127. Stop Paying Full Price: The Money Cheat Codes That Work ft Elvire Matu (SaveWithElvs)

In this episode, we’re joined by Elvire Matu, aka SaveWithElvs, the go-to plug for money-saving hacks, smart spending tips, and real-life cheat codes for surviving (and thriving) in 2025.

From travel deals and cashback apps to lifestyle traps and common money leaks, Elvire is breaking down how to stretch your cash without shrinking your lifestyle.

💡 We cover:

• The biggest spending mistakes people make without realising
• The apps and browser hacks Elvire swears by
• How to afford more without earning more
• Whether £10 coffees, girl math, and soft life spending are actually that deep
• How to still live well when the cost of living is costing your whole paycheck

Plus, she shares the one money move she’ll never regret — and the one she’d absolutely bin if she could go back.

If your bank balance resets to £0 by the 15th of every month, this episode is your sign!

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Penny Spans Podcast
• 0:19 Meet Our Money-Saving Superhero
• 1:40 Money Myth Busters Challenge
• 3:40 Why Do We Feel Broke?
• 7:15 Gen Z Spending Habits to Drop
• 10:29 Essential Money-Saving Apps and Tools
• 18:44 Steps for Making Smart Big Purchases
• 23:19 Social Media's Impact on Money Habits
• 31:12 The Saver's Mindset & Rich or Ridiculous

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey guys, welcome back to the Penny Spans Podcast, the finance show that actually makes sense. If you've ever asked yourself, why didn't I teach us this at school? Or how do I make my money grow without giving up the things that I love, you're in the right place. We simplify money, expose the myths and give you the playbook to build wealth on your own terms, because money moves fast and it's time that yours kept up. Happy Monday everyone. I Happy Monday everyone. I hope you've had an amazing weekend so far. We are back with a brand new episode. I'm super excited for this one because we are with a returning guest. I'm going to come to the guest in a second, and she is incredible. If you know anything about her, she is a superhero, yes, a real life superhero. You are meeting one in the flesh and she is the queen of helping us save our cash. So today we're talking all about how we can outsmart our money and make it work even harder for us. So, without further ado, guest, who are you?

Speaker 2: 0:53

Hi everyone, I am actually back. I feel like I'm back home.

Speaker 1: 0:57

I know you're home.

Speaker 2: 0:58

I'm home. My name's LV. You might know me as Save of Elves, the money saving superhero, and I create content about money savingsaving tips and side hustles. And you might also know me as the founder of Converse Dance Cruise, which is a dance platform. So yeah, I'm a busy, busy girl.

Speaker 1: 1:11

You are a busy girl, elvie, so to get you on the podcast again this was the stars aligning.

Speaker 1: 1:18

Absolutely, it really was. So, elvie, from the last time you came onto the podcast, I must say we have changed our format a bit. We have changed. So now we start off with a myth buster money myth buster. So I'm ready. You have 60 seconds. Okay, there are five points we're going to go through. We're going to try and get down as much as possible in those 60 seconds. So I'm going to give you a statement and we want to hear your thoughts on that statement. So it's short or long? Remember, you really got 60 seconds. Okay, I'm going to give you a statement and we want to hear your thoughts on that statement. So it's short or long? Remember, you've only got 60 seconds. Okay, I'm gonna get the time up because I need to make sure. Got a timer. We've got a timer, let me. You've got a timer because I need to make sure that you stay on time, but in that time, we need to know your answers. Okay, you ready, I'm ready. Three, two, one right. Saving money means sacrificing your social life no, it doesn't.

Speaker 2: 2:09

If you budget correctly, you can actually put money aside to ensure that you can actually enjoy those things as well love it.

Speaker 1: 2:14

You have to be good of numbers to budget no, definitely not.

Speaker 2: 2:18

You can fail maths, but still be good at carrying money always always okay, being frugal equals being cheap. No, not necessarily. It basically means that you are making money work harder for you. So if you know that you want to spend money on something, you might look at maybe a discount code, you might look at another way of ensuring that it basically goes a long way.

Speaker 1: 2:34

So no, it doesn't mean that at all love that you can't enjoy luxury if you're on a budget. No, this?

Speaker 2: 2:40

what is going on here? No, of course you can. You can obviously budget. There's certain things that you can use as well, such as certain credit cards that help you get some points, and things like that to enjoy a luxury kind of feel of a lifestyle or whatever the experience might be. You just need to budget for these things, to be honest.

Speaker 1: 2:52

So okay, 10 seconds.

Speaker 2: 2:54

It's not worth the hassle to use cashback apps oh, automatic cashbacks is the best when you have to actually do it. Sometimes it's a bit of effort, but I'll say it's worth using it those are amazing points and you did well.

Speaker 1: 3:09

Thank you, I tried. I've got 60 seconds. Puts you on on the clock. Yeah, I was sweating a bit. Can you see that? The beads are on there? But you did well. Our superhero didn't let us down. Did not let us down. So, elvie, we brought you here because you are the mastermind when it comes to saving money and getting the best price we can. Now, for those of you don't know, elvie's actually my friend off camera.

