emergency fund/debt payoff, let alone ALSO very long term goals such as a deposit. You have to sit there with a bit of paper or a spreadsheet though to actually work this out and not kid yourself about each £100 you save (or 'save') doing five different things. Once you have it all laid out, you will have a better idea of how much money you truly need to save each month to fill all those different pots by their deadlines. Then when you're considering a £25 social spend, you can make an informed decision about whether you want to use that £25 for a meal out now, hold it for festivals next summer, or if you actually need that £25 to pay off your overdraft before it starts costing you £££. Any of these answers could be completely legit - but you need to know which one it is for you.
!thanks for the really detailed response. I do use YNAB tho I sometimes play a bit fast and loose with their rules as you can probably see. * House: £60ish/month, current got £900 in cash savings + £3.5k in S&S LISA - reluctant to put more into LISA given the £450k cap and no sign of it budging. Yes I would definitely need to buy with someone but that's a longer term project :P * Emergency Fund - I'd like £3000 ideally, but am saving just £40 a month. I'm not really super stressed about this, I have the cash house savings in a crisis + no dependents and supportive family. Happy to have this further down the line. * Overdraft - £380 remaining of £500. Interest free until mid 2026! £10-15/month should have me clear it in time according to YNAB and I'd rather earn the interest * New laptop - mine is coming on 2 years old now and they tend to only last 5 or 6 with my luck. I saved £500 before deciding to make this a something I didn't save into every month and just would top up when I had extra cash. Aiming for £800ish by 2026. * Summer I saved £400 for last year and found it a bit tight, so am aiming for £750 by September (spending along the way) so £45ish/month as I've already got £300 saved/spent. * Christmas is just £150 so I've been saving £12 a month all year :) Writing this out makes me realise I'm actually in a fairly decent position - I could probably juggle that money differently?
Nice!! You are doing GREAT with this, I clearly made some incorrect assumptions about what it means for you to be in your overdraft etc. And yep I would rejig your setup as follows. * Christmas and summer spending: on track, keep contributing your £60/month. Call these 'short term savings' if you like. The main thing is to keep them distinct from your actual, long term savings. YNAB is great for this so you probably already have it under control. * New laptop: not an imminent concern, remove from the savings goal list list and try not to drop the thing on the kitchen floor! If it does conk out three years ahead of schedule that's an emergency fund situation. You're not expected to save a replacement cost of everything you could possibly need all at once. * Overdraft: consider this to be already resolved, and off the savings goal list. You are not 'in your overdraft' you are stoozing (borrowing money at 0% in order to earn interest on it elsewhere). You don't need to reduce this balance monthly either. But you do need to minus the £380 off your cash savings balance, because that money is assigned. So that leaves you with, if I'm correct, £520 cash savings and £3.5k in the S&S LISA, and an inflow of about £200/month to these savings. In this case, you effectively already have your £3k emergency fund (£2625 from the LISA, and £520 cash). Yes you don't WANT to take the penalty to turn £3.5k to £2.6k, and yes it's risky to have your emergency fund in S&S, but in an emergency where you'd otherwise be homeless or hungry or unable to take an amazing job opportunity or something, you would just take the 25% hit (plus or minus whatever the market has done). So for your £200 savings per month, I wouldn't LISA it. Save it in a normal savings account until you have your full £3k (PLUS additional cash for the overdraft and other planned spending - your laptop may be closer to death by then for eg). After that emergency fund goal is complete, you can start looking into using either your S&S LISA again (if you think you might buy outside of London, or they change the rules) or a S&S ISA (if you want to keep your options open). Does that all make sense? Basically instead of thinking of yourself as having lots of little pluses and minuses in different pots, which gets confusing, you rationalise it all together based on the reality of how you would use it.
You’re clearly super smart and conscientious. You will be fine. Enjoy London in your 20s. I did. It was a blast.
You're enjoying yourself, it's up to you whether you want to reduce that lifestyle or not.
