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April Pin Money Challenge
Legacy_user
Posts: 0 Newbie
Queenies' Challenge:
"Ready for the Challenge details? Here we go. The Challenge will begin at the start of the new financial year (this takes into account the annual increases to your Community Charge, water rates etc. plus any changes in the National Budget.) No point relying on your 2004-2005 budget when things are just about to increase for 2005/06!
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)
I have been very impressed with the responses to the Now & Then threads recently and how you all manage to pare down your spending/budgets on a regular basis. I've even impressed myself with new ideas that I'm incorporating. The danger (for me) lies with those "savings" being swallowed up elsewhere and never really benefitting from them or knowing just how beneficial those nips and tucks have been in reality. Yet, this is my pin money and I should know how much I'm accumilating; I should be able to tap into that money and benefit from it; I've earned it by making cost cutting choices!
This is going to be 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!)
First, we need a goal. You need to 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? Lots of different ways.
Coupons: Put the same value of the coupon into your pin money. 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 saving becomes your pin money savings.
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: If you find your food bill reducing, put that extra into your pin money.
Tips from here: 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.
At the end of each month, you 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.
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.
We can use this thread to discuss any questions, ideas that you have."
"Ready for the Challenge details? Here we go. The Challenge will begin at the start of the new financial year (this takes into account the annual increases to your Community Charge, water rates etc. plus any changes in the National Budget.) No point relying on your 2004-2005 budget when things are just about to increase for 2005/06!
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)
I have been very impressed with the responses to the Now & Then threads recently and how you all manage to pare down your spending/budgets on a regular basis. I've even impressed myself with new ideas that I'm incorporating. The danger (for me) lies with those "savings" being swallowed up elsewhere and never really benefitting from them or knowing just how beneficial those nips and tucks have been in reality. Yet, this is my pin money and I should know how much I'm accumilating; I should be able to tap into that money and benefit from it; I've earned it by making cost cutting choices!
This is going to be 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!)
First, we need a goal. You need to 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? Lots of different ways.
Coupons: Put the same value of the coupon into your pin money. 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 saving becomes your pin money savings.
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: If you find your food bill reducing, put that extra into your pin money.
Tips from here: 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.
At the end of each month, you 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.
We can use this thread to discuss any questions, ideas that you have."
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Comments
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Nothing in there about visiting the Telephone Boards to reduce your phone and internet bills. Perhaps you all have but big savings can be made by joining with Onetel or TalkTalk and using 18866 and/or 1899.
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I'm starting my challenge today with an opening balance of £3.53p.
Goals :
- £25.55 to be paid back to daughter.
- £110.00 for car tax next March (will be starting to make savings towards this as well as PIN money)
- £100.00 for MOT, including any repairs that may be needed, Next April (not got the time to save the money for this years as it's tomorrow!)
- £600.00 to pay off Computer loan.
Our PIN money will include any Tax Credit I get this year as we have managed since December without it so we can last a bit longer. Just got to sort out whats what with regards to the tax credits again.Creeping back in for accountability after falling off the wagon in 2016.Need to get back to old style in modern ways, watching the pennies and getting stuff done!0 -
Happy April everyone
The March thread was closed begfore I got a chance to post my total so here it is:
Savings total for March £53.40 (all from either Boots or Sainsburys)
Savings total to date this year £211.08 of which £47.00 was spent on holiday last week, £10.00 donation to Tsunami appeal,& £142.96 transfered to savings account-those of you who are not numerically challenged will realise that this does not add up!!
Still have some savings that are sitting in jar(Wine carafe actually) waiting for a home.
Good luck to all
Jane0 -
Hi all,
Just sold a load of unwanted and unloved clothes to a trader today. She is doing a boot with it - i hope she does well, she has increased my PIN money fund by another tenner!!This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com0 -
i know this might sound like a really silly question, but...
is there any particual reason why its called PIN (or pin) money? does pin stand for something/have some historical significance that has gone straight over my head?know thyselfNid wy'n gofyn bywyd moethus...0 -
I think it comes from when most women stayed at home and the husband worked. He would give the wife "pin money" to pay for small miscellanous things like pins for sewing with.0
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pavlovs_dog wrote:i know this might sound like a really silly question, but...
is there any particual reason why its called PIN (or pin) money? does pin stand for something/have some historical significance that has gone straight over my head?Originally (we're going back to Tudor times here), many of the clothes were held together with pins - no pins = naked! So, 'pin money' was vital. The lower classes were the one's who would make the pins to sell on and predominantly would be made by children and the elderly.
In later times, pin money was money which women would squirrel away out of their housekeeping, supposedly for little "luxuries" but often would be used to make up any shortfalls when the breadwinner fell ill, lost their job, died etc (the days when Dr's and all medicines had to be paid for, no insurances, no benefits). The days when ordinary people lived very much hand to mouth! Later still, it was as crana999 describes.