Speaker 1: 3:30

We are genuinely friends okay, very close friends and she's put me on to so many things and I'm not even kidding elvie and I can be out. And if I'm about to pay for something, she'll say no, no, no, did you get on cashback? And I'll be like, no, I didn't. And I'll be like, oh, I can't bother. No, no, no, it takes two seconds. Do it now? That is Elvie. This is the person we're talking about, so she's the only person to talk to us today. So, elvie, we're gonna get straight into this episode. First question why do you think so many people feel broke even when they're earning decent money?

Speaker 2: 4:00

because cost of living and inflation is like an all-time high. So essentially the money that you would spend to maybe buy a chocolate bar in a few years time is actually a bit more. So you're getting less basically for your money. So essentially we feel broke because everything around us has become so expensive. So we always talk about that Freddy chocolate.

Speaker 1: 4:19

Oh the Freddo, oh my gosh, freddo, freddo, that's it. What is that? 5p, 10p, 5p, 10, 10p, 19p. Now it's like over a pound, I think I saw it the other day for like and it's like this small.

Speaker 2: 4:28

So essentially everything around us is so expensive, so it makes it harder for especially this generation who want to be outside, who want to be doing things, who want to experience things. Everything just becomes a bit more expensive for us and that's why we constantly probably feel really broke and I think our wages haven't kept up with how quickly the prices of things have increased.

Speaker 1: 4:46

I think, if you look at the real wage increases, which is obviously how quickly our wages have increased over time, versus inflation, which is how quickly prices of items increase over time, it just hasn't kept up, and I know that when we first started the cost of living crisis, yeah, that was between what?

Speaker 2: 5:00

2021 and 2022?

Speaker 1: 5:03

Yeah, when it first became a thing, I think it wasn't as widespread I think, some people still felt, okay, I can manage stuff, whereas now I think we're in a position where a lot of people are cutting back on things. Yeah, 100, and I've said before in this podcast, but the one thing that I noticed in my household now my dad okay, why is that man? Is this kind of man, pinky finger in the air. You know, I'm gonna say you might not my dad. There's certain things, certain luxuries that he just believes he needs to have, and when we made a switch in the house I realised, wow is it baked beans.

Speaker 1: 5:31

Yes, it's baked beans the world's come to an end. When that happened, I promise you my brother and I. I think we were making like breakfast on a sunday and we have beans, you know, for breakfast and I told my brother get the beans out. He was looking, he couldn't see the green. He said, oh, I can't see it. And I said, oh, I can't see it. I called my dad but I said, oh, no, it's black. Now I said huh. He said what's this, what's this one? And he said to me it's much cheaper.

Speaker 2: 5:56

He said he tried for as long as he could, but now the price is ridiculous. You can't justify it yeah, yeah, I totally agree with that as well, and sometimes it is the way forward. You just have to think to yourself. You know what? I've got a certain amount of money to spend on my shopping and unfortunately, heinz takes me over by over £2. So, no, I'm not going to get that today.

Speaker 1: 6:11

So that's not it. That's when I really said, wow, yeah, my dad's been eating Heinz since I was a baby.

Speaker 2: 6:19

Yeah, yeah, so that very expensive. And you know, from food to um, going on holidays, to even just your clothes, everything has genuinely gone up, so it doesn't make our generation feel like we can't afford a lot of things for sure, absolutely, and I think there's always that comparison to the previous generations, you know, like our parents or grandparents we were able to do stuff yeah, why can't you just stop eating avocado toast?

Speaker 1: 6:40

and that's not really the reality. We all know that, yes, so I think it's great to hear from you that it's not our fault as young people it is just how the economy is at the moment.

Speaker 1: 6:51

We are gen z, we're on the cusp, but we're gen z, yet we indulge and we have siblings who are younger than us, and I see a lot online of how they spend, and they spend a lot of money different things, and you must see it too. I want to ask you what do you think is one spending habit that Gen Z have that they need to drop?

Speaker 2: 7:15

oh, sometimes there's no thought process okay, expand expand so I'd say, nowadays you're just so easily influenced, especially things like tiktok shop we was. We are so easily influenced and it's not necessarily a bad thing, because sometimes you might think, oh, I actually do need this. But let's be honest, majority of the time it's just like, oh, that looks really nice or I could do with that. So then you end up being easily influenced and buying it and ultimately that's what these people are doing on social media, especially when they've got things like affiliate links and they've got things like you know, use my link here or, you know, buy it from me. Essentially they're making money, but they're influencing you to buy it. So nowadays it's just so much easier for especially gen z. We see things online and we just obviously want to buy it. So I think, stop, think about it, process it, do you really need it or do you want it? And um, yeah, I think we're just at that generation now where, yeah, we're just very spontaneous, we'll just do it absolutely.

