The 'Save 12k in 2013' Thread!

Wentthedaywell?

I'm 55 and am saving on this thread to get a bit more money behind me before I retire, hopefully at 60 or 61, when I'll stop saving. I should have the same-ish lifestyle as now, but without putting anything away each month. When I get the extra state pension at 66 I shall blow it on fast cars and toy boys! :rotfl:

I really wish I'd started serious saving when I was much younger, and I so admire the young people on this thread who have seen the light, well done to you all. To be fair to myself, as a single person with a mortgage in an expensive part of the country, I've never had a lot spare to save if I still wanted a life.

I'm lucky I am a now just couple of grand away from being mortgage-free on a nice house in a lovely place that I can downsize if I need to release more cash. And I'm old enough to be fortunate to be getting a final salary pension with a cash lump sum; sadly becoming rarities.

YoungBusinessman

I love having savings behind me, see so many other people my age who cant do something "until payday" then it comes round and they are out everynight and shopping all the time for a week then have 3 weeks left of the month they cant afford to do anything. Also when i lent my parents £3,000 and realised i probably wont be getting any of it back, i didnt want to go that way in life. I dont want that stress of worrying how im going to pay each bill as it pops up, i want to enjoy life, money behind me gives me the freedom to do so.....

As of yesterday getting 5 weeks pay - normally 2 at a time(im off on holidays for the whole of July)my balance is up above £9,500....theres still some expenses to come this month, road tax, money into joint account for mortgage and bills, but next month i get 3 fortnightly pays as opposed to the normal 2, this is because pays land on 2nd,16th and 30th! So i am using one of them to go on holiday at the end of August, it is getting booked on Monday and is a well deserved break(even if i say so myself) as i have a very busy 3 weeks in August before we go. I am well on track to hit my £15,000 goal, if i end July on at least £8,000. That will leave me to have to find £1,400 a month for the remaining 5 months of the year.

"Major" expenses still to come
July - Road tax at £215
August - Insurance at £400
October - MOT
December - Planning on buying a laptop(bought the current one with my first pay at job....6 years ago!) so its served me well, a great investment as on at least 10 hours a week every week. Maybe splash out on a decent one so can handle Football Manager 2014 when its out

Keep going folks, this thread is brilliant for tracking progress. I havnt seen much more on the topic but i suggested all users of the thread donate £1 to a charity of choice of slowlyfading as a thanks for running the thread! After all we can all afford a quid if the average saver is going for 5 figures....what is the average if anyone knows?

geoffers4

Desperate_Housewife wrote: »

wow, TARA747 that is a fantastic amount saved well done!

One question... when do you stop saving? I don't think I will ever feel safe enough to stop, I suppose when you are old and stop working but then you might be too worn out to enjoy it! Dilemma! It raises all sorts of questions about the meaning of life, what do others think?

That's a really good question DH - you've got me thinking! I guess the time to stop saving will vary depending on your individual circumstances: some people are saving for a house deposit, wedding, etc. In my own case, I'm working my way down the following list of objectives:
i. pay off debts from house extension (tick)
ii. pay off mortgage (tick)
iii. build up an emergency fund (tick)
iv. get boys through Uni (4 more years...)
v. savings so that I can go part-time at 60 (10 more yrs...)

But having said all that - I don't want to spend the next 10 years wearing myself out so much that my health suffers, so it's a balance isn't it?

ajdj

I believe a Virgin Money Giving page is quick and easy to set up and all the money goes to the chosen charity.

Perhaps slowlyfading could chose a charity from this page-

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/donate/charityCategories.action

You can then follow the prompts to set up the page and post the link in the thread for us to use.

Lomcevak

I've had a rethink about how i'm counting up for the challenge. One of the things i've been saving for is cash to clear off a 0% car loan that comes due in 2015; i've been counting this as savings, as the money is all in a savings account, but in reality I reckon I shouldn't as it's all offsetting debt - it's not mine to 'spend' as such.

So i've gone back and deducted the debt repayment savings totalling £5416 from the £13k savings challenge, which puts me in a rather worse place - right now it's £4535.28, or 34.89% of the goal, not quite the 75%+ I was celebrating. But at least now reflects what i've actually saved for my future, rather than also including a lump of cash that's already marked for a loan repayment.