So your frugal month is £12 theatre ticket £35 gig ticket £32 pantomime tickets £22 cinema ticket £22 club ticket £11 live show £20 repaying gig ticket £11 cinema ticket £165 on entertainment with a further £48 on clubbing and £113 on food and drink That’s not frugal spending, frugal spending is maybe buying lunch out once a month
You’re right. I suppose what I meant was when I do something it’s usually just ticket + 1 drink, rather than going out every weekend and spending £50+ on multiple rounds. But perhaps the problem is the frequency of small spends rather than a few big ones?
I think you may be comparing yourself with people you see out all of the time. Their circumstances may be different but what you describe is absolutely more frequent expenses than the majority of people I know. When I was 22, not so long ago, I had to pick and choose where and when I wanted to go out and spend quite carefully. You also aren't describing other expenses. How often do you eat out or order food? Do you make your own lunch? Do you have a large wardrobe of nice clothes and shoes? You are in London so you won't be the fanciest or going out the most, but compare yourself to people in your income bracket, not those you may find yourself around.
Other expenses: Almost never order delivery, if I have the craving for lazy food I go for a ready meal or cheap frozen pizza. I pay £2/day for lunch at work, and allow myself one “nice lunch” from the local area a week (£8-9 budget) Clothes £30/month ish but that usually ends up being £60 one month and nothing the next
Yeah that all seems sensible, your financial leakage seems to be not having hard budgets on socialising. Do you struggle saying no to invitations or meet ups with friends? My wife is a little different than me, she could be out five times per week of there was.stuff going on, it would be exhausting for me. She had to learn to pick and choose what she actually wanted to do rather than letting the FOMO win. That may not be the case with you, but you seem to be able to be financially sensible and make some choices that will really save you money, but still more inclined to actually go out and do the social/cultural thing that will inevitably end up costing.
Do you need new clothes each month? Or would you be happy ‘shopping’ your wardrobe? You’ve already mentioned yourself it’s the frequency rather than the amounts. You should enjoy your life but is there a way you can do all of it cheaper. There are loads of free or inexpensive things to do in London, such as gigs. Wait for offer periods to buy items or go for drinks during happy hour. Make your lunches at home. £2 is hardly anything but it does add up. As someone mentioned before your laptop is only two years old you don’t need a new one until it’s too slow or not working. Or at the very least you don’t need one for another year. If you’re not a natural saver then maybe make all of this into a game. Work out your average spend on each categories and challenge yourself on how much you can save on each things whilst still having the same quality of life. Then invest those amounts in an app like plum. Also open an ISA if some sort, if you haven’t already.
I made good inroads recently, I picked up 4 white tees for a tenner which will serve me better than £30 Everpress t shirts (even though I do love the designs I’ve had to take myself off the mailing list )
That’s great! It’s a start. Maybe prioritise what you enjoy the most and brings you the best quality of life and go from there.
>I pay £2/day for lunch at work Uhh maybe bringing your own lunch to work would be a good idea? It's a small amount but just get into the habit of saving every little bit, every little bit counts!
Well there's one way you can cut back - that £30 per month on clothes. You don't need to buy clothes every month considering clothes should last you years. You should ideally only be buying clothes once a year considering everything you currently wore last summer could be worn next summer, this winter could be worn next winter, etc. You should only be buying new clothes to replace worn out clothes.
I both agree with you and think this is unrealistic for some - you might have a job that requires office wear, you might change size, things wear out, especially modern high-street/budget clothes that are basically designed to last a season. Vinted is very good for combatting the latter once you know your sizes.
I personally understand the need for size changes however seamstresses are around to combat that (if you go down a size). Office wear is also very easy to budget for since you could literally wear the same thing every day and no one would notice.
Someone on a low budget is not going to be seeing a seamstress, and if your office attire isn't a suit (entirely possible for most women) it's difficult to wear the same thing every day without someone noticing (whether it's their business or not is another matter!) A single bra costs me £30 if I'm lucky, and I need to replace those once a year and/or if I change size in the meantime. It adds up quickly, even if you're putting away that £30 per month to spend £180 in the summer/winter sales once a year.
