How To Save Money In 2017

Hey guys,


So I really wanted to sit down and write this post for you guys as I feel like a lot of you will benefit from it and when I mentioned one or two of these on snapchat my phone was lit up with messages so I said I would do a post on here about all the things we are doing this year to save money in 2017.
Being a mom for almost 4 years now has taught me a thing or two, one being how to manage my money more efficiently, I mean you have no choice I guess because you now need to spend all your money on nappies and formula!

Here are some tips on how we have saved money in the past and some new things we are trying out in 2017!

Tip One

• Large Saving Tin/Jar

I think this one is probably the most common one but it really is so effective.  Two years ago myself and Lee bought a large money bottle and every now and again we popped a bit of change in.  To be fair it was mostly coppers and the odd 10 and 20cent.  It was about 1 quarter of the way full and we decided to bring it down to tesco and pop it in one of them machines that count your money. (Even though it can be a tedious job I would totally recommend you count the money yourself as the machine takes about 5/10% of your total) We we're expecting at the very most about €20 but by the end there was about €80!  We couldn't believe it as we were only saving for about 3/4 months.  Since then we always have a savings tin for all of our loose change,

Tip Two

• The 1cent/Penny challenge

So I seen this challenge first on Pinterest and it was one of those challenges that I had seen over and over but never tried.  So on the 1st of January I decided to give it a go.  I included a diagram that I found on Pinterest if you want to try it.  There is still plenty of time to join in and by the end of the year you should have €667.95.  It would be perfect for getting all the Christmas presents or even a few nights away for New Years!

Tip Three

• Save all You €5 notes

Now this one is pretty self explanatory and another new one myself and Lee decided to do this year.  This one may not be for everyone and to be honest I'm not sure how long we will stick to it but so far its only 10 days into 2017 and we have €30 saved.  So all you really have to do is every time you get a €5 note save it.  Put those empty celebrations tins from Christmas to good use.  We literally celotaped the lid to the box and cut a small hole in the lid small enough to put the money in and not be able to take out! 

Tip Four

• Bring your lunch to work... STOP BUYING!!

This is mainly for me.  I may only work a few hours a week but I never bring any lunch with me.  I either eat out of the cafe in work or go out.  It was such a bad habit to get into and I really needed to stop.  It was doing my body or pocket no favours!  From now on I will only be bringing food from home.  This will save me at least €20 a week!

Tip Five

• Make a shopping List

This is something I have been doing for the past year or so now and it has saved us so much money in the long run.  Going shopping every week is not something we all enjoy but it has to be done.  Myself and Lee used to go shopping and just chuck in everything we fancied as we saw it.  Going in blind not knowing what we needed so we we're picking up bits of everything.  We would come home with about 5 half dinners, 4 full dinners, fridge/freezer stuff and snacks.  There was always way to much food.  Now I write a list so we know exactly what we need and can get in and out saving some dolla bills too!

These are the 5 main things we are doing this year to help us save some extra money.  There is nothing pacifically we are trying to save for but it is always nice to have some money in your back pocket!

Let me know if you have any of your own money saving tips write them down in the comments below!

Here's to maybe not being broke this year!!!

- Lisa Xo