How much can you save?

zag2me

Saved £700 this month, again a high total due to living back with my parents for a few months until my flat completes.

Also put £100 into my holiday fund.

Got £134 in interest this month from my savings

slowlyfading

PasturesNew wrote: »

Reading through, I don't know where most of you work .... but it's very lucrative. Got any jobs going??!!

Many are saving more than I earn. Some are saving double what I earn.

Hard to be motivated when you see all the big sums people are saving.

Sort of makes £50-100/month pale into insignificance for a lot who are lurking I bet ....

I dont save a lot either - as you can see by my signiture - as i'm a full time student and so just save where and when i can.
Its not a race to see who can save the most, £50 each month is a lot better than a lot of people. x

moneysavingwannabe

Hi,

I never used to be able to save much. I've been a student too and lived on hardly anything for 4 years.

I am lucky that my partner bought his first house when he was young and prices were cheap so we don't have high outgoings.

I am pushing myself to save for a few years but I know I won't be able to maintain this if I have a family and work part time etc. (Other half contributes to the savings when he can so it is a joint thing!)

It doesn't matter how much you save, just that you are aware of the best places to put any savings you have and to not spend more than you have coming in.

When I was a student I couldn't save anything and never really considered doing it so I am really impressed that people who are studying are able to save at all :beer:

butterfly72

PasturesNew wrote: »

Reading through, I don't know where most of you work .... but it's very lucrative. Got any jobs going??!!

Many are saving more than I earn. Some are saving double what I earn.

Hard to be motivated when you see all the big sums people are saving.

Sort of makes £50-100/month pale into insignificance for a lot who are lurking I bet ....

When me and the OH started our challange we were 5K in debt each. I managed to get a job in the NHS and as I wanted to be a nurse, I asked them to sponsor my training which they did (meaning I was paid 15.5K per year for 3 years to train). I'm now working full time as a nurse. My OH started fairly low down in a large national company, he's worked really really hard, put in the effort and had several promotions in a short period of time. It goes to show that hard work and determination can get you somewhere!

Like zag2me and others say its more to do with what you can save out of your wages than competing with others. I think the stories on here are motivational when you can see just what people can achieve. For me,its not just about the odd fiver here and the £100 there, its about setting yourself up in life, career improvement, gaining financial knowledge and of course security.

Woodyrocks

The idea of the thread is not to pit yourself against anyone other than yourself. You are your own challenger. Personally, I find I am motivated to save but sometimes I need a healthy does of discipline and this is where threads like this come in. I might have a good month and want to 'reward' myself the following month but by posting I know I can maintain my savings average as long as the reward mentality doesn't set in! I offset this by signing up for the olympic challenge and that is my reward money. Everything else I earn is saved less household & lifestyle bills and pocket money.

2 years ago to the date, my definition of a savings account was my DD child benefit account which had a paltry sum of £120 in it. If I had been in a position to save £100pm then I would have been estatic! Fast forward a couple of years and I have around £21,000 in savings and was in a position to spend approximately £10,000 in total last year on a Masters degree and related childcare cost. Thanfully my DD now not only gets to see her child benefit grow but I have also put away £2500 in her name in addition to this.

I thanked butterfly post because of her closing statement -

What this is about for me is setting yourself up in life, career improvement, gaining financial knowledge and of course security.

This is a total life overhaul for me hence all the steps I have taken in the past 2years and continue to take. I am my biggest challenger!

JAMIEDODGER

inspirational woodyrocks:)

i have the same mind set now, i have goals for the future and dont want to miss out on being able to fulfill my dreams because of cashflow problems!

born_again_saver

I've been lurking on this thread, and at times have also wondered how on earth some people can find so much cash to put away, admirable as it is. Some of the amounts quoted are a fair bit more than my entire monthly take home pay too. Thank you PasturesNew for saying out loud what I've been thinking for some time!

But I find it quite inspirational to read these posts, as though I'll be starting relatively small in comparison, I think it does help to show that perseverance with saving up regularly allows a pot to build up encouragingly quickly, no matter how much or little you're putting away.

So, having looked at my own money, I think realistically I can put away between £100 - £250 per month without trying too hard, but I'm going to try and aim high to get this year's ISA filled up. If we call it 8 months and I squeeze in a payment in early April 2008 before the tax year deadline, then I need to save £312.50 per month to bring my £500 up to £3000. I've been debt free (except for SLC loan) since June 2007, having finally paid off the various debts which hung over me for too long since University.

I'm in the process of switching my current and savings accounts around for better interest rates, and have started using various cash back sites etc, to try and help me along the way to this (for me) ambitious target. I've also become a lot more savvy about saving money on things like walking to work (free!) and not buying expensive lunches etc.

My longer term goal is to save enough to match my huge £15k+ loan with the SLC (but not to pay it off in full of course!). With the eventual aim of building that sum up to have enough for a decent deposit for a house.

Will post here to try and keep motivated!

Joscar

Try not to think of the amount you are saving compared to others with different circumstances. This website shows that many people have more going out than coming in. The fact that you are able to save any amount however small deserves a pat on the back. :T

My first standing order to a savings account was only twenty pounds a month and I was very pleased I could do that and was impressed watching the balance increase over a year. I am now in a fortunate position and I am saving more so that our future plans might be possible. For me it is worth saving more now, so my plans can happen sooner.

When I am deciding whether to spend or save I have always found it helps when you look at expenditure in terms of how long it takes to earn the money, for example 'Do I really want to by that outfit? Is it worth the 1.5 days wages it costs? It will delay my plans starting by 1.5 days'

Martins new Demotivator tool uses the same technique to try to cut out unnecessary spending

djbd1973

Joscar wrote: »

When I am deciding whether to spend or save I have always found it helps when you look at expenditure in terms of how long it takes to earn the money, for example

I do that too. I look at the cost of something I want (rather than absolutely need) compared to how much I either earn or charge for an hour at work and if I think I am throwing hard earned money at something that could be achieved another way I think twice.

Vicky82

I agree with the others, it's all about saving what you can afford not trying compete with other people here.

I don't earn a great deal of money, but in a good month I save about £600 a month - but then I still live at home with my folks so have very little outgoings. That will all change when / if I get my own place!

This month, after paying for my holiday (that I am just back from today ) I have managed to stay above my target of £20k. Still going to keep going though!