€10,000 needed for June

mam2B

Hi
I have been meaning to start a savings thread, moreso for myself and to keep me motivated..
We are not in debt other than mortgage but with baby number 2 on the way we do need a bigger car and with hopefully 6k trade in for one we have now we will need in region of 10K for a decent 7 seater so that it will last us a good few years as the kids grow.
At present himself is on an OK wage –enough for us to pay bills/food/and the extras that pop up every month-like oil/insurances/bin collection etc so the savings falls on me. I do take charge of all bills etc and he likes it that way –I budget better than he does. Thankfully he knows we have to do with what we have so live off whatever special offers/own brand/BOGOF are available and he never complains but is glad all bills are paid, house is taken care of and we want for nothing. He does without as much as I do and never says anything.

So here is where we are-we pay over €200 extra off mortgage a month and if interest rates stay as is we will be cutting yrs off our term-yippeeee
We have just put 4K away in a High interest one yr locked in Halifax account until Feb. 2010-(fall back savings for when we have 2 kids)
We put monthly savings of €25 into a high rate Halifax account
We put €10 away every month into little lad’s account
We owe no one any money.
And the rest goes on bills/food and as I said whatever that month calls for-this month it is put away money for a side gate for house!( which hopefully we will afford in full in April)

So the 10K savings for car is my bit of the puzzle and anything I can get to make his wages stretch that bit more-freebies/mystery shopping/vouchers etc ..
My savings come from the children’s allowance we get over here-monthly and my self employment grant( due to be cut very soon) and money I make from my work-but as a stay at home mam working hours are limited and due to the recession we have seen my work load quartered in 6 months!

So target is
€10,000 by June 30th 2009
So far €4318.43-not bad!

So as of now I hope to add to that and make the money we can spend go further so we can get and do all the bits and pieces we need before the new arrival.

On the good front so far in March:
Won a book-saved me a few quid
Won a Wii game-now need to win a Wii-he he
Saved over €150 with a free upgrade to a 2 room suite for our 5 day hotel break up the country in April-our first holiday in over 3 yrs!And got a deal with the stay in the first place with a supermarket stamp collection deal-so well chuffed


So all in all things are good and today I managed to secure a few food mystery shops while on hols so that means free food for us for a few meals while away!

Thanks to anyone who reads this and yes I am across the water in the recession filled Ireland before anyone asks about the €s..

30th June: €10,0000 needed
13th March: €4318.43 saved


xx

jessicamb

good luck with your journey!

mam2B

Tnx for good wishes Jessicamb..
Bit hard to update savings until some cheques clear and others are cashed so will try to update every 2 weeks or so when I know for sure the amount in account..

Been good this week and doing the 'clear the cupboard/freezer' for the rest of month's food needs.

Saving wise this week we got the little lads new shoes at half price, 2 free gift vouchers( €30) and free dinner thanks to mystery shopping and a €10 Boots gift vouhers on the way thanks to survey site-so that is some shopping taken care of for free in the coming weeks!

Work is very quiet for me so we have to tighten belts a bit more in order to get funds for car without a loan from family..but needs must and at the end it will be worth it..

x

shaggydoo

Good Luck :T

mam2B

Well been a while since update

saving wise -tv package hass been cut down so less of a bill due every month from now on -12 euro a month saved
Swapped electricity supplier-now we finally have competition in this country..

Work has picked up so expecting a good bit money lodged in by mid May-thank goodness..

Little lad got clothes from nanny so that is a few quid saved when he grows into them..

We are off to hotel for a few days tomorrow and have mystery visits lined up so should be free petrol for touring, a few free meals and a bit of free shopping sorted as well and we have £200 put away for big shop up North so will save loads on the nappies/wipes/baby food/etc and that will def pay off during the coming months when we will have less wages to go through!especially as we have a mini budget due in this country on Tuesday and looks like tax will go up on everyones wage and reduction in kids allowance so will wait and see how that affects us..

More postive-won another book ( galaxy), got 2 little lad t-shirts from ebay ( on free cash from clicks), got more extra points vouchers so more added to the points fund for xmas when we use them next month( tnx Texso),have £10 voucher for Uk supermarket and £ money off huggies to use up north so extra saved there and got a half meal voucher for a pizza place so cheap meal out while on hols..

