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How To Save For Your First House.

 Rising house prices, stagnating wages and the COVID-19 pandemic have created an economy making it seemingly impossible for first time buyers to get their foot through the proverbial door of the housing ladder. Owning a house can often seem like a pipe dream but with carefully planned budgeting and efficient use of savings its a possibility. In this blog post I will explain how to best save for the deposit on a house.  Step 1: Make a budget. You are about to make the most important, expensive purchase of your life (unless you plan on owning any lambos anytime soon) so you need to get an understanding of what you actually earn and what you actually spend, those coffees add up. Utilise a budget to properly understand how your money is been spent and the areas you can cut back to save more money. Remember, every pound saved is a pay rise.  Step 2: Stop relying on a savings account. I hear so many people holding their house deposit fund in a 0.1% savings account. DONT DO THIS, you are wast
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Utilise The Stock Market To Grow Your Money.

 You might of heard the old adage 'money doesn't grow on trees' and it certainly doesn't (money is actually made out of cotton and linen) but money definitely does grow on the stock market. Now before your heart rate goes up and you click away, hear me out. We have all heard of that person who lost it all on the stock market and went from being a millionaire driving a Ferrari and owning yachts to shaking a cup for change but I can guarantee you that is a rarity and that person was certainly trading in a high risk product. We don't want to be shaking cups so lets be smart and play it safe.  All the stock markets of the world have shown growth averaged out over their lifespan. Yes, the 2008 financial crisis definitely created a dip and the Great Recession most certainly caused a significant dip but the markets always recover. The stock market is entirely controlled by the fundamental law of economics, supply and demand. When there is lots of people selling, the price
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Saving Money As A Student

 Being a student is a financial nightmare. Whether you have credit card debt, maintenance loans, working part time or living off of family support the chances are you are broke. In this article I will break down a few of the ways that you can save money as a student and start paying off debts are saving for a deposit.  Tip #1: Paying yourself before your bills. The idea of paying yourself before bills is often touted as the best way to save money as it instantly shrinks your budget and prevents over spending. But what is paying yourself I hear you ask? Paying yourself means automatically taking a % of your money, whenever you receive it and sending it to a savings account. For most students, 10% is the most comfortable amount to automatically redirect to your savings but if you can afford more then more is better. If you cant afford 10% then try 5%, the effects of compound interest over the course of your degree will grow even that 5% to a nice chunk of change. Tip #2: Form a budget. A
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Frugal Tips To Save You Money

Beginning a new blog series where I break down frugal living tips that accumulated can save you tens of thousands. As always, make sure to follow me on social media @DraggedO Frugal tip #1 Meal prep: Prepping meals saves you money in two major ways. Firstly, you don't waste food by it going bad in your fridge then you having to throw it away. This is quite literally throwing money in the bin and is not frugal at all. Secondly, you're not tempted to order takeout because you're too tired after a hard days work. You can also meal prep your work lunches and this will save you spending money everyday on overpriced meals.  Frugal tip #2 Cancel premium tv: "Cut the cord" is a popular term in the frugal community and is even gaining mainstream use. The cost of watching premium TV channels averages out to be $99 a month. That's $1200 over a year and $12,000 over a decade. $12,000 is getting close to a mortgage deposit on a reasonable sized house. 
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Do You Actually Need Those Supplements?

First things first, this post isn't questioning whether or not you should take supplements a doctor prescribed to you, you absolutely you should. This post is about optional/self medicated supplements. Ah supplements, able to be gimmicks and legitimate medication. I find it hard to watch people get sucked into buying supplements (at an extraordinary markup) on places like instagram and facebook. Let me be clear, supplements are a very useful and legitimate product that can genuinely save lives and improve the quality of a persons life drastically, just its doubtful you need a full range supplement in your teens or twenties. Let me explain, so say you own a uterus, that monthly bleed is quite often going to leave you deficient in iron, especially if you eat a diet low in iron. This is why my people with uterus' need to take iron supplements . Another example would be vegans, who all need to be taking a daily vitamin B12 supplement to remain healthy. When vitamins becom
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8 Tips To Clear Debt

Whether you have built up debt because you went a little wild with the credit card, had bills to pay or you're on a low income we all have the ability to save a hefty some and reach our financial goals. In this post I will break down my best money saving tips that are so quick and easy to do whilst also bringing you great returns. Most people do not live a frugal cash saving life forever. This is an intense guide to saving money to get you to your saving goal. 1) Identify why you want to save? This point seems obvious and not really important. Why does it matter why I am saving money? Well it is important  because having a target enables you to avoid "dip ins" which will quickly deplete your savings. Want a new Ipad? That's your only reason to spend your saved money. Want to pay off your credit card debt? Thats your only reason to spend saved money. Want to build an investment? Thats your only reason to spend saved money. You get the point. 2) Build a budget.
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How To Safely Clean Converse Shoes

Lets face it, cleaning your expensive pair of shoes can be rather scary, especially if you have never done it before or you have seen the label saying not to machine wash. I rarely ever listen to the washing instructions on clothing items as they are often just there as a safety barrier for the company if you do something stupid and damage the item, I have even washed cashmere in a washing machine! Step 1: Remove dirt from the sole of the shoe. This might seem obvious when you think about it but several people I know have tried washing their shoes with the mud and gunk still on the sole and it simply transfers from the sole to the material part of the shoe and gets it mucky again, not what we want. If  you have chewing gum on the sole of the shoe then press and ice cub onto the gum and then use a knife to flick it off.   Step 2: Tie those laces! Yes, contrary to what you have heard before I have always found it best to leave the laces tied. Simply put on the shoe, tie t
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