How to save money by making money harder to access

I want to start being more sensible with my money, this is especially hard around payday when I receive a month's-worth of pay at once. It's all too easy to go for a couple beers after work only to end up staying out all night and being over £100 worse off the next day. I tend to leave my debit card at home these days, and withdraw cash once per week.

But from my experience this is only about 95% foolproof... sometimes I'll just end up risking taking my card out with me for convenience (and regret it). Another idea is to set up an additional bank account and get all my wages paid into that, and set up a weekly payment into my personal account which I can then live off each week... but there's that risk of me simply logging on to my online banking and transferring cash over if I cave in.

It's annoying the fact that I can't visit my local bank branch and withdraw money from one of the desks without having to show them my debit card (thats the case with halifax anyway)... if I could then I'd simply cut my debit card in half so that I cant withdraw cash so easily, problem solved

Is there any kind of foolproof way to get around this? It must have been so much easier to save money a couple decades ago when it wasn't so easily accessible.

Have you looked into locking part of your wage away in an account that would penalise you for withdrawing? You could have a transfer set up to move a certain amount as soon as you get your wages and that way, you'll get into the habit of it going out straight away so you won't feel like you're missing anything.

Have you thought about investing some of it? If you're saving up for buying a house, for example, a LISA will help you to save and penalises you for using the money for any other reason (except to save for retirement). However you have to know that you don't need the cash. In the short term, I'd recommend keeping your savings, spending and essentials (bills/food etc) in separate accounts. Talk to your bank as they might have some further suggestions to help you manage your money.