I will always remember my first Harry Styles show at Wembley.

Walking down Wembley Way through a sea of glitter and feather boas felt so surreal. And when the band started playing and he came jumping out, I swear I could feel the floor shaking – the entire stadium was electric.

Joining the rest of the crowd to sing along with every word to all our favourite songs is something I’ll never forget.

I left the gig on a high – mostly because I knew I was returning to see the same gig the next night. And the one after – and the one after that.

You see, I’d managed to save almost £1,000 to be able to attend all four of Harry Styles’s shows at Wembley Stadium that week.

Not only could I not wait to spend the rest of the week dancing along to my favourite artist, I was also incredibly proud of saving that huge amount of money.

Saving isn’t something that comes naturally to me – indeed, as a student, it has felt impossible at times.

The most I’ve ever been able to scrimp together in the past has been £50 for a new jacket.

It never really bothered me in the past until my best friend, who lives in America, announced she was travelling over to London to see Harry Styles’ Love on Tour show this year.

Naturally, she wanted to go to as many shows as possible and initially suggested we booked tickets for five of them. But I just couldn’t afford it, so we ended up going to three shows, missing the crucial night at Wembley.

I couldn’t help but feel like I was missing out. I also felt like I let her down a bit, as she was making this massive trip and I couldn’t afford to experience it all with her.

I had been a Monzo customer for a while before this and used their ‘pots’ feature – which allows you to separate money from your main account – for small things like separating funds for my weekly food shop.

I realised it couldn’t hurt to make a specific Harry Styles pot, and use the ’round-up’ savings feature, which rounds up any costs to the nearest pound and saves the remaining change to one of your pots.

As a uni student making small purchases frequently – like my train fares, an occasional coffee or drink out – the round-up feature really built the pot up quickly.

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Still though, tickets to see the former One-Directioner could cost anything between £50 and £200 each. So to build up my savings pot for that kind of purchase felt like an agonisingly slow process.

Still, if anyone was worth it, Harry was and after a couple months of using the round-up feature, and donating whatever was left of my weekly spending to the pot, I finally reached my first £100.

Spurred on, I started cutting out my daily coffees and adding that to my savings. I also looked at my spending habits, cutting out buying new clothes I didn’t necessarily need and trying to find cheaper alternatives for my food shops.

Before long, I set up different pots, for all my favourite artists and any events I wanted to see. These include Taylor Swift’s UK Eras Tour, The Weeknd, Chelsea and England football matches, and Formula 1 races.

All my pots started as £5 here and there – and I used the round-up feature to build up pots on a priority basis, allocating the funds to whichever event was happening first.

Because saving was going so well, I made it my mission to join my best friend at the Taylor Swift Eras Tour in LA in August this year.

Within a year, I managed to save over £1,000 using an instant access savings account – which is a savings account with a competitive interest rate. I did a lot of research to make sure I was getting the best deal – this was something I was incredibly ambitious about saving for.

My Taylor Swift show in LA was the proudest moment for me in my savings journey. Previously, it had always been my friend who travelled over from LA to London to see me; so for it to be the reverse, and to finally go see her and experience the LA concert scene was brilliant. 

I actually got a bit emotional when Taylor came out at the SoFi stadium in LA, as it’s been a tour I’ve followed for so long. I can remember perfectly the moment the lights went out for her set to begin, and I was so excited my heart was pumping out of my chest. 

How I saved over £2,500…

A ’round-up’ savings feature helped me reach my first £100.

Cutting out daily coffees and unnecessary clothes purchases saw my savings increase.

Setting up different pots for different artists helped me continue to build up my savings.

An instant access savings account helped me save over £1,000 in a year.

Singing Taylor’s song Style hand-in-hand with my best friend felt like a very full circle moment to sing a song rumoured to be about Harry Styles after my whole savings journey started with him.

I had one of the best nights of my life.

With these saving techniques, I’ve also been able to see The Weeknd at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester in June this year for £110, The Formula 1 British Grand Prix in July for £300 and, of course, every night of Harry Styles’ Wembley Stadium tour, which was £800 in total.

I still have tickets to three of Taylor Swift’s UK shows in 2024, which I’m so excited for because I get to go to Edinburgh with my older sister, who I don’t get to see as much due to us both being students in different parts of the country.

We managed to secure brilliant seats – a front floor standing ticket for £150, a prime lowerbowl seat for £200 and a higher up seat for £80. 

I’m really happy I managed to save enough to have these opportunities, even if it meant sacrificing an iced coffee or two. My savings journey has seen me save over £2.500 to be able to attend all these brilliant events and I’m really proud to have been able to do it. 

Saving is a slow process, and I had many dips in how much I could save – and when.

Overall, I am incredibly fortunate to be in a position where I am able to save for things like concerts, and I know for a lot of people this isn’t a reality.

There’s been times I’ve essentially had to start from scratch with my savings, because I’ve needed to take out the money for emergency purchases – like unexpected bills. 

Starting early – even if something hasn’t been announced yet – is one of my key tips. The window from a tour being announced to tickets going on sale is often incredibly unforgiving (like three days’ notice) so being prepared for any eventuality is my go-to. 

I have over 10 Monzo pots – all of which are still ongoing – even if they only have a few quid in them.

Concert-wise, my sights are set on Olivia Rodrigo when she tours her second album – which is my current saving priority – and some more Formula 1 Grand Prixs for next year.

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