The easy savings challenge that could help you find £3,000 that everyone can stick to

LAURA POMFRET never used to think about her spending and was living payday to payday.

Clothes, makeup, dinners out and travel all went on her credit card to worry about later.

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But now Laura, who co-founded budgeting app Financielle with her sister Holly, has learned to curb her spending habits after doing a simple challenge - and she is encouraging others to do the same.

Laura, 37, decided to commit to a “no spend challenge” and found it was the key to figuring out where she was overspending.

Around one in 10 people are left with just £25 or less in their account at the end of the month, according to Nationwide, while 15% of adults have no savings at all.

Combined with the continued rise of the cost of living, saving money can seem out of reach for millions of us.

But doing a No Spend challenge could help you to reset your finances and identify areas of spending you could cut back on.

Going cold turkey is best for some people, but if you think that’s not achievable, try doing a “low spend” challenge instead where you make your own rules.

Mum-of-three Laura explained: “A Low Spend Challenge is where you only do the things you've committed to from the beginning of the month.

“For example: attend your friend's birthday, but say no to last minute plans like drinks, dinner or the cinema.

“Giving yourself a no spend challenge or a low spend challenge can be the key to understanding what your issue is with spending money.

“The opportunity won't just save you money short term - it can make a long-term difference to your habits.

"We've saved around £250 a month by cutting out coffees, takeaways and eating out and by careful meal planning, and anyone could do the same."

Here are Laura’s top tips for a no-spend or low-spend challenge…

DON'T COUNT ESSENTIALS

Groceries and essential travel and bills, of course, don’t count in your challenge.

Car maintenance, school uniform or anything you need for day-to-day life counts as essential spending too.

Use a planner, notes app, or spreadsheet to keep track of your essential spending, and, if you're doing a low-spend challenge, any other commitments that you’ve allocated money for.

This will help you figure out roughly what you need to spend every month, so you can budget with the remaining balance.

CHECK YOUR REGULAR OVERSPENDING

Go through your last three months of your bank statements and see what you’re spending your money on.

Then, throughout your challenge, make a list of the impulsive things you wanted to buy, then reassess how you feel about those purchases at the end of the challenge.

You can then choose to buy them if you still want them - but generally, you'll have forgotten about them, Laura says. Or, you could see if you can find a cheaper version.

You can also use a spreadsheet to track what you deliberately choose not to spend, so you can see how much you normally overspend.

For Laura, her family of five has saved £250 by ignoring impulse purchases and swapping them for cheaper buys.

"For example, if we want to treat the kids to ice creams, instead of buying them out where they cost around £4 each, we go and buy and sprinkles from the supermarket which will cost £4 for
everyone," she explained.

BREAK YOUR HABITS

Break habits, such as by cancelling subscriptions for Sky, Disney or Netflix.

Remember that you can always reintroduce them again later when your finances are sorted - nothing is final.

If you can commit to one show at a time, try subscribing to just one platform at a time, and then switching to a different platform when you’ve watched everything.

You can use a free habit tracker website to help figure out what your subscription habits are and what you could get rid of, such as Habit or Habify.

These apps help you track your progress with giving up habits or creating new ones and help identify patterns in your habits, like if you regularly slip up on one thing.

TRY FREE ACTIVITIES

Doing a no-spend challenge doesn't mean giving up having fun.

Revive old habits like crafts, exercise or reading - anything where you don’t have to spend any money.

Challenge yourself to find ways to do things that are free.

For example, take the kids to the park with snacks and a homemade coffee in a flask or, if you live near a beach, make the most of being by the sea.

Many museums and gardens around the UK are free. For example, certain National Trust properties let you explore the grounds without paying.

We have rounded up free half term activities to do with the kids here.

Local councils and libraries often run free events during school holidays, too.

DECLUTTER AND MAKE MONEY

Declutter and make some extra cash on the side to put towards your savings by selling unwanted items on sites like Vinted and eBay. 

You can now list items on these websites for free and most platforms have dropped their seller fees, so can pocket every penny you earn.

We have top tips on how to sell old items on Vinted here.

Enjoy it - the goal of no spend challenges is not to punish yourself but to reassess your relationship with money.