Grace*, 27, is a process engineer who earns £40k a year. She lives in Aberdeen, Scotland, with her puppy and fiancé, to whom she got engaged last September and has been with for five and a half years.
They plan to marry in 2025 and in preparation, Grace has two goals: save money and get healthy by eating a more balanced diet and exercising more.
The challenge she’s set herself? Swapping out Tesco Meal Deals (£3.40 a pop with a Tesco Clubcard), which she often bought on her three office days each week, for homemade lunches and putting the money she saves into her Pot – “Tesco Meal Deals Not Bought”.
Between January and March, Grace saved £85, which she spent on new gym kit to give her a boost during exercise sessions. Based on last year’s Meal Deal spend, she’ll save over £350 this year.
Grace also has six Pots to save for just about everything else in her life, from her wedding and emergency fund, to car expenses and laser hair removal.
Homemade lunches obviously won’t solve the financial challenges many of us are facing. This is just an account of a small change one person decided to make.
Here’s how Grace is using Monzo to overhaul two big parts of her life at once – her health and her finances – ahead of her big day.
“I want to look and feel my best for my wedding, so I’ve swapped Tesco Meal Deals for homemade lunches”
At the start of the year I got Clubcard Unpacked, which is like Spotify Wrapped for your Tesco Clubcard. It told me I bought 105 Meal Deals last year. I realised I needed to change my diet and start taking my lunch into work because I really like healthier things like quinoa and couscous.
And as an Aberdonian who loves saving, I thought I could align this with saving money by putting the money I’d spend on Meal Deals into a Pot. Because 105 meal deals is £357, which is quite a lot of money.
“The proposal happened on a dog walk”
One day last September we went out for a dog walk with a few family members to the local park. When I turned around, my partner was down on one knee and proposed! The dog was wearing a little bandana that said ‘My humans are getting married’. It was lovely.
My sister's getting married next summer in Portugal, so we settled on summer 2025. We've booked a venue in Aberdeen – a gin distillery with an old country house and we’ll put up a big rustic-looking marquee. It’ll be about 100-120 people.
“I put money in my ‘Tesco Meal Deals Not Bought’ Pot every time I bring lunch to work”
By putting £3.40 away every time I would’ve previously got a meal deal, I’m saving at least £25 a month. In May there was £113 in the Pot.
Instead of Meal Deals, on Sundays I now batch book something like quinoa with roasted veg and chicken or halloumi, soups, pasta bakes or macaroni cheese. I’ll take in yoghurt and fruit as well.
“It’s working for me because it’s tangible – I’m eating more healthily and I’m saving money”
I can see in the MyFitnessPal app that I’m eating healthier. I can also see the money in my Monzo Pots increasing. I've spent £80 on new running trainers and tops for the gym, which are a direct result of me eating more healthily and saving money. And all I’ve had to do is spend an hour cooking every Sunday.
In future I might put the money I’m saving towards the wedding. Or a new pair of On running shoes, which are £150. They look comfy and I'd like to be able to run 10kms.
"We don’t want to get into debt for our wedding, so we’re cutting back”
Our goal wedding budget is £45k. We don't want to get into debt, so we’re making cutbacks to our lifestyle. We're not going on as many holidays as we would have otherwise.
My wedding Pot is an Instant Access Savings account because we're paying our vendors' deposits and need to access the money. It’s got a photo of us outside our wedding venue.
Every time I take money out to pay a vendor, I put a little note in and #wedding so I can go back and see where my money’s going, which is really handy.
To access an Instant Access Pot you need a Monzo Current Account. Ts&Cs apply
“I’ve also got six Pots to help me save for everything else”
Along with my wedding Pot, emergency fund and ‘Tesco Meal Deals Not Bought’, I’ve got several other Pots to help me save.
A hair Pot with a goal of £140 and a photo of my hair the last time it was done – I get balayage every six months.
One for laser hair removal.
Another for birthday presents – every month I'll transfer £35 into it.
A car Pot, which is for car insurance, road tax, MOT and anything that might happen to the car.
A Pot for birthday money. It was my birthday recently and I put the money I was gifted into this so I don’t squander it.
And one for Christmas, which I put £35 into each month and it has a photo of our dogs in front of the Christmas tree. I've done this for a few years and it makes Christmas feel free. Before I had Monzo I often had to dip into my emergency fund and other savings. But now, Christmas isn’t a surprise.
“My previous attempts at saving were pretty bad”
When I was a student, there were times when I was in my overdraft because I had a bill coming out and I’d forgotten about it. One time, the car needed tyres and I had to go into my emergency fund to pay for it. I thought, I don't really want to be doing this.
But with Monzo, because of Pots, I know I’ve got the money for my bills.
To apply for a Monzo bank account and access Pots you must be a UK resident. Ts&Cs apply.
*We’ve changed her name