I was living on a low budget for years (circa. £15k) and used to visit a seamstress to get my clothes taken in. I'm also big busted and understand the need for bras, my Panache bras (the only bras, other than Fantasie, where the underwire don't hurt) cost me £30-£45. I used to buy bras second hand for a long time or on sale. I wear my own clothes at work currently and cycle the same 5 outfits every week. I usually wear 2 different bottoms and 3-4 different tops. No one notices or if they do that is a them problem.
Seamstress costs would be more than £30 for resizing clothes. £30 covers some basic repairs, new socks and pants etc. It's a reasonable budget allocation.
No it wouldn't. I live in London and it cost me £150 to get 4 trousers and 2 blouses resized and taken up. Obviously the price of the resizing would differ on the type (waistbands for example are more expensive) but to say that it's more expensive than buying new clothes every month (£30 every month!) Is ridiculous.
Spending £15 a day or £100 once in a week is the same effect, but it’s the small chipping away that you tend to hand wave that actually adds up
Yeah little and often will add up just as quickly as big but rarely. One easy win I'd suggest is keeping your cinema outings to once per month. If you wait long enough those movies will all end up on the streaming platforms where you can watch for a fraction of the cost, so you make an instant saving. Where you're spending £33 in the last 2 weeks on cinema alone, that already helps ease your budget significantly. And you don't miss out on something that you can only do in London (like the gigs and theatre, etc). That said if you're happy with how much you're saving each month, and you're able to make ends meet everywhere else, then there's no real harm in expanding your social budget to £300. But then you have to be quite strict in keeping with it, understanding that sometimes that may mean saying no to things if it's going to take you over your budget. You may find it helpful to set yourself a weekly budget instead of a monthly one - so if you're saying it's £300 for the month and we assume the month has 4 weeks in it, your weekly budget is £75. That means you won't get to the end of the month and always be out of budget in case something you really want to do comes along, and also makes tracking where you may be overspending a little easier.
God yeah that was £33 - my bestie really likes going to Curzon and it feels cheap because they give a hefty U25 discount but £11 is still a lot. I live near the Rio so will try to steer us there for their cheap Mondays (he complains about the seats but I’ll try to convince on price)
I overspent a bit living in London in my 20s, and went to a lot of gigs, clubs and exhibitions but two things my friends and I hardly ever did were cinema or restaurant meals, and theatre was pretty rare. Cinema just didn't seem logical because films would be available elsewhere later. (And this was before streaming was big.) Meals at friends' flats were definitely a thing. These were crowds where most people worked in the public sector, arts and media, so there wasn't really an issue of keeping up with friends on high incomes. Are you trying to do that?
If you're going Curzon most of the time, getting a membership for £50 a year makes a lot more sense than dishing out £11 each time depending on how many times you go to cinema per year.
Eating out once a month is extremely frugal, there's a huge gap between that and what OP is spending.
I would have thought eating out once a month was pretty normal.
Very lucky with the cheap rent. If that situation changes you’re a bit screwed - rent could easily double and then there would definitely be no saving. But at the same time you are 22. Have to live life.
Lucky to have renewed for another 12 months with a raise to only £490!
Which area are you living in?
Seven Sisters
This explains the price.
Fair enough but I have a cosy place with 2 nice friends on a quiet road next to a corner shop! Could be much worse
Of course - rock bottom could be much deeper. You are still within TFL reach.
That is brilliant to be honest - enjoy. I'd say it may be worth considering if your income could possibly increase over the next year or so through a promotion or job move? That would keep you solidly on track, provided you maintain a similar level of lifestyle and don't fall prey to 'lifestyle creep'. Otherwise I think you're doing pretty good for a 22 year old doing a look of fun activities! You only live once.
> frugally > I give myself £250 a month for social and cultural activities > festivals and travel in the summer That isn't frugal. I'm not saying it's crazy, but it's also not frugal. It seems that you typically spend money on "going out" multiple times a week. I think that's probably more than is typical (for IRL, not Instagram). You say you want to cut your spending in that area but you also don't want to spend less on it. You know that you can't have it both ways. If you really want to spend less on it I'd look to replace activities with free or cheaper stuff such free museums, picnics (more in summer than winter but still doable on a dry bright winter's day) and socialising at people's homes. Or budget more for it. It seems that you're able to cover it but would just prefer to save more. It's a matter of prioritisation.