Speaker 1: 8:14

I have made two purchases ever on tiktok shop. The first one was a sunset lamp. Oh no, what is that for? Oh, what was the point? No, genuine. I was like what was the point of this? It came, it arrived and I said why did I buy this? Again? But it was because I saw a video. Thankfully, I'm not someone who falls into that trap, necessarily, of seeing videos and wanting to buy things straight away. Yeah, I'm of that nature if I like something, I'll add it to my basket, and if I forget about it, I probably didn't want it in the first place. Yeah, but that was the first time I said, oh, this is new. I think I didn't believe six o'clock shop was real. So I said I'm gonna buy a sunset lamp and check it out, yeah I want to check it out and see is this real?

Speaker 1: 8:50

it came and that's been sat in the corner of my room for ages. Yeah, but I think a lot of people fall into that trap of seeing videos and seeing what people have, yeah. So instead of sitting down and thinking, yeah, do I need this? Have I got one already, am I buying a replacement? Or, you know, am I doubling up? They just buy and then, when it comes, people experience this thing called buyer's regret and buyer's remorse, because it comes through the door and you're like, why did I spend this money on that?

Speaker 2: 9:12

yeah, 100% didn't even need it, yeah, and most likely don't even want to return it after. Oh, that's another one sitting with all the packages back and then the time elapses and you can't send it back exactly, and I think also because a lot of time things like tiktok shop is so much cheaper. So you feel like actually if I purchase this I'm actually saving a bit of money, but a lot of time you probably don't really need it I 100% agree, our poor generation our generation.

Speaker 1: 9:36

It's hard, but do you know what it's hard? Every generation that needs help requires a superhero. They do. It's a tale as old as time. If you ever watch any superhero movies, there's always a generation who says please, oh my gosh, we're suffering, crime is being committed, we need help, and a superhero comes in and I feel like we're in this generation where we need help with our money. It's getting crazy, and it's like the universe heard us and spawned a new superhero called Save of Elves. So here we are. Yeah, so, with you next to me on this couch, it feels like a privilege. So I need to ask you I can't have you here and not ask you what are your non-negotiable apps or websites that everyone should be using when it comes to whether it's saving money, putting money away or saving on their purchases and I know you must have some, because LV is the most diligent saver I know.

Speaker 2: 10:29

I literally hunt for apps. I genuinely hunt for apps. I want to have a look on the app store and see, like, what apps are there to help me save money, whether it's on my clothes purchases, whether it's on tech, whether it's on it could be on holidays, it could that um company or organization or brand that I'm looking for. So my first app non-negotiable has to be cashback apps. The first one is top cashback. That is, basically it's got I feel like 5 000 different brands on there and essentially when you're going that platform, it's basically affiliate marketing. So when you click on the link say I don't know, it could be Nike it's going to tell you you'll be able to get maybe that five percent back, meaning if you make a certain purchase, you will get probably five percent back of that purchase, meaning you now have got some money back for yourself that you can utilize to whatever you want. But with things like that, you have to remember to manually go on the site. So, things like cash back, you manually go on the site. You click on the brand that you're looking for, for example sainsbury's, and you go through that app. It will take you to the, to the page, as normal. You make that check out and then you'll get email to say that that cashback has been tracked and that then means that you have successfully tracked that and based that affiliate.

Speaker 2: 11:42

Um. I'd explain it so basically for those who don't know. It's basically when you are using cashback apps, it's basically affiliate marketing, and the brand basically essentially pays you back, basically for shopping. But the marketing comes from top cashback who are basically promoting the fact that you are shopping through their platform and they basically get a little thank you, but instead of paying it to themselves, they pay it to you. So there's all different forms of cashbacks that you can use. Another one that I'll say so non-negotiable is airtime rewards app and it's actually so good.

Speaker 2: 12:09

So again, essentially you are linking your bank cards to this and you are also linking up your phone provider. So when you are purchasing maybe it's Greggs, maybe whatever brand it is, whatever they have on the platform automatically, because your cards are connected it tracks that. So you then get a percentage of your money back and you can actually utilize that to pay off your phone bill, to contribute towards your phone bill, which I think is really, really cool.

Speaker 1: 12:33

Oh, it's the best, it's amazing.

Speaker 2: 12:38

It's amazing. It's amazing and obviously, for those who know, I'm currently in the process of trying to also, you know, buy my house, yes, um.

Speaker 2: 12:41

So there's another app that's just come out recently, which is called sprive as well, and that's essentially my brother s-p-r-i-v-e, and that is another cashback app that you can now use to put towards your mortgage and paying that off as well. So another really cool app. So cashback apps essentially are a really good way for you to utilize um and get some money back. Another thing I'd say in regards to what you said about where you put your money nowadays. So a lot of us probably have like regular savings accounts, okay, and if you've probably looked at the percentage of interest that you're going to get back, it's probably like one percent, two percent, and essentially that's not really what you want. You want to make sure your money's working a little bit harder, especially this cost of living that we literally just spoke about.

