June - Pin Money Savings Challenge

Queenie · 27 May 2005 at 5:25AM

Pin Money Savings Challenge Details
(PMS Challenge)

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!)

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!

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: 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 coupon 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: 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.

Queenie · 27 May 2005 at 5:30AM

June already!! This month it will be harder to make savings because it's our son's birthday, half term and we have a long weekend break coming up all this month - so I'm really going to be challenged LOL

I have approx. £1.30 worth of coupons in my coupon envelope so I know I have the potential to save that much off my shopping bill

Good luck for June.

catznine · 27 May 2005 at 9:52AM

Wow! The June pms challenge already!

May total £30.81
March and April total £51.02
adds up to £81.83
less £20.00 = new total £61.83 :j

I took out £20 to take dd to a charity fashion show as she has been working very hard getting her last essays done for her final year at uni. Now I can treat myself to a new ice cream maker (to use up all that yogurt I'm making) hopefully that will save me pennies over the summer on ice cream costs. Just need to find a good one at a bargain price now.

Have my coupons ready for June and am going to do the storecupboard challenge this week (to use up some of that tuna :rolleyes:) so unless there are some too good to miss bogofs, in which case the savings would go towards this months pms money, it will be a cheap week for the catznine family.

elona · 27 May 2005 at 11:27AM

Catznine

I got a Phillips ice cream maker for £29.99 from Amazon - free delivery - if that is of any help !

Very pleased with it so far.:j

catznine · 29 May 2005 at 6:41PM

Elona, many thanks for the recommendation, I have just ordered the philips ice cream maker from Amazon using some of my pms savings! Hope it turns up soon as yogurt supply is building up

elona · 29 May 2005 at 7:40PM

Amazon are very good in their deliveries so you should not be waiting for long.

I have just bought an electric hand held mixer so that I can get egg whites and cream etc to the right consistency.

Everything so far has been eatable but I am still experimenting.:j

moggins · 29 May 2005 at 9:43PM

I've been looking at the ice cream maker in Boots, at only £19.99 it does look like a good buy but I'm running out of room in the kitchen especially with the extra slow cooker and cappucino maker I bought today.

Caixta · 30 May 2005 at 12:02AM

Yippee! Just discovered the PMS thread. Only today DH was saying to me "You seem to be able to make money appear out of nowhere - we ought to start keeping track of it." I have lots of little ways and I always transfer saved money into a savings account, after all, I feel that if I can't show you the actual money I've saved, then I haven't saved it. Virtual savings are a pretty good motivator though.

So we were wondering what to call the Excel Spreadsheet DH had set up for me when we came across the Pin Money thread. So there it is.

BTW I have 4 kids and for months now they have been putting every penny they find from the pavement into a jam jar. Then on the 1st of the month they share it out and call it their "bonus"! They regularly get £1 each from this, often more. They also check in places like phone boxes and vending machines to see if any money has been left behind.

I feel like a regular Fagin when they come running back to me with coins and ask me to look after them till we get home.

They're all still young but I think they have learned a lot about valuing things that other people overlook. We live near a High School and down our road the students can often be seen knowingly dropping pennies and not bothering to pick them up. My lot move in for the kill and are glad at their carelessness. We still give them a little pocket money but they use their "bonus" as welcome pin money.

Yesterday our 11 month old was playing on the ground in the park and found his first coin - 5p. He was about to pop it in his mouth when we realized. His siblings were so proud of him and have officially welcomed him onto the team.

We were amazed when we first began counting up the amount of money we find (no notes...yet!) and the children all agree to share it equally as they each have varying degrees of success from month to month.

Don't forget, Pavement Pin Money is definitely for grownups too. It really adds up!

Queenie · 30 May 2005 at 12:18AM

:hello: Welcome to MSE, Caixta!

Glad you're joining our PMS Challenge - I'm flattered that you've given your spreadsheet the title of Pin Money :T

Yup, we do the "see a penny, pick it up ... good luck" too

LOL

jaybee · 30 May 2005 at 9:18AM

June is going to be a huge challenge for me. It's my OH's birthday (big one, so have to make extra effort especially as he's got a big health problem so we're never sure if it will be the last one). I've gone rather over the top on gifts but have not paid full price for anything (thank you Amazon!!!). Afraid that those savings with definately only be 'virtual' as I'll need every penny to pay back the actual cost!!!! Food will cost more as well because his kids (not kids really as they're grown up) will be coming to stay - and they eat loads :eek: (compared to us).

Never mind! Basically I'm on track and have got the bug now.

moggins · 30 May 2005 at 9:43AM

Virtual Savings yesterday

£23 for managing to get my slow cooker for £2
£4.49 for getting my shower spray jobbie for 50p

Which meant I could spend a bit on my littlie, who is not having a good time as everybody is going out bar me and her, her big brother is going away for a week, and not feel guilty about spending some money letting her have a good time.

Now I just need to whip up some stuff for a picnic

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June - Pin Money Savings Challenge

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