No guest this week, just Sammie on his own, walking through five simple money tasks you can knock out from the sofa with your phone in hand whenever life finally slows down.
Hello and welcome back to the Money Gains Podcast. This one is just me. I recorded it during one of those properly quiet stretches, the kind where you’ve had one too many mince pies and you’re finally not rushing anywhere, and it got me thinking about what to actually do with that downtime.
So today I’m diving into five little things you can do whenever you get a spare hour or two, whether that’s over the festive break, a bank holiday, or just a slow Sunday. None of these are complicated. They’re things you can do from the couch, and they’ll give you a proper head start on the year ahead.
Let’s get into it.
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Key takeaways
- A quick “overspending scan” beats a full yearly audit: spot the £7.99 subscriptions you’ve forgotten about and redirect that cash into savings or investing.
- Automating your money with round-up features and a standing order on payday builds the saving habit without you having to think about it.
- Just 30 minutes a week learning about money can make you significantly more financially confident, according to a Moneybox study.
- You’ve probably got at least £100 of unused stuff at home you could sell on Vinted, eBay or Facebook Marketplace.
- Attach a real experience to your savings goal, not just a number, so you’ve got a reason behind the reason to save.
Timestamps
- [00:00] Welcome Back: A Solo Quiet-Week Episode
- [01:24] Task 1: Audit Your Spending Without the Boring Bit
- [03:39] Task 2: Set Your Savings and Investing on Autopilot
- [06:40] Task 3: Spend 30 Minutes a Week Learning About Money
- [08:10] Task 4: Sell Unused Items for Quick Extra Cash
- [09:41] Task 5: Build a Vision Board for Your Money Goals
- [11:11] Wrap-Up and the Free Money Action Plan
Task 1: Audit your spending without the boring bit
Nobody enjoys sitting down to do a full yearly spending audit. So don’t. Instead, challenge yourself to just scan for the obvious overspending: that subscription you haven’t used in three months, the £7.99 app you forgot you signed up for.
Run through your banking app or credit card statement and ask one question of everything you see: is this actually adding value to my life? If not, cut it mercilessly and redirect that money into a holiday fund, a guilt-free spending pot, or your investments. You can audit your spending properly with a simple step-by-step process if you want more structure than a quick scan.
Budgets get a bad reputation for being restrictive, but really they’re an opportunity to move money towards the things that matter to you. A budgeting calculator makes this five-minute job even faster, once you’ve set it up you can just top it up through the year rather than starting from scratch each time.
Task 2: Set your savings and investing on autopilot
One of the biggest hacks going is auto-saving and auto-investing. Apps like Monzo, Moneybox and Plum all offer a “round up” feature: spend £3.50 on a coffee and it rounds the transaction up to £4, tucking the 50p away automatically. It’s the digital version of throwing spare change in a jar, except this money actually earns interest instead of losing value to inflation sat on the side.
From there, you can move that pot into a stocks and shares ISA and let it get to work for you. If you’re not sure which wrapper suits you, it’s worth reading up on cash ISA vs stocks and shares ISA before you decide where the money lands.
Set up a standing order for payday too, straight into your savings and investment account, for an amount you can comfortably afford. If £500 feels like a stretch, start with £20 or £25. The point isn’t the amount, it’s building the habit of paying yourself first. Try it for three months without dipping back in and see how it sticks. It’s also worth checking how much should be in your emergency fund before you start layering investments on top.
Task 3: Spend 30 minutes a week learning about money
A Moneybox study found that people who spend 30 minutes a week on their finances are over 50% more financially confident than everyone else. That’s a tiny amount of time for a big payoff.
Take it in small chunks rather than trying to learn everything at once. Pick up a book like Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, work through an investing for beginners in the UK guide, or tick items off an investing checklist one at a time. By the end of the year, all those half-hours compound into a genuinely different level of financial knowledge.
Task 4: Sell unused items for quick extra cash
Challenge yourself to find at least £100 worth of stuff sitting in your cupboards, garage or shed. Old clothes you haven’t worn in months, gadgets gathering dust, anything really. List it on Vinted, eBay or Facebook Marketplace and get that money working for you instead of sitting there doing nothing.
