A SAVVY mum managed to save £10k in six months, racking up a massive £30k in ISA savings over three years.
Ruth Taylor, 43, is even now saving up for a luxury holiday to Florida next year, thanks to her handy financial hacks.
Ruth began saving to pay off £21k of debt in eight months that she accumulated with the costs of moving home with her family-of-four.
The expense of moving, furnishing her new house and paying for a new boiler meant that she had large credit card debts to pay off.
Ruth topped her her work by completing online surveys in the evenings and even increased her hours to seven days per week.
On top of earning more, she managed to cut down on non-essential bills, and saved by buying second hand clothes and getting her husband to cut her hair.
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Ruth now has more than 44,000 followers for her on Instagram where she shares tips as moneysavvymumuk.
She also runs a website, which features helpful advice, free budgeting printables and more.
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Speaking to money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk, she said: “We set ourselves a goal of saving 6 months’ worth of expenses for our emergency fund.
“We carried on making sacrifices and working extra hours to get this money together as quickly as possible, and we managed to save the whole amount within 7 months.
“We now have £10,000 in our emergency fund, which is just under 6 months’ worth of living expenses.
“Since then, we’ve been contributing regularly to our ISAs – no set goal in mind, just as much as we can each month.
“Sometimes we can send a lot but other months, not so much. We currently have £30k in our ISA which took us three years to accumulate.
“More recently, we have been saving for our first family holiday abroad in 7 years. We are going to Florida in March 2023.
“The holiday cost £4500, and we had to pay £2500 upfront, which we did.
“The rest is due at the beginning of March, which we have managed to save, and it is sitting in my bank account waiting to be paid.
“We have £1k worth of spending money, and we are now trying to save another £1.5k and £1200 for park tickets.
“We should have this all saved up by Christmas time, as I am earning extra via my Instagram page and my blog.
“To save for this holiday, we reduced the amount we are sending to our ISA.
“I’m doing more matched betting to earn extra, and my Instagram page is bringing in extra money too. I also make money from the digital products I sell on my blog.
“All this extra income is being sent to our holiday fund, while our regular day jobs pay for our daily bills.
“We haven’t had a holiday abroad for more than seven years, so that eases the guilt over the cost of this one.
“To achieve this amount, we have had to continue working extra days and often most weekends.
“I continued to work into the evenings to earn extra money. I also engage in matched betting when I get time, creating digital products to sell online, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts on Instagram, and trying to grow traffic to my blog.
“I make a healthy side income from my blog and Instagram. It varies a bit – one month it can be £500 and others, it can be £3000.
“We also limited how much we went out to avoid spending. For example, we would have a movie night at home instead of eating out or heading to the park.
“When it comes to groceries, I’m vegan, but my children aren’t. So I’m trying to add more pulses to their meals in order to make the meat go further.
“I buy own-brand foods as much as possible, and if I need to pop into the shop, I’ll walk instead of driving.
“For those who want to make money on the side themselves, I recommend first looking through your budget and making cuts.
“To get ahead financially, it’s essential to live below your means so that you can invest your surplus money.
“I know it’s extremely difficult in today’s climate. Right now, it feels like my money is being stretched in all directions.
“Absolutely everything has gone up in price, and the pound is not going as far as it used to. But if possible, make cuts where you can.
‘To help with reducing your day-to-day spending, try using cash-back apps when making purchases and renewing insurance policies.
“Swap mobile contracts for SIM-only deals, cut back subscriptions where possible and negotiate bills for cheaper deals.
“Meal plan and buy own-brand foods. If possible, shop at value supermarkets such as Aldi. Buy secondhand wherever you can.”
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: “Ruth is a true inspiration for anyone looking to regain control of their finances.
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“You’d be surprised how much you can save by living below your means and stretching your money as far as it will go.
“Plus, making money on the side where possible is a great way to set up savings accounts that will give you peace of mind should you ever encounter a situation where you need some extra cash.”
