Meet Ben, 19, Manchester
Ben, second year student at Manchester Uni, lives with his mates Jack, Michael and Freya in rented accommodation.
Click on a Jar below to explore.
Managing the bills with flatmates
Everyone’s a bit new to handling bills every month – it’s more complicated than you think. Especially as the cost of living varies quite a lot between term time and the holidays. The four of them have a general shared Jar to cover the food essentials they all eat, plus heating, broadband – and Xbox! Jack worked out the amounts and set up the Jar, he’s the smart one. Freya can be forgetful, so she set up scheduled monthly payments to the shared Jar so that she never forgets to pay her way.
Planning for Thailand at Xmas
Ben’s hoping travel to Thailand will be open by winter. He’s got a mate teaching English in Bangkok who he can stay with, and then go down to the islands. He’s got a goal of £1000 in his Thailand jar. He works part-time in a pub in between terms and tries to save most of that, plus he’s going to ask for money from his relatives for his birthday.
Making the student loan last
It can be tempting to go on a bender when the student loan hits down, but no one wants to be stuck living on beans on toast by November. Ben worked out his weekly spending budget and transfers this over to his HyperJar every week, so he can’t spend more than he should. This way the rest of his loan stays safe in his instant-access savings account.
Meet Helen, 24, London
Helen, post-graduate student at LSE, lives with her partner Rob in Bounds Green.
Click on a Jar below to explore.
Managing bills with her partner
She and Rob split the grocery shopping and various household costs between them, including Netflix and Spotify. They each use scheduled payments to automatically put £100 a month into a shared Jar on payday. That covers most things and leaves a bit over for emergencies – or the occasional takeaway.
Saving up for a new Mac
Helen’s had her eye on a Mac Air for a while. She’s got £550 in a jar already and is putting £75 a month into it. The 256gb model is about £900 so she should get it in 4 months – and Rob is going to put in £100 towards it as a birthday present. Helen also gets all her beauty products from FeelUnique. She feels guilt-free about spending on make up because she stays on top of things by locking in her budget every month – and she gets an amazing growth rate on her money.
Mum and Dad’s 25th
Helen, Joe and Emma want to get their Mum and Dad something nice between them for their 25th wedding anniversary in December, maybe a weekend away. They’ve set up a shared Jar with a goal of £500. They generally contribute the same amount each month, though Emma earns the most and sometimes puts in a little extra. Joe does tend to forget – he’s only 21 – but they can ping him a reminder in the app.
Helen has another shared Jar with 3 mates for book club. £2 a week means every two months they can all buy the book plus pay for some wine when they get together.
Meet Paolo, 20, Bradford
Paolo lives in university halls at Bradford where he’s doing an MA in translation. He does some freelance work for which he gets paid pretty well.
Click on a Jar below to explore.
Meeting Up
Paolo’s girlfriend Emilia is also at university, but in Manchester. It’s only about 90 minutes away by train so they see each other every couple of weeks, but the costs of travelling and going out together add up. They share a Jar called Lovebirds which they both use to buy train tickets and date night dinners.
Food
Food is one of Paolo’s passions, so as well as budgeting for groceries, he puts money aside to eat out in Bradford, the Curry Capital of the UK. He never ate much Indian food back home in Italy but he loves it now. It’s not expensive, so with £50 a month in his Jar he can have some really amazing food.
Trips Home
About 3 times a year Paolo tries to get back to Bologna to see his family – especially in the summer when he likes to spend a few months there. That’s what his Italia Jar is for: putting money aside for airfare, and also gifts for family and friends. He can also use his HyperJar card in Italy as there are no fees on international transactions.
Meet Linda, 42, Reading
Linda is divorced and lives with her daughter Jade. Linda’s one year into a three-year Open University degree in computer science.
Click on a Jar below to explore.
Tech
Linda’s got an OK laptop but she wants an upgrade – and there’s so much other stuff that goes with being a serious programmer. Decent headphones, a wifi upgrade, blue-light glasses, tons of flash drives. She’s serious about making this her career and makes sure to budget for the equipment. She currently has £750 saved towards a new Macbook.
Jade
She got a Kids Card for Jade recently and they share a Jar together which Jade can spend from. She gets £5 a week pocket money but also does chores for extra cash. Linda’s ex, Paul, also sends over occasional treats and gifts. He uses HyperJar messages to give her ideas on what to spend on (“A Mars bar – don’t tell mum!”). This all goes into Jade’s Jar, and she’s always asking her mum to show her how much she has saved up. It feels really grown up to buy things herself with her Kids Card and she can’t wait to have her own Kids app when it comes out.
Fallback Fund
Linda’s pretty cautious and organised – she makes sure to always have some money available for the unforeseen costs life can throw at you. A surprise bill, the washing machine packing in. Or nicer stuff like when a friend suggests going out for dinner. She tries to keep £500 in her Fallback Jar.
