CONSTANTLY feel like you’re struggling to make ends meet on your salary? Money experts reveal a five-step plan to easily boost your cash in 2026.
The average salary for those in their 20s is £34,724, according to Starling Bank – but with inflation still high, the cost of living from food to energy bills is still a struggle for many to afford.
After tax and pension contributions taken off, a £35,000 salary leaves you with £27,319 a year, or £525 a week.
The typical household spends £585.60 a week on bills (excluding mortgage or council tax) from food to transport and clothing, according to the Office for National Statistics.
That means a £35k salary doesn’t even stretch to meet these outgoings.
If you’re finding that your salary is being eaten up by bills and are struggling to find cash to stash away in your savings, then you’ll want to follow our money expert tips on how to be better off.
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From the 0-3-6 rule to spring cleaning your way to £100s, we explain all you need to know.
Step one – try the 0-3-6 budget rule
The first step to getting your finances in order is to create – and stick – to a budget.
There are handy budgeting rules you can use to help. There’s no need to stick to one – you can try mixing and matching them to boost savings and tame your spending.
If you want to save more, try the 0-3-6 rule. This is a tactic often used by savers over in the United States, but it’s slowly making it’s way over to the UK – and you can use it too.
The “0” stands for zero high-interest debt – this means that the first step to take is to get rid of any expensive loans or credit card bills.
These are debts that are charged high levels of interest – for example, average credit card interest rates stand at 21.54%, according to the Bank of England.
If you paid £50 a month on a £1,500 credit card balance, you’d pay it off by July 2029 but you’d be stung with £581 in interest charges.
Sarah Coles from the investment platform suggests using the avalanche method to get your debts down to zero.
“Focusing on paying debts with the highest interest rates off first, so you’re racking up less in interest rate payments,” she says.
The “3” stands for having three months of emergency savings, once you’ve cleared your debts. On the average salary of £35k, that means saving up £2,666.
Stash this cash in an easy access savings account with a high interest rate, so you can dip into it easily if needed. The best rate based on a £2,666 pot is Santander’s Edge Saver account at 6%.
The “6” stands for spending no more than one sixth (17%) of your income on non-essential things like gym memberships and clothes.
For a £35k salary, that means spending no more than £387 on these “wants”.
For paring back spending, you could also try following the 50-30-20 rule.
This is a well-known method that sees you set aside 50% of your income on “musts” like bills, rent and food, 30% on “wants” like takeout coffees and clothes, and 20% on savings or paying off debts.
On a £35k salary, that would mean setting aside £1,138 on “musts”, £682 on “wants” and £455 on savings or debts.
Step 2 – spring clean your way to £382
Once you’ve got your budget in order, you can set about doing an MOT on your finances.
This is an easy way to easily boost your bank balance, as many of us don’t know that there are secret money drains in our accounts.
The average person is wasting £61 annually on services they don’t use, because they forgot to cancel their direct debit, according to HSBC.
“Go through your budget line by line and cut out anything you don’t use – whether that’s forgotten subscriptions or overpriced bills,” says Kara Gammell from the comparison site MoneySuperMarket.
“Once you know where you stand, you can redirect those savings into a pot for your goals.”
For example, five million mobile phone customers are at risk of double paying on their phone bill.
This is when you are paying off a handset you’ve already paid off.
Each customer could save an average of £321 a year just by switching to a SIM-only deal.
Just these two simple tweaks alone could save you £382 a year – and only take minutes to do.
Step 3 – supercharge your savings and turn £25 into £4,465
Now you’ve streamlined your spending and budgeted for savings, see if you can supercharge your cash.
To make your money work harder, put it in a savings account with a high interest rate – or think about investing it to turbocharge your pot.
If you have a short term savings goal within the next year – like a summer holiday or MOT – then stash your cash in an easy access account.
Consider a fixed savings account – where your money is locked for a certain period of time and paid a fixed interest rate – for goals between one to five years.
This could be if you want to buy a house in the near future, or if you are planning a more expensive once-in-a-lifetime trip soon, like a safari.
The best rate for a three year fixed savings account is offered by UBL Raisin UK at 4.21%.
For goals further than five years away – such as retirement – consider investing.
Experts say to lock away your cash for at least five years, so your money has time to recover if there are any bumps in the market.
Only invest money you can afford to lose. But investing can see your money grow significantly.
If you invested £25 into the FTSE 100, which is the collective name for the 100 largest UK companies by value, you could turn £25 into £4,465 after 10 years, assuming that your investment grew at a rate of 5 per cent a year after charges.
Struggling to save? Sign up to an app that automates your savings – so you can do it easily without thinking.
“Some bank accounts round up your spending to the nearest pound and move the spare change into a savings pot,” says Kara.
“It’s a simple way to build up extra cash without thinking about it – and if your bank doesn’t offer this, consider switching to one that does.”
Try Plum, Moneybox or Chip, or see if your bank has a handy feature.
Step 4 – do easy jobs to earn you £1k tax-free
If your bank balance is looking scary and you have the January money blues, do an easy job in your spare time to save you more cash.
Some you don’t even have to leave the house for.
If you’re a chatterbox, then you’ll be thrilled to hear you can get paid for simply having a natter by signing up to the Cambly app.
There’s plenty of people who will pay to chat to a fluent English speaker to improve theirs. You can earn £7.75 chatting to adults and £9.11 for talking to children.
If you’re willing to let companies snoop into your spending habits they’ll pay for the privilege – NielsenIQ pays in vouchers if you scan in your shopping each week and show them what you pay.
Love the beautiful game? You can make money from being a referee.
You’ll need to do five modules of online training with the Football Association, but you’ll be paid around £20 to £55 per game at grassroots level.
You can earn up to £1,000 each year without paying income tax, thanks to the Trading Allowance rule.
Step 5 – swipe over £1,000 back from the taxman
Make sure you’re using the most of all the tax relief on offer – it could save you thousands.
You can cut your tax bill by claiming relief on your job expenses. This means you’ll take home more of your income and pay less in tax.
To be eligible, you must use your own money for things you need to buy for your job and that you only use for work.
This could include things like uniforms, work clothes, tools, vehicles you use for work, travel and overnight costs, and can include costs incurred from working from home.
You’ll get the relief based on what you’ve spent and the rate at which you pay tax. So if you claim £60 of tax relief and usually pay tax at 20%, you’ll get £12 back.
See if you can claim marriage allowance, says Laura Suter from the investment platform AJ Bell.
Every worker has a personal allowance of £12,570, which is the amount of money they can earn each year before they start to pay income tax.
Marriage Allowance is a special tax rule that lets you transfer £1,260 of your personal allowance to your husband, wife or civil partner.
Your income must be below £12,570 and your partner must pay Income Tax at the basic rate, which usually means their income must be between £12,571 and £50,270.
“It’s thought around two million couples are eligible for this tax break but not claiming it, and even those where one half of the couple is retired can claim the tax break,” says Laura.