How much can you save?

dippykitty

Hi everyone! Thanks for the encouragement. I'm crossing my fingers that things pick up soon work-wise (I'm freelance and the recession is having a major impact on how much work I can pick up as everyone seems to be slashing budgets at the moment, as you might expect), then I can get myself back up to my usual £200/300 per month paid into my savings account(s). In the meantime, I'm finding it inspiring to read everyone else's posts!

Rose_Crow

Happy new year everyone!

I've decided to lower my deposit total from £20k to £10k. £20k just seem insumountable and since my boyfriend and I are buying a house together it makes sense to save £10k each.

So, £10k heading in the right direction. Have just put away £700 in total from my December pay packet (bonus / pay-rise), so that's not going to be happening again for some time! I need to try to increase my monthly saving amount. I have a DD for £150 a month, but also pay £100 into a short term savings account for car insurance etc. I'd like to get the DD deposit savings up to £250 / month and will try this with my January pay.

I'm also an avid £2 saver (see my sig), I also do anything under 50p. £2's are becoming harder to find now as I rarely use cash.

Good luck to everyone!

JesaRose

Just transferred 1k into my savings Only £14k to go

jbennett_2

Hi everyone,
Thought I would jump in on this thread as part of my motivation for the new years resolution to save more money for a house deposit.

I'm Jon and i'm 21 and currently saving with my girlfriend who is 22. We started saving last January and so far have £16,745 in our joint savings account.

In total we are aiming for £40,000 within the next 2 years and have set an aim of £30,000 by December 2009.

We are currently not trying to think about the ultimate aim of 40k (which is the amount we require for a house deposit) as it sort of doesn't help with the motivation so we are taking a step at a time and initially want to get to 20k by March 2009.

The bad news is that i'm feeling very upset with myself at the moment as I didn't manage to save any of my christmas funds and blew £549 on a new television. Great start to the new year :-)

Ohwell I guess I just have to get over spending this money as we worked hard all year to build up the funds we currently have and we did want a nice new television.

I've been reading this thread for several months and see that some people have done great with their savings. I hope I can join you all and hope we all have a good year for saving more money.

Have a good day.

p.s. I'm also looking at paying up the last of my debt which is £240. Initially I had a loan for £2,400 and paid monthly on this. The loan was for a course that I really wanted to study though and I felt it was money well spent. So today i'm sat here trying to figure out how I can get together the £240 so I can kill off this debt which lasts until May 2009 (£48 a month)

Lokolo

Well just think of it like this. With this new television you have there will be no need to go out and splash loads of cash because you can have nice quiet relaxing evenings in

I just renewed my car insurance, expected around £500 from budget, but was £444.15 so I've saved £50 there! Hasn't come out of my available balance yet which is suprising, will have to keep an eye on that.

Overall I am up over December though which is good, I may have to pay for a house deposit over the next month which I haven't accounted for (renting so shouldn't be too much), so I am aiming to be tight with my money.

Student loan comes in on Monday (woo), my 7% fixed ends 31st Jan (boo!) so going to be doing a lot of money stuff.

However I do have 2 assignments to finish for next week (almot finished 1), and 4 exams to revise for :mad:

Saver-Rob

jbennett wrote: »

Hi everyone,
Thought I would jump in on this thread as part of my motivation for the new years resolution to save more money for a house deposit.

I'm Jon and i'm 21 and currently saving with my girlfriend who is 22. We started saving last January and so far have £16,745 in our joint savings account.

In total we are aiming for £40,000 within the next 2 years and have set an aim of £30,000 by December 2009.

We are currently not trying to think about the ultimate aim of 40k (which is the amount we require for a house deposit) as it sort of doesn't help with the motivation so we are taking a step at a time and initially want to get to 20k by March 2009.

The bad news is that i'm feeling very upset with myself at the moment as I didn't manage to save any of my christmas funds and blew £549 on a new television. Great start to the new year :-)

Ohwell I guess I just have to get over spending this money as we worked hard all year to build up the funds we currently have and we did want a nice new television.

I've been reading this thread for several months and see that some people have done great with their savings. I hope I can join you all and hope we all have a good year for saving more money.

Have a good day.

p.s. I'm also looking at paying up the last of my debt which is £240. Initially I had a loan for £2,400 and paid monthly on this. The loan was for a course that I really wanted to study though and I felt it was money well spent. So today i'm sat here trying to figure out how I can get together the £240 so I can kill off this debt which lasts until May 2009 (£48 a month)

Well done :T

You may see I am in a similar position. Me and my girlfriend are saving for a house deposit (some figures are in my signature below).

I think sometimes you have to treat yourself a little (even if it is a big TV). I dont always take my own advice though!

I must ask, as we dont have one, is it wise to have a joint account so early on? I'm just thinking of the risk you are taking and what would happen if you split up beforehand - ie what % of your total savings belongs to whom?

Good luck!

JimLad

I have just set up a halifax regular saver which is fixed at 5% for a year. I will be paying 500 into it every month as well as filling up my new tax years ISA allowance.

jbennett_2

Saver-Rob wrote: »

Well done :T

You may see I am in a similar position. Me and my girlfriend are saving for a house deposit (some figures are in my signature below).

I think sometimes you have to treat yourself a little (even if it is a big TV). I dont always take my own advice though!

I must ask, as we dont have one, is it wise to have a joint account so early on? I'm just thinking of the risk you are taking and what would happen if you split up beforehand - ie what % of your total savings belongs to whom?

Good luck!

I've been with my girlfriend for about 3 and a half years (whether that's considered a long time is arguable) but forgot to mention that detail. For the first 2 and a half years we where together we didn't save anything and went on holiday and went out drinking all the time.

We only switched on the sensible part of our brains after last christmas and said to each other that it was about time we started saving.

The % is 50/50 because we save roughly the same amount which is nice and simple and money can only be taken out if we both consent with a signature. I find it quite motivating to save in a joint account but each to their own I suppose.

I will admit that I have saved more overall through the year though as I earn a little more than my girlfriend and i'm more determined than her. She wants the same out of life though but most the time she takes my advice that we are doing the right thing so I ensure she has a bit of pocket money when necessary to keep her happy :-)


p.s. Good job with your savings saver-rob. I hope we can be in your position one of these fine days. Just got to keep working hard at it.

Lokolo

3 and half years is ok. Thats how long I've been with my gf. But theres no way I would have a joint account..... lol.

I am the saver, she is the spender. Although saying that I do spend on her...!

Bit different for us because we are apart most of the year and we are both at university. Might change once we are in employment.

And yeh I earn more than my gf and I enjoy it only because I love to spend money on her

jbennett_2

Lokolo wrote: »

3 and half years is ok. Thats how long I've been with my gf. But theres no way I would have a joint account..... lol.

I am the saver, she is the spender. Although saying that I do spend on her...!

Bit different for us because we are apart most of the year and we are both at university. Might change once we are in employment.

And yeh I earn more than my gf and I enjoy it only because I love to spend money on her

That's cool..My plan is to move out with my girlfriend in about 18 months to 2 years so we will have to put all the money in one big pot then so we might aswell start now lol..

I think on the positive side of things atleast we have both built up our money together and when we do move out it will be roughly 50/50 on the deposit. I'm aware of some of my friends (the boyfriends) paying the whole lump themselves which I think is quite risky.

I think I will just keep positive that we will stay together forever and the risk at the current time will pay off in the long term :-)