How to Save Money on Minimum Wage UK

Are you struggling with your finances? Today I am going to show you how to save money on minimum wage, I’ve been there before.

I came to the UK about 3 years ago and the jobs I have worked so far haven’t been exactly super high paid. To be precise in the range of £5.80-£10/hr. I had months where I was making less than £800 and still managed to save so if there is a wish there is a way, at least in most cases.

A study by NORC at the University of Chicago shows that 51% of Americans are just a paycheck away from economic hardship.

Of course every situation is different, but hope this article might help some people get their finances in a better shape.

Let’s get into all the things that can help you save money, even on a minimum wage.

1. Keep Yourself Motivated

What helped me save in the first place was the motivation – the motivation to be financially free one day so every penny I was putting aside I know is getting me one step closer to freedom. Without motivation maybe you can do it for a couple of months but then you will just lose interest.

It is important to always remember why you started , for example I have a list with my goals for the long-term and for the year. It helps if it is written on a piece of paper – writing on paper makes it feel more real to me and makes me being more honest with myself. This might be just me, but you can definetely try it.

2. Pay Yourself First

This is something I always kind of knew in the back of my head. But really realised it after I read a book called ”The Richest Man in Babylon”. If you want you can find it in my Resources page, where I share useful stuff with you, including books.

So the principle is very simple – to pay yourself first with your paycheck. For me that was investing in the stock market. After all my goal is to live off dividends one day. This is how I am paying myself or in other words investing in my goal.

For different people this goal will be different. Someone wants to buy a nice house, someone else wants to buy a ranch, start a business or whatever. You can do that by paying for your own needs/goals first when you get your paycheck.

Just make sure that you make a calculation of your monthly expenses before paying yourself. Calculate the money you can put aside and place them towards your given goal.

This way the money are already gone towards your goal and you can just continue living the rest of the month as normal. The difference is that you are not going to have the money to something that you don’t really need and would probably forget about in a month or even a week.

I have done that mistake numerous times myself before. Which brings me to point number three.

3. Cut Down on Things You Will Not Remember Soon After Buying

By that I mean impulsive buys which are not going to benefit you in any way except for giving you a temporary pleasure. Things which you are going to forget in a day, week or maybe a month. These can be things like takeaways, weird nights out for no reason in the middle of the week, sunglasses which you only wear twice , eating out in restaurants for no particular reason and so on.

Of course no one is perfect and every now and again I make one of these impulsive purchases, but mostly I have saved quite a lot of money staying away from them. Sometimes it’s not easy, but if you have your goals in mind you will get through it as I did.

4. Cut Down on Sugar

I used to spend a lot on fizzy drinks and chocolates when I was younger. Then I started realising that these things have virtually no benefit to me, only downside. Since then I have completely stopped the fizzy drinks and I’m eating something sweet less than once a week ( I work quite a lot so sometimes I actually need some sugar ) .

That results in firstly better health and second a lot of money saved. Instead of fizzy drinks I drink water and instead of sweets I have a jar of honey at home. Both super cheap and much better for your health. Honestly it doesn’t make sense for me to drink fizzy drinks anymore or eat chocolates.

There is little to no benefit in drinkiing sodas and snacking on candy. They provide no nutritional value, offer little to no benefit to your body and are actually causing a lot of harm to you. On top of that they are quite expensive and the cost adds up to your wallet quicker that you think.

Have you noticed how sometimes you go to the supermarket, spend like £50, go home and realise you have nothing to eat for dinner? This has happened to me and people around me quite often before.

That’s because we end up making tons of impulse buys like ice cream, energy drinks, sodas, chocolates, candy and things like that. None of those is a proper meal. It is a snack that contributes nothing to your well-being.

For the same £50 you can buy a week or even more worth of proper groceries like eggs, potatoes, chicken, ham, fruit and veg etc.

Hope you get my point on why I am now staying away from all all sugary foods. They offer no benefit and only a temporary pleasure. It works a lot like drugs if you think about it.

If you want to read more about it you can read my Why I Quit Sugar And Why Should You article.

5. Shop From Outlets at Certain Time of the Year

That helps me first buy better quality clothes and second save a ton of money. What I do is I go to an outlet in my area in January and buy the clothes I need. In January all the stores want to move the leftover stock from Christmas so they make huge discounts.

That way you can buy high-quality clothes from the best brands at super-low prices. I try to buy all the clothes I need for the year including summer clothes. It can feel a bit weird buying swimming shorts in January, but the prices at that time of the year are super cheap and you don’t have to go shopping again in the summer.