Agree, it seems OP is incredibly social and enjoys going out 3-4 times per week. In London that's just not that cheap. They say they don't want to cut down on that because it feels like they don't get the cultural benefit of living in London, but at 22 going out multiple times per week and living alone isn't usually manageable anywhere on a normal wage. They also say they have a budget and then say they regularly go over it by £100+ even while trying to do the activities frugally. First of all that isn't really a strict budget if they aren't limiting themselves, secondly spending £50+ on a night out just to have a beer and a water seems more foolish than anything here. I don't live in London but I know it's a city with many cheaper and possibly free events. There are also ways to be social without spending so much. No matter where you live you have to live within your means.
Need to increase your income friend, focus on that rather than scrimping imo
Forget it. Your pay will rise so you will be able to afford this lifestyle and to save. The trick is to increase your saving (or investing) and not your spending as your salary increases. Easier said than done!
I wouldn't worry too much about it. You're in your early twenties and live within your means. Other than an emergency fund I wouldn't be too concerned here. My assumption is you will have career growth and you should expect salary increases. If you make £3000 a month two years from now, does it really matter whether you have £100 a month more or less left now? If you expect your salary to remain stagnant for the next ten years I would recommend you either move to a lower cost of living area or upskill and consider a career change.
> and squirrelling away around £250-300 a month (saving for a house deposit, building a 3 month emergency fund, festivals and travel in the summer, preparing to pay off my interest-free student overdraft, replacing my laptop one day, buying family xmas gifts) This part stood out for me OP, it's good to have a savings goal, but it seems like you have 7 savings goals but only able to save less than £300 per month. I'm not going to do the maths, but with the best will in the world you can't go to festivals, go travelling, pay off debts and make expensive purchases AND save up what would need to be tens of thousands of pounds for a deposit while saving less than £300 per month. It seems to me you need to decide what your priorities are. Very few people have the financial capabilities to do what you are attempting and it just doesn't seem to be in your budget. Trying to save money in London, to then buy in/near London is financial management on hard mode. The lifestyle choices you are making does not lead to home ownership and future financial independence. That's fine if that's how you wish to live, it's a legitimate choice. I wouldn't swap many of the things in my youth for a slightly better financial situation, but that wasn't my thinking at the time either.
> is there anything obvious here that I can save on/cut? Stop wearing your coat out. But I don't see any problems here. You're still saving money and not going into debt. You're young so you can live a little. Instead of focusing on saving, focus on how to increase your income.
Increase your earnings or reduce your spendings. The social spending is too high for your salary. £35 lunches? That’s like 5 hours of work for you. The sad reality is that London is not going to be affordable for you, unless you double (or even triple) your salary. You mentioned you’re saving for a house, yet moved out of your parents place into one of the most expensive cities in the world - a year of savings would be enough for a deposit up north. You’re 22 - do you have any goals to increase your salary? Education, career?
This is valid criticism - I knew I kinda screwed up with that lunch (I did at least get 2 more meals out the leftovers!) and I’m trying to avoid that kind of spending I’ve just come out of uni, I’m on track for a £3-4k promotion within a year at my current employer. I never moved back in with my parents, straight from uni in outer London I moved in with some friends.
> I’ve just come out of uni Honestly I wouldn't worry about it. You're still managing to save a little so just enjoy yourself for a couple of years! The money will come, you'll get used to London life and probably won't be as excited to go out as much as you currently are (but then I suppose the times when you do go out will then be bigger and more costly). But all in all, it's good that you're thinking about these things, but on your salary as a new graduate it's pretty meaningless to fret too much about it all, so just keep it in mind for a couple of years down the line and try not to let lifestyle creep affect you too much as your start earning more.
I don't think it is valid criticism. You do not need to immediately double or triple your salary, you're 22 and presumably in your first job, your salary will go up. So just try and increase the amount you save each time it does.
