I’m always amazed at how much money I see people fritter away. If you have read my ebook Pocket Money To Big Money then you will know how much I hate liabilities and for me spending £10 or more everyday on lunch is just crazy. I personally take a packed lunch into work with me and only ever buy it if I am rushing in the mornings and haven’t had chance to make it for myself. Another exception is if it happens to be somebody’s birthday or leaving lunch and I have been invited to attend.

Otherwise my cheese and salmon trimmed sandwiches are perfectly fine for me 🙂

Are you guilty of frittering away money and feel like you can’t help yourself? Here are my 3 quick tips to help you get on your way to saving money:

1.Avoid using your card, draw out money from the cash machine once a week and stick to that budget that you have in your purse/wallet. Spending cash is always a lot harder than spending your money from your card. Tapping the machine with your card is simple and easy and although you are still aware of what you are spending at that moment it doesn’t inflict the same amount of emotion in you as it would compared to when you are using your actual cash! So set yourself a budget every week, choose a day that you will draw out your money and stick to your cash budget. It only takes a few minutes out of your day to do this and you will be amazed at the results!

2.Plan ahead! My children’s birthdays are only a month apart from each other (and my daughters birthday is only 2 days after mine) and if I tried to get them both everything that they wanted I would be struggling financially for the rest of my life (actually that’s a slight exaggeration as my children are really good in that they don’t actually want for much) but still, I always plan ahead by creating a birthday list for them months in advance. Whenever they ask me for something, I add that item to my list in my notes on my phone and a month before their birthday I send it round to family and friends (that ask me for it, I don’t just send it out to everyone demanding for presents for my kids lol) and this way my children get a lot of what they have asked for without me being left pocketless!

3.Plan free play dates out! You don’t have to spend lots of money to have fun, some of my favourite play dates are when my friends come round to mine with their kids and we have a coffee and catch up whilst the children either play in their bedroom with all of the toys or they go out into the back garden where we can keep an eye on them, it’s less stress, with summer approaching it’s lovely to relax out in the sun and we all get that quality time with our friends enjoying each others company!

I hope that these have helped!

Let me know if you have any further tips?

Layonie Jae x