After the events of this year, we could all do with saving a few pounds in 2021 - and one woman from Australia has come up with a genius 'envelope' trick that will save you thousands.
The idea is so simple and we can't wait to try it. Posting on Facebook, the woman explained she first made a list of all her expenses for the year - for example, the mortgage, car costs and insurance.
She also accounted for Christmas spending, clothes, birthdays, shopping and other bits and bobs throughout the year.
For each annual expense, she divided the figure by 26 to calculate how much each would come to per fortnight.
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Then, the woman took a labelled envelope for each expense, so that when payday came around she could simply pop the money needed into the envelope while the rest remains in her bank account to be saved.
Once all her expenses had been accounted for, the woman is able to save whatever is left in her account each fortnight, making it so much easier to avoid over spending.
The simple trick can easily be adapted for those who are paid monthly or even weekly.
She wrote: "Quite happy with what I did today. Someone on here showed us the saving envelopes that you pick two every payday.
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"Then I worked out bills for the year and divided them at 26 weeks. Then I worked how many toiletries and cleaning products we use and made sure we have enough for twelve months.
"We very rarely buy clothing and such but also made an envelope for that. Gosh have not purchased clothing for many years. So really we should not need to shop for 12 months.
"Even did one for how many of each denomination I needed for each envelope."
Other people on Facebook were impressed by the organised method, with many thanking her for sharing her saving tips.
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Others said they followed a similar idea, but used bank accounts instead of envelopes so to avoid having to constantly withdraw cash and store it at home.
One person commented on the post: "My mum used to do this and I started doing it in the early 90s. I loved it. Now I just have a bunch of accounts with my bank but I still do it the same, just without cash."
We are so trying this in 2021! What a simple way to budget and save at the same time!
Featured Image Credit: Unsplash