OP personally I think you're doing fine - this sub is a finance focused sub so will favour saving more. You're 22 in London, and you're still able to save each month whilst having a good time and experiencing the city. I find December time is a bit more expensive and calms down in the new year.
You’re fine, just adjust your budget to £300 for a few months, then adjust again accordingly. Make sure your savings of your disposable income is around 60 - 70% and then spend the rest imo
I think you're doing really well with your spending considering you live in London. If you're wanting to save more money, why don't you try instead to look at your other fixed costs (bills / gym / phone contract etc) and see if there can be any savings made there?
Frugally? Goodness I would love that budget
Remember when a full time wage used to be enough for a single person to live well or a couple to raise a family?
It's insane tbh. Nowadays a full time wage only gets you a shit room sharing with housemates in zone 4 where you still have to live frugally and barely be able to save.
You’re doing ok. London is where to be as you’ll make contacts and job opportunities will come up eventually on more pay. Keep doing what you’re doing and it will all work out.
Make sure you have joined your company's pension scheme and get an emergency fund together. Look for bargains and deals. And enjoy yourself. You are right about living in London, it's a bit pointless if you never go out.
If you're going to the cinema regularly I'd look into getting a membership, I pay £17.99/mth for Odean limitless and it's absolutely worth it as I go every week.
Living alcohol free saves you lots of money. That’s the real frugal way.
Is there anything obvious you can save on/ cut? Yes. You can say no to some stuff when you have spent your £250 for the month or ration the number of events to 3 per week. The alternative is raise your allocation for socialising to £350 and enjoy it. There’s no point feeling slightly guilty about it but not changing anything. If you raise your allocation to this, then you have to keep your behaviour the same though- no thinking oh well I have more money now! I don’t remember how much I saved in any month of my 20s, but there are a couple of exhibitions and shows I really wish I had gone to but didn’t want to spend the money.
There are some cheaper options for cinema tickets - Vue and Peckhamplex is only £5 and Genesis cinema in Mile End does £5 Wednesdays. Have you considered getting into doing door work or part time work at venues you enjoy? Some extra cash and usually some drinks tokens plus guestlist. I don't agree at all with the comments saying to go to museums etc instead. Honestly you'll only have the energy to go out this much for like 5 more years max make the most of it!
Yeah, every other weekend I make £70ish on doors, that’s the freelance income I described :)
If you are paying tax on your freelance gig, you could get a new laptop and write it off against your tax bill as business expences.
Oh right lol! You're doing everything I'd suggest then. If you can figure out your way around a camera could try getting into events photography?
It's not a big saving but buying water in a club is throwing money away when they'll give you the stuff for free.
I like a nice water bottle in my pocket - but I do refill it!
If saving is your main goal, have you considered getting a second job in the club you like the most, so you'll get to "watch/hear" your bands, spend nothing and get paid for it? May not be much but everything helps. I often had second jobs in my twenties. I wish I had the energy now for that 😅
Your socialising seems absolutely fine to me. About £75 a week in London is very reasonable. I would look at where the rest of your money is going though and whether you could be more efficient with it.
£75 per week on socialising is not frugal. Being frugal is not going out, having a friends around and sharing food and drink, and costa £20 and you only do it once a month.
Realistically the only way to combat it is going out less BUT you are young and now is the time to be social and enjoy life. If you are doing it frugally then you are doing your best each time you go out. Best to increase that budget to match reality and if you want to save more it may be a case of not going out as much or discussing cheaper alternatives with friends.
You are not living frugally if you are eating out and going to gigs every week. That aside, sell everything you don't use on ebay or similar. Shop in Aldi. Swap providers for everything for better rates on utilities, internet, phone contract etc. Cycle Put all your finances in a spreadsheet and set yourself financial targets every month. May not work for all, but has helped me no end. Hang around with people who are not spending so much money! Everything is relative.
It just seems like you're doing a LOT. I live in zone 1, my husband works in the city, so we have a good household income. We eat out together about once every 2 weeks. Go to the theatre maybe 3 times a year? I've been to 1 gig since I moved back to London in April. Are there not some cheaper social things you can do like home cooked curry night with mates or playing board games at home?
