{"id":360642,"date":"2026-01-09T09:39:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T09:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/360642\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T09:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T09:39:26","slug":"i-was-a-700-a-month-shopaholic-but-worked-out-how-to-save-15k-in-8-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/360642\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I was a \u00a3700 a month shopaholic but worked out how to save \u00a315k in 8 months’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lauren, 24, has shared the simple rules she has used to put thousand in the bankNeil Shaw<\/a> Assistant Editor (Money and Lifestyle)<\/p>\n

07:11, 09 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

A self-confessed former \u201cshopaholic\u201d who used to spend \u00a3700 a month online shopping says she saved \u00a315,000 in just eight months, and \u00a330,000 in four years. following some simple rules.<\/p>\n

Lauren Mayers, 24, is saving to buy a home, and has incorporated six habits into her lifestyle to ensure she can put down a hefty deposit when the time comes. Lauren describes herself as an \u201cex-shopaholic\u201d, saying she used to \u201crack up\u201d large amounts on Klarna and go \u201coverboard\u201d on shopping.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to have a real shopping problem,\u201d said the team assistant at a property investment firm, from Surrey. \u201cOne major issue was buying new clothes for every event. If I was going on holiday I would buy brand new outfits, shoes and swimwear knowing I already had enough at home.<\/p>\n

\"LaurenLauren Mayers has saved just under \u00a330,000 in the past four years (Jam Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cI would easily fill an online shopping basket with \u00a3300 worth of clothes after cashing out on a holiday. I also used to rack up large amounts on Klarna, telling myself it\u2019s not so bad as I am paying over three months. I now know this does not matter and spending is spending whether it is over one month or three.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realised I needed to change my behaviour when I found myself repeatedly dipping into my savings, and some months saving nothing at all just because I went overboard on shopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lauren was living \u201cmonth to month\u201d and could have easily fallen into debt. She added: \u201cI now understand how easy it is to fall into debt with Pay Later schemes and think there should be more education on it.<\/p>\n

\"LaurenLauren used to spend \u00a3700 a month online shopping (Jam Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cI would estimate that I spent roughly \u00a3500-700 a month on shopping. I would definitely have months with a couple of hundred on Pay Later schemes like Klarna. Over three years that is a lot of money down the drain!\u201d<\/p>\n

Lauren is looking to buy her first home and hopes to put down a deposit of more than 10%.<\/p>\n

In a recent video, Lauren shared the simple things she does to save money<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DITCH FAST FASHION<\/p>\n

Lauren said: \u201cFirst of all, I stopped shopping on fast fashion websites \u2013 no more Shein, no more PLT. One day I did a wardrobe clear-out and I got rid of six bags of clothes from these websites.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight there and then, I realised that I was looking at over \u00a31,000\u2019s worth of clothes that I was no longer going to wear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI now only invest in pieces that I will re-wear and can mix and match with other things, and I’m way more mindful of what clothes I do buy.\u201d<\/p>\n

CLEAR DEBTS BEFORE SAVING<\/p>\n

Lauren said: \u201cNext, I paid off any debt before trying to save. I had a car loan and on that I was paying interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn’t save if I was also paying additional interest on that loan. So I paid that off with the savings I did have first and then was able to save much quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LaurenLauren giving tips on how to save money using simple rules (Jam Press)<\/p>\n

BE REALISTIC WITH YOUR MONEY<\/p>\n

Next, Lauren said people should be \u201crealistic\u201d with how much money they leave themselves \u2018free\u2019 each month to spend.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI was realistic with how much money I left myself each month. I used to leave myself stupid amounts like \u00a3300 a month, inevitably end up dipping into my savings and basically saving nothing every month.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo now I leave myself a realistic amount every month. And because I have changed my spending habits, I’m able to not dip into my savings. I set myself a realistic goal, and a time frame so that I could enjoy seeing the figure add up every month.\u201d<\/p>\n

BE MINDFUL<\/p>\n

Lauren advised others to switch out scrolling through shopping sites for working towards your goals. She said: \u201cThink about where you wanna be in five years and work towards that instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was also mindful of not only clothing purchases, but every purchase I want to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

AVOID IMPULSE PURCHASES<\/p>\n

She also recommends holding off when it comes to making new purchases. She added: \u201cI practice delayed gratification.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo for example, I wanted to buy a Braun laser-at-home device yesterday. I had it in the basket \u2013 it’s \u00a3300 down from \u00a3600.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sat on it, I thought about it and I decided I’m not ready to make that investment yet, so I didn’t buy it. Rather than impulse buy, think about what you’re buying.\u201d<\/p>\n

DITCH SUBSCRIPTIONS<\/p>\n

Lauren also recommends cutting down on subscriptions such as Netflix<\/a> and Spotify in order to save some money. She said: \u201cI also cut down on subscriptions where I could.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you need Netflix? Do you need Spotify? Can you share with someone else if possible? I cut down any unnecessary subscriptions massively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lauren ditched Disney+, Spotify, AA and even her phone contract, opting to pay SIM only. And while the young woman has reduced her spending massively, she doesn\u2019t feel she has missed out on having fun because of it.<\/p>\n

Lauren said: \u201cI do occasionally still treat myself and when I do, it feels so much better as it is always things I genuinely want. And it doesn’t mean I missed out on holidays and fun stuff last year \u2013 I still managed to go on two holidays.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just means making sacrifices, like re-wearing outfits that you already have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lauren, 24, has shared the simple rules she has used to put thousand in the bankNeil Shaw Assistant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138320,84,460,4176,392,4174,4175,12252,4324,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-360642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-braun-ag","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-debt","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-netflix","13":"tag-personal-finance","14":"tag-personalfinance","15":"tag-save-money","16":"tag-spotify","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}