Woman saves £400-a-month after giving up takeaway coffees and clothes shopping

SWNS

A woman is saving £400-a-month by giving up takeaway coffees, clothes shopping and getting her nails done.  Lauren Napper, 30, says she's always been conscious about saving money after it was drilled into her from a young age not to be frivolous with her spending.  After buying a house in September, 2021, Lauren realised she wasn't saving and often found herself living pay check to pay check.  In December 2023, Lauren realised her lifestyle needed to change and she implemented changes to save money - including shopping at charity shops, not going out for food and doing bulk shopping.  Since then Lauren who earns £39k a year,  has saved between £300 to £400-a-month and plans to use the funds to go travelling around Asia and Australia in 2025.  Lauren, who works in marketing, from Luton, Bedfordshire, said: "It was always drilled into me at a younger age that I should not be frivolous with money.  "If I go through those points in my life I get annoyed with myself for spending so much money on clothes or make-up.  "As I got older, I realised you don't need to spend so much money on clothes, make-up and home stuff.  "You realise the hype you get buying it dwindles."  Lauren says she has cut out "girly things" like getting her hair cut and nails done and will go to appointments every few months instead of every few weeks.  She said: "It is a lot of money to spend every month.  "I will get my nails done occasionally if I go on holiday, it's my birthday or Christmas.  "Every couple of weeks it would set me back £40.  "I have also started going to low-maintenance hair appointments, I don't get highlights in my hair or stuff like that.  "A trim is like £50 but it can be more expensive if you want highlights or infills.  "I will get my hair trimmed every eight weeks and it will cost me £30."  Another way Lauren saves money is by shopping second-hand through places like charity shops, Vinted and eBay.  Lauren will now spend between £50 to £100-a-month on clothes - but previously would spend £300 to £350.  She said: "I was a bit of a shopaholic.  "It has been a conscious decision for me to cut back and think 'actually I don't need that' or 'I have other clothes I can make work'.  "I have started shopping second-hand - I shop a lot on Vinted, it is amazing.  "You can find things that are brand new things on there and it is a great way to shop.  "I heard a tip that if you find something you really like and you're thinking about it a few days later and it will work with other looks in your wardrobe then it is worth investing in.  "But if it is a trend piece it is not worth the money."  Lauren is not a massive drinker but said she loved to go out for meals with friends.  Working in London, she would often buy a coffee on the way to work and will now make her own at home to take with her.   She said: "Every weekend I would go out for dinner or breakfast with a friend - once or twice a week.

Transcript

00:00Come and do a food shop with me at Aldi as a single 30-year-old who cooks for herself

00:05and manages to keep her food shop bill under £140 a month.

00:10So if you want to find out what I buy and what sort of meals I cook as a single person

00:15then this video and my content might be for you.

00:18I do love doing an Aldi shop, I think that some of the things that they do differently

00:22than other supermarkets is they have specials on

00:25and they actually do things quite a bit cheaper than anywhere else.

00:29I do sometimes pop into Asda or into an M&S if I'm feeling bougie

00:35because I do like some of the stuff that they do but this is what I have spent at Aldi this week.

00:40It was £42 for this amount of stuff,

00:45doesn't actually feel like a lot there but there was quite a lot of meat which I will show you.

00:49Always essentials, I love spring onions and bananas.

00:53I always have a banana for breakfast if I'm kind of running out of the door

00:57and strawberries and broccoli, I love tender stem broccoli so much

01:01and then I just wanted to like stock up on onions and potatoes and stuff like that

01:06because I was running low on all of that stuff.

01:10I do already have a few bits in my freezer.

01:12I bought a ready-made sort of joint of beef from M&S on Sunday because that was reduced

01:18and then I have some meatballs and sausages as well but this is what I bought.

01:22I love this butter chicken kebab thing, chicken sausages, always a staple,

01:30cod fillets which I'll be having with mashed potato tonight.

01:33I always have coconut milk in my coffee so I like to stock up on that as well.

01:40These are the best, they're so much nicer than normal Pringles and cheaper as well.

01:46I like a crumpet for breakfast, I like muffins for my lunch,

01:50I love those crisps as well, avocados are a staple in my house,

01:55cheese, onions, grapes, strawberries, broccoli, potatoes, bananas and spring onions as well.

02:05I'll get like 10 days to two weeks worth of meals out of those bits that I've bought

02:10as well as the bits I bought from M&S the other day which I shared in another video.

02:13I will do chicken sausage pasta, I will do bangers and mash from the sausages

02:18that were in the freezer that I bought last time.

02:21That chicken kebab is so good, it does take a while to cook in the oven but it's from frozen

02:27so that's why I will do kind of like a Greek pitta sort of situation with chips, you know, tasty.

02:35Tonight I'm having baked cod with mashed potato and tender stem broccoli and then I'll freeze

02:41the other bit of cod to have next week. Those chicken pieces I'll just kind of

02:46have in like chicken wraps as well and then also I bought potatoes because I'm going to have a roast

02:51with the bit of beef that I bought from M&S in the reduced section that I mentioned in the video as

02:57well. So there's quite a lot of things there for me to eat this week as a single person and honestly

03:05I spend probably like 70 quid max for about two weeks, can't go wrong really.

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