30 years old - am I spending too much of my salary?

moneysavingtomcat

Eellogofusciouhipoppokunu wrote: »

If people are saving so they can afford something nice in the future (I assume they have an idea what this 'nice' thing is), saving for kids going to school/college, holidays or retiring, then they are saving with a goal in mind. As I have said, this isn't an issue. I have a problem with saving for savings sake, not with saving for a particular goal. It might be useful for me to give you an example so that you can see what I'm getting at.

Imagine the scenario where someone is saving for a house. They really want a decent house deposit and so they are prepared to cut back on their lifestyle for a while in order to achieve this goal. Once they buy the house, do they then continue to cut back their lifestyle to save at the same rate or do they loosen up and be a bit freer with their money?

I'm not talking about just missing out on Starbucks or taking a packed lunch to work in order to put a normal weekly amount into an ISA for a rainy day. I'm talking about negative lifestyle changes in order to just amass money.

I think for most people - perhaps not the majority of the users of this forum but much of the population - it is true to say that a few negative lifestyle changes could save them a lot of money without actually being all that negative.

Until I started facing my debts, I had to have the latest video games as soon as they were released. Wouldn't even have time to play them thoroughly before I replaced them. Not any more, and I'm saving a packet. Recently you may have read that Fifa 13 - yearly update of a football game - has just hit the shelves. Well, I will be tootling to the shops and looking around for a cheap second hand copy of Fifa 12, which should be cheap as chips.

Now if I cut video games out of my life completely, I would save a tiny bit more for a really negative change to my lifestyle. Instead, I spend almost nothing on video games, certainly compared to what I used to, for barely any less enjoyment, and it certainly is satisfying to see the savings rack up.

And tiny things like that can be found all over your average lifestyle. For the price of a couple of glasses of wine in a pub I can drink a couple of bottles at home. No less enjoyable - in fact, more so, as I can invite friends over and they may even bring a copy of Fifa 13 if I'm lucky. The hangover is no worse from drinking at home. OK, I have a bit of washing up to do, but if I work out how much I save, it's a good hourly rate for washing up a few glasses.

When I was in gadget fever I used to replace my camera as soon as a later model came out. Madness. Now I am still using my battered old 2007 one, which takes photos just as well as the latest ones - that extra couple of megapixes is only an issue if you are blowing your photos up to squashcourt sized pictures. I enjoy my pictures just as much without a touch screen interface on the camera. I'll have to replace it eventually, but do you see my point? I have changed my lifestyle without enjoying life any less but saving quite a bit.

When the Grim Reaper is getting a bit nearer I will treat myself more, although probably more on holidays and trips rather than possessions - you have a point about that. I don't want to be one of these people you read about who dies in shabby clothes from Oxfam and Primark but leaves millions in their will for the kids, who then spend it.

pelirocco

londonerneedtosave wrote: »

They are spending about £25 a week.... how much do you think you are spending to make these breakfast and lunches? Perhaps about £8? So in short, about £17 a week in savings?

Actually they are spending more , the £25 a week must just be for lunches , the poster quoted £5 a day for them . So 5 lunches and 6 breakfasts £40 / week .........47 weeks a year ( 28 days hols ), £1880 a year , that = a good holiday away

Any

londonerneedtosave wrote: »

That kind of includes my girlfriend (our combined groceries).

But yes, that seems where my money is going.

That doesn't matter.
I have budget for groceries, wine and cosmetics £300 a month. And that is a lot judged by some people here!! I can assure you we are not going short on anything.

For going out we are lucky I love vouchers (expensive restaurants often have offers), then collect Tesco points for Pizza Express vouchers, Prezzo vouchers and Strada vouchers.
But some people are voucher snobs, so not for everyone.

I think your main problem is breakfast out as well as lunch. Is it necessary?

Martin has a calculator here where you can input a price of your daily coffee, bacon sarny, weekly magazine... or whatever and it shows you cost over year. It's called demotivator, and that is because you fall of the chair when you realise the cost added up!!

No one is saying have no fun at all, just not every day!!

Any

Also not sure which poster just said that...But if the OP is earning £56k, and his gf just around £20k it would be very unfair to ask her to pay more towards household bills! It is not that unusual to earn that sort of money like her. AT the end of the day, it is a partnership. I seriously doubt that if she had to pay half of the bills she would want to live in area where renting cost £1600 pcm!! I assume OP chose her because she is good lovely person that stands by his side, not her ability of earning for overpriced apartment soi he can save more money.
And as for getting better paid job - question is whether she can. We don't have enough info on that.

