Squirrel

Squirrel is possibly one of the best budgeting apps around….

 

Squirrel helps you budget to make sure your wages last the whole month, rather than what I use to do which is run out halfway through.

 

It is simple to setup and easy to manage. There are 3 steps to it. Firstly, sign up and create your account, two; create your plan with all your monthly expenses, rent/mortgage, netflix subscription,phone bill etc and saving goals, then thirdly customize them with your own photos and names, it could be for a holiday, buying a house or just a rainy day fund. The app then keeps your savings safe and pays out your weekly spending money and bill money as you need it.

 

Your income is divided up into weekly payments and any money which is left over becomes your weekly spending money, this is split into 5 payments to cover you for the event of 5 Mondays in a month. However a lot of the month’s only have 4 Mondays which means your 5th payment on those months goes straight into your savings account as a top up.

 

Once your account has been set up fully and all your bills/direct debits etc are entered, and  your first income payment you will receive your plan. Squirrel will deposit all money to your current account for your bills the day before they are due. Your weekly spending every Monday is also paid into your current account and finally your saving is kept within your squirrel account where you can watch them grow towards your target. Any of your weekly spending money that is left over in your current account by the end of the week also gets take out again and added to your savings.

 

I have been using Squirrel since January 2017 and it is one of the best things that I have done. Like most people I always struggled for money near the end of each month, so with using Squirrel it has helped because I can see more clearly what I am spending and saving and with my weekly allowance being deposited straight into my account I seem to have more extra cash, although at first I wasn’t sold on the idea that this would be safe or secure with all my money and I had that panic of what happens if they just steal my money, but after speaking to one of their staff they told how secure it was and safe for me to use. The 3 biggest things for me is that they are FCA regulated just like a standard high-street bank, all the payments are powered by Barclays banks and also Squirrel is backed by the Cabinet Office.

 

The last big question I had before joining was what if I needed my money to cover an emergency like a new washing machine or car repairs etc, squirrel understand that things happen and you will get your money within a 24 hour period. You always have access to your own money.

 

Squirrel does charge £3.99 a month; which is less than 13p per day, although some employers offer it for free, such as the NHS. If you are rubbish at saving money this really is brilliant as I have saved over £400 in a few months, and its costs me around £8 which is money I wouldn’t have been able to save before. Oh, and you also get a 3 month free trial to try it out first and see what your think and don’t worry if you don’t like it after the 3 months, you can leave as there is no contract.

 

When your start saving with Squirrel you also get a free £15 added to your savings, so you have nothing to lose give it a go.

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