Speaker 2: 13:21

So for those who don't know, a cash isa is an individual savings account and essentially you're saving their tax free, so they usually have a higher interest rate return. So if you are saving in there, you might actually get about four percent back. They usually try and be hired in the usual um savings account. So things like that you should definitely utilize and also it's much easier for you to access that money and kind of get it back as well. So if you're putting money in a cash isr, it's easier for you to maybe saving for a house, maybe saving for a car, um, your money's working a bit harder and you're able to actually access that money a bit quicker as well, which is really cool. Of course, there's also a cap on that as well. Um, I think it's about 20 000 um, so you can't obviously go over that yeah, there is an announcement that's going to happen soon, so that could be cut.

Speaker 1: 14:04

So, depending on when you watch this, I would definitely say have a look, because we would put it up on our social media if it has changed. Yeah, but at the moment it's sort of 20 000 pounds per tax year yeah.

Speaker 2: 14:13

So if you can utilize that now, please do. Um, another way of saving that people have been utilizing a lot as well stocks and shares as well, um, essentially as well. You can also access that quite quickly as well and you are saving. You're trying to beat the inflation, so over time that you are saving, you are hoping that you're going to make a greater return because the compound interest as well, um, so again, that's another thing that you can use. Again, there's another cap to that as well, um, so overall, I believe again it's a 20 20 000.

Speaker 1: 14:41

Yep, yep. So crash all the ice accounts that you might hold yeah, thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 14:45

So, yeah, essentially cash. Ices, stocks and shares are probably like your go-to um for easy access one, but also ensuring that your money's working a little bit harder as well. Loyalty apps as well. Loyalty cards depending where you shop, you obviously be provided with some certain loyalty cards that you can use as well, so maybe one of my favourites is things like Nectar. I'm getting points every single time I go and put on top of my petrol, which is great. You can then actually redeem some of those points and put that towards your petrol so you pay a bit less, which is really cool.

Speaker 1: 15:14

I redeem mine towards flight points, so I use it for avios points.

Speaker 2: 15:18

Yep, I've been stacking up those points.

Speaker 1: 15:20

If you know me, I love to be on the flights. I'm stacking up those points towards my flights.

Speaker 2: 15:23

Yeah, 100%. Another thing maybe Nando's. If you go to Nando's they've got on free food or even for things like health and beauty cards such as super drug or boots. All these loyalty cards you can utilize and obviously then redeem um the points that you collect. You can then redeem that towards your purchase as well, which helps you save money.

Speaker 1: 15:41

So they're like my go-to non-negotiables that I genuinely use all the time I think those are some incredible apps that you put us on to and some great ways for us to save, and I think it is like it's important to make sure our money's working as hard as it can for us. Yeah, we're all out there working hard earning our money, but if you know, your money just sat there barely doing anything for you, yet you're working hours and hours every day, every week. What's the point? You want to make sure it's working as hard as it can.

Speaker 2: 16:10

I think we're now in a generation where loads of people think, oh, oh, I can't be bothered to do this, I can't bother with the loaded cars, I can't be bothered with the cashbacks. But honestly it really does add up, like, for example, we went to Morocco about three years ago.

Speaker 1: 16:22

Yeah, time flies right yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:24

And I literally made about £600 on top cashback and then I literally withdrew that and paid for my holidays go to Morocco, basically for free crazy. So over time, this is not going to happen overnight, but the more you use it and the more consistent you are with it, you're actually going to see a difference. So if you're going, maybe, to buy a drink constantly and you're bringing your loyalty card buy maybe the fifth drink, you then got it for free. So just yeah, over time, utilise it.

Speaker 1: 16:53

I even have a loyalty card. Wherever I can and I get, I make sure they stamp it.

Speaker 2: 16:57

Yeah, I bring it in, they stamp it do you know, I was actually doing my nails and this girl actually came and recognised me and she was like, oh my goodness, you're saver elves. And I was just thinking, oh my gosh, I'm got my loyalty card, got your loyalty card, I love it. And I literally said to her before she left I was like I don't forget to get a loyalty card as well, see, look at you no days off, not our superhero, no days off.

Speaker 2: 17:18

I'll say. One more app actually I forgot to mention is when it comes probably to your food as well is the food waste app, which they basically allow you to purchase it for a reduced amount of money. You're not necessarily sure what you might get in the bags, but ultimately the store doesn't want to waste the food and you can buy it for a cheaper price I love too good to go.

Speaker 1: 17:48

I've used it many a time. I remember there was one time, I think I was driving home, so I so I was in London, east London. I was driving home I was like I'm so hungry, I'm hungry, what should I get? And he checked too good to go because he was checking what area I was in and he found somewhere. It was a Chinese buffet that was closing. And I managed to get where the buffet would have been, I don't know. 15, 18 pounds per person.

Speaker 2: 18:19

I got five pounds. They gave me a massive container and just fill up as much as you can.

Speaker 1: 18:20

Yeah, great, it is the best. And there's like hundreds of partners on there now so you can dinner. That was great. And that was me traveling home starving man. I found out for you. He bought it for me. He said yeah, just send him this code and show it to them. And he said yep, here's your container.

