I’m on a £25k salary but am saving £4k by cancelling Prime & ditching meals out – I’ll save £100 a month just on booze

A WOMAN is saving £4,000 doing a "no-spend" year - by cancelling Hulu and Amazon Prime subscriptions and ditching alcohol and meals out.

Mia Westrap, 26, decided to overhaul her finances after she was unable to afford to embark on a long-distance relationship with an Australian man she was dating.

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When her former partner of six months flew home, Mia said the pair went "cold turkey" and didn't communicate because she was not be able to afford flights to Australia.

As a health and social care working, earning £2,100 a month, Mia says she realised she was spending too much on socialising.

She added it up and it was costing her over £200 a month to eat out and over £100 a month was wasted on alcohol.

So the care worker decided to ditch nights out and restaurant meals altogether for a whole year to save £4,000.

"I'm saving £4,000 doing a no-spend year by cancelling TV subscriptions, ditching alcohol and meals out," she boasts.

Mia says the savings give her "peace of mind," after her long distance relationship didn't work out.

Mia, from Southampton, Hampshire, said: "Last year I was seeing a guy from Australia, I got to know him really well over six months and it was an amazing time.

"He had to fly back to Australia and we stopped contact.

"I knew I wouldn't be able to afford a long-distance relationship.

"I was living pay check to pay check and every month I ended up in my overdraft.

"I thought, if I do meet someone as amazing in the future, I don't want to be in the same boat."

Mia said she had heard of people doing no spend years but it wasn't something she was interested in or found relevant.

But, after a major abdominal surgery in January, Mia thought now was a perfect time to start.

She said: "I realised that I was going to be housebound for the first month of the year so I thought why not give it a go.

"I have been finding it quite easy through the winter as I don't want to go out at the moment anyway.

"I will be interested to see how difficult it gets in the summer when I want to go out for meals and socialise with friends."

Mia says she didn't live an extravagant lifestyle beforehand and it was the little purchases that would creep up on her - such as coffees, meal deals and Pepsi Max.

She said: "I didn't have many holidays really, I grew up incredibly poor.

"Going on holiday was something I was not used to.

"I was addicted to Pepsi Max, I was spending £3 to £4 every day which amounts to £1,424.

"When I took a step back to see where my money was going, I realised that it was these little costs that I couldn't account for."

Mia continues to document her 'no spend year' on TikTok.

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