Saving Advice?

bbjohnny

A kick up the behind would be helpful right now. I will need a newer second hand car by the winter time and so far I've only saved £500. I 'could' have saved £1000 by now. I know all the rules, I know how and where to make the cuts - I'm just not flipping doing it. I drew £300 out of my savings this month instead of putting the planned £200 into them. I could kick myself!! In fact I think I will.

Does anyone have any little saving tricks that are helping them to save at present? The MSE mantra 'will I use it' doesn't work for me - I'll find a way to use it.

Does carrying a photo of the thing you want to buy help you? Or have you got your own little mantra that helps? I'm going to have a clear out of the cupboards shortly to refresh my mind of all the things I have that can be used up (like craft supplies for my little man, Christmas bits, toiletry gift sets, tins of food etc).

rubywatson

Good advice.....

Phelpsie001

To save money, I do online banking and just see my amount increase and know that I can buy whatever I am saving for

Also, I don't carry cash on me, as I just waste it and so I only carry a card and it always makes me think twice before spending!!

TimBear

I agree with Phelpsie in that I use online banking which is nice so I can see in real time the total build up.

One thing I'm doing with my partner because he needs some help too, is we've set him up a basic current account and each month we draw up a budget from his earnings and list down every outgoing and how much he has left over. Then whatever we have allocated to him as 'spending money' is moved over to the separate account and he only carries the card for that account.

With this he can spend this amount of money however he chooses but he knows that once it's gone there is no more for him so this helps him be more disciplined with himself.

Newly_retired

Don't go shopping, either in town or online.
If you have to shop for food, use a list and stick to it.
Get your toiletries and household cleaners etc from a pound shop.
Take no cash out with you and think twice before using your card.
I have plenty of savings as I never spend any money.

TimBear

Got to say I disagree about using the Pound Shop for cleaning products and toiletries.

I buy Wilko's own brand lemon cleaner and bleach for about 26p each and pour the lemon cleaner into an old spray bottle and this lasts a month or so. The bleach lasts much longer than this.

For toiletries, I buy supermarket own brand bubble bath (cheaper and comes in a bigger bottle than most shower gel!) for less than 50p and again pour it into an old pump bottle to use in the shower.

MUCH cheaper than buying equivalents in the £ shop.

starry_shaw

Newly_retired wrote: »

Don't go shopping, either in town or online.
If you have to shop for food, use a list and stick to it.
Get your toiletries and household cleaners etc from a pound shop.
Take no cash out with you and think twice before using your card.
I have plenty of savings as I never spend any money.

I reduced the times of shopping and bought things online if necessary. Before shopping, I will set a budget and control the cost. It really help me saving a lot of money.

Dilly

I find the best way to save is to put money aside as soon as I'm paid. I decide how much and put it into an interest bearing account ( for what its worth these days) as soon as possible.

Not quite out of sight out of mind, but somewhere which I have to actively interogate to get it back.

It is usually too much bother to get back and it makes me think how I can avoid dipping into the account

I also have a 'pot' into which I take money from my purse and place in said pot for all moneies saved from vouchers and supermarket discounts.

Its surprising how it all adds up

ladylouise62

If it's a real struggle to not dip into savings, then find a small building society or bank that doesn't have an easily accessible branch and open a branch-only account. You should be able to electronically send money to it, but only withdraw by turning up with your book (I assume they still do accounts like that), then you really have to make an effort to do it which may give you a chance for second thoughts.

Of course, the OP was 3 months ago... how has it been going?

ada1988

Newly_retired wrote: »

Don't go shopping, either in town or online.
If you have to shop for food, use a list and stick to it.
Get your toiletries and household cleaners etc from a pound shop.
Take no cash out with you and think twice before using your card.
I have plenty of savings as I never spend any money.

That are really hard for me.I like to shopping on-line a lot.
I need to learn from you.

JulieGeorgiana

I always put my money in an ISA as soon as I get paid... once in if you take it out you loose on your ISA limit, so you just don't take it out!

Actually once it's in... I act as though it doesn't exsist!

And do everything else Newly retired said! I never spend a £ without knowing where the money is coming from first!