Saving large amounts of money starts with breaking down your income and outgoings and figuring out how much you can realistically save each month. Doing this ensures that you have a realistic goal to work towards, and accounts for living and enjoying your life – instead of being a slave to your budget.

I created my savings spreadsheet to help Tim and I save for our big trip around the world, and it helped us to save £100k for our travels. I was never good at saving before adopting this method of tracking my money, and now I still use it to keep track of our finances. It’s no-nonsense budgeting for people who can never seem to save money.

To share my saving tips with you , I create a special plan to help you kick start your savings journey and to show you how it’s possible to save lots of money and also still get to do things that you enjoy. Taking control of your finances means that you can choose where to spend your money,  and when to treat yourself.

Along with using my savings plan, I recommend reading my ’10 Simple Ways to Save Money for Travelling’ post to help you boost your income, reduce your bills, and increase your ‘Potential Savings Amount‘.

How do I buy the savings plan as a gift?

We don’t have a gift option, but you can instead enter your friends email in at checkout and send the plan to them instead.

• Select the savings plan and click ‘add to cart’.
• When you enter in the details on the checkout page, pop your friends email in the order form. They will be sent the confirmation email instead.
• You cannot pay by PayPal if you want the email to go to someone else, as the plan gets sent to your PayPal account automatically. You can pay by Apple Pay or card instead to buy the plan as a gift.

One thing to note is that you won’t be sent the savings plan after you buy it. You will just be sent an email with a link to download the plan, so you can forward this email to a friend if you would like them to have it. If you want to pay by PayPal, this would be your best option.

What applications can I use with the Savings Plan?

All of the Savings Planner features can be used with both Excel and Google Sheets, but not Apple’s ‘Numbers’ application. While you can still use the plan with Numbers, some of the functionality will be lost.

I recommend using Google Sheets, which is a free, online spreadsheet program that allows you to share your Savings planner easily with your other half and access it from your phone, iPad or computer.  When you share the plan with someone, you can see each others updates to the sheet instantly. This means you don’t need to email it back and forth with updates, and you can always have the latest version.

Because the program is online, if you lose your phone, upgrade your laptop, or break your iPad, you will still have access to the sheet on any new device. Just go to Google Sheets, log in with your Google account, and your spreadsheet will be there, with all of your edits!

How do I Install the StephMyLife Savings Plan?

Once you purchase the Savings plan, an email will be automatically sent to you with a download link for your plan. If you don’t immediately see this in your inbox, check your junk or spam folder to see if it was filtered in here. Search for ‘shop@stephmylifetravel.com‘ to find the email.

Your confirmation email contains a download link for the plan. Before you click this link, decide if you want to download the plan onto your phone or your computer.

If you want to download the plan onto your phone, install the Google Sheets app first as you will need this to load up the plan. Here is a link to the Android app and here is one to the Apple Version. Click the link in the email to download the plan, and then when you’re prompted, open the file in the Google Sheets app. The file will now be ready to use in the app, and if you log into Google sheets on your computer you can see the Savings plan here. If you clicked the link on your phone and can’t find the download later, here is how to find your downloaded files on Android and iPhone.

If you want to download it on your computer, you can just click the link and the file will go into your downloads folder. You can either open it up in Excel, or else load it into Google Sheets. Here is how you do that (it only takes a minute).

How to use the StephMyLife Savings Plan

1. Purchase the ‘StephMyLife Savings Plan’ and you will immediately be emailed the plan.
2. Download the ‘StephMyLifeTravel Savings Plan‘, and save a copy to your computer or to a Google sheets account (I recommend using Google Sheets so that you can sync the plan across all of your devices and budget on the go).
3. Open the ‘Start Here’ sheet to see some tips and info before you start entering your details.
4. Open the ‘Monthly Income‘ tab and enter in your monthly income. If you are saving with your partner, enter your  joint income. Add in any additional streams of income either of you make.
5. Open the ‘Monthly Fixed Expenses‘ tab and enter all monthly bills, subscriptions, direct debits & standing orders. You may need to go through your bank statements to make sure you have everything accounted for.
6. Open the ‘Annual Fixed Expenses‘ tab, and enter in any large bills that are paid annually – or even irregularly. Often these expenses take us by surprise, wiping out any savings we have accrued – but not anymore! Now you’re going to put away a little money each month for these bills, so there are no surprises when they pop up.
7. Next, open the ‘Monthly Budget‘ tab. This is when we’re going to start budgeting! I have broken your monthly expenditure down into categories, and I want you to create a realistic monthly budget for each category. Feel free to add a category if you wish, the calculations in the rest of the sheet will reflect these changes.
8. Once you have filled out these four tabs, open the ‘Monthly Savings‘ tab. This will show you the full breakdown of your income less your fixed and variable expenses – identifying how much you could potentially save per month. Your ‘Potential Savings Amount‘ (Cell B9) is the key figure you want to focus on as this shows you how much you can put away each month if you stick to your planned budget.
9. Take a look at your ‘Potential Savings Amount‘ . Are you happy with this figure? If so, then your next steps are to work hard to stick to the budget you have set yourself in ‘Monthly Budget’. If you’re not happy, then follow the next two steps:
10. Go through the ‘Monthly Fixed Expenses‘ tab and reduce this total as low as you can.  Cancel subscriptions you don’t need, and find cheaper alternatives for ones that you do need. I’ll show you how in Savings Tip #4.
11. If your bills are reduced and you’re still not satisfied with your ‘Potential Savings Amount‘, then you need to boost your income. There are many ways to earn extra money on the side. I explain how to do this in Savings Tip #5.