Here are some of the ways I've been preparing and getting organised to meet this challenge:-- I've set up my latest budget on the computer so I know where we're at in the grander scheme of things. I've guestimated the annual costs for clothing/gifts plus all once a year payments and set up a monthly DD to squirrel that away for when those bills occur.
- I've spent time going through recipe books to get on top of menu planning and have my Household Notebook (HN) set up so I can add any good tips and ideas
- I've covered an old noticeboard in fabric and pinned up some home made envelopes so I can keep only the money allocated each week in there to prevent me keep flashing the debit card - once the envelope is empty that will be IT!
- I have cleaned out my purse of all rubbish and neatly lined up the coupons I've got (I've put them into expiry order so I can make the best use of them).
- Spent some time going from room to room noting which items may need replacing/renewing in the next year or two and logged it in my HN along with an estimate of how much it will cost - doing my homework - if I see it at a good price I shall be prepared
- Cleaned up my "Charlie Chook" money box, so he's sitting in the middle of my kitchen window, above the sink as a constant reminder that he needs "feeding" - should keep me focused!
Difficult to give an accurate amount, but I've begun by dividing the perennials in my garden and distributing them around some of the emptier areas. I'm going to guestimate £20 virtual saving on that, because I could easily have spent that amount in the garden centre! As I didn't have the £20 to spend in the first place, this has to be "virtual"
Actual Savings: I shall begin feeding Charlie Chook from today Should have a good month because the freezer is pretty full already so I don't need to go out and do much of a shop at the supermarkets before next pay day. Have stocked up on spuds from the local farm shop (less than £5 per 56lb bag!) and they will be the back bone of our meals.
Well done to all those who posted on the previous thread and good luck to everyone for this month :beer:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PMS Pot: £57.53 Pigsback Pot: £23.00
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0 -
I am notoriously bad at over-spending but we have taken out a loan for a conservatory so I am really having to watch the pennies!
1. I have given myself a weekly budget of £100. This includes grocery shopping and any 'small' mystery shopping purchases/expenses plus other expenses. So far I have spent £35 on mystery shopping! (gasp!) however these are all re-imbursable and I will get it back on 15th April so not too long to wait. Luckily I have had enough food in the cupboards and freezer so haven't had to do a big shop.
2. Any extra money (eg money found in husband's jeans
money found on bathroom floor! Money paid into bank from Amazon or Ebay, mystery shopping wages paid into bank, money from Avon customers is going into a 'pot' which I have called 'my secret stash'. Any money left over from my £100 per week budget also goes into the stash (Monkeylugs laughs hysterically). Whatever is saved at the end of April will be the 'emergency fund' for the following month, so if we need something we won't have to spend on the credit card, or dip into our overdraft. Whatever is in there at the end of May will be the holiday spending money, which was my short-term aim
So far in the stash there is: £37.69! Not bad to say it's only the 5th day of my challenge. I've got some Amazon money due to hit my bank on Friday, and hopefully will have some of this weeks budget left too.April 2006 - £9790.26dr. DFD - March 20110 -
Well my PIN money is almost gone. Its my daughters birthday tomorrow so to save money I'm baking 3 cakes (one for family here, one for family in another town who are coming to visit and one for her to take into nursery which I've already checked is okay with the teacher). I started yesterday and ran out of caster sugar, then I realised I didn't have any jam for the filling, then the foil ran out. I have no idea whats happening to my stocks, they seem to be disappearing fast. I managed to do this weeks shopping for less than £30 (miracle in itself) therefore saving the money to pay for the take-away pizza daughter has asked for as her birthday tea (take-outs are RARE so it really is a treat).
Saturday we put our car in for its MOT and it failed. It needs £200 worth of work (including the MOT and a new MOT) which we haven't got so thats going to have to go on the credit card. They couldn't do the work until today as their supplier was shut on Saturday and Sunday so this means that OH had to get the train to work today at £6+ total including the bus. He spent his "spare" cash from his wages on daughters birthday gift/card so he had to borrow the money from me. SO, I'm going to have to borrow money from daughter to pay for the pizza (I have tried talking her out of it but she said "I can pay for it and you can give me the money back when you have it" and then handed me her piggy bank) and OH will have to give me the money back by the end of the month otherwise we can't buy his sister an engagement gift.
I'm waiting on an award letter from Tax Credits to find out whats happening this year in regards to that. I have to phone a few places and then maybe I will be able to sort out a budget properly
Creeping back in for accountability after falling off the wagon in 2016.Need to get back to old style in modern ways, watching the pennies and getting stuff done!0
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