How I Saved £6000 in 6 months

It’s been six months now since I moved back in with my parents and I can’t believe how fast time has flown. In this time, I’ve managed to save a whopping £6000 towards my first home (while paying rent and bills to my parents, by the way). I’m not on a huge salary, but I am blessed in that I don’t have very many financial responsibilities just yet. By saving as much money as possible from my wages, and making extra cash on top of that wherever possible, I’ve somehow managed to squirrel away a hefty chunk towards my deposit.

Three months ago I wrote ‘How I Saved £3000 in 3 months‘ and since then I’ve continued to make my own lunches for work, sell old stuff on car boot sales, accept hand me downs and ditch unnecessary spending where possible. I’ve also adopted a few new tactics that I’ll share with you in this post:

Back to Basics

I’ve not had to spend that much on food since I moved back home, but when I do need to buy food I try as much as possible to only buy Sainsburys Basics. Basics tinned tomatoes, Basics juice, you name it, if it’s gluten free and cheap, I’ll eat it.

Avoid the sales

In the past, I’ve often spent Boxing Day and the days that follow, hunting down bargains in the sales. This year though I managed to cut my spending down. I had to remind myself that just because something is in the sale doesn’t mean that it’s cheap, and spending lots on sale items soon mounts up. I still bought myself a few treats though, but you can’t win ’em all.

Embrace charity shops

Over the past few months I’ve continued to avoid the high street as much as possible and instead I’ve started to scour charity shops for new outfits. I finally sat down with my mum so she could teach me how to sew so that I’m less restricted when it comes to buying things second hand. Obviously I doubt I’ll be ready for The Great British Sewing Bee 2016, but if something needs altering slightly, it’s not a problem!

Having recently fallen in love with charity shops, I’ve spent a lot of time taking inspiration from a few other charity shop blogs. A few of my favourites include, Paloma in Disguise, Pauper to Princess, and Charity Shop Treasures.

I spotted this gorgeous Henry Holland dress in Cancer Research UK

Save money at the hairdressers

I’m quite fortunate in that since I’ve been going to the same hairdressers for ages, I benefit from fantastic prices and a great service time and time again. Seeing as it’s such good value, before I started saving for a mortgage I reckon I used to visit the hairdresser every two months for a cut and half head of highlights. Now though, it’s more like every four or five months! This has been a great way of saving money. Say you spend £30 on a trip to the salon every 2 months, that’s £180 in a year. If you halve the number of visits, obviously you halve the amount you spend.

If you don’t think you can last that long, consider changing your style a little to something more versatile and less high-maintenance. You could of course also scrap having your hair done at a salon completely.

Make Do And Mend

Over the last few months I’ve spent a lot of time reading about how you can make the most of what you’ve got in order to save money. As a result, I embarked on my very first upcycling project after finding this old broken chair abandoned outside a student house in Fallowfield. I’m a busy bee at the moment and so I’ve only had a few hours each week to spend on it, so it’s still not finished. But I promise, I’ll do a step by step guide on here as soon as it’s done.

PJs and unruly roots

While on the topic of making do and mending, I’d recommend having a look at a blog from another Jen, My Make Do And Mend Year. It’s a great resource for never-ending upcycling tips. Eco Chic Interiors is also worth a look. If you’re on Twitter, you can find plenty more upcycling experts by searching the hashtag #upcycledhour. I try to take part in their weekly Twitter chat when I can remember, but since I’m at the start of my upcycling journey it’s rare I have much to contribute!

Quit Spotify Premium

Well, sort of. Usually Spotify Premium costs me a tenner a month, but since Spotify ran a temporary offer for new users allowing them to sign up for 3 months’ Spotify Premium for 99p, I cancelled my membership and rejoined to make use of the offer. Sadly the offer is over now, sorry guys! But if you’re a student you can get Spotify Premium for just £4.99.

Take things back

Friends have taken the mick out of me before because I have a habit of returning things to the shops quite often. But because I don’t go shopping very often, when I do venture into Manchester Arndale, I often go wild and buy far more than I can afford. Sometimes I buy loads of things that I don’t really need and won’t actually wear that often. Obviously you’ll save a lot of time and effort if you don’t buy these unnecessary things in the first place, but if you do regret a purchase, don’t hesitate to take it back if you’re within your rights to.

Take inspiration from others

When saving money, it’s great to know you’re not doing it alone, and I’ve gained a lot of support by reading other blogs. I’ve already mentioned a few of my favourites earlier on in this post, but here are a few more thrifty experts: Lulastic, Savvy Annie, and Frugal Queen. Also, be sure to check out my blog post, Top 10 Websites That Will Help Save You Money.

Are you saving up for anything special? And if so, have you got any money saving tips that I’ve missed?