Which brings me to the OP again - I do think that £1600 pcm apartment when you are trying to save for deposit is absolute waste of money. Lowering it to £1300 as someone here said they pay for similar area resulting in £300 pcm towards deposit would make a big difference!

droopsnoot

moneysavingtomcat wrote: »

Well, I will be tootling to the shops and looking around for a cheap second hand copy of Fifa 12, which should be cheap as chips.

With you on that - not with video games as the last time I really wanted a new video game was when Quake II was released - but on films for example. I've bought DVDs on release for £12.99 or whatever only to find them on special a few weeks later for £3 too many times to fall for it again. You have to balance it though - I've now ended up with a mindset where I have a CRT television because it still works and replacing it would be a waste, for example. I've become almost scared of buying stuff that doesn't absolutely need to be bought.

moneysavingtomcat wrote: »

When the Grim Reaper is getting a bit nearer I will treat myself more, although probably more on holidays and trips rather than possessions.

Ah, that's the problem though - being able to predict when that's going to be.

Eellogofusciouhipoppokunu

moneysavingtomcat wrote: »

I think for most people - perhaps not the majority of the users of this forum but much of the population - it is true to say that a few negative lifestyle changes could save them a lot of money without actually being all that negative.

Until I started facing my debts, I had to have the latest video games as soon as they were released. Wouldn't even have time to play them thoroughly before I replaced them. Not any more, and I'm saving a packet. Recently you may have read that Fifa 13 - yearly update of a football game - has just hit the shelves. Well, I will be tootling to the shops and looking around for a cheap second hand copy of Fifa 12, which should be cheap as chips.

Now if I cut video games out of my life completely, I would save a tiny bit more for a really negative change to my lifestyle. Instead, I spend almost nothing on video games, certainly compared to what I used to, for barely any less enjoyment, and it certainly is satisfying to see the savings rack up.

And tiny things like that can be found all over your average lifestyle. For the price of a couple of glasses of wine in a pub I can drink a couple of bottles at home. No less enjoyable - in fact, more so, as I can invite friends over and they may even bring a copy of Fifa 13 if I'm lucky. The hangover is no worse from drinking at home. OK, I have a bit of washing up to do, but if I work out how much I save, it's a good hourly rate for washing up a few glasses.

When I was in gadget fever I used to replace my camera as soon as a later model came out. Madness. Now I am still using my battered old 2007 one, which takes photos just as well as the latest ones - that extra couple of megapixes is only an issue if you are blowing your photos up to squashcourt sized pictures. I enjoy my pictures just as much without a touch screen interface on the camera. I'll have to replace it eventually, but do you see my point? I have changed my lifestyle without enjoying life any less but saving quite a bit.

When the Grim Reaper is getting a bit nearer I will treat myself more, although probably more on holidays and trips rather than possessions - you have a point about that. I don't want to be one of these people you read about who dies in shabby clothes from Oxfam and Primark but leaves millions in their will for the kids, who then spend it.

Yeah, I'm talking more about walking the middle ground between being a miser and being a spendthrift. In my view, both are as bad as each other yet the miser is viewed better by society, especially the society that frequents websites like MoneySavingExpert.

Indebted.Dunce

cashbackproblems wrote: »

Yes!

My net pay is 1.9k, i spend £200p/m on travel card, £100pw in a house share, £100 for gym/phone and c£200-300 on food/going out.

Key is i spend 1hr commuting so pay less in accomm than someone who lives in central/their own place

c£400pm on all inclusive housing in zone 5 is well impressive! I am miles out (I don't even think calling it greater london is fair) and I still pay more than that in rent for a house share! Plus my travel is not only ridiculously expensive but absolutely horrendous (average door to door journey of about 1.5 hours each way)!

If you don't mind me asking, what part of London are you in?

citizenkitten

hi

if you are looking to buy a 350k property, then this is 6 times your salary, in this day and age most lenders will only lend you 3-4 times your salary, which equates to 224k, therefore you may need to fund the gap and also consider fees for buying a property and moving costs. there are tips here and advice on how much this may cost.

but most say 25% deposit is needed now.

87k + moving fees + buying fees, i would call it 100k.