Speaker 2: 18:25

That was it easy, amazing and don't forget as well if you are using those apps. There's only a certain amount of bags that they have for a day, so it's kind of like on a first come, first off basis, but you can save a lot of money absolutely.

Speaker 1: 18:35

Those are some amazing, some amazing suggestions, lv. So thank you so much. I want to put you in a scenario now, because we need to be in the save of elves head. Yeah, I think. Anytime I think about buying anything, I think w, w, e, d, oh, what would elves do? That's what I always think. What would elves do in a situation? And I want us to be in your mindset and say, right, what would she do? Would she look at these apps? Would she go there? So I want to ask you, give it a scenario. So let's say, you're about to make a big purchase, I don't know, for argument's sake, you're gonna buy a tv, right?

Speaker 1: 19:08

you're gonna make a big purchase what are the steps that you take when it actually comes to making that purchase to make sure that you're getting the best price possible? Yeah, 100%.

Speaker 2: 19:16

So first thing I'll do is, if I'm buying it online, I'll make sure I utilize the Top Cashback app. So I'll go through the Top Cashback app. I would also compare on different sites, always compare. Never buy the first price that you see, never, ever. That is my first suggestion to you Shop around, have a look at different stores. Um, one also another. Another thing that I'll do is look for any discount codes, if there are any.

Speaker 2: 19:40

Sometimes there isn't, and that's fine, um, and sometimes these companies actually have things like price match promise as well.

Speaker 2: 19:46

So ultimately what they're saying is, if it's cheaper in another store will basically match it, and sometimes you want to do that because you can get, maybe, loyalty points. So tv is a great example. So say, for example, you are purchasing from um curry's, but then you find it cheaper in um argos. You can then say to argos hey, I found it cheaper um, but the same make and model and style. Yeah, it's got the exact same thing as well. And you can say, hey, I found it cheap on here, and ultimately they can basically match it. And sometimes you might want to do that because places like argos actually have nectar um points, but maybe curry's doesn't. So you sometimes want to utilize that as well, um, the next thing I would do is maybe see if it's gonna have a sale, because sometimes you can use certain apps, um, to check and track when there is going to be a sale, or whether it's gone down in price or whether it's been cheaper before.

Speaker 1: 20:35

Do you know any websites that we can have a look at for those? Oh, I don't know their name, I know there's ones. There's Camel, camel, camel. Yeah, camel, camel, camel. That's the word camel three times. That is for Amazon specifically. Yeah, and I think there's. Is it called trolley? Trolley is for for uh, trolleycom is for uh, groceries, for food you can check the price of food and there is one more, if I remember it. I'll put all these links anyway in the episode description, but there is one more that you can check generally. But yeah, that's, that's a great point you make to check the prices you can track it, which is pretty cool as well.

Speaker 2: 21:06

Obviously, if you're someone that's just like in a rush, I'll honestly say make sure that you look at the different sites to see if you can get it cheaper somewhere else. Utilize those loyalty points, utilize the cash back and also make sure if you can get a price match promise as well. So I've actually done that before. When it came to buying I came to buying a washing machine I literally used all those steps to make sure that I got the best best, best, best deal and that my money actually went a long way. So yeah, wwed.

Speaker 1: 21:33

What would elves do? That's what. That's what I'm gonna get tattooed my brain.

Speaker 2: 21:37

My brain literally processes things. It's like, okay, I really need this, but I need to make sure that it's cheaper. So what's the first thing I'm gonna do? I'm not just gonna buy and say, yeah great, I made that purchase, because that would just upset me knowing I could have had it cheaper somewhere else it's the worst feeling you don't want that feeling, knowing, oh actually I could have had an extra £100 back in my pocket.

Speaker 1: 21:54

But do you know? What my dad's done before, where he might have bought something. My dad's a massive tech head. He might have bought an item and then a week later it's gone on sale. He sends it back.

Speaker 2: 22:03

He'll send it back and repurchase it at a new price and you can actually, if you are purchasing these things, if you realise that you are saving a bit of money, you can then get a bit of insurance on it as well, to ensure that you are then covered outside the warranty window as well. So it could actually just, yeah, help you save money in the long run as well. Instead of on the spot having to replace the TV, you can then actually just claim on your insurance and say you know it's broken within that two-year window, and sometimes you send it back to get replaced or just send out a new one.

Speaker 1: 22:39

Absolutely, absolutely. Save the elves here to save the day as always I want to ask you we're coming back to social media. Yeah, now you have been incredible online. You have shared so many tips and I know some of have gone way beyond your wildest reach right. So I want to ask you, what's one saving tip that you shared that might have gone viral? And, on top of that, whatever one it was, did you expect it to go viral?

