How much can you save?

save-a-lot

Hi

The Olympic Challenge is connected to this thread and there is a spreadsheet available where you can plot your savings as a % of your monthly disposable income. I will PM you with the Olympic Challenge spreadsheet.

BTW what is the 7% ISA??

obsessed_saver

Thanks for the spreadsheet, save-a-lot.

Here's the thread on the 7% A&L Premier ISA (guaranteed 1% above BoE rate until April 2008). You must be a new customer (or not a customer in the last 3 months) opening a Premier Curernt Account to get this Premier ISA account. Then, you must maintain the current account by depositing at least £500 a month, or else your Premier ISA will revert back to A&L's standard rate which is BoE rate minute 0.25%.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=371489

jamtart6

hello obssessed saver - welcome!

i cant wait to do a car boot sale this month to save!

i am trying to save for a holiday to NYC too in december! lots to save for!

stphnstevey

save-a-lot wrote:

Hi

The Olympic Challenge is connected to this thread and there is a spreadsheet available where you can plot your savings as a % of your monthly disposable income. I will PM you with the Olympic Challenge spreadsheet.

BTW what is the 7% ISA??

Sounds a good spreadsheet - any chance of sharing? :beer:

Angelselondon

Stphnstevey

If you want the spreadsheet pm me your email and I'll send it over. I formed the spreadsheet for the Olympic Challenge so that you can calculate the percentage of your annual disposable income.

Leanne

stphnstevey wrote:

Sounds a good spreadsheet - any chance of sharing? :beer:

jamtart6

i know the whole site is for money saving, especially this thread butwondered if you might want to share your best moneysaving tip each week to help other savers. whcih i sppose in turn would then refer people to other threads and ways of saving money that they might not have thought about?

My top 3 this week have been :

1. Get cash for your old ink cartridges http://www.cartex.co.uk/cgi-bin/empty_inkjet_cartridges.asp

2. Join mytns.com for surveys which credit your nectar card directly, great for those Christmas savers who want to double their nectar points by spending them in Argos http://www.mytns.com/

3. Boots Health Club - I booked an appt at the optition for £25, was horrified at the cost (student!) and thought "I know a man who can do it for cheaper than that (:money: ) sure enough, join Boots Health club and get a free voucher for an eye test..and thus Bob(or Martin) is your Uncle! http://www.bootshealthclub.com/index.html

Total savings from these 3 tips that can now go into my house fund/christmas fund are: 58p in argos vouchers (thru nectar), £40.00 (£25 saved on optitian and £15 back on ink cartridges!)

What has been your best help saving this week? Do you think its a good idea to share like this to show how our savings are getting bigger?

Dr.Lou

My biggest saving tip would be to put your money in savings as soon as you get paid.

For example, when you get paid calculate what will be your essential outgoings and what are you likely to need for spending money. Then put any excess money away. Our savings account is linked online to our main bank account so we can move money instantly if we need to. This way I find that I do not want to break into our savings and my mind is 'fooled' into thinking we are skint.

Since we have been doing this our savings rate has trebled, even though our income hasn't (wish it had-lol!).

Another thing which helps a lot is to keep a record of all your savings accounts on a spreadsheet. On mine I have all the different accounts, interest rates (with projected yearly interest), a row to calculate total monthly savings for the month as well as a grand total. I also have a graph to show how it is growing. I find it helps keep us motivated as well as keeping a track on how much money is in each different account.

Hope this helps a bit!

daisykate124

Can I join please?

Im saving to a family holiday to florida in 2012, this is when we think our daughter will appreciate it as she will be 6 then.

I only started this month and am on a very tight budget and have saved £10 so far but every little helps!

Angelselondon

After reading Lou's Post, which I totally agree with, I got me thinking of Top 10 Tips for saving we all may have. Some may be the same but other people may have a different slant.

Thought it may be good for us all to post our tips.

Here are mine:

Clear outstanding debts (may be obvious to some but you don’t actually save anything if you have debts accumulating interest)

Make saving a habit, it takes up to 4 weeks to create a habit, once you have sacrificed it can get addictive.

Pay yourself first, same sort of thinking as Dr Lou, if you leave your savings till the end of the month you probably won’t save as much.

Use a different bank account for your savings, shop around for the best deals, don’t be frightened to move your money around if you find a competitive interest rate.

Don’t be lazy with your savings. Keep an eye on your interest rate; is it the best deal at the moment? Check the market every six months to make sure your money is working for you.

Any extra money you receive, Birthday, Ebay, extra income, put into savings account, what you never had, you’ll never miss, you’ll be surprised how much your savings can boost.

Add Pin Money to your savings, BOGOF, every little helps, well add the difference to your savings and watch them grow.

Make saving a game, if I wanted to buy something and decide I didn’t really need it. I put that money into the savings account. Each year my partner and I decide to cut back on things that we find we didn’t actually need the previous year. The saving we make from them goes into a Holiday savings account. This year, we cancelled the Gym membership, and decided to buy a zone 1-2 travel card instead of a zone 1-3 thus having to walk 30 mins each way to the station. We not only saved £80 a month we still get a hour a day exercise for free.

If you have any money left in your current account the day before payday, transfer that money into your savings account.

Check where your money goes, keep a cash book and add entries daily, you’ll be surprised how much you actually spend and it will help you curb unnecessary spending. When I started this I realised I spent a minimum of £70 a month in Starbucks, I now take one of the silver flask mugs full of coffee/ hot chocolate (£1 in poundland) and smile at the savings, also started a trend at the station.


Leanne

zag2me

My Saving tips are similar.

- Make saving a competition, I challenge myself each month to do better than the previous month. When I look back a few years ago when I used to save £50 a month it seems so small, now I get upset when I save less than £500

- Pay your wages into a seperate account. On payday transfer money into your current account for everyday things and use all the rest of the money for your savings account or ISA. This way you only have the minimum in your current account and don't get that "feeling wealthy I can treat myself" feeling.

- Use your cash ISA, but also use put some money into stocks and shares for above inflation gains. Remember Cash in a bank account(even the best ones) is only keeping up with the rise in cost of living, it isn't actually growing any bigger, as prices are always rising. Just remember to treat it as a risk, and only on a small scale if you can't afford to loose it.

- Write down all your monthly outgoings on a spreadsheet, get a total, then stick to it. Aim to save the rest.

- Don't withdraw money from your ISA, you won't ever get that allowance back.

- Above all, don't stop at a target, set yourself a new one