Struggling to Save? Fortunately, there Are ‘Free Money Sources’ you can use to build a Savings Pot

Are you on a low income?

Do you find yourself with no money left after monthly outgoings?

Do you find it hard to budget?

All of these scenarios are by no means strange to me and I have no qualms to admit that I have found myself in these situations at various points in my life.

I do clearly remember when I took on my first job and then immediately moved in with my partner into a rented flat. We were extremely happy together but also faced the harsh realities of adulthood living on a very tight budget. We had to look very carefully where we spent our money so that we had enough to survive on until the next pay check. Saving was not part of our vocabulary. It was not a case that we did not want to, we just could not afford to. After rent, bills, food, entertainment and loan payments there was very little left at the end of every month. Simply put, saving was pure utopia at that moment in time.

A few years later, I happened to give myself the responsibility to provide for a young family. Around that time, we had enough saved as a deposit to purchase our first home. That deposit took considerable time an effort to accrue. I was on a much better salary though, but I was also carrying the weight of a big mortgage, bills, childcare costs, loans, food, plus monthly outgoings. In addition, I had an empty house which needed furniture, fixtures and fixings. To top it all up, I had no money whatsoever since I had used the last penny of my savings towards buying the property. Not only I was not in a position to save, I had to go further into debt so that I could provide with a decent standard of living for my family. I had no choice but to adhere to a strict budget for quite a while until I was able to get some breathing space. I just had to bite the bullet and go through the motions as any regular person goes through.

This was my reality at different stages in my life and all these recollections and feelings are still fresh and very vivid in my head. I am grateful for what I have but I also have to state loud and clear that I have earned every single bit of it. Those experiences reinforced on me the value of saving for the future. I was feeling helpless and overwhelmed at first which in turn gave me the motivation to find a way to get myself out of it.

I did indeed pursued different avenues and developed several ways of making extra cash. One of them is presented in this very Post. I honestly and truly hope that you can benefit from the ideas and methods that I am using to make Free Money in order to build a Savings Pot.

According to the Money Advice Service, there are currently 16 million people in the UK who have less than £100 saved. I am not counting on you being one of them (as I certainly was) but chances are that you will find the content of this Post useful to achieve your savings goals no matter your personal financial situation.

Whether it is for an Emergency Fund, a house deposit, a holiday, a wedding, savings for your kids, a new car, a career change, education, retirement, Christmas, birthdays, home improvements, etc, etc. etc. is irrelevant. The point is that a money pot will be needed at some point in the future but you are currently not in a position to save enough at the end of every month to achieve your savings goal.

Why use Free Money Sources to Save?

Let me reinforce the point that I am not advocating for a side hustle, overtime or to increase my personal workload at home. The solution is to generate additional income on top of my salary without creating a second job. The Free Money does necessarily need to come from every day activities that I will incur into regardless, automated tasks or from freebies readily available with minimum effort. The Goal is to make extra earnings easily not involving time or capital expenditure. I have done it before with ample success so I am positive that it can done again.

I would have known how to make Free Money earlier I would have been tens of thousands better-off …

No regrets. They don’t work. The person I am today and the things that I know are the result of my experiences and the way I dealt with them. One goes after the other. I have definitely learnt and grown over the years and that mix shaped me into my current who. Should I have come across this knowledge earlier in my life I would have been tens of thousands better-off today but there is no point feeling sorry for the missed opportunities to make and save Free Cash. I trust that sharing my Journey from the start with you, my fellow reader, can help you to take advantage of these opportunities to grow your earnings, hopefully past what I have managed to achieve.

Anyone can grow a Savings Pot from Free Money Sources

I have done this for several years now and managed to accrue a significant amount of Free Money as savings (see my post How I managed to make £23,000 from Free Cash Sources). The beauty of it all is that Free Money Sources are not unique to me. They are low hanging fruit readily available to the average person. Anyone can collect Free Money in the same way that I do.

I Set myself an objective of £1,000 for 2021 in terms of Free Cash

Past performances are not a guarantee of future results. Even though I have developed a certain degree of traction, I can no longer expect any ‘assured’ profits in terms of interests. On the plus side, I have the advantage of forecasting certain cash inflows that will most likely happen throughout the year. I also have a number of items around the house I can expect to cash-in in the short to medium term. All things considered, an objective of £1,000 for the year or £84/month seems SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound). Experience tells me that there will be ups and downs along the way but that corrective actions can be put in place should there be a need to align results to my monthly objective.

Without ruling out other tried and tested tools, the five main sources of income I will be using are listed as follows:

• Bank rewards.
• Cashback deals & rebates.
• eBay decluttering & casual sales.
• Promotional sign-ups.
• Interests over savings.
• Any other unexpected free cash.

Let me explain individually on each of these vehicles.

Bank rewards

These are cash rewards that banks offer in exchange of: a minimum deposit per month, a minimum number of direct debits, or a combination of both. Used to be more generous in the past but definitely on a shrinking trend nowadays.

Cashback Deals & Rebates

Cashback websites reward their users in exchange for their custom. In other words, the cashback websites reimburse the commission of a sale to the buyer. So rather than a third party pocketing a commission for my purchases, that commission will end up back in my bank account. Prime examples of these are: insurance of any kind, energy supply, broadband contracts, holiday bookings and all types of online purchases.

Rebates are money/cash-able items in return for purchases of goods and services. Good examples are: Nectar Card Points and Tesco Rewards Points. They all add up. You just need to be: first loyal, and second, extremely patience.

eBay decluttering & casual sales

These are purely items that I have no longer a use for and will most likely end up either in the skip or as part of a bundle donation to a charity organisation. It is important to point out that these are not resell items. I will not be buying with the intention to resell or manufacture an item for sale in view to making a profit and meeting an objective. This exercise is all about free cash and not a second job. Examples of these are: toys, clothes, furniture, appliances, books, videogames, phones, etc.

Promotional sign-ups

Companies are happy to offer incentives in order to lure in new customers. Banks will pay straight cash after a new bank account is opened subject to meeting a set of minimum requirements (ie: a certain number of direct debits and moneys credited monthly). Gift cards qualify as well as they can be exchanged for cash.

Interests over savings

Any interest generated as a direct result of keeping money in a bank account.

Any other unexpected free cash

Should I come across some long gone and forgotten cash at the bottom of a drawer, receive a tax rebate or qualify for a free no risk bet at my bookies, the proceeds will go towards building my cash for nothing funds. Casual findings and free gifts susceptible of cashing in will also qualify.

I managed to gather £2,154 in Free Money by June 2021

Incredibly pleased with my progress so far. Detailed earnings by month are shown below. I was touching the £1,000 year objective with my fingertips at the end of April and had a massive earnings boost in June taking me to the £2,154 mark. It is important to remember that I did not have to work for this sum. This whole process just helps me exemplify the opportunities out there. The take away is that if I can do it, anyone can. Hopefully, it will inspire others such as yourself, my fellow Money Saver. Thanks for reading.

You can check my progress at cash4nothing.com