Speaker 2: 23:05

oh, do you know what? I had a lot of interactions in my dm about this, and this was when I spoke about cutting back on my subscriptions and I said I use the snoop app to have a look at all my subscriptions. Basically, it pulls in all my transactions from different um places, from um all the banks that I have, and you get an overview, basically, of your subscriptions as well. So how much I'm paying for my phone bill, how much I pay for Amazon Prime, how much I'm paying for certain things. And I basically said I'm going to use that app to basically track all my expenses and start cancelling these transactions as well. And I had so much traction actually in my DM saying, oh, my goodness, I've never heard this app, thank you so much for sharing and I'm going to download it. They utilised my link as well and I was like thank you very much. Um.

Speaker 2: 23:48

So I'll definitely say that, because I don't think people realize that there are these really cool like AI implemented apps that can help you basically have an overview of your finances and your expenses. And yeah, I think for me it was just being honest and saying I'm going to be cutting back on these things because really it's a luxury for me now to have Amazon Prime, but at the the time that I'm saving for a house, I didn't actually need it. So, yeah, it was just cutting back because it was hard. It was really hard, especially when you're used to something you're used to using these platforms you're used to doing these certain things.

Speaker 2: 24:17

I now had to then cut back. That was hard, but it's just something that I know sometimes we need to do to sacrifice if we are saving towards something absolutely.

Speaker 1: 24:25

I completely agree and I am definitely the person who's going to go through my subscriptions 100 and now I actually share some yeah, my dad and I have made a pact to certain things. Now I am an avid tv watcher and I think a lot of it comes from the fact that I can't work I physically can't work without something on the background not music. It has to be tv. So I watch a lot of TV, but there's too many platforms now they all need to be on one.

Speaker 2: 24:50

There's so many, so I have to.

Speaker 1: 24:51

I have to like. The other day I had to negotiate with my dad and said, pops, I kind of need another one. There's another show I want to watch on some different platform that we don't currently have. Yeah, and I was like, do you? Yeah, but he said I've reached my threshold now. Oh wow, sharing with people, so now anything else?

Speaker 2: 25:08

is on me if I want to watch anything else or get any new ones. See fair, we're sharing, actually, a Spotify subscription at the moment we are.

Speaker 1: 25:14

We've been doing it for a while a while.

Speaker 2: 25:16

This is nothing new.

Speaker 1: 25:16

This is nothing new we've been doing it for a long while, but it's been great saving money. Yeah, oh, I gave you access to my other platform. You never logged in. Yeah, it really I gave. I gave LV. Okay, so I love reality TV. Yeah, I gave LV access. I was trying to do a quid pro quo. I was like here yeah, take my hey, you, yeah, and you can take this yeah, and I just and I had heard.

Speaker 2: 25:40

I kept thinking have you logged hey?

Speaker 1: 25:41

you yet? Yeah, no, it's okay, I just wanted to just do a sharesies, but it's okay, I'm not going to take it to heart.

Speaker 2: 25:48

We move on.

Speaker 1: 25:49

We move on. I'll watch it one day. She won't, it's okay, I'm over it. I'm over it Now. Social media still. Do you think social media is making us worse at managing money or better? So I know we almost live in this bubble of all of the amazing financial influencers who, many of us, we have the pleasure of calling our friends. But if we zoom out a bit, do you think it's making young people worse at managing their money or better?

Speaker 2: 26:15

Oh, I think I'm definitely split in the middle on this one, because there's definitely some pros and cons for the both of them. I'd even say we're now more exposed to money and like amazing platforms like yourselves and, like you mentioned like yourselves and like you mentioned, all the other amazing financial influencers as well, who are sharing about certain things that we probably didn't learn in school. So now people are a bit more curious and they want to understand. Or people are following people's journey and say, okay, how are they doing this? Okay, they're saving using that. Okay, so the exposure now is there and people are starting to understand. It's kind of more in your face than it was before. But also, I think, like we mentioned before, we're now so much more easily influenced and it's like we want that because this person's had that or, you know, we want to look a certain way. We're gonna, you know, appear a certain way online and that definitely has a toll on probably a lot of people's, like mental health and their bank accounts as well.

Speaker 2: 27:05

Um, so I think we're living in a day and age where it really depends on the decision that you decide to make, because you could utilize these platforms, social media and say, actually, I want to learn more, I want to go on youtube, I want to understand finance a bit more. Or you can say, oh my goodness, I want that and I'm going to splash more money on that. So it could really go both ways. I'd say, if there's a study out there that I haven't read, you know where it's showing how it's so much more easier for young people to spend money online than fair. But I do think we've also got that positive element of we're now a bit more exposed to this stuff and people really want to understand money a bit more. Or you know, they're buying books like yourselves or that you've written, or they're literally, um, going on social media and wants to understand a bit more, going youtube and learning and taking courses. So, yeah, it's definitely got.

Speaker 1: 27:54

Yeah, two sides there was a stat that I read recently I can't remember exactly where from, but it's that 79% of gen z and millennials get their financial education or advice from social media like platforms like tiktok and instagram. So that is almost 80 of young people turn to social media. So that just shows you the gravity and how important it is to ensure that the right information is being consumed. 100 that's a massive portion of people who are looking for that information. But, as you said, there is still that element because I see a lot of luxury content but a lot of things they don't phase me.

