No wasting money on avocado toast here! Couple reveal the easy savings hacks that helped them buy a home and save up for a £25K dream wedding in their early 20s

A young couple have revealed the saving hacks that helped them become homeowners and save up for their pricey dream wedding in their early 20s. 

Alicia Chapman purchased her three-bedroom terrace house with her fiance Matthew, 26, two years ago – and the pair are now planning their dream wedding. 

The 24-year-old estimates that she will spend at least £25,000 on her big day with it costing her £155-a-head for more than 100 guests and £10,000 for other wedding expenses.

And while Alicia has always been ‘good with money’, she believes that certain rather unique saving hacks have been the reason she has ‘secured the future I have now’. 

Ditching the salon, the marketing manager saves hundreds by dying her own hair four times a year, alongside cutting it herself.

For as little as £2, Alicia bleaches her hair, which she claims would cost around £190 a session at the salon.

‘Money is something I’ve always been conscious of. I’ve always had money anxiety, but this anxiety has meant I’ve been able to build a good lifestyle,’ Alicia, from Bury, Greater Manchester, said.

‘I’ve been able to buy a house at 22 with my partner. I’m now also in the position to have my dream wedding, I’m 24 now and I’ve already booked it.

‘I’ve got the money now only because I’ve been so good with saving and investing.’

Rather than frequenting expensive furniture stores, Alicia insists that buying second-hand ‘quality’ items from Facebook Marketplace and even making her own wall art allows her to save thousands of pounds.

She has also eliminated ‘impulse spending’ and instead will wait days to purchase an item to see if she really wants it. 

‘If I want something and it’s a significant amount of money, I’ll put it in the basket and wait a week to see if I still want it,’ said Alicia. 

‘If I have it in my basket, two days later I’ll usually look at it and not want it anymore. It saves me so much money.

‘When we moved into the house, we didn’t want to buy everything new as a sofa was like £3,000.

‘We didn’t want to settle for less expensive, lower quality items so we shopped on Facebook marketplace and second-hand shops for items we wanted. It’s saved us thousands of pounds.’ 

Alongside these DIY hacks, Alicia says never having more than £500 in her current account is another way she keeps on track with savings.

Instead, she will make sure her earnings are put to work in high-interest rate savings accounts or invested to make more money.

Alicia believes that it is these somewhat ‘unhinged’ ways of saving that have allowed her to become a homeowner in her early 20s and afford her dream wedding.

She added she is more ‘financially stable’ than most of her friends and believes that not using buy now, pay later schemes and checking her bank account daily has helped this.

And she added that following these ‘rules’ with her money has helped her to afford to jet off on holiday once a month before she started wedding planning.

Alicia said: ‘I’m conscious of having a good future. I want to build a nice family in the future and I want them to have enough money and everything that they want.

‘I would definitely say I have a lot more money and financial stability than my friends do.

‘With things like Klarna and buy now, pay later schemes, I think if you can’t afford it, you shouldn’t be buying it.’

She added that she has ‘never been in an overdraft’ and believes strongly in ‘checking your bank account daily’.  

However, she insists that she will ‘always treat myself when it comes to spending time with friends and family’ and is still in the process of ‘building my dream wardrobe’. 

Now, Alicia shares her money advice on social media and feels there should be more education in schools to help young people with their finances.

‘It’s not taught in school and no one talks about it as it’s classed as a sensitive and uncomfortable topic to talk about,’ she said.

‘I feel everyone should be educated on money, inflation and investing. I definitely think it should be taught in schools.’