If you have entered your income and your fixed bills, then the tab you will spend most on is the ‘Monthly Budget‘ tab. This is where you will be tracking your spending every day / week / month. The first month is the most important for budgeting, as it will highlight bad spending habits and tell you if the budget you have set yourself is realistic and achievable.

I have included a ‘Spending Test‘ section where you can enter your actual spend and compare it to your budgeted amount for the first few weeks. This allows you to see how realistic your budgeted goal was, and allow you to make adjustments if you had budgeted too much or too little. Be honest with your budget and what you spend, if you consistently find yourself going over budget for one category despite doing the best you can, then it’s time to up our budget for that category. Remember, the more under pressure you feel, the more likely you may be to quit.

Underneath the monthly budget, I have included a daily budget tracker in green which you can use to track your spending and make sure you’re sticking to the budget. I recommend using this for at least the first few weeks to get you used to being accountable for what you spend.

I recommend using the budgeting spreadsheet with Google Sheets on your work laptop, home laptop, and phone so that you can always have access to it and can keep on track with your finances on the go.

How do I share the StephMyLife Savings Plan with my Partner?

If you are using Excel, you will have to email the sheet back and forth to your partner.

If you are using Google Sheets, then you can share the plan online with your fiance or someone else. This means you can both update the sheet on your own devices and instantly see each others updates. This is extremely helpful, because not only can you share the sheet with each other, you can also access it across all of your devices. You can update the sheet on your laptop when you’re at home, and also add things to the budget on your phone when you’re on the go.

To share the plan, first open the Savings Planner on Google Sheets on your phone or computer.

• On your computer, click the green button on the top right corner of the screen that says ‘share’. Enter the email address you want to share it with, and choose the type of access you would like to give the person. see each others updates.
• To share on your phone, open the savings plan and click the icon of a person with a plus sign next to it. Enter in the email address and choose the type of access just like the above way, and send the invitation.

You can share the sheet across as many devices and with as many people as you like. Just be sure to only give editing access to those who you want to edit the sheet and know how to use it. Otherwise they may accidentally delete an important calculation.

Why does my link say it has expired?

Each link comes with a limited number of downloads, so you may have clicked this link and downloaded the plan already too many times. If you clicked the link on your laptop, check your ‘downloads’ folder to find the file. If you clicked it on your phone or iPad, here is how to find your downloaded files on Android and iPhone.

If you can’t find the download anywhere, reply to your confirmation email letting us know and we can help you get access to your savings Plan!

Where is my confirmation email?

A confirmation email containing your download link is sent out automatically after each purchase. If you pay by PayPal, it will be sent to your PayPal email, otherwise it will be sent to the email you enter at checkout.

If the email is not in your inbox, check your junk or spam email as sometimes mail gets filtered in here. Search for ‘shop@stephmylifetravel.com’ to find the email.  If you cannot find the email anywhere, send me an email at ‘steph@stephmylifetravel.com‘ and I’ll fix that for you.

How to upgrade your existing savings plan

If you have not downloaded and started using your sheet,  click the download link in your confirmation email to get the newest version of the plan. If you have started using the plan, then follow these steps:

If you are using Google Sheets

• Open the Google Sheet Version 3 Upgrade document.
• If you want to save the upgrade sheet to your Google Sheets, go to ‘File’ and save a copy. Don’t edit the file, even if it looks like there are errors, these are just calculations that depend on the figures in your existing plan.
• Right click the tab ‘6. Total Savings‘ and click ‘Copy To’, ‘Existing Spreadsheet’
• Choose your existing savings plan from the list, when prompted click ‘open spreadsheet’, and then ‘OK’.
• Right click tab ‘8. Loans & Credit Cards‘ and follow the same steps to copy this sheet to your existing plan (don’t click ‘open spreadsheet at the end)
• Go to your existing spreadsheet.
• You will see that these two tabs appear in your existing savings plan.
• If you have not edited your tab ‘6. Total Savings‘, then delete it and rename ‘Copy of 6. Total Savings’ to be ‘6. Total Savings’ and drag it into the right place.
  If you have edited the tab, copy any changes over to the new version and then delete the old one.
• Rename ‘Copy of 8. Loans & Credit Cards‘ to be ‘8. Loans & Credit Cards (this is important)
• Next, return to the upgrade document and right click ‘Charts’ and follow the above steps to copy it to your existing sheet.
• Go to the existing sheet and rename the sheet to remove ‘copy of’
• That’s it!

If you are using Excel

• Open the Google Sheet Version 3 Upgrade document.
• Go to ‘File’, ‘Download’ and download as a Microsoft Excel file .xslx file.
• Open both the upgrade document and your existing plan in Excel.
• Right click the tab ‘6. Total Savings‘ and select Move or Copy from the context menu. This will open the Move or Copy dialog box.
• In the Move or Copy dialog box, do the following:
  • Under To book, choose your existing saving plan (your existing plan must be open, it will only show open excel files here)
  • Under Before sheet, specify where to put the copy.
  • Select the Create a copy box.
  • Click OK.
• Right click tab ‘8. Loans & Credit Cards’ and follow the same steps to copy this sheet to your existing plan.
• Go to your existing spreadsheet.
• You will see that these two tabs appear in your existing savings plan.
• If you have not edited your tab ‘6. Total Savings‘, then delete it and rename ‘Copy of 6. Total Savings’ to be ‘6. Total Savings’ and drag it into the right place.
• Rename ‘Copy of 8. Loans & Credit Cards‘ to be ‘8. Loans & Credit Cards (this is important).
• Next, return to the upgrade document and right click ‘9. Charts‘ and follow the above steps to copy it to your existing sheet.
• Go to the existing sheet and rename the sheet from ‘Copy of 9. Charts’ to ‘9. Charts’.
• That’s it!

If you have any trouble upgrading, email me at steph@stephmylifetravel.com!