FINDING the best way to save for you can be a mission – but Kay Bardsley used the little-known cash clipping method to squirrel away a whopping £22,000.
Kay Bardlsey, 27, who lives in Yorkshire, managed to travel abroad for a year AND buy her first home with fiance Dom Parker, 28, using the unusual technique.
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Life coach Kay stumbled across cash clipping back in 2016 on YouTube while searching for videos to give her inspiration on getting her finances in order.
“I was on a mission to sort my life out,” she said. “I wanted to go travelling, but everytime I looked at my bank account, I only saw my bank balance going down, not up.”
Cash clipping works by taking money out of your bank account and divvy-ing it out into separate pots for different uses.
Kay used the system to keep her and her partner Dom’s outgoings in order, putting the cash into four separate purses to budget for petrol, food, clothing and fun things like meals out.
She even made her own mega purse to stuff her money into by sticking five plastic wallets together and crocheting a pretty cover for it.
The method has saved them both a combined total of £30,000 over five years, which they put towards travelling, putting down a deposit for a house and saving up for a wedding.
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But the savings method isn’t for everyone, Kay said – and there’s the risk that you could lose the cash, meaning once its gone, its gone.
She explains how it worked for her to The Sun.
Saving for travelling – £6,000
Kay decided to give cash clipping a go by herself while she was saving up to go travelling with Dom.
She sat down and worked out a budget of how much she could afford to put away into her savings against what her outgoings were.
Living with her family at the time, she didn’t have to pay any rent – which allowed her to boost her savings.
At that point, her monthly income was £800 as she was working part-time in her local supermarket.
“I figured out that I could put aside 75% into my savings, which was £500, and the remaining 25%, which was £300, went towards paying for bills and more,” Kay said.
“While my outgoings were paid in cash, I moved my savings over to an ISA account so I wouldn’t miss out on interest rates – I wouldn’t be able to boost my money if it was just sitting in a purse.”
She soon found the method worked well for her, and her spending habits changed for the better as she kept on track with her budget.
“Before, I would go to the supermarket or shop along the high street and not keep track on how much I was spending – I would just tap my card and pay for it all,” Kay said.
“But with the physical cash, I was adding everything up in my head as I went along and knew what I could and couldn’t afford.
“I even started shopping at charity shops for cheaper clothes instead of at Next and New Look, and I would swap pricier beauty products for cheaper ones.”
She even made her own mega purse to make handling the cash easier, buying plastic wallets from The Range for 50p, sticking them together and knitting a cover to make it look pretty.
In 12 months, she had saved £6,000 for her travels – and Kay even took her mega purse with her abroad to help her make her money stretch while in New Zealand.
Saving for a house – £8,000
The couple came back from travelling in 2019 – but it was a “shock to the system” for Kay when she looked at her bank balance.
“My finances had really gone down, so I used the cash clipping system to get them back on track,” she said.
Kay decided to use the cash clipping system this time to raise cash for a deposit for a house.
“We both had to live away from each other with our families after returning from travelling – and we were desperate to get a space of our own and wanted to buy a house,” Kay said.
“Sitting down to work out a savings goal for our deposit, we wanted to raise £20,000 so we had at least enough cash for a 10% deposit.
“We had £4,000 in savings between us – which meant we needed to find £16,000, which was £8,000 each.”
At this point, Kay was working at a supermarket while Dom was a snowboard instructor on minimum wage.
Living apart with their parents meant Kay didn’t have to spend anything on rent, while Dom was gifted back the subsidised rent he paid to his family when he moved out.
Kay managed to boost the cash she was squirrelling away when lockdown hit and she took an average of 10 hours extra shifts on.
She aimed to put £1,300 of her £1,700 salary into her savings, leaving her with up to £400 a month to cash-clip.
“We shelved plans to buy a gym membership, saving us both roughly £30 a month, and instead of going out for meals and takeaways, we would make our own fakeaways, saving us £200 a month.”
Kay and Dom separately saved £8,000, which meant they reached their £20,000 goal together – and they bought their dream home in June last year.
Saving for wedding – £8,000
Since moving in, the couple use the cash clipping savings method together, combining their salaries in order to put aside money for their wedding.
To do this, Kay has created a spreadsheet for them both to log their outgoings and keep on track with their goal of putting aside £1,000 to £2,000 away a month towards their big day.
This varies, however, as the couple quit their jobs to become self-employed.
In total, they are looking to raise £20,000 – so far, they’ve banked £8,000 using thas cash clipping method.
Kay sticks to a certain number of rules so she can keep to her budget.
“I’m doing a no spend challenge, which means that I haven’t bought clothes or any homeware bits for a year,” she said.
“I was spending £200 a month on random stuff I didn’t need – now that money goes towards the wedding.
“Me and Dom have also managed to half our grocery shopping bill by switching to cheaper shops and meal planning.
“We cut out the pricey items, like chicken, and shop at Aldi and Lidl.”
Dangers of cash clipping
Using the cash clipping method to achieve her savings goals means Kay has managed to save £22,000 – but she warns the method isn’t for everyone.
There’s always a risk you might lose the cash when you’re out and about or misplace it – and once it’s gone, it’s gone.
You could also be at risk of losing it if your house gets burgled, or if there’s a fire or flood.
“I’m not a numbers person, so seeing things physically helps me – which is why the cash clipping method has been really successful for me.
“But everyone is different – make sure to research different methods and find one that works for you.
“For me, it has made a massive difference, and makes me feel like I’m in control of my money.
“Having saved £22,000 myself in total feels like a big achievement and I will definitely keep using the method in the future.”
Alternative savings methods
Cash clipping isn’t the only savings method you can use to stash away your cash.
You can make more money on your savings by putting it in a savings account as opposed to taking cash out and putting it in a pot.
Although interest rates are very low, making it harder to grow your money, you can still find the best savings account to boost your cash.
According to MoneySavingExpert, the top easy-access account at the moment is with Investec and pays just 0.71% interest.
If your savings goal is to be a home, you might want to open a Lifetime ISA to help you save.
The government will add 25% to your savings, up to a maximum of £1,000 a year.
If you save the maximum amount between the ages of 18 and 50 you could get as much as £32,000 for free.
Here’s how one savvy saver is on track to be mortgage free in eight years.
Another used the “pocketing” method to clear over £14,000 worth of debt in just one year – she explains how.
One thrifty Brit saves £725 a year washing his clothes at night and using a slow cooker as energy bills soar.
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