The week after we are off to stay with friends and relations for 5 days so no spend really and again have mystery visits lined up all the way to theirs and back so shoudl be free petrol and food and a good bit in fees earned

In all hol sud be cleared off credit card by end May, side gate will be sought when we get back and hopefully all the savings from OH wages this month will cover the cost.


Only negative is my self employment grant is on its last year and has been cut in half so a good bit less coming in on that every month now

As for car fund-well I will have a better idea come mid May when all mystery visits are refunded and paid but now it has reached
€4839.69
so over 500 added so happy enough for now!

x

jessicamb

any more updates mam2be?

mam2B

ah-been lazy and busy but here is where it stands-we had a budget over here ( like yours in UK but worse!).. well lost some child funds as of May , my self employment grant was cut loads, and tax went up- so in all prob down approx €200 a month in the house..but sur nothing can be done but think well we have house, healthy happy son and little one is growing-as is my belly!

Saving wise have been very good-so I think

Trip up North ( Uk prices) so stocked up on baby stuff and saved a good few quid
Holiday break-got reduced hotel suite for 5 nights and all petrol and most food was thanks to mystery shopping and we have paid off hotel bill already
Went digging for coupons and saved over €20 on last big shop so now have to make all cupboards stretch as much as poss
Got new playpen for little one and 200 pampers so saved over €60 on these 2 purchases as were off person who did not want them!
Still paying extra on Mortgage and thanks to latest % decrease we are now paying over €200 extra a month! and rang bank to find out another reduction in % rate due in June so yippee for that at least
Freezer filling with homemade bread
Amazing what clothes fit when pregnant so buying no more to see me through to the end-will do with what I have here

Now car fund-well-good news-second hand prices still going down a bit so have been trying to get as much as poss into bank considering work is slow
To date have €5300
plus €300 put away for tax to pay and credit card to pay off
Am due quite a lot of MS refunds and fees due by end of May so hoping figure is closer to €6000 by then-fingers crossed

We are doing ok living off OH pay only and have got a few things off list bought so far-a few more to go so hoping what is left in bank will see us through to end of May ..side gate, shower door, a few hospital bits and some bits for little lad

Hope all well in UK and you have the sun as well across the waters

mam2B

Yippee-got a good bit refunds and fees back this month from April mystery shopping so have 6K in the bank for car -and have €300 left over for paying my tax too -so happy for now!

We had a quick look on net and prices for second hand 7 seater cars have been brought down a bit so hopefully by mid June when I have a few 100s more in bank we can get a half decent car and be happy enough..

savings -
Have a handful coupons for this weekend shopping, stocked up on cheap fresh fruit that was on offer,am keeping heating and lights off as much as possible and managed to get a new changing bag for free from someoneoff a mothers forum who did not want it-def saved a few quid there-well happy
Have some work lined up for next few weeks

so 6K down -dont think we will make it to 10K as hoped with the budget.lack of work, etc but maybe make it to 7K and we will see then about the next HUGE saving-deposit for new house-we want to move -but that is a whole other story-car first!

mam2B

Well
Into June now..a few 00s added to bank account
All baby food coupons used! ahhh-must see at weekend about getting more
All baby stuff got and hospital gear got too-near enough..

am trying to cut back food wise this month as

finally after months my dad is helping us get gate for side of house sorted so will need to pay for that
and we are hoping to fill oil tank in July so that is done for winter and not something we need to do after the little one comes along


so €6300 with a few weeks to go so here hoping 7K when we start the car hunt!

mam2B

200 more euro added now so gettinng there finally-now to find a good enough car-thankfuly we know that second hand prices have taken nose dive but problem is getting someone to take our own car as trade in-the garage we got it from will take it and they are looking for a car for us now so here is hoping in July we will have the bigger car and the plan B of saving can kick in -€50,000 needed to move! but that is for a later post
We have €500 more to find in 2-3 weeks so shopping will be limited til then

Good news is money off coupon collection is on the build again for next big shopping trip! yippeeeee

Meenu

wel done on ur motivation