Speaker 1: 28:31

But I can imagine if I was in the shoes of someone who really wants more. And I think, especially if you're gen z, if you're in your like those 20s phase, we're still in our 20s. It's an awkward phase to be in. I think everyone who's in their 30s and beyond always says they all hate their 20s because, like you're trying to figure out yourself and you feel like you're not far ahead enough that if you now feel that about yourself and then you go online and you see people who are your age or even younger affording things that you can't afford you almost feel like you're behind and feel like, how do I catch up?

Speaker 2: 29:01

I need to spend, yeah, that middle split it's a hard one, and what you did mention there before as well is just also reminding people that a lot of these things that people have potentially are gifted as well. Oh so much they haven't actually paid for it so much so you're spending your money trying to look like them or trying to be like them, or trying to own the latest thing, but they actually probably would have got it gifted as well absolutely things yeah gifted and don't actually purchase from makeup to tech, to even sometimes borrowing out cars oh my gosh, I'm waiting for that day for me.

Speaker 1: 29:29

Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, I'm waiting for that definitely help me save money. Oh my gosh. Yeah, but I always say, if you're not sure, because I understand we're in a space so we know what it looks like in like a caption, we're like, oh, that's gifted. Sometimes it's very obvious it's hashtag ad or hashtag gifted. But other times, though, they're meant to say those two hashtags, they might not. But if you're wondering, oh, this person has so much money, they've got this, they've got that. Read the captions.

Speaker 1: 29:51

Usually they're gonna thank the brand and say thank you, blah blah blah for this stuff they've got sent it or they're gonna say this is amazing, I can't believe that.

Speaker 1: 29:58

sent me this. I think if you look at that, then it kind of puts in perspective like, ah, I'm using my own money to buy this, so I'm wanting to buy this, but then my favorite influencer got gifted it. It's two different things, right. I have a friend who is an incredible makeup influencer huge. She gets sent stuff all the time. Her makeup's incredible.

Speaker 1: 30:16

But the amount of stuff she she gets sent if I were to buy what she gets sent, I would be borrowing money because she gets sent so much on a regular basis that I physically could not keep up with her. And I don't want to, obviously. But I know if I was someone who was watching her maybe thought, oh my gosh, I want everything that she has. But she's very open and says, obviously when it's been gifted. But I think it's just understanding that people get sent stuff and if you see how much she has in her room whenever I go around to her house, it's a field day, it's a shopping trip for me.

Speaker 1: 30:43

What can I have? Yeah, some brands will literally send her entire shade ranges and she's a lot lighter than me, so I'll take the darker shade range, which is great for me, but when you see that they're getting sent so much stuff, so when you're comparing yourself to other influencers who are getting sent stuff, just remember that as well. Remember that. Remember that and I think it'll put you in a. Before we come on to our final game, I want to ask you what's a saver's mindset that you've built that changed everything for you when it comes to spending and saving? I feel like we've had conversations before and you said a lot of your money saving journey began at university, so what's like a mindset that you built around saving that helped you?

Speaker 2: 31:23

yeah, I think when I was at uni, especially because I was away from home, I was independent, I had a house to pay for, I had a car to pay for, I had um, the gas and electric and the wife had to pay for I think the thing I was scared of the most was falling into debt, basically, and being behind, and one with being kicked out of the house because I couldn't afford it. I think I was. My head was so wrapped around. I need to make sure I can afford these bills because I don't want to fall behind, I don't want to ruin my credit score. I think that was like my first mindset, so I think I explained this before to you as well that I used to literally panic and pay everything four months in advance. So when my student financially to come in say it was for January, I'll make sure it covered me up until maybe, like april, until the next one comes in, so I did the same.

Speaker 1: 32:07

Oh good, smart way to do it, girl, because I feel like you can budget your money after that. Yeah, you can. If I paid everything out, I knew what I was left with, that I could budget my money 100, and what I didn't know is that I could also do like my phone bill.

Speaker 2: 32:18

So I called up and said, hey, can I pay four months in advance on my phone? But like you don't actually need to do, I said I want to.

Speaker 2: 32:24

I want to do it, I want to do it right now because I didn't want to like then being four months late and be like, oh, I spent all of that. Actually, I don't think I have anything to pay for my phone bill now and now I don't know it's cancelled. So my mindset was more about okay, how am I going to survive on my own, but make sure that I don't fall behind and into debt? And again, I've come from a family that doesn't have a lot of money and I didn't learn and you weren't born here.

Speaker 1: 32:43

I think that's also important as well.

Speaker 2: 32:45

Yeah, born in Holland, guys so.

Speaker 2: 32:47

I had to learn all this and I think you know, not really having that financial education, I think I genuinely was just like okay, I'm by myself, I've got all this money. I think I had like two grand 2.7 in my bank account for my student finance and I was like this is a lot of money, but I just wanted to make sure I was smart with it and I wanted to make sure that all my expenses were cleared, because I just didn't. I was literally fearing debt. I just was like I don't want to fall behind, I don't want to be able to not afford it. So that was my mindset.

