save up the easy way

ET03

there are some good ideas here that could be added to the other challenges people are doing

Curry_Queen

Thanks ET, I hadn't seen this thread before (far too many old ones to plough through!) but it was the comments in post #9 that I most identified with! I also find I can control my spending much better if I know (or think!) I've only got a few quid left in the bank as no way would I let myself go overdrawn, so what I do is transfer money into several virtual accounts on MSMoney (i.e. irregular bills account, PMS, rainy day money etc) so when I look at my current account figures it looks like I've got nothing left to spend!

ET03

well this board is sooooooooooooooooooooooo addivtive :j that I've taken to sitting here reading a few pages a day, it's better than a good book, and i'm pleased it s been a help, i ecspect there are a lot of people never seen the good stuff hidden in the older pages,
we could recycle moneysaving

HOLsale

JackieO wrote:

If your as old as I am, I also change the price back to pre-decimalisation.It's quite a shock when the Saturday newspaper costs 14/-.(70p)
Puts me off of buying lots of unesseccery goods.

i get 'sticker shock' on many items especially since i've been shopping at lidl regularly for the last 2 years!

when i'm tempted to buy a 70p newspaper etc i think to myself things like that 'that would buy me 2 bags of onions' or 'i could get 2 100g chocolate bars and change for that price' etc keeps things in perspective!

Quasar

As a market researcher I work for eight companies, each with its own pay date, so that I get cheques and bank slips at the rate of about two per week. Some are small amounts, some are hefty.

Anyway, I do a quarterly budget, then for the next three months I stick to it. It's in two parts:

First, the bare essentials : bills, insurance, council tax, basic food, toiletries etc. ie what I need to spend to stay alive and keep my home viable.

The second part is the extras: new clothing, quality foods such as supplements, etc. ie. what I need to make life comfortable.

There always is something left over and here is my Golden Rule: any surplus I divide in two. One part goes into my savings (ISA etc) the other is for luxuries such as nicer clothes, going out, books, holidays etc, ie. what I want to make my life worth living. Of course I do not need to buy, say, clothes or books every month, so there is scope to save even more.

I recently received a tax rebate for £1,288. Half of it is already in my ISA, the other half is going to buy me a new laptop.

Whilst we all have our different lifestyles and preferences, I feel that the above system is valid for most. For instance the golden rule can be applied by using the extra to pay more off one's debts instead of saving it.

I think that the important thing is to have a working system and stick to it. The savings soon mount up. Mine did, anyway.