This also applies for electronics , furniture and so on – pretty much everything is on sale in January and the biggest discounts are in the outlets.

Another tip from me is to try and buy a higher quality clothing brands. This way you actually save money in the long-run, because they wear and tear less. For example I still have clothes from 5 years ago that I am wearing today. They still look great and I see no reason not to wear them.

6. All The Side Income Or One-Time Event Money – Straight Into Savings

In that graph are things like tax returs, one time bonuses, profits from side hustles and so on. I know it can be daunting to use your annual bonus to buy that brand new TV that you really want, but your future you is going to thank you.

Your current you might hate you for a while, but that will be just temporary. Just stick to your long-term goals and put the money into your investments and watch them work for your goal.

Once you start seeing the returns you will have no doubt in your mind what to do with your next bonus check.

If you want to know more about potential returns you can check out my article on How to Start in the Stock Market.

7. Consider Using a Bike

I have saved a ton of money by using a bike rather then public transport or a car for the majority of the time. The bike is free, barely requires any maintence and is good for your health.

Of course if you live like 15 miles away from work that might not be a great idea, but in most cases it is. As a rule of thumb if commuting with bike takes you less time then commuting with public transport it makes no sense not to use a bike.

Of course there are some days when the weather is too british – don’t risk your health in the foggy rain just to save a fiver. But most of the time I am using my bike to go to work and see no reason not to.

A little tip from me is to try and find a job within your area. First it saves you money on transport and more importantly saves you time, which is even more valuable. Spending 2-3 hours commuting a days is like working extra for free.

This is time you will never get back and I would rather spend it on something that I enjoy rather than being in the overcrowded tube or in my car in a massive traffic jam. Also I find walking/biking to work way more relaxing. Try it out and your mind will thank you.

8. Don’t Pay Too Much For Rent

In my opinion the rent should not be higher than 30% of your net salary. Just make sure you do a good research and find a decent place for reasonable amount of money. See what you can live without and that would save you quite a bit of money.

In my case that was a big room for example. I am working most of the time so what I need from my house is to be as close to work as possible, be in a decent neighbourhood, have nice roomates, a nice bed and a shower.

I don’t need a big room, a garden, a big TV, a garage and so on. Make sure that your place is suiting your needs and you will find yourself paying less on rent.

9. Cut The Cable

I don’t pay for TV and only pay a prepaid £10 a month card for my mobile phone. First it gives me a sense of freedom – I don’t have any contracts with cable companies , I don’t have to worry when I am moving houses, don’t have to worry about random overcharges or missing payments.

I only pay £10 a month so I use exactly what I need – phone talks, messages and mobile data. Nothing less, nothing more. Of course everyone is in a different situation, but if you are paying £120 for the full Sky Package and only use it to watch the football on Saturday then you can consider renegotiating your deal and cutting out some of the features you don’t use.

It’s going to cost you a couple minutes time and you can end up saving a lot of money over the long-term. You can do that with you broadband provider, TV provider, your credit card, your bank, your rent or even your barber/hairdresser.

In today’s world everything is super-competitive and no one wants to lose customers so you can take advantage of that.

10. Accumulate Assets, Not Liabilities

This is just another way of saying to save and invest your money and don’t get in debt. Most people get in debt because of impulse buys they cannot wait for. For example they see a new phone/TV/car and they just want to have it like right now.

In that moment they don’t care and just get a quick 15% loan. At the moment they don’t really care because they have their shiny new toy. But a couple months later all that debt starts adding up and now they don’t care about the shiny new toys so much. They only care about the next payment coming up.

I have a lot of friends in that situation and believe me, it’s not a nice sight seeing people lose their sleep over a useless phone/car/whatever.

That is why please don’t get in debt for something that is not essential to you in any way. Be a bit smarter and stronger than all those shiny toys and companies marketing departments. Your future self is going to thank you.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with getting a well thought-out loan for a car or a house. But this is completely different to getting a high-interest loan just because you want to buy a new watch.

Conclusion

That’s about all the things I am doing and I have managed to save around 40% of my income so far . The beauty of this is that as my income increases my expenses stay the same so my savings rate is increasing.

And please don’t get me wrong – you shouldn’t just blindly save money without enjoying yourself. I love spending money on traveling , catching up with friends and a lot of other things, but there is a difference between money spent with a purpose and money spent without really knowing why.

Be smart with your money and your money will be smart for you.

Hope you enjoyed the read, wish you all the best. Don’t forget to subscribe if you want to stay updated on new articles and share this with people who need some tips for saving money.