April '06 - Pin Money Challenge

Queenie · 25 March 2006 at 8:14AM

Pin Money Savings Challenge Details

(PMS Challenge)

This is our "Pin Money Challenge" - a very old style way of money 'saving'. The old adage: "Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves" is as true today as ever it's been and so has the old style idea of "Pin Money" (tucking away pennies to buy the odd luxury - in reality, that pin money literally saved the day when families lived payday to payday or the breadwinner was made redundant!)

Once you've set up your budgets (here's Martins article on the basics of budgeting for those who may not have done so yet) you'll know where you're at with your income/outgoings.
Some of you will already have earmarked amounts to tackle your debt problems (if you have them. Here is Martins article on Problem Debts) and some of you may even have set up regular savings.(Martins article on Starting Saving)

There's a danger that those "savings" are being swallowed up elsewhere and never really knowing just how beneficial those nips and tucks have been in reality or benefitting from them. This is pin money and we should know how much we're accumilating; We should be able to tap into that money and benefit from it; we've earned it by making cost cutting choices!

First, choose a goal. Think about what you want to save for. Maybe it's something relatively small that would actually help you to save more money in the future.

For example: I used some Tesco vouchers in January which saved me £28 on my monthly shopping bill - at the till I got that £28 via cashback and then I bought a breadmaker in another shop which was on sale. The breadmaker is saving me money as I don't go to the shops as often to pick up a loaf and end up tempted into buying extra's while I'm there plus it saves on petrol through less trips.

Maybe you wish for something larger - a family holiday? A dishwasher? A newer car? These items may take longer to save up for, but they are still attainable.

Where is your pin money coming from? A variety of ways ...

Coupons/Vouchers: You can't bank on coupons when you draw up your household budget, so view them as bonus'.
If you normally spent £50 per week on groceries and that week you have coupons which reduce your bill by x amount, that x amount becomes your pin money savings. Put the same value of the coupons into your pin money.

Bogof's: If it's on your usual shopping list and you are able to get it on bogof - put the cash value of the saving into your pin money.

Freebies: I've put some of these into my gift box store; I can't bank on freebies to provide my gift needs (gift purchases are accounted for in my budget planning already) so they are also bonus' - so, the cash equivalent can go to your pin money.

The monthly food challenge:
Take a look through the Storecupboard Challenge and/or the Monthly Grocery Challenge. If you find your food bill reducing, put that extra into your pin money.

Tips from here: Cleaning: E.g. Vinegar as a fabric softener; if you stop buying fabric softener, work out the saving (you'll need to deduct the cost of the vinegar you are replacing it with) and put that amount into your pin money.

Make it from Scratch: Look through the recipe collection and see if you can make it/bake it cheaper.

Research your purchases! - before you buy anything have a look through the Shop but Don't Drop and Quick Grabbit While You Can forums to see if you can get it cheaper (utilise the "search" facility within those forums too). If all else fails, try posting in I Wanna Buy-It, Do-It forum, someone else may know of the best deal on what you're looking for.

At the end of each month, empty out your pin money and transfer that to a savings account (this way it can now begin to earn a bit of interest = more pin money! )
The start of the next month, you will know how much you've shaved off your basic grocery bill (this applies to the food/fabric softener example, not those unbankable freebies/bogof's/coupons) so begin by putting that into your pin money.

Each month we can post what we have saved money on and added to our pin money.

What if things are soooooo tight that every saving you make each week can't be put away because it's needed elsewhere?

Not a problem, you can still keep a record but instead of cash this will be your "virtual" savings. It will be very encouraging to see how much you are "saving" by making small changes, even if you can't put away the actual cash.

Some of you have already absorbed these savings into your budget and recalculated accordingly, that's ok, this challenge still applies because any new ideas/tips that you pick up can now be utilised for your pin money.

Clarification of Virtual Savings

Let me give you an example:

Suppose I've worked out my budget and menu plan for the week and one of the items, I know, will cost me, say, £1.99. Off I go with my list. When I'm at the store, I find a pack of something else, reduced to £1.99 instead of the usual £2.99. So, I snap it up!

I have made a saving of £1

However, I didn't *have* £2.99 in the first place; therefore I would never have bought it. I could *only* buy it, because it was the same price that I had available to spend. (The original £1.99). In reality, I haven't saved any hard cash. But that doesn't mean I haven't saved. That is where *virtual* savings come into play.

