My Savings Diary

ninetynine

Hi. I'm Sophia and I want to get serious about saving. I started about a year ago and have just over £7300 saved so far. I aim to save about a third of my net salary and want to do so until September 2014. I then plan to work 3 days a week rather than 5 so I can also do my Master's degree part-time. I won't be able to save any money in those two years and will be living on my monthly salary which will be a little over 60% of my current salary.

I am quite tight with money which helps. I also move money into savings on the day I get paid so that I know exactly how much I have left for the rest of the month. I also get the maximum amount of interest this way (I think).

There are some things I'm not so good at and I do want to improve. I am a sucker for Tesco Finest and I want to have the guts to drop a brand. I also like eating street food which, whilst being so tasty, is not exactly cheap. I should definitely take more homemade lunches into work today. (I've just realised my money 'sins' are food-related. Uh oh.)

I'd like somewhere to record my savings totals and to get a bit of encouragement, as well as encouraging other people too.

ninetynine

I have got off to a good start so far:

* Opened an account saver with FD - for the £100 bonus and the 8% Regular Saver account and I'll be putting £300 in there every month.
* Opened a Halifax Rewards Current Account for the shiny fiver. Will use this account for spending money.
* Opened a regular savings account with N&P at 4% and I'll put in the maximum of £250 each month.
* Fixed my 2012/13 ISA with Metro Bank at 3.25% for 1 year. (This was on the Transfer your ISA page but it's been removed from there and I' not sure why as the interest is higher than the ones on there. :S Metro Bank have messed me around a bit with this transfer but I am hopeful that all will be well with the account tomorrow - fingers crossed!)
* Moved my 2011/12 ISA to Santander at 3% - I didn't want to fix this because I want to be able to access it in case there is an emergency...
* I am currently saving £1 a day for 2012 and I'll be saving £2 a day in 2013. This is going into a eSaver with Santander, 3%.
* I am saving £400 between now and June for Glastonbury festival.

MoneySaverLog

Assuming here you've got your full cash ISA allowance tucked away this year. Regular savers are a good way to get the following years ISA subscription saved up, and given the best rates seem to be available in March/April when the ISA season starts it's probably best to time them to mature around this time.

Still having said that who knows how long FD will offer the 8% account, given HSBC reduced theirs recently from 6% to 4% for new customers, it was probably wise to get in now.

Good luck with the savings.

innovate

Hey sophia1989, welcome to the MSE forum, and congrats to having already done so well! Great to see you have a medium term goal - your masters - and you sound like someone you won't fail that goal!

You are in the right place now with regards to your finances - - MSE is a great place for picking up the latest news (sometimes before they hit the news!), and as a sounding board when you want to run your ideas past a few other people.

It's brilliant to see you already got to grips with the Halifax fivers and some good ISAs and esavers.

With regards to ideas of other people: Your list of places to keep/put money in is great but I can't see the Nationwide 6% Reg Saver - - got a few hoops to hoop through but you can hoop them, and I think you'd find that account of value.

It seems you missed the Nationwide instant access ISA @ 4.25% and the Santander 4% 2-years ISA earlier this year (neither on offer any longer) - but you are on MSE now, so you have every chance to pick up on great offers before they vanish.

Where do you have your current account? Santander 123 pays cashback on certain debits, and interest, though costs £2/month - - a lot less probably than what you can get from the cashback/interest. Llloyds Vantage have a 4% interest offer for a year, 3% otherwise....

Have a root round the forum for details, and see you about :-)

innovate

sophia1989, not savings, but investments: what pension arrangements do you have, how much does your employer contribute to it?

ninetynine

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

Assuming here you've got your full cash ISA allowance tucked away this year. Regular savers are a good way to get the following years ISA subscription saved up, and given the best rates seem to be available in March/April when the ISA season starts it's probably best to time them to mature around this time.

Still having said that who knows how long FD will offer the 8% account, given HSBC reduced theirs recently from 6% to 4% for new customers, it was probably wise to get in now.

Good luck with the savings.

