Given the recent economic downturn, putting money away for a rainy day might be the last thing on your mind, but even when times are tough you can still make some small changes to your lifestyle and amass some extra cash.

Counting your silver and coppers may not initially seem like a good way to make money but in most homes across the UK there are coins lying around in random places. If you gather all these up in the one place and then cash it in every so often then you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much you’ll have accumulated. Sticking this away in a savings account will soon help it grow and as you keep adding to it, the interest will gather too. This is a great way to source some funds from money you probably didn’t realise you had.

Another way to make money from almost nothing is to have a look around your home for things you no longer want or need. It can really pay to have a good clear out every once in a while and you can then sell these items either online or at a car boot sale, and again, put this towards something you really want, such as a holiday.

Another method of saving some money for whatever purpose is to set up a regular automatic payment to go from your current account to a savings account each month. If you arrange this for pay day then the money will transfer across before you’ve had an opportunity to spend it and budgeting on the money you have left will become easier.

In July 2008, the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a speech urging people to stop wasting food. A government study showed that every year there’s a combined waste of 4 million tonnes of food in the UK, which roughly equates to around £400 added to the average family shopping bill. It’s clear from this that there are savings to be made on groceries. One method of doing this is to shop for what you need every day as it reduces the likelihood of food going past its use by date in your fridge or cupboards.

With many people adopting a ‘live for today’ ethos, saving money may be seen by some as a chore, but if you really want to do something special or just want some financial peace of mind then taking some small steps to make these into a reality can bring with it a great sense of achievement.

It doesn’t have to involve saving huge sums of money either; watching your pot of money grow via an online saving account can give an immense sense of satisfaction as you edge closer to your target.