Whether you tuck it straight into savings and investments or use it to cover an overspend, that £100 makes a real difference. As the saying goes, one person’s junk is another person’s treasure, and most of us have more of it lying around than we’d like to admit.
Task 5: Build a vision board for your money goals
This one’s a bit more fun. Grab Canva or Pinterest and start picturing where you actually want to get to, but make it tangible rather than abstract. Instead of “I want a Tesla”, make it tangible the way Sammie does on the episode: “once I hit 5k in savings, I’m gonna take my girlfriend, my boyfriend, my wife, my husband, or my parents even, or a really good friend out to dinner”.
Give yourself a reason behind the reason to save, and consider looping in the people you’re saving with or for. Whether the goal is £150 or £10,000, personal finance is personal, so build a target that actually motivates you rather than one that just looks good on paper.
This transcript is auto-generated and lightly edited for readability, it may contain errors.
[0:00] Sammie Ellard-King: Hello and welcome back to the Money Gains podcast. We are not back with a full episode with a guest this week. It’s just me, guys. Unfortunately, you’re stuck with me for the next 10 or 15 minutes. We’re gonna do a little bit of a deep dive into this quiet period during Christmas and New Year when you’ve got a little bit of time. Perhaps you’ve had one too many chalkies or too much Christmas pud. I know that I definitely will be having too much Chalkies and Christmas Pud and that Christmas gammon as well. Oh my god, the Christmas gammon. But today, guys, enough of that ranting. I’m just gonna be diving into five little things you guys can do during the Christmas quiet period to set yourself up
[0:45] Sammie Ellard-King: for an absolutely killer 2025. So let’s get started on the Money Gains Podcast.
[0:51] Sammie Ellard-King: The Money Gains Podcast, Hungry No Man. Let’s make a 20 podcast.
[1:24] Sammie Ellard-King: Right, guys, it’s good to be back. And I hope you’re ready because today we’re gonna tuck into five little things that you guys can do during the Christmas period, which I think is gonna give you a little bit of a level up. They’re nothing crazy, they’re things that you could do from your couch with your phone out, you don’t have to worry too much. Um, but yeah, let’s get started with number one. And so, number one for me is I want you guys to think about optimizing your spending next year. So technically, what I tend to do, look, doing an audit, people think, oh my god, that’s so boring. But basically, instead of doing like a full yearly audit of your spending, no one enjoys doing that. Why don’t you just challenge yourself to actually look at
[2:09] Sammie Ellard-King: some of the things perhaps you might be overspending on? So, for example, it could be that subscription that you’ve got that you haven’t used in three months, and if you reallocated that money to say a holiday fund or a guilt-free spending pot, or indeed your investments, that’s gonna have a big, big impact on you. Even that $7.99. If you just cancel that, some of these subscriptions are quite expensive, and we tend to just leave them alone on the side there. So think about these things that you’re spending money on and whether you really need them in 2025. You know, is it actually adding any value to your life? I’m sure you can make a very quick list of the things that you think you’re spending money on, or just go run quickly through your Monzo account or your bank statement or whatever that might all be. We’ve all got a blooming mobile banking app these
[2:54] Sammie Ellard-King: days. Have a run through of it, just see what you’re spending, have a look at your credit card, what have you got on there as well, and just try and look, can I can we cut out this? Do I really want it? What I’m I think budgets are overrated, in all my opinion. And basically, for me, once you’ve done one, you can top it up throughout the year. And really, people think that budgets are restrictive, but really what they actually are is an opportunity for you to actually move money into the things that are making a difference to your life. And if things aren’t making a difference to your life, it should be cut out mercilessly, cut it straight away, and it will make a big, big difference, and move that money into things that are going to have a bigger impact on your life. Now, number two, guys, is set your money on
[3:39] Sammie Ellard-King: autopilot, right? One of the biggest hacks is auto-saving and auto-investing. Now, I love a feature from Monzo and Money Box as well. They also do it and it’s called Roundup. And basically, what what that is is essentially remember when you used to walk in the house and we used to have a pocket full of change, and we used to go throw that change in the jar. Basically, this is the digital version of that. Now, the reason why I love it so much with likes of Monzo and Money Box is because that money can be moved into savings pots which earn interest, unlike the jar where it used to just sit on the side, and of course, with inflation, it’s actually getting less in value. Your money with Money Box or or Monzo, I know there are others out there as well.
