December Pin Money Savings Challenge

squeaky

Hello everyone. I see that reports are coming in as people come towards the end of their Pin Money Savings Challenge and so it is time to get ready for the new one.

For those of you new to this challenge the original post by Queenie is posted below and explains the way it works for you. Don't hesitate to ask questions or just post in for support as you go along and we'll all do the best we can to help you.

Good luck.

Queenie wrote:

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 benefiting 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 accumulating; 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 extras 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 any more 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

.

JAMIEDODGER

cheers squeaky for starting the thread off

will be aiming very low for december for two reasons....firstly i have enough stuff in my cupboards to supply a small army in meals for a month and secondly i am not planning on purchasing anything i can do with out for december as i have a MOT to pay for in january...all surplus money will be winging its way to my ING account for that. all xmas prezzies were bought and wrapped up before halfway through november so no savings can be made there either....i will be struggling to make a tenner for PMS this month :eek:

skylight

I can't believe my PIN savings!! First proper month!

Okay, so I only did the virtual savings and I managed £68.03!!!! :j :j
And its down to this place - advice, recipies, Tesco clubs to get money offs and all sorts of bits and bobs!


Am aiming for £50 for December and sticking to Virtual for now. Will try the actual in Jan 06 - cos right now I am only shoving my change into my big bottle and although its getting bigger, I dare not count it - I WILL spend it on something useless if I know how much is in there!


Good luck everyone!

Alfietinker

Can I join in? :j

First time I will have done this, so don't know if I'll be doing it right?

I started in my own little way in October when I was given a money box and £5 for my birthday along with some clothes vouchers. Instead of spending the money I'm waiting until I lose enough weight to go on a spending spree. I put the vouchers in the money box too. Each week I draw out £10 to spend on myself (I have £110 a month to spend). I'm trying not to buy lunch etc and have this cash for emergencies. At the end of the week, any coins left in my purse go into the money box so I can't fritter it away, notes get promptly paid back into the bank. This might seem an odd way of doing things but it's keeping my mind focused.

Not counting what's in the box as I think I'd end up 'borrowing' from it but I suspect there's about £11 ish.

My challenge for December is to use all the vouchers I never usually bother with and keep track of how much I save...... cash strapped as major service on car due so can't put savings to anything specific this month.

Starting properly in January

Delete me if this isn't right!!!!!

squeaky

Gosh - you don't get deleted for not being right!

Anyway, you seem to pretty much have the idea. There's a certain amount of flexibility in what various people choose to count as Pin Money. As long as you are happy with it I can't see a problem.

scuzz

My continuous PIN pot is now up to £117.90 :j

tasha38

i just wanna say that ive been so inspired by this site....ive been reading threads for a while now nad have so many ideas....will start my pin money after christmas....not because im intending to spend loads....actually am spending as a normal week...but ive just got too much going on to be able to sit down and sort my budget out....but rest assured i will be doing it...thanks for the idea.

kiwichick

PMS target for this month is £25

Queenie

Bought a couple of books (naughty really) but I consoled (and justified!!) the purchase by getting them on offer: made a saving of £5.98
This will be "virtual" pin money as I didn't really have the money to splurge on books ... but they were needed ... :think: .... family bookcase and all that ... :idea: ... but .... having had a quick flick through, taken out the info I most needed, have wrapped them up and tucked them away for the boys to re-gift to me on my birthday :whistle:

JAMIE - Sounds like you're ahead of the game!!! No wonder you will struggle for a tenner - but, as you have managed to be so very organised ... just keep a track of what you are stashing in the ING because it still counts (virtual maybe?) A saving is a saving!!

Keep up the great work everyone

squeaky

Hi everyone

Just a reminder that I'll be unsticking this thread some time late tomorrow - by which time it'll be the featured challenge in our Monthly Challenges sticky.

You can find the challenges via the link in my signature any time you see it or...

..you can use the Monthly Challenges link in the Blue Bar at the top of every page which looks something like this:-

johanne

im gonna aim for £10 this month... just because last month i only managed £13 and that was a struggle! Have such a tight budget at the moment..£10 virtual pin would be fantastic! :j