Getting the OH into Saving (How?)

Ryco

Hi All,

This is my first post on these fourms and have come to you all for some advice.

I would like to get my OH into saving. We save £300-£400 each month currently but have a lot of other expediture we really dont need (Sky, 2x Gym Memberships, high food bills, high entertianment costs etc).

We hope to buy our first property at the begining of 2009 and I would love to overpay or save (depending on rates) more than what we do currently.

I have suggested we cut down on the extras but my OH says "We are saving enough as it is and I would rather enjoy life now than save for a future we may not have".

The future part refers to the in case you get hit by a car tommorow thought process.

I can see where she is coming from but we have the oppotunity to save a extra £200.00 per month if we cut back a little.

So any thoughts on how I could try and change her mind?
Mind alterting drugs are not a option :rotfl:

Reaper

That's rather a big subject for me to cover in one reply. Essentially what this whole web site is about is saving money without cutting down on your quality of life. eg You can still have Sky but read about people negotiating down the cost - or look at which channels you actually watch and whether Freeview/Freesat would cover it.

Supermarket shopping can be cut by going to Asda instead of M&S, trying "own brand" products instead of brand names and seeing if you can tell the difference (I've even tried blind taste tests in the past - some you can tell, most you can't)

There are always gym membership deals around, particularly in January. It might even be worth canceling and rejoining!

Look on the main web site and all the other forums. Saving doesn't need to be painful - you can both have what you want.

Bromley86

Only thing I can think of is to show her why you want to save.

Do your sums on you max mortgage at current levels of expenditure, at a "reasonable" saving level and at a drastic level (i.e. spam and beans).

Then have a quick look on Rightmove for three properties that she might like at each of those levels. If there's a marked difference then you might be able to sell her on it.

I know that that's technically not saving (rather it's reducing expenditure on consumables to allow you to borrow more). But then, as long as it's a long term investment, you'll be buying at the right sort of time to cash in eventually.

Pssst

I'm sure you have thought about this but could this incompatibility in your individual outlooks on finance become a problem in future?

Saving can be one of two things;

(a) Reducing excess waste and needless expenditure

(b) denial

of the two (a) is the one to aim for. (b) could point toward psychological issues within oneself. I.E you dont spend becuase you dont do anything because of "what if" or other insecurities. In the end,you are in danger of becoming one of those people who is found dead,all alone in a flat with no furniture,no heating on but a big bag full of money under the bed.

It happens.

There should be a happy mid position.

Ryco

Thanks for your feedback

I have been a money saver for some time and have done the budget, tesco credit card , shop at tesco, covert the points, shop around for deals, use screenscapers etc.

What Pssst said has made me think a bit.

I do enjoy all the extras we have. I guess I need to find out what that "happy medium" is. We don't have kids and are not planning on having any, so would not like to die with a pot of money left.

In fact I think if we both died with assests of £0.01 left it would be great. It would mean we had spent, used , enjoyed all we had before we died.

On a practical note we save more than we spend on entertianment in all it's forms. So in that case I guess we are ok.

Maybe it is me...I keep thinking we could be doing better a saving....I guess the question is "What for?"

Lokolo

Exactly! What are you wanting to save more? Retirement? House? What?

My savings until 25 are going to be used as a house deposit. Then from 25-30 I am aiming to save £100k (;) if I get a decent graduate job and don't get married ha women) so that I can open my own business.

Then from then on its retirement money so I can hopefully retire early and enjoy like whilst I am not too old! :rotfl:

cheerfulcat

Ryco wrote: »

I have suggested we cut down on the extras but my OH says "We are saving enough as it is and I would rather enjoy life now than save for a future we may not have".

The future part refers to the in case you get hit by a car tommorow thought process.

Goodness, what a pessimistic outlook! A pretty unrealistic one as well - chances are that you will live to a ripe old age. Do you really want to spend the last twenty years or so of your life wishing that you had saved a bit more as a youngster?

Go and google " compound interest calculator " and play around with a few numbers - concentrate on a longer timescale, say 25 years or so. That might persuade your other half of the necessity to save as much and as early as possible...

arcadia00

An alternative saving would be to enjoy the £200 with her and wait maybe 24 months for the housing balloon to puff out it's last breath.