A SUPERSAVER has revealed that she was able to put away £20,000 for a deposit on her home thanks to her side hustles and savvy saving tricks.
Amy Ward, 24, from Manchester, was able to buy her £217,000 dream property using money from all sorts of different mini-businesses while working from home during the pandemic.
Medical Information Researcher Amy did everything from spending hours on survey sites to cat sitting, which topped up her income by a whopping £7,000 a year.
She even hopes to boost this to £10,000 in the near future.
Luckily for the average punter, she runs an Instagram page sharing her top tips.
The savings queen said: "I’ve saved £20K since starting my Instagram page and budgeting methods, which helped massively when my partner and I came to buy our first house
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"I’ve been able to save quite a lot over the last few years, a combination of the lockdown, budgeting methods, side hustles and mindset have helped me get there."
One of her major side hustles is earning money by completing surveys online.
She said she will fill out a quick survey on a commute or while watching telly at home.
According to Amy, some of the best paid sites are AttaPoll, Measure, Prolific and Y Live.
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She said: "It’s a really convenient way to make extra money, as all you need is a phone and internet connection."
Another big money-spinner is cat sitting, which she called a "lovely way" to make extra cash.
All she has to do is look after her customer's kitties, which she'd be happy to spend time with anyway.
Revealing her third major side hustle, Amy added: "A new side hustle of mine is creating and selling digital products.
"I have made several products such as savings trackers and even an eBook discussing survey sites as a side hustle."
Making all that money is all well and good, but budgeting is also an important part of her approach.
Top saving tips include zero-based budgeting, a method in which savers allocate their future spending and saving so that, at the end of each budget period, their income (minus savings) and expenditures are equal.
She also uses 'sinking funds', small pots with a specific purpose that allow you to keep track of fund allocation.
For example, you could create a Christmas sinking fund and save into it all year round, rather than the whole chunk being taken out of your December income.
Amy said: "I have been doing this since January and save £50 per month into my Christmas sinking fund, by December I will have around £550 to spend on all things Christmas.
"Using sinking funds alone I have saved around £5k over the last few years."
She also cut out unnecessary costs, such as over-paying for broadband, which saved her £300 a year.
She and partner Gregory, 26, were able to buy their own home earlier this year, after using a lifetime ISA in which the government matches 25% of the money first-time buyers save.
The couple have saved up to renovate the two-bedroom Victorian terraced house but are even applying their thrifty attitude to the refurb.
Amy quipped: "We’ve got some builders coming next week to start off the work but plan to do most of the work ourselves.
“Needless-to-say, we have been spending plenty of hours watching DIY videos."
For those who get the shivers at the very idea of budgeting techniques, she had some simple advice.
She said: "I suggest as a first step it’s best to have a look at your spending habits
"A simple way of doing this is creating a budget, writing down your income and all your outgoings. Here you can see what you spend and identify if you can cut back on any of these expenses.
"Clearly seeing your income and outgoings can help you work out how much you can save each month."
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She also recommended having a go at saving challenges, like the penny saving challenge, as endorsed by personal finance guru Martin Lewis.
Those who take up the challenge save 1p on day one, 2p on day two and so on, and can see a saving of £600 in just one year.
ANNUAL BREAKDOWN OF AMY’S SIDE HUSTLE EARNINGS
1. £3K from referrals and sign up offers
2. £1.5K from survey sites
3. £800 from cat sitting
4. £700 from daily spins/cash saving apps
5. £600 from cash back sites
6. £400 from digital products
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