Jan
2025
Every little helps: 2025 New Years Money Tips and Tricks
DIY Investor
2 January 2025
This New Year signals the opportunity to start anew with personal finances, from organisation to money management. As we approach 2025, it’s a good time to consider what your goals are and how you might achieve them
Chris Henderson, Savings and Payments Director at Tesco Bank, shares his top tips on managing your finances and getting in the best financial shape possible in 2025.
- Budget, Budget, Budget
Budgeting is perhaps the number one rule when it comes to managing your money. Plan how
much you’d like to spend per month on weekly essentials, entertainment, or ‘nice-to-haves’, and pop it all into a planner. You can jot this down on paper or use one of the many apps out there to help you. And if you want, let people know your plans. As many as one in ten (11%) people have used ‘loud budgeting’ – a trend whereby you are encouraged to openly discuss your finances and say “no” to purchases or events they can’t afford or don’t want to spend money on – and say it has helped with their money management.
- Identify what cutbacks you can make
Set some time aside to review your spending during the past year, and think about where you can make savings. For example, are you on the best possible rates for mortgage payments and energy bills? Do you have any subscriptions you don’t really use or have forgotten? Can you cut back on work lunches and cook at home, or do you spend a little too much on impulse purchases? It’s worth looking at where your money is going and keeping an eye out for anything you can comfortably shift, even if it’s just for the short term.
- Be aware of New Year sales
Many retailers will have New Year sales and offer online discounts, so it can be all too tempting to purchase items that you otherwise wouldn’t have bought or felt you missed out on in December. The festive period can be an expensive one, so it’s important to remember what your budget is and ensure any spending fits with what you can afford. You could set yourself a January challenge of a ‘dry shopping’ month to help give your finances a boost for the rest of the year.
- Ringfence money
Make it a priority to get your essentials in order before all else. Create spending pots that will cover things like your weekly food shop, rent or mortgage or household bills and aim to keep that money untouched. If you set this money aside first, you can then ringfence for other spending and savings, safe in the knowledge that the necessities are taken care of.
- Set your goals
Nearly two in five (38%) people don’t have set savings goals, which can make it a little harder to put money away if not saving for anything in particular. Spend some time thinking about the things you want to achieve in 2025. This might be on your own, but it could be with your partner or even with friends so make sure you involve them too. These don’t need to be big financial commitments. Achievable goals are more motivating – it might be adding a little extra to your savings at the start of each month, starting to save for your children’s future, managing your debt or building an emergency spending pot. Set yourself a target, work out how you will get there and make a head start if you can.
- Round-up purchases you make
Lots of banks and apps let you round-up your spending to the nearest pound and put the spare change into a savings account for you. It’s an easy way to build up a savings pot over time without even realising it.
This is one of the features of Tesco Clubcard Pay+, where Clubcard members can choose how much they would like to round their shopping up by; either to the nearest £1 or £5. This round up feature can help supercharge your savings and place it into a Tesco Bank savings account, that you can access anytime in the Tesco Bank mobile banking app.
- Look after the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves
It’s hard to imagine small amounts of money will add up to anything, but over time this pile can really add up. Saving what you can afford, no matter how big or small, is a great habit to form. You could even start with a family penny saving challenge, putting away 1p on day one, 2p the next day, 3p the day after and so on. After a year, this could add up to a total of £667.95! You can earn even more by setting this aside in a savings account, where interest can bulk up your pot.
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