Financial Detox: How to Save Money After the Summer Break
While summer’s fun, it can also be an expensive season. Holidays abroad and at home, long days out with hungry kids or just whiling away sunny evenings with one more drink – it all adds up. So, if you’ve reached autumn with a bit of a hole in your finances, take a look at our tips to help get back on budget, with a fresh perspective on spending.
The cost of summer
According to the BBC, the average cost of an all-inclusive week-long holiday in Spain for a family of four was £4,340 this summer – a 4% increase on 2025.
For those with kids, add the cost of summer camps and other childcare, plus unpaid leave to fill the gaps. No wonder you’re feeling overwhelmed by the second most expensive season of the year.
But fear not. With everyone returning to the usual routine soon, now’s a great time to reassess your finances and get things back on track.
As well as saving some money for the months ahead, we’ll look at longer-term goals.
The best place to start? A financial detox.
What is a financial detox?
Just like a detox from junk food, caffeine, alcohol or sugar, a financial detox is all about being a little more mindful about what you’re consuming.
It means taking a close look at how you spend your money, being honest with yourself about the essentials and cutting out bad habits. Here’s how:
- Download a spreadsheet of all your transactions from every bank account for the last month (or three, if you’re being thorough).
- Go full forensic, categorising every single spend, for instance food, bills, mortgage/rent, insurance, credit cards/loans and travel costs, plus extra like socialising, streaming services and treats.
- Tot up all your incomings – salary, interest from savings accounts and any other income.
- Compare incomings to outgoings. Is there any surplus or are you overspending?
Cut the overspending
If you’re ending each month in the red, don’t panic. There might be some simple swaps or stops that will get you back in the black.
Simple swaps, big savings
By cutting back on non-essential spending, you could save thousands each year.
Takeaway coffee: One cafe-bought coffee at around £5, five times a week (excluding annual leave and bank holidays) will cost you £1,140 a year.
Lunches out: A simple sandwich and a drink can now cost about £7.50. Add that up over your working days and you’ll spend £1,710 in a year.
Streaming services: Signing up for three of the UK’s top streaming services at once will set you back at least £21 a month – that’s £252 a year.
In total, you could easily save as much as £3,102 a year, by cutting back on what seem like small spends. That could buy you a 20g gold bar every year.
Make your money work harder
If you’ve got some money left at the end of the month, hurrah! Now just make sure it’s maximising its potential.
Look at pension contributions, savings accounts, ISAs and mortgage overpayments, rather than leaving money dormant in a low or no-interest current account.
With online banking and apps, it’s easy these days to automate savings. Set up a standing order to a high-interest savings account or ISA, or speak to your HR department about upping your pension contributions. (Bonus: that might even save you a bit of tax, depending on your bracket
Before paying extra on your mortgage, speak to your provider as there are sometimes limits on overpayments, with penalties if you go overboard.
Take an interest in interest
If you’ve got multiple debts, check the interest rates on each. Prioritise paying off those with the highest rates, while still paying at least the minimum amounts on lower rate loans and cards.
If you’ve got savings pots too, check they’re earning more interest than you’re being charged on your loans. You might be losing money every month overall, if your debt interest outstrips your savings interest.
Set yourself a challenge
It may be centuries old, but Socrates' famous phrase, "Know thyself", still holds true today.
To break bad money habits, you must first understand why they exist. Think about your “money mindset” and attitude towards money:
Do you run out of money before the end of the month?
Do you tend to make impulsive purchases?
Are you more likely to spend money when you are sad?
If you answered yes to these questions, it's probably time to change your money mindset.
Here are several things you could do:
- Use cash: to avoid overspending, it may be a good idea to use only cash, at least for some time. Based on your budget, take out some cash at the beginning of the week, and stick to that.
- Avoid impulse buying: next time you're tempted to buy something out of the blue, try waiting 24 hours before making that transaction. There's a good chance you won't need that item after all.
- Substitute: if you enjoy good food, try cooking it at home instead of buying lunch; if you love books 📚 , visit a charity store instead of going to a pricey bookstore.
- Download a budgeting app: with some banking apps, you can block specific types of spending or set a limit on your spending. This way, you will be able to keep track of your long-term savings goals, as you will have transparency over your income and expenditures.
🤔How much do your bad habits cost you?
Takeaway coffees: one daily cafe-bought coffee at €3.00 will cost you €1,095 a year.
Cigarettes: a 10-cigarettes-a-day habit can easily cost you around €1,800 a year.
Lunches out: over a year, you'll spend about €1,900 on lunch if you spend €7.50 on it every weekday.
In total, you could easily save as much as €4,795 by cutting those unnecessary expenses and converting them into gold savings. With this amount of money, you could buy a 50g gold cast bar and 1 oz minted gold bar every year!
Most importantly, try not to dwell on your past financial mistakes! Why? Because failure is the path to success!
Every person makes mistakes and has money problems, but you can use them to learn lessons and grow. This includes improving your finances.
So instead of dwelling on what went wrong in the past, make a plan to do better in the future based on the lessons you learned.
Set yourself a financial challenge
If saving money sounds boring, try setting a challenge or getting competitive with a partner or friend. You might be surprised how much you save. Here are a few of our favourites.
1. The no-spend month
Pick a quiet month (September can be a good one) and cut all but essential spending. That means no takeaways, coffees on the go, beauty treatments or nights out. You can still socialise of course, just stick to the sofa and ask friends to bring half the snacks. If a whole month feels too long, try a week each month, or every other weekend to start with.
2. The 52-week challenge
This one starts small and builds up, but you’ll save loads in the process. In week one, put aside £1. In week two, £2. In week three, £3. You get the idea. In week 52, you’ll put away £52, bringing your total savings to £1,378. That’s a decent budget for next year’s holiday, and also works well as a Christmas savings plan, if you start in late-December.
3. The 365-day challenge
If building up the amount every week might be tricky, opt for a regular amount instead. Set up a standing order and send your daily lunch or coffee spend to a savings account. £5 x 365 = £1,825. Even £2 a day will give you £730 over the year. And since it’s a small amount amongst your other bills, you might not even notice it going.
Top saving tips
Celebrate your new-found knowledge. Don’t dwell on past financial slip-ups. The important thing is to take charge now, and really understand where your money’s going. You’re well on your way, just reading this – that’s worth celebrating.
Avoid impulse buys. If you spot a must-have, pause. Wait 24 hours, see if you still need it quite so desperately and reassess the spend. There’s a good chance you’ll decide it’s not worth the money.
Use budgeting tools. Lots of banking apps now have budgeting tools and spending limits you can set on certain transactions. Check them out, set them up and start saving.
Have a goal. Maybe it’s a dream holiday or a new outfit. Perhaps you’ve got a long-term goal like retirement or a uni fund for the kids. Set a savings target and do your very best to hit it. Of course it’s not set in stone, and circumstances might change, but it’s useful to have a figure in mind, even if you tweak if every now and then.
What’s the bottom line?
Financial goals like a no-spend month and the 52-week challenge are meant to give you a reset, and are a good way to get a better understanding of your spending. They’re not intended as a punishment.
The hardest part is getting started. Downloading the statements. Analysing your spending. Being honest with yourself and others. Once that bit’s done, the savings can start and you’ll feel so much better for it.
Just focus on taking small steps every day, and before you know it, you’ll be well on the way to your target.
Want more savings advice? Check out our SPOTLIGHT blogs for more money-saving tips, budgeting for a big project, saving for retirement and savings accounts vs. gold.