Speaker 2: 33:12

And then, after that was more about comparing prices and making sure I was never paying for the first price. I saw whether it was the wi-fi. I literally used to be up with my housemates like, no, no, did we check that though? Did we check? I was annoying, but at the end of the day, you would literally thank me later because actually we saved a bit of money. So, yeah, I always wanted to make sure, okay, don't pay for the first price. That, you see, that's always always been my mindset. Always, whenever I want to buy something, is there better price out there? That's how I always think.

Speaker 1: 33:37

I love that and I think it's really held you in good stead and it's forged a career path for you.

Speaker 2: 33:41

Yeah, save elves, we're here, we're live.

Speaker 1: 33:44

That didn happen, we wouldn't have you here, oh no. So it's amazing. Things have come full circle, which is absolutely amazing. Lv, this has been great. Thank you so much. You've given us so much insight, but we're not done yet. We have our final game, which is called Rich or Ridiculous. So no time limit here. You, I have five statements for you and you're going to tell me whether you think it's rich, something that people should be doing, or ridiculous things that people nah, I wouldn't say you should do that and give us the reason why. Okay, again, no time limit, you don't have to rush. So rich or ridiculous, rich or ridiculous. I love these games. So, first statement using five different bank accounts to organize your savings rich or ridiculous?

Speaker 2: 34:24

rich are currently at the moment, because all banks have different perks and you get different returns. So maybe, for example, you might be saying for a holiday in this bank account they've got a really great I don't know, it could be uh interest, or you know you're using this card actually for your bills or you're using this card to maybe pay for your holidays, so like you can obviously utilize your bank cards for different things, um, and yeah, so I would say there's no rule to just having one account. You can have several that will help you save towards what it is that you're saving for.

Speaker 1: 34:53

Brilliant Number two only buying groceries or doing the food shop when there is a sale. So you know those yellow stickers Only time you do a food shop Rich or ridiculous.

Speaker 2: 35:03

Ridiculous. Do you want to starve? Do you want to starve? Do you want to starve? I'd say, obviously there's certain things that you might be like oh right, that's on sale, so maybe you might, you know, replace. But ultimately, when you're doing your shopping, majority of it will be, you know, full price or you can get it through maybe a bit cheaper through the actual superstore brand, um, but yeah, definitely utilize the yellow stickers, utilize, like you know, the sale, but you can't obviously buy everything on sale so you never know what's going to be in there exactly.

Speaker 1: 35:31

It's like the lottery yeah, like you go in and see what's there. It's something I want maybe, and sometimes doesn't have all the core foods that you want.

Speaker 2: 35:38

So, and you know, remember the things. These things have stickers on them because they're about to expire and some of these things aren't going to start. Your rice isn't going to expire for another three years, so that's not going to be on sale, is it no, right? I got that one, wow. So if I'm hearing that you're waiting until rice goes on sale, don't really agree, you're waiting forever mate.

Speaker 1: 35:56

Okay, next one, spending £200 a month on Uber but using cash back to justify it.

Speaker 2: 36:03

Ridiculous, ridiculous. Okay, I don't think there's essentially a reason why you need to spend 200 pound every single month on your cab if, especially if, you're living in london and there's other transport links that you can use. I'm not saying don't ever use cabs, I'm not saying that. But I feel like we could, we could, we could utilize maybe some public transport on this to save a bit of money again. If you are using cash back, well done. Good on you. That makes me very, very happy. You're doing a great job. But in regards to 200 pounds spending on, I don't cause every month. I don't know that's. You don't need to do that. You don't need to. You want to. You definitely want to you don't unless you know.

Speaker 2: 36:43

I'm sorry for those who are listening. Unless you like, live like I don't know an hour away from your job and you need to fair enough. But I think, especially if you're living in london and there's obviously transport links, utilize what you can for sure.

Speaker 1: 36:55

Amazing going on dates just for the free meal. Rich or ridiculous?

Speaker 2: 37:03

girl math, rich, rich, that is definitely girl math, for sure. I mean, if they've offered, you know, rich, yes, rich, okay, last one, no judgment for me, by the way. No judgment, no judgment.

Speaker 1: 37:19

Last one buying in bulk to save money, even if you live alone.

Speaker 2: 37:23

Oh, rich because you are ultimately going to be saving money in the long term. You don't have to constantly keep going out and buying it again and again. Um, and we're living in this generation of cost of living at the moment and inflation, so if that can help you save money in the long run, then I'll definitely say do it amazing.

Speaker 1: 37:39

Thank you so much, elvie. You were a good sport with that game, which are ridiculous. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Before we run off this episode, can you tell everyone listening and watching where they can find out more about you and see more of your content?

Speaker 2: 37:52

yes, so you can find me on tiktok and instagram as savervelves.

Speaker 1: 37:57

Thank you so much and back again next week with another episode. Bye, guys.