How much can you save?

BeachCat

Hi all,

I'm a newbie to the forum but thought I'd share my savings goals with you all. Any encouragement or advice welcome!

I currently have £2700 saved in a cash ISA (I have a good NatWest one with a 3.5% rate that is no longer available to new customers). I'm hoping to save up for a house deposit with my OH, think I will need at least £10,000 for my share.

I'm not working at the moment as I'm writing my dissertation for my Masters degree (60,000 words-wish me luck!), but I'm also job-hunting so will hopefully be earning soon. Always helps when you're trying to put money aside!

So that's the other thing I'm working on, trying to spend as little as possible so I don't get too far into my overdraft before I start earning (my overdraft is up to £2000 interest-free so I'm better off using that for living costs rather than savings for now, I will pay the overdraft off as soon as I'm earning again).

Thanks guys!

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

Just an update from my previuos post in January...I have managed to save £615 so far due to frugal living and packing us all up with sarnies and using 1/2 of everything ( dishwasher tabs, washing powder etc) and making sure I use up what food there is left and not wasting anything so good all round.
Everything is getting more expensive so I am shopping around and walking instead of getting the bus (I got rid of my car a couple of years ago and lost 2 stones!)
I agree with other posters that there is nowhere decent to put your money with the interest rates although there has been talk this week of a possible rate rise so hoping there will be some good savings accounts out there. I have opened a santander account with 5% interest rate up to £2500 if you deposit £1k per month so will do that for me and OH for a year then look at options.
Good luck everyone

Sammie220

I am a newbie to this site and have joined purposely for advice on how to save.

I am 23 and have managed to clear my university debts so now its time to start saving for the house deposit.

I have started this month and have put £50.00 away in savings and can save £80.00 but have been looking for tips on how to increase this as I ideally need to be saving £350.00.

Any tips, greatly appreciated.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

Sammie220 wrote: »

I am a newbie to this site and have joined purposely for advice on how to save.

I am 23 and have managed to clear my university debts so now its time to start saving for the house deposit.

I have started this month and have put £50.00 away in savings and can save £80.00 but have been looking for tips on how to increase this as I ideally need to be saving £350.00.

Any tips, greatly appreciated.

welcome to mse sammy!
well done for making the first move...deciding to save. I would take a look on the old style board as they have some great tips on there on how to save money, the problem at the mo is the low rates for savers but you can boost your savings by minimising whatyou spend.
I shop around for food buys and bulk buy when on special offer, also get clothes from charity shops, make it known that you are in the market for any furniture freebies from relatives for when you move into your new house, be broad minded about things, we still have a kitchen table from 20 years ago and still use it, we got it from a relative that was chucking it out free!
Use 1/2 of everything, make things last longer, dont buy anything unless you really need it, balance it all up with things you really want but try and get them cheaper, dont forget freecycle, dont get sucked into having to have new technology I make do with a non singing and dancing mobile and it is fine for me, I get a kick out of being able to work part time than having to work full time and having all that stuff.
Good luck, its a great feeling when you get where you are going!

JoKay_2

I'd like to join in too please..?

My OH and I are finally in a position where we have a reasonable income and are able to begin a savings programme.

We do have some ISA savings, and are able to save a nice chunk (about 2k) in the next two pay days to pay for our holiday in early April, so I'm planning to start afresh in May.

We should be able to saving a minimum of £920 per month (in two new ISAs), but according to my spreadsheet could even save another £200 ish on top of that - it depends how well we keep in budget, which is where we're not so good!

I also save another £300 into a separate account which pays for insurances, school related expenditure, medical & dental etc, birthdays and christmas, and this sum should cover our annual additional costs.

My target is to save 11 x £920 by the end of March 2012, to create an emergency fund, but there is the possibility that this could be as much as £13k if I can keep spending under control!

One that's been done, the next plan is to start overpaying the mortgage - but one step at a time!

tara747

Well done everyone, and welcome to the newbies!!!

tara747

OK... drum roll.... payday update from me.

I saved £1,540 in February wayhey! It would have been even more but I bought a couple of things that I changed my mind about, but haven't got around to returning them yet so still count them as Feb spends. They'll be counted out again when they're brought back in March lol.

So I am now up to £45,643 (off to edit my sig). Totally chuffed!!!!!!!! :beer:

Keep at it guys xoxoxo

dippykitty

Payday today so I've moved £350 into the ISA and £35 into the taxes fund. Signature updated to reflect the new totals and I'm making decent progress on both goals - just over halfway towards what I expect I'll need for my self-employed tax bill and £1.1k away from my initial goal in the ISA. Hoping to move an extra £100 into the ISA tomorrow once today's spends balance out on the online banking and I know exactly where I am in the current account so in that case, I'll be just under £1k off the ISA goal.

ETA - Moved that extra £100 over to the ISA now so updated the sig for that.

ViHan

Went to the bank the other day and by moving spare money out of my current account and some from Paypal I have more than made my march 1st goal and smashed it Current savings stand at just under £16250 and I wanted £16k.
Need to think about a new target now. Hubs has gone back on tour so its gonna be a while before we put our savings into a house I reckon as he will be out alot now till touring season ends in October.

Absinthe_Fairy

Finally got my interview expenses paid into my account (I've been in the job for a week! lol) so I've updated my sig!