“Budgeting for things that bring me joy helped me pay off debt and start saving”

Joe, 31, lives in Brighton in a one-bedroom flat with a garden near the city centre he recently bought with his partner.

We first met Joe last year when he was saving for his flat. At the time, he was putting away £600 a month towards the deposit by making sensible financial choices and micro-saving with Monzo features like round ups and IFTTT savings challenges. 

The pair eventually put together a 5% deposit of around £15k and used the government’s Help to Buy scheme to purchase the flat, which is worth just over £300k. They moved in in February and pay £1,200 towards the mortgage. 

But Joe’s relationship with money wasn’t always so measured. His twenties were marked by overspending. He racked up £5k worth of debt and had what he calls “bankxiety” – not wanting check his account because he was anxious about money.

But by the time he turned 30 he’d managed to turn it around in the hope of one day owning a home. His strategy? Reining in his spending on unnecessary purchases while keeping money aside for the non-negotiables he enjoys most. It’s proven to be a sustainable balance that he continues to aim for today.

I’d told myself that living in Brighton, there was no way I'd ever be able to afford property because it was so expensive. So I spent what I had on going out, food, clothes and an expensive gym membership. For a period I was having personal training twice a week as well, which I definitely couldn't afford but it seemed important for me. I justified it as something that's good for me, physically and mentally. But then the anxiety of debt was much worse for me, so it didn't actually balance out how I wanted it to.

In your twenties, people don't talk about money. I wouldn’t have spoken to my friends and said I'm really crap with money, but that's changed.

My only experience of debt before that was my student debt and because that was taken out of my payslip every month, it didn't feel like debt. 

You don't learn about debt and how to manage money at school, so when I moved to Brighton from Coventry at 18, straight from sixth form, it was a baptism of fire in terms of money. 

I was surrounded by people who had their rent paid for them or had lots of money. Brighton is very affluent and I’m not originally from here. I just wanted to keep up and spent money that I didn't have.

I was 23 and earning £19k in a customer service job when I found myself putting living expenses and my monthly rent on a credit card.

By the time I joined Monzo [in 2016], I had a couple of credit cards, which I eventually consolidated into a loan. I thought ‘Okay, I need to get this sorted’ if I want to get onto the property ladder.

Fitness, for example, benefits my mental health, my physical health, it’s going to prolong my life and it makes me more productive at work. There's such a knock on effect, which is probably why I spend the most on it. 

I'm also an extrovert, so I get lots of value from seeing people and doing things. If I didn’t, it would have negative consequences on me personally.

I've changed my mindset about a lot of things. When buying clothes, for example, I’m now less likely to purchase fast fashion because it just needs replacing a year later. I spend a bit more and have a smaller wardrobe, to have higher quality, longer lasting items. 

During my twenties I definitely found myself in a cycle of, ‘Oh my God, I can't believe I spent all my money,’ waiting for payday, and then thinking, ‘Yes, I got paid! I've been feeling so rubbish about money. I'm going to go and spend it all,’ and then finding myself back where I started.

It's taken a long time and it's happened in small steps. Individually, each step has been quite easy. But doing that consistently over a long period of time has been difficult, because it really takes a mindset change. I had therapy in my twenties which gave me techniques to think differently about many situations in my life, which probably played a role.

I try to take one thing at a time, month by month, what am I going to do differently? And then I look at the benefit each month and think, ‘Okay, that really worked. What am I going to do next?’

With the energy price increases and with a potential increase in our mortgage rate next year [we have a two-year fixed rate mortgage], we don't want to be in a position where we wouldn't be able to afford it. That's my biggest worry and is definitely playing into the money decisions we're both making now.

Last year I had an expensive gym membership but I now have a budget one, which costs £135 a month less. I even see a personal trainer once a week and that still works out better price wise.

We do meal planning. Every Saturday, we'll plan what we're going to eat the following week, which means we don't pop to the shop and spend £15 on convenience food. With the price of food going up, we’re trying to get creative with what we cook. I also use the anti-food waste app Too Good To Go to top up the weekly shop with cheap food I can freeze.

Instead of putting the heating on, we use an electric blanket – they’re so cheap to run. Using our slow cooker is also great because they're really cheap too. Finding things that are good for the planet and good for me financially is a great way of saving money. 

Since buying the flat, we’re much more comfortable having nights in. We used to have two takeaways a week, which is obviously quite excessive. Now we’ll make something similar to a takeaway, or try to recreate it at a lower cost. 

I’m learning to drive, which is a big expense. But instead of going on holidays abroad it means we can explore the UK and the local area.

Now there's a question of does it make financial sense for us to work from home five days a week? The flats in Brighton are very old buildings, not known for being super insulated. We haven’t done a full winter in the flat yet because we moved in February. 

I'm starting to think about places I could go and work with a cup of coffee, which would be cheaper than having the heating on at home – particularly in the depths of winter.

I can see how much I’m spending on entertainment and know so I can make cutbacks if I need to. I can also see how much I’m saving by eating out less, compared to when we were getting two takeaways a week.

My Pots are the same as last year – one for savings, one for holidays and having fun, one for driving lessons and one for energy bills. 

I round up money into my Pots and then I put my savings from there into premium bonds. Given how much we manage to save, I won’t get a huge amount of interest from a savings account. Premium bonds are still a way of saving, but you've got the chance of winning as well.

I used Monzo Flex to spread the cost of things when we moved house. You need to buy some big things when you move, so I used it to buy our dining table. We split the cost of over three months interest free, so it's more manageable.

[If eligible, Monzo Flex is interest free over 3 instalments, or up to 24 monthly payments at 29% APR Representative (variable). Monzo Flex is credit for 18+ year olds. Ts&Cs apply.

When using Flex, consider the cost of credit before a purchase. Missing payments may negatively impact your credit score. Representative example: 29% APR representative (variable). £1200 credit limit. 29% yearly interest (variable)].

The best thing I ever did was to understand my debt. Understand the debt you've got, understand the interest rates you're paying, understand what the most effective way of paying that off is, and commit to that. 

Saving while you've got debt is really challenging, because you still have the debt hanging over you. There's loads of free advice out there on how to understand your debt and what to do with it. Speak to your bank and whoever your debts are with.

Once you've done those things, then you can start to prioritise, what are the things that are really important to you? And can you sacrifice other things to make sure you get those on a regular basis?