Today’s Five Frugal Minutes is with the lovely Single Broke Female. This should kick you out of your Monday morning slump!

Tell me a bit about your “lightbulb moment”
It happened about 18 months ago, I’m not sure if it was any one thing in particular but I realised that if I didn’t sort myself out then I was going to be in debt forever and never move forward with my life. I was coasting along in a job that didn’t pay well, I hated where I lived and I had an overdraft that was £2400 and it just wasn’t going away. I realised I needed to change a lot of things, where I lived, where I worked, and getting my finances in order was the first of the things that needed changing. I needed to feel in control of my money and my life rather than constantly feeling out of control.

What made you decide to start blogging?
I’d read Karyn Bosnak’s blog for a while at Pretty in the City and her whole ‘Save Karyn’ story struck a cord with me, I thought it looked like a good way to make paying off debt a bit more fun so decided to give it a go, I didn’t actually think people would really read anything I wrote so when people started commenting on posts it made it feel like a worthwhile exercise and to know others were trying to do the same thing made it feel like I had a support network…plus it also means ‘fessing up to people when you haven’t done so well on the spending, which is always an incentive to not spend!

A lot of personal finance bloggers talk about keeping their “eyes on the prize” – What’s your prize?
I guess it would be the day I stop worrying about money or the day I can afford to take 6 months off travelling or afford a deposit for a house Something that means I have sufficient funds to make some choices and not stress about how I’m going to make it to the end of the month,  which is all I seem to be doing at the moment!

What’s your top tip for saving money?
Set up direct debits to go out a day or so after you get paid, and put them in savings accounts where you have to think about remembering a complicated password, if I can’t easily get access to it then I have more chance of not spending it!

I also do the £2 box like Holly from Holly is stopping Shopping where you save every £2 coin you get in a shoe box, it’s a great way to save cash without trying too hard.

Recommend a blog that you couldn’t live without?
There are so many good ones to choose from, I love anything related to London finance so Frugal Trenches, Savings Not Shoes and FruGal are probably my top three. I am also addicted to MoneysavingExpert for financial advice, top rates and the 2 4 1 coupons!

Has organising your finances and living frugally had any other positive effect on your life, other than saving money?
I guess I actually find it quite fun now to try and save money, rather than it being a chore. It’s fun to find cheaper things to do and I don’t feel so compelled to ‘keep up with the Jones’ like I used to. I now actually think about the price of something before I buy it and have become less of a consumer, I feel like I can now see through all the consumerism and advertising culture, which is liberating if nothing else! I now take enjoyment from simple things like being in the park on a sunny day or completing a challenging road race, rather than stressing about wearing a different outfit each time I go out and trying to keep up with everyone else’s social life, I’ve learnt to say no!

Thanks! SBF X