By simply snapping up a bargain and not spending anymore than I usually do, I've bought something a little better that I couldn't normally afford.

I don't want to lose sight of the fact that I've saved that £1 by being more shopping savvy.

So, I record it as a *virtual* saving ...

... not *real hard cash* but a saving nonetheless.

The term, *virtual* saving, is a bit like "virtual reality" LOL

It can be quite demoralising if, week after week, some of our MSE'er are really working at pinching those pennies and squeezing those pounds - this way, at the end of the year, they can still see that - hey, it's working!

Now, should I find my budgeted £1.99 item reduced to 99p THEN I have £1 in cold hard cash that can be put away into the pin money savings.

I hope that makes it a bit clearer. If not, don't hesitate to ask any more questions.

pawpurrs · 25 March 2006 at 8:22AM

I clicked and thought of Pre Menstural syndrom, I thought maybe you had the answer :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: .

Queenie · 25 March 2006 at 8:25AM

Pin Money Savings Challenge
Financial Year - April '07-April '08

Here we enter the 2nd year of our Pin Money Savings :j

Have you all re-calculated your budget to take into account and alterations in energy DD's, water bills, Council Tax, GB's speach, any income fluctuations?

We all know that live evolves/changes and likes to throw spanners in the works for all of us; no matter how well prepared we think we are. But, I shall be investing some of my time over this weekend doing the final nips and tucks to the budget now that all the annual bills are in so that I can face the new financial year as prepared as I'll ever be.

I'm looking forward to reading the different ways you all earn and add to your pin money and hope to pick up some tips and suggestions along the way too

Good luck everyone :wave:

Queenie · 25 March 2006 at 8:26AM

pawpurrs wrote:

I clicked and thought of Pre Menstural syndrom, I thought maybe you had the answer :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: .

LOL - sorry

I've tweaked the title

Yorkielass · 25 March 2006 at 2:40PM

Thanks for starting this Queenie - I haven't been keeping up with the profit on the things I've sold on ebay so I'm just trying to update my spreadsheet which HOLSale kindly sent me and then I'll be able to work out what I've got this month and then I can think about next month - I know just keeping track of profit from selling things isn't strictly pin money - but I got so confused with coupons and bogofs etc as OH and me share the shopping costs.

Will update my sig when I worked it out - wonder if I've made the £50 :eek:

moiracm · 25 March 2006 at 11:12PM

Hi

I am starting the new financial year in a good frame of mind and have joined the Grocery challenge for April, so I will also join the PIN challenge to keep me motivated.

Already had a couple of bargins in boots:

Huggies nappies 3 for 2 so saved £8.50 (will keep my little one going for a month) so an actual saving. Plus I got a £5 voucher for the skincare product I bought - would have needed it sometime this month so got £5 off that and then got another £5 voucher as I had spent over £10 again so got a handcream that I would have needed so saved another £5 - total £18.50 in one shop plus triple points on the huggies (not sure if that counts lol). Pleased with my start.

Queenie · 26 March 2006 at 9:03AM

Yorkielass - looking forward to seeing your totals!

:hello: Welcome to our pin money saving challenge moiracm :hello:

Sounds like you are off to a flying start!! :T Well done!

FRUGALPIE_2 · 26 March 2006 at 9:53AM

Morning all,

Well I've joined the grocery challenge and here I am to try and join this one...I will try and keep up. My 'April' starts on 29th March and Runs until 26th April so I shall try and save £50! We shall see where we go....off to morrisons now to spend some savings stamps that were given to me, so hopefully my shopping budget will be a lot less this month!

Frugalpie
x

Queenie · 26 March 2006 at 10:34AM

:hello: Welcome FRUGALPIE, delighted you are joining us

:hello:

Good luck!!

ladywood · 26 March 2006 at 3:38PM

This month I am going to set a target of £50 (not so much stuff to put on ebay left!) - but that won't include extra income - am hoping to get a 6 monthly royalty payment this month - don't know how much so never include it in the budget but whatever it is will go toward the building work.

Good luck everyone.

linzibean · 26 March 2006 at 4:41PM

I've never tried this before, but in April I'd like to save up £50 to put towards my house moving fund

I have £300 coming from some work I did last month at the end of the month, so I'll half way to my total if i manage £50 too!

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April '06 - Pin Money Challenge

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