17 year old saver

rictus123

Well its proving hard to get too and from work so far. Yet i think i could manage until almost xmas without a car. Wages go from £357(after tax and insurance) a fortnight to roughly £630(before tax and insurance) This will help a great deal and the extra few hundred a month will be saved, only outgoings between now and christmas will be my phone and digs. Il put in as much overtime as possible and that will cover any nights out or birthdays. Any more advice? Trying really hard to stay motivated, i really wanna do this, get rid of the debt, get myself some savings together and make a succsess of myself.

tinkerbel

aww you sound like youre full of energy and rearing to go but being held back by all of your existing debt!
I think you seriously need to cut down on the phone usage, what is the deal you have?
Also what kinda work do you do and is there much chance of overtime? heres an idea, do you get paid extra for overtime? if you do you could put if you get like, "time and a half" the "half" of every hour could go towards nights out, presents etc, and the rest could go towards savings/debt?
Also do you do all the surveys/up your income stuff? because some of it mounts up pretty quickly! maybe pm me of you need any help with this!
I know it seems hard, and having no money the day after payday is rubbish but at least your dad has what was owed him now and it might help you to learn about budgetting for the future!

Fire_Fox

The thing that is worrying me here is that you keep mentioning another debt to a family member and another ... how much do you owe in total? The fact that they are fine to wait for their money is not the point, a debt is a debt. Is it a good idea to take on any more debt at this stage? If you buy another car you will be paying out on insurance, tax, MOT, repairs, petrol - can you actually afford all these debts and outgoings and still have a life?

Sorry if this sounds really negative - you just remind me of some of the people on the Debt-free Wannabe board, only they took longer to have their lightbulb moment. If you happened to fall ill, your girlfriend was to fall pregnant or you were made redundant how would you manage? Is there any possibility you could car share or cycle to work?

ozzage

I think the most important thing is to get into the habit of saving regularly - "paying yourself first"

Decide on a minimum figure per fortnight (since you're paid fortnightly) and as soon as you get paid, transfer it into your ISA. Pay off your other loans/bills immediately, and then live off the rest.

You'll probably hardly notice the difference to your lifestyle, since as you say money just tends to "disappear" anyway for no real reward. But this way you'll always have added something to your ISA BEFORE it all disappears!

Baldur

Spam by poster Madeline1 reported

rictus123

Right now im not so sure if im taking a loan out or not! I work as an apprentice builder, 4 year apprenticeship and il be 3rd year end of June! Cant wait for the payrise! Iv asked for overtime, got a few hours in but nothing much so far. Houses are selling faster again so should be more work coming my way and il be in on weekends again. Tinkerbel il pm you then:D

rictus123

Well looks like a holiday to Cyprus start of July for a week of my 3 weeks off! After this im hoping il get a job in a bookies! Or something for Saturday and Sundays anyway!

hotkee

These 17 year olds, they come along and take all our work and do all the jobs going ! :mad:

rictus123

No advice for a 2nd job then?

TomCon_2

Good luck with it. I started my job when I was 16 (only part time) and really wished I saved more at the time. That was four years ago.

I wouldn't be without my car, but it is something I saved up for.

At the moment, I have two savings accounts. One which is saving towards a deposit for a house (for when I finish my teacher training in 2012) and another which is what I call "spending savings" so money that will go on tax, insurance etc.

Slow and steady is the way to do it and cutting back. I take my lunch to work or uni and have saved a lot more that way.

I think 45 hours a week for an under 18 is actually breaking the law and this goes across jobs as well, so a second job wouldn't really be an option for you because you would be obliged to tell each employer about the other and it would be even more obvious you were doing more hours than you should be doing.