[4:24] Sammie Ellard-King: For example, Plum as well. I also also do it. That money’s growing. So just by you spending £3.50, for example, on a coffee, yes, I know it is that expensive in 2024 and probably gonna be even more in 2055. I mean, I paid like £7.90 for a Guinness the other day. I nearly like literally looked at the barman and was like, mate, what is going on in the world when I’m petting £7.90 for a Guinness? But let’s say I was paying that £7.90 for that Guinness, better blooming taste good. Anyway, what the roundup’s gonna do is it’s gonna round it up to the £8, or if it’s the coffee at £3.50, it’s gonna round it up to £4. So it’s gonna put £50p away, or in the Guinness case, £10p away, and that money’s gonna build up. Now you’d be really surprised at how quickly this actually builds up, and you can actually start putting
[5:09] Sammie Ellard-King: that money to good use. Now, with apps like Moneybox, for example, or even Monzo, you can then move that into the stocks and shares ISA as well and get that invested for you. So hopefully even making more money for you. So this is a good opportunity to just try and automate things. Now, I think that setting yourself up a standing order into your savings and investment account and then naming that account something exciting for yourselves, like you know, Bali 2025 or um my future Tesla or my future retirement savings pot or whatever that might well be, whatever excites you, you can often change the names of these accounts on control. Now, get that set up for 2025. So you’ve just got some money that’s just happening. And I’m gonna challenge you guys
[5:54] Sammie Ellard-King: in just doing that for three months and not tucking back into it. So creating that new habit and obviously, you know, new year, new me, and all of that. But really, if you can get this pay yourself first rule set up, so do it on payday, set it up for payday, the direct debit or a standing order that goes out of your account into your savings and investment account for an amount that you can easily afford. Now, if you’re like, oh, I can definitely do 500 quid, me, yeah, definitely afford 500 quid, start with 100 pound. So just like, you know, whatever that number is, if it’s if it’s uh 100 pounds, start with 25 quid or 20 quid, something that’s just you’re never gonna mess it up, right? What we’re trying to do is just build up that habit. So that’s what we’re gonna try and do. So set your money on autopilot, try and get as much of it automated as possible, especially
[6:40] Sammie Ellard-King: around your savings and investments for 2025. Then number three is I want you to try and expand your mind a little bit during this period. Now, I’m obviously, if you’re here, you’re doing the right thing, you’re listening to a podcast, but perhaps you might try and get yourself a new book or something along those lines. Perhaps you go back and binge a couple of these episodes. Now, there was a study done by Moneybox, which actually found that if you spend 30 minutes a week on your finances, you’re over 50% more financially confident than most other people out there right now. I will leave a link to that study in the show notes because it’s brilliant. And basically, the more time you spend learning about money, the better off financially you are going to be. So putting aside 30
[7:25] Sammie Ellard-King: minutes a week that you spend on whether that’s you know, learning about cash ISAs, learning about and take it in small chunks, guys. Don’t try and do everything at once. It could be just you dive into reading a book like I don’t know, Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, another amazing book. I’ve just bought Taxtopia as well, and I’m really looking forward to tucking into that. It’s all about how the world’s tax system works and how the rich get richer by not paying any tax, basically. You know? I like these thrills, other people might not, but look, what you should be trying to do is just take it in small chunks instead of thinking I’m gonna learn absolutely everything. Today I’m gonna learn about this, tomorrow I’m gonna learn about this, next week I’m gonna learn about that. Whatever that might well be, take it in small chunks and then put that into action. And it’s gonna pay off massively because
[8:10] Sammie Ellard-King: of the compounding effect of that. By the end of the year, all of those little half an hour are gonna add up, and you’re gonna know a hell of a lot more when it comes to doing this same thing in the quiet period next year. Now, number four is basically try and get yourself in some extra cash, which perhaps you can put into your savings and investments. Now, I’m gonna challenge you guys to try and find at least a hundred pounds worth of items which are sitting in your cupboard, whether that’s like old clothes that you’ve not worn in ages, you can chuck on vintage or eBay or Facebook Marketplace, go through your garage, clear out the shed, whatever those things are. I guarantee you you’ve got at least a hundred quid lying around in your house, and that you’re too lazy so far to basically