Yeah I would have liked to time it so my savings would mature in April but I have only just filled my ISA and am now able to pay into regular savers. I was anxious about the 8% disappearing so wanted to move to it ASAP.

Thanks!

ninetynine

innovate wrote: »

Hey sophia1989, welcome to the MSE forum, and congrats to having already done so well! Great to see you have a medium term goal - your masters - and you sound like someone you won't fail that goal!

You are in the right place now with regards to your finances - - MSE is a great place for picking up the latest news (sometimes before they hit the news!), and as a sounding board when you want to run your ideas past a few other people.

It's brilliant to see you already got to grips with the Halifax fivers and some good ISAs and esavers.

With regards to ideas of other people: Your list of places to keep/put money in is great but I can't see the Nationwide 6% Reg Saver - - got a few hoops to hoop through but you can hoop them, and I think you'd find that account of value.

It seems you missed the Nationwide instant access ISA @ 4.25% and the Santander 4% 2-years ISA earlier this year (neither on offer any longer) - but you are on MSE now, so you have every chance to pick up on great offers before they vanish.

Where do you have your current account? Santander 123 pays cashback on certain debits, and interest, though costs £2/month - - a lot less probably than what you can get from the cashback/interest. Llloyds Vantage have a 4% interest offer for a year, 3% otherwise....

Have a root round the forum for details, and see you about :-)

Thanks I have been a lurker for a few years but decided to join now that I have enough money to save up every month. I've set up the Halifax and FD accounts within the last few weeks and once I've sorted out my system of transferring money in and out of each account, I am going to go for the Santander 1-2-3 and the Nationwide so I can go for the 6%.

Wow! That 4.25% sounds amazing! How long ago was that available?

I know having two current accounts plus my various savings with various banks is not that big a deal but it is quite a change for me! Until very recently, I was solely with Barclays until I woke up and realised there is no point in staying with them out of laziness when I could get more buck for my buck elsewhere. So happy to move now - I think the final straw was when I opened my 3.2% monthly saver with them and they wouldn't let me pay money into it online even though it was an account that is supposed to be managed online!

ninetynine

innovate wrote: »

sophia1989, not savings, but investments: what pension arrangements do you have, how much does your employer contribute to it?

I contribute 6% and my employer contributes 13 point something per cent.

redmalc

That employer contribution to your pension is very good

innovate

sophia1989 wrote: »

I contribute 6% and my employer contributes 13 point something per cent.

Sounds a fantastic arrangement, so you are probably well covered pension-wise. Still, if you think you could/should put more into a pension, you could probably think about a SIPP. You'll get tax contribution, but the money is locked away until you are 55.

sophia1989 wrote: »

Wow! That 4.25% sounds amazing! How long ago was that available?

was available at the start of the ISA season this year, for about a month

ninetynine

innovate wrote: »

Hey sophia1989, welcome to the MSE forum, and congrats to having already done so well! Great to see you have a medium term goal - your masters - and you sound like someone you won't fail that goal!

You are in the right place now with regards to your finances - - MSE is a great place for picking up the latest news (sometimes before they hit the news!), and as a sounding board when you want to run your ideas past a few other people.

It's brilliant to see you already got to grips with the Halifax fivers and some good ISAs and esavers.

With regards to ideas of other people: Your list of places to keep/put money in is great but I can't see the Nationwide 6% Reg Saver - - got a few hoops to hoop through but you can hoop them, and I think you'd find that account of value.

It seems you missed the Nationwide instant access ISA @ 4.25% and the Santander 4% 2-years ISA earlier this year (neither on offer any longer) - but you are on MSE now, so you have every chance to pick up on great offers before they vanish.

Where do you have your current account? Santander 123 pays cashback on certain debits, and interest, though costs £2/month - - a lot less probably than what you can get from the cashback/interest. Llloyds Vantage have a 4% interest offer for a year, 3% otherwise....

Have a root round the forum for details, and see you about :-)

I'm hooping! I've just applied for the Nationwide, so will rejig savings a little bit for the extra interest. Next step, Santander 123 with the £55 cashback. Thanks a lot, Innovate!