How to find savings in your non-essentials

Looking for ways to save more? There could be money to be had in your non-essential spending

What are non-essential items?

If food, rent or mortgage payments, and household bills are all essential items, most other things could be considered non-essential items. This could include things like a TV subscription, your daily takeaway coffee and the little treats you reward yourself with on occasion.

 

While non-essential items help you enjoy the day-to-day and improve your wellbeing, you could be spending more than you think. And if you’ve got a savings goal in mind, cutting back on one or two of these might help you get there sooner. 

Creating a non-essential items list

To work out which non-essential items are worth keeping, you first need to go back through your transactions to see exactly how much you’re spending on what. Our handy table below can help you sort the figures.

 

As well as doing the sums, however, the amount you use these things and their value to you should also be part of the equation. Because how you feel about them could outweigh the extra cost, so it might not be worth cutting back.

Rory’s non-essential spending

We’ve pulled together an example month’s non-essential spending for our fictional spender Rory. This will give you an idea of how you can work out if your non-essential expenses are worth it – or whether you could save it instead.

Take a look at this example, and then start crunching your own numbers in your own table. Once you’ve worked out your actual monthly spending on your non-essentials, the final question to ask yourself is:

All sums considered, do I still think it’s worth it?

Your non-essential items Item one - Treats Item two - Books Item three - TV Subscription
Your non-essential itemsEstimated monthly spend Item one - Treats£35 Item two - Books£15 Item three - TV Subscription£10
Your non-essential itemsActual spend - Week one Item one - Treats£20 Item two - Books£0 Item three - TV Subscription£5
Your non-essential itemsActual spend - Week two Item one - Treats£10 Item two - Books£7.50 Item three - TV Subscription£0
Your non-essential itemsActual spend - Week three Item one - Treats£20 Item two - Books£0 Item three - TV Subscription£5
Your non-essential itemsActual spend - Week four Item one - Treats£5 Item two - Books£10 Item three - TV Subscription£0
Your non-essential itemsActual monthly spend Item one - Treats£55 Item two - Books£17.50 Item three - TV Subscription£10
Your non-essential itemsHow much do I use this? Item one - TreatsI may treat myself too often. More or less every day. Item two - BooksI read one of these books a few times a week. Item three - TV SubscriptionI use this every day. 
Your non-essential itemsWith all sums considered, is this still worth it? Item one - TreatsMaybe not! Item two - BooksYes! Item three - TV SubscriptionAbsolutely!

Next steps

You’ve crunched the numbers. You’ve saved a few quid on your non-essential expenses. Now what?

 

Well, now it’s time to make your money go even further. If you’ve got a savings goal in mind, putting your money away in a savings account could help you get there sooner.

 

Our range of savings accounts come with lots of different rates, terms and benefits – so you can pick the one that works for you. We’ve made it really easy to compare savings accounts, with all the information you need in one place. All our savings accounts are for existing 1st Account customers only.

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