[8:56] Sammie Ellard-King: add on to these platforms and get selling it. Get that 100 quid working for you. I want you to challenge yourself and then I want you guys to let me know how you get on with that. And basically, I want you to get it into your savings and investments. You’re giving yourself a little bit of an extra boost ahead of the year, or if you just really need it because you’ve overspent on Christmas, which is definitely done by many, many a person, then that hundred quid’s gonna make a real difference to you. And I guarantee you, if you look around your house, I mean Gary V says it all the time: like, if you’re stuck for money, look around your house. You definitely got stuff you’re not using, which you could be making some money from you. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure, as they say. So that’s number four, and then number five, guys. Now, this is a little bit cooler than just sort of saying making
[9:41] Sammie Ellard-King: a visualized vision board, basically. So, number five, I want you to start thinking about where you actually want to get to. Now, you could use Canva for this or a Pinterest account, but basically, what I want you to start thinking about is the experiences behind money rather than necessarily um, you know, oh yeah, you know, I want a Tesla. I want it a little bit more tangible, guys. Like I’m gonna once I hit 5k in savings, I’m gonna take my girlfriend, my boyfriend, my wife, my husband, or my parents even, or a really good friend out to dinner once I do that. So it’s gonna give you a reason behind the reason to actually save. So you’re saving for you, but you’re also gonna treat
[10:26] Sammie Ellard-King: someone else to that once you hit that. And you could let them know that that’s what you’re gonna do as well, and you know, kind of get them involved in this little bit of a journey for you. And I think it would be a really nice thing to do for you guys as well. And that could be 10 grand in investments, it could be five grand in savings, it could be a thousand pounds, it could be 150 pounds, it doesn’t necessarily matter. Personal finance is personal, guys, so remember that as well. So these are little five things that you can do during this time where we’re sitting on our backsides, probably doom scrolling. So instead of doom scrolling, put your time to action, even a little bit is gonna make a big, big difference. So, guys, those are my five things. And I hope you guys have had an amazing Christmas. If you listened to this before Christmas or after Christmas, very Merry Christmas. It’s been an amazing year for Up
[11:11] Sammie Ellard-King: the Gains. Honestly, I can’t believe how much we have managed to grow this year and reach so many people. We won Money Content Creator of the Year 2024, earlier in the year. We’ve grown to 172,000 on Instagram, over 35,000 of you on our mailing list as well. And if you aren’t on our mailing list, head down to the description below because we have a free money action plan as well that you guys can get right now for free. And you can pop your email in and basically you answer a few questions and we give you a personalized content plan based on exactly where you’re at in your journey right now. People have been loving that. We’ve had over 12,000 people go through that alone since we launched it a few months ago. So it’s been an absolute banger and it helps you. And once
[11:56] Sammie Ellard-King: you get to, let’s say, for example, you need help with debt, or you need want to save or something, or you want to learn how to invest, once you’ve gone through that, it offers you the opportunity to then progress up to the next step as well. So you can go right from debt all the way to investor at the end as well. So there’s plenty of options in there for you guys. But look, honestly, hand on heart, I just want to say a massive thank you for supporting the show as well, the podcast. It’s been growing hugely as well. Please do share the show with someone that you think this will be useful for. And yeah, guys, look, honestly, have an amazing time off. You guys deserve it, and I’ll see you back in January when we launch the show with a bunch of brand new guests which are coming on. Honestly, there are some amazing guests
[12:42] Sammie Ellard-King: lined up for 2025. I am so excited for the show. But for now, I’ll see you soon and have a great, great time off. Take care, guys.
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