I just CAN'T save! Need inspiration and tips! arrgghh!

in_a_mess_4

Hi everyone,

This year I really need to save, I've been thinking about going bankrupt but can't even manage to pull the fee together, I'm rubbish at saving and budgeting and money burns a hole in my pocket!

Theres lots of things i really need but just need to save!

Any tips or ideas for someone who just cant save? If i have £5 in my pocket i look to see what i can spend it on! That prob one of the reasons i am in so much debt and have ccjs and defaults everywhere!

I really want to become better at managing my money and bills and have a emergency fund.

khiller1988

make a budget as to what you have going out and coming in each month. I have this on a simple spreadsheet. This will show you how much you have left to play with each month. Take half of this out of the bank, make sure you have allowed for and trasport fees etc. With the money you have taken out of the bank split this up to give you a week by week allowance, leave all but what you need at home when you go out. Also leave anything you have card wise credit/ debit store cards at home. If uyou haven't got it with you ypou wont spend it.
Also ionce you know how much you are paying out each month and what you have left with the other half that you didn't take out at the end of the month, use this to pay a bit extra off of any cards that you have.
Obviously i don't know how bad your finances are, but if you have regular money each month you can do this. Also seeing in blank and white a total of what you owe, may scare you into being more careful with money.

Lokolo

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=27864593&postcount=30

Is the food just feeding you? Because if you are £250 on groceries a month you need to think about not eating as much. I survive on £100 a month and thats with bonus items such as DVD impulse buys!

I suspect if you cut down on food by £100 you can easily save £150 a month. Assuming you get paid monthly, put £150 into a savings accounts on payday. Therefore this money is now gone. Have internet only savings account.

How many current accounts do you have? Do you have one for spending, one for bills?

---

Oh yes, and if you want to cut down on shopping go here: http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/

Do a shopping list on there

in_a_mess_4

Hi thanks for this x

I don't know how much I spend on ANYTHING because i just spend and don't budget and start panicking a week after pay day! I really really want to be better with money so I am soooo going to try this month, like this month I have car tax, car MOT, need a new windscreen for car, new alternator, headlights and i haven't saved a penny throughout the year for any car repairs or tax so i want to start saving monthly so it doesnt hit me as hard.

I have lots of bank accounts, few savers and an ISA, all empty. i have opened these all with intentions of saving , transferred money into the savers and then transferred it back at the end of the month.

I would love to get through the month and have left some money in a savings account.

Lokolo wrote: »

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=27864593&postcount=30

Is the food just feeding you? Because if you are £250 on groceries a month you need to think about not eating as much. I survive on £100 a month and thats with bonus items such as DVD impulse buys!

I suspect if you cut down on food by £100 you can easily save £150 a month. Assuming you get paid monthly, put £150 into a savings accounts on payday. Therefore this money is now gone. Have internet only savings account.

How many current accounts do you have? Do you have one for spending, one for bills?

---

Oh yes, and if you want to cut down on shopping go here: http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/

Do a shopping list on there

vixarooni

Im a bad saver too, but i found helping someone else helped me. I was going through if you quit smoking you would save x amount a year, or if you moved here you would save x amount on travelling to work. It made me then look at my own spending! I also nipped into the bank, and spoke to someone there got a saving account. I could and should have done this years ago.

Good luck and i hope you get more helpful replies from the others!

in_a_mess_4

vixarooni wrote: »

Im a bad saver too, but i found helping someone else helped me. I was going through if you quit smoking you would save x amount a year, or if you moved here you would save x amount on travelling to work. It made me then look at my own spending! I also nipped into the bank, and spoke to someone there got a saving account. I could and should have done this years ago.

Good luck and i hope you get more helpful replies from the others!

Hi I'm looking to quit smoking at the end of this week, so hopefully I will save about £20 a wek from this..........fingers crossed i have the will power though x

Lokolo

OK so have 3 current accounts:

1 general shopping and spending
2 bills
3 longterm bills (car, holidays)

You get paid into 1. On payday - You transfer X (whatever you have said in your SOA), until 2. You transfer Y from 1 into 3 (whatever the rest of your SOA). You transfer X (£150) into savings account.

This will leave you with enough money to go out shopping in Asda. If you end up spending it all on crap, you starve, simple as. Then after this happens every now and again you'll sure learn to stop spending so much.

Put all Direct Debits on account 2 for bills.

IMadeMyOwnLuck

OP do a timeline of your near future and put your hopes on it, then take one step at a time

alanq

Lokolo wrote: »

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=27864593&postcount=30

Is the food just feeding you? Because if you are £250 on groceries a month you need to think about not eating as much.

Not "not eating as much" just "spending less on food". Did you see the programme Economy Gastronomy? Not a great programme but the families featured were spending lots of money on takeaways, convenience food and food that ended up in the bin unused.

in_a_mess_4

Lokolo wrote: »

OK so have 3 current accounts:

1 general shopping and spending
2 bills
3 longterm bills (car, holidays)

You get paid into 1. On payday - You transfer X (whatever you have said in your SOA), until 2. You transfer Y from 1 into 3 (whatever the rest of your SOA). You transfer X (£150) into savings account.

This will leave you with enough money to go out shopping in Asda. If you end up spending it all on crap, you starve, simple as. Then after this happens every now and again you'll sure learn to stop spending so much.

Put all Direct Debits on account 2 for bills.

Thanks for this, I am going to try and work out how to manage it now.

I have a yorkshire bank basic account with maestro which wage goes into and my bills come out of, i would like to keep it like this as too much hassle to change all dd details.

I also have a savings acc with card with yorkshire which may be a bad idea to use to save as when i log on to internet banking i can see it so may be tempted to transfer.

I also have a halifax basic account, halifax online ISA and halifax web saver (with card). I am thinking these would be the best accounts to use to save.

So how about i have my wage paid into main yorkshire account, leave enough in for bills, transfer weekly budget money and fuel money etc into either the halifax current or yorkshire saver and then any savings into web saver or ISA?? I think its best to save for car MOT/maintenance/tax in saver with card for emergency car problems but long term in ISA???

Am i on the right path?

Lokolo

Yep that sounds about right.

The only problem is you will have to remember to transfer money from savings -> current when it comes to MOT / insurance time!