Saving - at what cost?

AJ85

Hi guys,

So i've been wandering the boards the last few days reading up on how well people are doing at saving which makes me wonder

To be saving so much - what are you giving up in order to achieve this?

Info on me... 25 years old and earning around £1700 per month after tax. After 2 years living in rented accom i'm now back at 'home' paying little rent to aid in saving.

After going over my budget I figure I could realistically save about 900-1000.

But that's including a couple of nights out with friends a month, a couple of day trips out, a few takeaways and spending too much on lunch at work each day. If i was to cut back further i.e basic food shopping, not going on nights out, cancelling the gym, not having costa coffee, lil purchases like t-shirts, dvd's etc then i could probably save an extra £150-£250 per month (but what i consider giving up my life?)

Do those of you saving hard do this? give up any lil luxuries or things you enjoy for the sake of saving that bit extra?

I'm desperate to save up as soon as possible £15,000-£20,000 but can't decide whether becoming a hermet and skimping on everything would send me in to manic depression or if it's ok once you get used to it

Raggs_2

Although as I explained elsewhere, we live in unique circumstances, we don't deliberately cut back on everything, but we do question purchases.

Weekends are spent with friends, drinking cheap beer, having bbq and playing card games. Cheap, but very entertaining. Food for me at work is paid for, plus rolls from a bakery etc, so I eat well at work, so just a sandwich or two in the evening is fine. We don't drink coffee out anymore, since it's ridiculously expensive when you work out just how much is spent. We don't go to the gym, but have free access to a pool (which we mainly lounge in) and can walk up a mountain when we wish.

I've never been one for clothing, so my expenditure on clothes is very low, but buying a large collection of designer pieces for the OH set us back 450 pound. Buying professional cow clippers for the dog set us back around about the same. So we still make big purchases, but we try and cut out the silly unneccessary ones. Costa coffee and spending lots of cash on a work lunch sound to be like things that probably don't massively boost your happiness, but stopping could boost your bank account.

Still, you're saving more than us , but that comes from earning more in the first place , and not having the large rental expenses etc. Still, no way we could live with my parents (wrong country) and although her dad's place is big enough, the dog is never getting in there, and her dads cat is almost 20, so doesn't need any bother of another cat or dog. And it's not an option anyway, need our independance.

G_M

Can i suggest you move your post from the housing forum to discussion forum

AJ85

Interesting read Raggs, I guess it's sacrificing things in moderation. Like you say, Costa etc not really necessary. I buy dvd's, magazines, papers, shirts etc all unnecessarily since not buying them things probably wouldn't make me any less happy!

G_M.. i don't have the foggiest how to move something, if it's not board material someone can delete it if they need to.. I'm only after a bit of discussion on other people's circumstances etc; didn't realise i'd cause problems posting in here (i know you weren't having a go, and were merely suggesting)

twirlypinky

this is too much of a personal choice for us to be much help.

I could save about £200 a month more than i do if i was willing to give up cinema night/clothes/odd meal out. But I'm not. I don't want to become such a complete misog that my boyfriend wouldn't want to buy a house with me anymore anyway. I'd rather wait a little longer and still be the happy little chappie that i am.

But that's just my choice, i'm sure some people recoil in horror at the thought of paying £7 to go to the cinema when i could wait for the DVD. But i LOVE the cinema, it's one of my favourite things and i get to go with my baby sister, it's our thing we do together, it's fun. I'm not willing to give that up, it's my choice.

The same way that my boyf pays £5 a week to play footy in his local league, i would never begrudge him that because i know he loves it.

We all have different levels of what we "require".

hth.

jockosjungle

How I saved up mine was my wife got a job and we have cut down a bit, but not much. We could save a bit more if we had no heating on and ate cheap beans for tea every night, but I wouldn't say a house buying purchase was that necessary.

I have done some things to cut out my spending

Mobile Phone Bill - Cut to £17.50 (halved) by getting a cheaper contract more suited to my needs
Gym Membership - £42 Cancelled, I continue to run and bought a £70 bike
Left the work social club, was no longer buying the tickets to make it worthwhile

We paid £13.50 each a month for a Cineworld unlimited pass, we go to the pictures about 4 times a week now and basically see every new release. Works out at a £1 a film, DVD purchases are now minimal (very few films are worth a rewatch) and we still go out.

Used to buy a sandwich at work, now I take my own. No real difference but saves me £2 a day, I don't drink coffee so don't need to cut out Costas. We still see friends, get the odd takeaway, still eat out, etc.

We haven't cut down to excess but at the same time don't massively need to, we are in the process of buying a cheap house (£62k) which is less than our rent. I earn a similar amount to you but am the head of a household so cannot live with parents, I already organised it so that we could comfortably live off my salary and my wifes money is a bonus

R

Fang_3

Raggs wrote: »

Although as I explained elsewhere, we live in unique circumstances, we don't deliberately cut back on everything, but we do question purchases.

Weekends are spent with friends, drinking cheap beer, having bbq and playing card games. Cheap, but very entertaining. Food for me at work is paid for, plus rolls from a bakery etc, so I eat well at work, so just a sandwich or two in the evening is fine. We don't drink coffee out anymore, since it's ridiculously expensive when you work out just how much is spent. We don't go to the gym, but have free access to a pool (which we mainly lounge in) and can walk up a mountain when we wish.

I've never been one for clothing, so my expenditure on clothes is very low, but buying a large collection of designer pieces for the OH set us back 450 pound. Buying professional cow clippers for the dog set us back around about the same. So we still make big purchases, but we try and cut out the silly unneccessary ones. Costa coffee and spending lots of cash on a work lunch sound to be like things that probably don't massively boost your happiness, but stopping could boost your bank account.

Still, you're saving more than us , but that comes from earning more in the first place , and not having the large rental expenses etc. Still, no way we could live with my parents (wrong country) and although her dad's place is big enough, the dog is never getting in there, and her dads cat is almost 20, so doesn't need any bother of another cat or dog. And it's not an option anyway, need our independance.

Can't be that large? That's not even the price of a discounted classic Burberry trench.

Fang_3

You can still do all those things cheaply. Or cheaper than you do them now. I suppose the question you have to answer is whether your desire to have a large deposit outweighs your desire to continue your current lifestyle temporarily? Running a house comes with costs, so cutting down might be inevitable anyway, so you may as well get used to it now. On the positive side, once you have saved up a large deposit you'll appreciate the luxuries even more.

AJ85

I was expecting people to say they'd given up virtually everything in order to save as much as possible! But seems the consensus is you still need to live a little.

I get paid on the 28th of the month, so next month will be keeping receipts to then weigh up and see just how much i'm spending on the unnecessary lil luxuries.

I'm not able to get help from parents financially since they just can't afford to so it's down to me.. heard on the radio yesterday the average deposit for a first time buyer now is £36,000... what the hell!

Strings

You need to pay yourself first, save the money first, then live off the rest, rather than spending first then saving the surplus

Raggs_2

Fang wrote: »

Can't be that large? That's not even the price of a discounted classic Burberry trench.

When I say designer, I mean designer, not brand name. Individually (though not specifically designed for the OH) designed pieces, sold in the personally owned shop. It was about 6 pieces overall. Plus the owner is an old friend of the OH, so we got a good price too.

EDIT - Plus we got a free bit of lingerie as a gift for me (I was sat outside the shop for 3 hours with the dog).

EDIT EDIT - When I say gift for me, I mean she wears it, I enjoy it... just wanted to clear things up.