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How can I get better at managing money?

With the pandemic affecting job opportunities and cost of living on the increase (hello scary energy bills), saving money can seem impossible. If you’re struggling to put emergency money aside each month for a rainy day, don’t worry you’re not alone.

Lots of us find money management a real challenge and can sometimes live month to month waiting for the next pay cheque, in fact 41% of young people we surveyed told us that their money worries had increased due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Luckily, there are lots of resources out there which can help you get to grips with your finances and start saving.

Try a new money course, for free!

Our friends at The Big Issue have teamed up with the financial experts at Best Intentions to bring you free access to their Couch to £1k course until 11th May 2022. Couch to £1k is a course to help you kickstart your savings account, develop good money habits, put some emergency money aside and hopefully even save your first £1,000!

Review of Couch to £1k

In order to find out more about this new money course, we asked our young ambassador, Laura, to test it out. You can read her review below to find out more about her experience.

What did you like about the course?

I thought the course was really engaging and relatable. It was made accessible through quick videos chunked into manageable pieces. I think this makes it more achievable for anyone who is particularly busy, but still wants to learn about how to manage their money, save money, or learn new money tips.

Which features did you find useful?

There was text alongside the video, making it more accessible to a wider range of people, whether you process text or audio best. In line with making it more accessible, I also liked that it tracked your progress in the course for you as you marked off videos you had seen. This was useful as it meant that the course could be interacted with over a period of time rather than in one sitting, again making it easier for anyone who is particularly busy.  

What did you learn from the course?

I learnt that some of my spending habits were largely based on my routine pre-covid, and it has made me think more carefully about whether my spending habits are meeting my current needs. As a student, I learnt some tips from this course, particularly around being consciously aware of spending habits and comparing prices. 

What could be improved about the course?

I think this course could be further enhanced by having a sub-section targeting students, people are who are unemployed, and anyone else with circumstances that reduce their income or mean they do not have to pay all the bills themselves but still need to manage money carefully.  

The course may also benefit from the speed button that most videos have these days, such as 1.5 X speed or 2 X speed as this would also help with engagement from particularly busy people.

Would you recommend this course to others?

Overall, I really enjoyed this course and whilst there are some tweaks which can be made to the course for further enhancement, I would recommend this course to other people, and repeat the course when my financial circumstances change. 

If you need support with money management

Head to our money page, where you’ll find support on everything from universal credit and national insurance, to jobseekers allowance and student finance.

Watch our video on how to manage your money well: