How much can you save?

eleanor.

Hi everyone

I would like to join in here as I've always loved saving - I hate spending money and live very frugally whilst still having a great quality of life.

I'm currently in my early twenties and live on my boat which I own outright.

I haven't really been earning much for the past two years so have been living off dwindling savings as opposed to adding to them, but I've been working a lot since February this year and whilst I don't have a huge income (~£1000 a month, mixture of employment and self-employment) I can save about £500 a month as it's so cheap to live on a boat. As self-employment makes up a chunk of my income, my savings tend to be a bit sporadic.

I currently have £1800 is in my ISA. I'd like to save £5000 by the end of June. By then I will have a good idea of what I can save each month and I can set a target for the year.

I think I'd eventually like enough for a house deposit, take out a mortgage and rent the house out to cover it whilst still living on my boat. (Or just buy a bigger boat!)

I'm already obsessed with earning/saving money, this is going to encourage me even more!

wiseman405

Hellooooo
I haven't been on here for ages! You guys on this forum are class though, the advise was fantastic, i learnt alot!

I started saving at 16, and now at 19, i have £14,000+ saved . Dead proud of myself to say i only earn minimum wage!
I used to save about 80-90% of my wage at 16 but obviously, now at 19 i have out goings, car, and girlfriend are the main. But i still save a huge chunk of my savings.

I have a cash ISA, a bond which matures in october this year, and a Stocks and Shares isa, which is performing the best out of all 3.
Interest on my ISA should be coming in tomorrow, but im not expecting much even though i have almost 8k in it bloody base rate :P haha.

Hope everyones well
Tom

Matt1977

Hello.

Some good stories here.

Following the sale of my flat last year, I opened a Northern Rock ISA in October 2010. I currently have £5,133 in my ISA (the £33 or whatever it is was paid to me in interest back in November. I didn't think that the bank could put any more into it as I was at the max threshold :huh: ).

Anyhoo, I plan to to add more to the ISA in the next tax year, if the rules allow. I'm not totally clued up on how ISAs work, I'm afraid. .

My long term plans for the savings is to ideally buy a house outright. Although I think I will crumble before then and take out a mortgage to buy said house. Having said that, I hated having a mortgage when I bought my previous place.

Alas, by the time I get enough money together, I may have to look at bungalows rather than houses!

sariebeth

Hi everyone, I'm new to this thread but not to the site and wanted to get involved.

Now I've paid off my student overdraft and sorted out my credit history I think it's time to start saving to buy my first home (not sure if this is going to be a house or a boat yet)

So, I have £900 in my first home saver and £2000 in my ISA. The plan is to keep saving in the FHS to the monthly limit then stick any excess in the ISA.

I only earn £500 a month but I'm a season worker in France so I get food and rent free so in theory I can save around £350-£400 a month (though I wont work some months as I'll be between seasons). so here goes...

tara747

Matt1977 wrote: »

Hello.

Some good stories here.

Following the sale of my flat last year, I opened a Northern Rock ISA in October 2010. I currently have £5,133 in my ISA (the £33 or whatever it is was paid to me in interest back in November. I didn't think that the bank could put any more into it as I was at the max threshold :huh: ).

Anyhoo, I plan to to add more to the ISA in the next tax year, if the rules allow. I'm not totally clued up on how ISAs work, I'm afraid. .

My long term plans for the savings is to ideally buy a house outright. Although I think I will crumble before then and take out a mortgage to buy said house. Having said that, I hated having a mortgage when I bought my previous place.

Alas, by the time I get enough money together, I may have to look at bungalows rather than houses!

Er, why? House prices are still falling and will continue to do so imho, especially if the BOE raises the base rate (which I hope they do - I am fed up of crappy interest on my savings). You could be looking at bigger houses!

Welcome to the new posters!!!! You have some great stories - eleanor, wow, living on a boat must be fab. Where's it moored?

Matt1977

tara747 wrote: »

Er, why? House prices are still falling and will continue to do so imho, especially if the BOE raises the base rate (which I hope they do - I am fed up of crappy interest on my savings). You could be looking at bigger houses!

Because I'll probably be old by then and I don't want to bother with stairs. But maybe I shouldn't be acting like such an old fart & consider houses with stairs anyway.

Hello to the other new members too.

tara747

Matt1977 wrote: »

Because I'll probably be old by then and I don't want to bother with stairs. But maybe I shouldn't be acting like such an old fart & consider houses with stairs anyway.

Hello to the other new members too.

Oh right lol. :rotfl:

ppolly

OK, I'm inspired by this thread and need to save. I'm great at being frugal, but we have no savings to speak of -also no debt, unless the mortgage counts. So I'm starting off with £50. I'm 38, have one husband whose income covers most of our (modest) living expenses, one daughter and a very odd mix of self-employed and part-time jobs. I'm aiming for £1000 by the end of July.

JimLad

ppolly wrote: »

OK, I'm inspired by this thread and need to save. I'm great at being frugal, but we have no savings to speak of -also no debt, unless the mortgage counts. So I'm starting off with £50. I'm 38, have one husband whose income covers most of our (modest) living expenses, one daughter and a very odd mix of self-employed and part-time jobs. I'm aiming for £1000 by the end of July.

Only one husband? Sounds like you need a few more to up your income!

EagerLearner

Ha ha Jimlad, I almost read it like that too...

Eleanor I am jealous of your life on a boat!

We seem to have been saving forever. Tomorrow is our 10 years together, married for 7 of those. In the beginning we saved to travel to South East Asia, then got engaged there so when we got back, saved for wedding. Then once that was paid for, we started saving for a house deposit. Bought a place just over a year ago and spent 2010 paying for lots of work to it and DIY = no savings. Then when we thought we were in the clear... a mini EagerLearner is on the way! So another savings goal... and 16 weeks left to save!

SooooOoo... this month, saved another £250 and also paid for our water bill for the whole year so it's one less bill to worry about when bubs arrived. Any tips on what else we can do?