Aimee Wilkinson wasn’t always the savviest when it came to money. When she was at university, she built up thousands of pounds worth of debt on credit cards, ending up in a cycle of paying off only the interest as her debt grew.
“I just didn’t think about it really,” said Wilkinson, now 37, from Leeds. “I wasn’t money smart at all. I would go and get my hair done and think ‘I’ll pay it back later’.
“Eventually the interest-free period on the cards ran out and I ended up only being able to afford to pay the interest for quite a number of years. In the end my dad had to intervene. He paid off my debt in a lump sum and I paid him back without the interest.”
This experience changed her forever. Now, Wilkinson is a self-proclaimed “savvy saver”, and estimates that she has saved more than £2,500 this year by checking the market for the cheapest deals, selling items online and swapping out expensive habits for cheaper options.
She saved about £120 a year by switching broadband provider, £300 by using the website Skyscanner to search for cheaper flights and £50 by using MoneySuperMarket’s SuperSaveClub for free days out.
Swapping home insurance saved her £100 a year, buying second hand items on sites like Facebook Marketplace and eBay meant she spent about £430 less than she would have done, and cashback offers via banks, credit cards and cashback sites such as Quidco added nearly £500 to her savings.
Wilkinson also sold old clothes online, used discount codes for restaurants and swapped out the hairdressers for a home-kit. In total, she estimates that she saved £2,535 in the past year.
“It’s become a bit of an addiction. I research anything I buy to death, and have to make sure that I’m getting the absolute best deal. My years in debt completely changed my behaviour, I was so scared of ever going back into that boat,” said Ms Wikinson, a freelance social media manager.
“If I’m shopping on Asos, for example, I won’t stop until I’ve seen every single option, to make sure I’m getting the cheapest deal. If I’m going out with friends I’ll try to make sure it’s a bottomless brunch or something that has a savings element.”
While Ms Wilkinson is proud of her money-saving ways, she says it is as much out of necessity as it is out of generally being cautious about money — especially during the cost of living crisis.
High inflation over the past two years means that something that costs £100 today would have cost about £85 in 2021. Meanwhile, housing costs have soared: the cost of private rent has increased by 10 per cent year-on-year and the average cost of a £200,000 mortgage has increased by about £380 a month in just two years.
Like many in her generation, Wilkinson feels as if the vast majority of her income goes towards household bills, leaving very little for her spending pot.
She puts away about 30 per cent of her income for tax (as she’s self-employed, she has to save this herself), her pension and her emergency savings. Another 40 per cent goes into bills and her mortgage, leaving just 30 per cent for herself.
“The saving has become more important as costs go up and my disposable income is being chipped away,” said Ms Wilkinson. “It doesn’t really feel like a choice for people my age. I use Monzo to track all of my outgoings and use price comparison sites to find the best deals.”
Research from MoneySuperMarket, the comparison site, shows that Ms Wilkinson’s monthly saving and spending ratios are around normal for her generation. According to the site’s Household Money Index, people in the millennial age bracket — aged between 28 and 41 today — spend an average of 70 per cent of their income on household bills and living expenses.
This is much higher than Ms Wilkinson’s parents’ generation. According to MoneySuperMarket, in 1993, household bills and living expenses used up about 29 per cent of the income of someone in their thirties.
“Growing up in the 1990s, my dad was working really hard. Sometimes times were tough financially, but there was a point when they were my age and they were living in a five-bedroom house with two children,” said Ms Wilkinson.
“Whereas I’m living alone in a one-bedroom flat and have to think about every purchase to make sure I’m getting the best deal.”
Ms Wilkinson’s not wrong to feel as if things are more expensive for her generation.
Thirty years ago, the average cost of household bills was £382 a month, according to MoneySuperMarket, or the equivalent of £775 in today’s money. In 2023, a household can expect to spend more like £1,345 — more than £500 extra a month.
“It feels as if everything is a bit more expensive now, especially the big stuff like house prices and rent,” said Ms Wilkinson. “There’s also all the extra costs we have for things like Netflix, mobile phone contracts and home broadband that we didn’t necessarily have growing up.
“Then with the rising cost of living it’s just all even more. It’s the food in the supermarket, heating and gas. Even though I like to make sure I’m getting the best deal, it’s vital these days.”
