Couch to £1k: how to save money you never knew you had

With the rising cost of living hitting households across the country hard, and more than 6 million workers finding it almost impossible to save money for a rainy day, the importance of financial wellbeing has never been higher. That’s why at The Big Issue, we’re bringing you Couch to £1k, a money kickstarter course to help you start your journey towards better money management.

Couch to £1k will help you take control of your money, build lifelong good money habits and improve your financial wellbeing. You can find out more and join Couch to £1k for free now.

We spoke to the course creators, Best Intentions founders Mel Palmer and Tara Gillespie, to find out a bit more about who the course is for, how to get involved and the idea behind Couch to £1k.

And if you’re ready to give it a go simply click here to sign up absolutely free!

So what is Best Intentions all about?

“Best Intentions’ mission is to empower everyone to take control of their money and grow their wealth. More and more we are aware of the need to nurture our physical and mental wellbeing. But financial wellbeing is the last missing link from the discussion. With our Best Intentions community, we share the tools required to build and maintain financial wellbeing forever. This is through events, courses, blogs and podcasts.”

What inspired you to start Best Intentions? 

“We met through a mutual friend and bonded over our mission to help more people take control of their financial wellbeing. Our journeys to this point were quite different – Mel had spent many hours over the years, puzzling over how to get a handle on her money, realised how insanely difficult it was and is now intent on demystifying it for as many people as possible.

“Tara worked in financial services and grew increasingly frustrated at the knowledge gap between those in the industry and those outside and is determined to fix it! Over many a coffee we developed the concept of Best Intentions to make understanding money and growing wealth easy and fun for everyone.”

Watch our video for some tips on how to start setting financial goals and stick to them…

Tell us a bit about Couch to £1k…

“Couch to £1k is the money kickstarter course which will help you find £1,000 you never knew you had. Through the course you will learn everything you need to start taking control of your money, build lifelong good money habits and improve your financial wellbeing.

“It’s online and broken up into two to three minute videos so you can watch them whenever you like, in the time it takes for you to have a cuppa. Each video has a clear and simple take away for you to take action and get results immediately.”

Who is Couch to £1K for? Can anyone benefit from it?

“We do believe everyone could gain something from this course. However, this course was designed with a specific person in mind. If you ever get towards the end of the month and ask ‘where does all my money go’ or if you wish you could save just that little bit more – this course is for you!”

Saving money isn’t always easy. How does Couch to £1K help?

“It can be quite daunting to get started saving money. The marketing masterminds of the world make it so easy for us to spend money without even realising it. Also the cost of living is going up at an alarming rate so it can be challenging to cut back on the big expenses.

“Couch to £1k tackles these issues in three ways: 

“Quick wins: early gains can help reinforce the benefits of behavioural change and make it more likely to turn into a long-term habit. That’s why we give people easy ways to increase savings immediately.

“Mindset: understanding what really drives us means we can set goals that we are truly motivated to achieve. For example, if your dream is to travel the world, you aren’t going to be motivated to save money for a house. In the course, we encourage people to set savings goals that are aligned to their life goals to maximise the chances of success. 

“Rules of thumb: money management can seem complex but we believe in keeping things simple. That’s why we share some really simple rules of thumb for how much of our income we should be spending and saving.”

What is the number one thing we can do to save more today?

“Start! It sounds silly but starting can be the hardest bit. The easiest thing to do is start small (even if it’s £10 a month) and set up a direct debit out of your current account into a savings account for that amount on pay day. That way it’s out of sight, out of mind before you can spend it!

“Then you can think about increasing the amount each month, little by little, until you hit your target monthly savings amount.”

I’m short on time – how long does Couch to £1K take to complete?

“This course is designed for people short on time. Each video is two to three minutes long, so you really don’t have to invest much time each day to make gains. Even if you spread the course out over one month or one year you will see the benefits coming in.”

Join Couch to £1k today for free