money saving ideas you wished you started earlier.

anna42hmr

this year i have managed to get a handle on my finances and start saving more than i have before, so it got me thinking, what money saving things do you wish you started earlier.

for me the things i wished i did earlier were

1.join a cash back site (quidco in my case) as all the cash back i earn is fed into savings accounts earnt over £300so far, (£60 paid, £218 due to be paid next week, also another £50+ to be validated/received)

2. open the halifax reward current accounts (luckily i got in there before they stopped new applicants opening 3, so £15 a month extra is fed into a saving account)

3. stop raiding my coin tins, as i used to throw loose change in there before but raid it reguarly lol, now i dont, i bag it up and bank it

4. i would budget for getting the train home from work each night, but more often than not, would get a lift back from dad if he leaves his office the same time, so each time i didnt spend the train fair, i put that in the coin tin and put it into savings accounts

5. i opened a christmas saving account last year for this year with skipton and has worked really well, so have opened another one for xmas 2010, stops me having to pay for christmas in one go out of novembers/decembers pay check and earns a tiny amount of interest

what savings ideas do you wish you started sooner

Bogof_Babe

I missed the first couple of years of ISAs as I didn't really understand them, and also one year I didn't bother as the interest rate was the same as in the account I would have taken the money out of, so I lost out on that year's tax free allowance, which of course can never be recouped.

amcluesent

I wish I'd emmigrated when I was 21.

mark55man

pretty much all of the OPs list + just wishing I had seen the light a bit earlier and only consolidated the once:o:o:o as I should have 8 years of 100K mortgage not 15 years at 210K - albeit with loft extension and significant extension downstairs (the house, not me :eek:)

oh and packed lunches save me £2000 a year for family of 6

anna42hmr

another one i missed of my list was me starting to use this http://www.spendingdiary.com for a few weeks as its a real eye opener

Newbie2saving

Being more saving savy full stop. I just took out an ISA with my bank and thought it would be ok. Realised a couple of months ago the AER was pathetic, soon moved it. I am now educated on interest rates available.

albacookie

Newbie2saving wrote: »

Being more saving savy full stop. I just took out an ISA with my bank and thought it would be ok. Realised a couple of months ago the AER was pathetic, soon moved it. I am now educated on interest rates available.

Since joining MSE I'm a lot more proactive - I had a savings account which was a top buy when I took it out but I'd never really checked up on how it compared now. It was paying 0.9% so switched it asap!

Cashback sites too, meal planning and shopping with a list. I always enjoyed cooking but never really thought about more than the next day or two.

anna42hmr

Newbie2saving wrote: »

Being more saving savy full stop.

thats true as i was not very good at money, but have made myself look more into things now and also not to be lazy about it.

sagalout1954

Getting a cashback credit card. I pay balance off in full every month so makes no difference what the interest rate is - have 'earnt' £110 so far this year with a 1% cashback card. The rates used to be better than that a couple of years ago and I wish I'd had one for longer than I have.

greenface

should have walked past the pubs
should have walked past the chippy
now im barred from all the clubs
and im feeling pretty sh1tty

anna42hmr

god i really wish i started using cash back sites earlier as we have totalled over £350 in payouts into my bank since august!!!!!



any one else got any new ones