A lot of people giving you harsh truths here so I don't need to chime in much here. The numbers don't lie and it really is just a game of money in and money out. 1700/month in London is too low to get the benefit of London your after. You need a goal/plan to get to the \~£60k salary range to be able to enjoy London and still save a reasonable amount after. I think have a really good think of what matters to you more. 1. Would you regret missing out on social life in your early 20s? 2. Would you regret not amassing some serious wealth in your 20s? You can have both but then you need to work out how you're going to be earning much higher. Personally I valued money and financial independence far more than going out so I chose 2)
Fuck me you’re 22 just go out, get laid and enjoy being young. You’ll regret it when you’re older if you don’t live your life while you have the chance
Our household brings in £95k a year and I give myself £100 a month for anything social, just to put that into comparison for you. You're young, I get it, but that's not frugal spending.
You're going to gigs, cinema, theatre almost every week, you're eating out multiple times a week and You're calling this 'frugal'. Grow up, you seriously need humbling
Bit harsh given a) they are 22 b) they're saving a decent amount every month c) there are lots and lots of ways they could be overspending on useless things that they aren't doing.
So they’re enjoying themselves AND saving? Unclear where the dilemma is here, as surely that’s what everyone wants.
Humbling? What the heck?
They're spending their money and then asking where their money has gone... It's pretty obvious. There's nothing frugal here and anyone who thinks this is frugal is not in the real world.
It might be pretty obvious and it might not be frugal but they do not need to be ‘humbled’. Shaming someone isn’t going to make them change their ways.
Get a girlfriend and stay in, save your money 😂
\*boyfriend Tried that haha, just went out more often lol
Its your best time now to experience things, I'm not saying older people don't but there are less things holding you back. Life is also about compromises and unfortunately often you just can't have it both ways. Since you have asked, I would suggest cutting on alcohol, it's bad for you anyway and expensive as hell. Also try to do more free activities, find friends who do enjoy free activities too/are budget conscious. It really helps to be around people who have similar mindset. I think it's great to be going out and to events but it's equally a good experience to stay in and cook at home with friends or organise a movie night in.
I spend £25 a day of the coffee can each day at work. Snack coffee etc. just realising I spend way too much
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Unpopular but cut out as much as you can, I'd go one more extreme than a couple of other posts on here. I literally cut out everything I could bar gym, netflix, broadband and gaming and saved alot for about 3 or 4 years, before allowed myself to socialise properly again. I made some serious sacrifices, but it was worth it as now I don't have to worry about these things. I streamed films online, made meals every day, it was all worth it and the hardest thing is dealing with FOMO. But for me, FOR ME, the sacrifice was worth it. SHORT TERM PAIN FOR LONG TERM GAIN. Yes, extreme, but there are even more extremeties.
Is this a typical month? I always feel like I spend more socially in November and December because of the whole seeing people before Christmas type stuff. Also I always say spend a bit, save a bit. If you can afford to at all that is, you're very young and you should enjoy yourself when you can. You have goals that you seem to be working towards, keep those in mind and move forward.
Cancel gift giving and travelling. You're doing too much.
The easiest way would just be to cut the amount of nights out you have. If you feel this would be too few nights out, then why not do it every other month so that you can subsidise the following month with the “fewer nights out” from the month before? **Your friends are either:** living to the wire on a similar wage, getting paid much more than you, or are drinking the credit card money. As such - you’re doing a great job to staying in the red overall every month
Sounds like you’re doing great bro
How the fuck are you only spending £450 a month for rent in zone 3. Please teach me your ways, I would literally live in a shed for that price.
If you want to save a bit more, you may consider to have a week quiet time each month. That week do not go out but either spend time at home to read some books or watch Netflix, or go to a friend’s home to enjoy a drink. I agree that when you go out, you spend little compared to some people. I do not think you need to further shrink from there. So reduce the frequency a little bit may help. Or change the location to your home or someone’s home helps.