Struggling to save?

Saving for things might be something far from your mind at the moment. Perhaps you are furloughed and currently receiving a much reduced income? Perhaps you’ve been made redundant during COVID-19? Perhaps you have had to reduce your hours because you are home-schooling your children?

Whilst ‘saving’ might seem far out of reach, what if you weren’t doing it alone? What about social saving? Saving together for a common goal.

Is there something that you’ve been thinking about doing when the virus is finally under control, when lockdown is behind us and we can finally move about more freely and spend quality time with friends and loved ones other than those we live with?

Perhaps you’d love to go out for a fancy meal? Perhaps a short get away with friends or family? Perhaps there is something wild you’d all like to try like ziplining or abseiling?

Maybe one of your children really wants to start a new hobby but you can’t justify the cost? Is this something you could ask for a contribution to when it’s their birthday?

If you like the sound of any of these things, Offspring could work for you, read on to find out more.

Offspring: what’s it all about?

Offspring is a new start up banking app trying to help families save money.

Offspring is a clever saving tool which can be used to set up a shared saving goal which can then be easily contributed to by families and friends. This could be cash towards a birthday gift, wedding presents, house deposit, Christmas celebration or even a leaving collection.

The idea is that family and friends can pay money towards an experience or ‘bigger ticket’ birthday gift rather than sending it in a card or buying a gift the child may not want or may already have.

Last year, Offspring noticed an increase in family and friends who used the tool to pool resources for joint gift giving during the festive season after a financially difficult year.

It is 100% free to use, and can be connected to your bank account. You then send round a link for families and friends to donate to a specific gift or saving goal. It really is as easy as that.

It is quick and easy to sign up, it takes only 3 minutes. Next task is to set up a contributions page. Think about who the goal is for, what it is for and what the goal amount of money is.

So, for example:

Who = The girls

What = Spa Weekend

Goal = £500

Next, you just link your account to the bank account of your choice or a cash ISA.

Then, you get a special link that can be directly shared with friends and family to request a contribution.

What about wider social saving?

Are your children in a club? Does it struggle to stay afloat? Perhaps it has been affected by COVID-19 and you aren’t sure it will re-open? Are you on the PTA of your children’s school? Are you part of a club yourself? Whatever wider circles or groups you belong to, Offspring might also be worth considering.

For example:

Who = Swimming Club

What = diving blocks

Goal = £5,000

Offspring represents a low cost way for PTA’s and sports clubs etc to save, they can easily share their special fundraising link with a large number of people. Offspring have seen that PTA’s are starting to use the platform for virtual fundraising, I’m not surprised this is taking off as it seems so simple.

Whatever you want to save for, whatever the goal, if it’s something that could benefit from group saving, give Offspring a go and see how it can help simplify this. It could be related to gifts for children, virtual gifts for others, birthday gifts, or a wider social goal.

Have you heard of offspring before? Do you think this is something you and your family and friends could find helpful?

This is a collaborative article.