The good news is that as of the 1st of the month I have enough stashed away to repay the loan in full any time I like, although as it's at 0% i'd rather keep the cash earning 2.5% tax-free in my ISA for now. Since the 1st of January i've repaid (or have savings to repay) £10635.35 of debt and am now debt-free (sorry, wrong board ) so provided I can keep that rate up I should still be good to hit the £13k savings challenge by the end of the year

amr547

Lomcevak wrote: »

I've had a rethink about how i'm counting up for the challenge. One of the things i've been saving for is cash to clear off a 0% car loan that comes due in 2015; i've been counting this as savings, as the money is all in a savings account, but in reality I reckon I shouldn't as it's all offsetting debt - it's not mine to 'spend' as such.

So i've gone back and deducted the debt repayment savings totalling £5416 from the £13k savings challenge, which puts me in a rather worse place - right now it's £4535.28, or 34.89% of the goal, not quite the 75%+ I was celebrating. But at least now reflects what i've actually saved for my future, rather than also including a lump of cash that's already marked for a loan repayment.

The good news is that as of the 1st of the month I have enough stashed away to repay the loan in full any time I like, although as it's at 0% i'd rather keep the cash earning 2.5% tax-free in my ISA for now. Since the 1st of January i've repaid (or have savings to repay) £10635.35 of debt and am now debt-free (sorry, wrong board ) so provided I can keep that rate up I should still be good to hit the £13k savings challenge by the end of the year

Wow, £10k of debt!!! Very well done Ours was only 'small' at £3k, but it's a weight off your mind when it's gone.

Lomcevak

Wow, £10k of debt!!! Very well done Ours was only 'small' at £3k, but it's a weight off your mind when it's gone.

Yeah, hate being in debt so a big relief - was nearly £16k at one point last year, the £10k is what we've cleared this year.

Bad planning on my behalf really, the car loan was a planned purchase a year ago, we tend to buy something reliable nearly-new or pre-registered then aim to get 10+ years use out of it before it dies and doing it all at 0% didn't seem a bad thing. But then last summer and autumn we did some building work, had saved the £20k the builder estimated it at but then it ran waaaay over budget and we had to take out a £7.5k loan to finish off...

It all felt far too tight after that so the focus has been on getting it all cleared away - killed the £7.5k loan in February after a touch over five months, then focused the efforts on getting the car loan offset in full. Finally done

Now need to get all that cashflow directed back into savings and save for the next car up front

youngsaver1995

youngsaver1995 wrote: »

Would like to take part in this thread. Current savings around £6500. I am a sixth form student so only work part time, therefore saving 12K is out of the question. Monthly income increased recently from £160 to £240, so would like to have a aim to save £2000 this year. Expecting other small incomes through the year, plus £100 or so of interest on savings, so think I should add £2000 easily by the end of the year.

After 21 days I am down £2.58, not a good start. Will get paid in a week or so time so that will put me back on track.

Wow how things have changed for me financially since my post above just 7 months ago. Back then, I set a very optimistic target of £2000 savings for the year, with an income of £240 per month. I'd planned to do a traditional degree starting in September, meaning I wouldn't be able to add any real savings over the next 3 years, and end up with £40k of "debt".

Since then, I've been earning £400-£600 per month in a job I really enjoy, just secured a job with one of the World's leading accountancy firms and got a sponsored degree meaning no debt. I will also be moving to London, which I cant wait to do, and will get to live the yuppie lifestyle.

Savings wise, I will have exceeded my £2000 target by the end of the month, and now, according to my calculations I could save as much as £5000 in 2013, which would almost double my total savings . Unlike my previous plans, I could also potentially add a few thousand pounds per year to my savings. I will also have a guaranteed, well-paying job at the end of my degree, which I will hopefully really enjoy.

I'm off to Central America for 2 weeks in a week or so time, which should be an amazing experience, and will be a welcome break from work.

Its great to hear of everyone else doing so well, and certainly for me, things are great at the moment :j.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

that is fantastic youngsaver1995 and an inspiration to us all especially young people who had a tough ride ahead for the future. It is refreshing to see how it can be done and you sound like you are on the road to a successful life so you enjoy it. Well done

lvm

I can't believe how awful I've been, not updating my numbers at all over the last 6 months!! Lots of people seem to be doing really well so well done everyone!!

Well, all updated now and think I'm around the £5.5k mark which although behind target at the moment, isn't absolutely horrific - I've been deciding to overpay the mortgage a bit more and have been spending more money than I really need to :-(

Still aiming for the £13k this year though and just shy of £30k in savings so far.

Just need to work a little extra at the weekends for some extra pennines.

Lots of changes happening over the next year hopefully - I've kind of sneakily moved back in with Mum and Dad (although they don't know it's permanent yet) and I'm really hoping my lodger decides to move out soon so I can rent the whole place out. I'm really starting the hate the place, the neighbours, area, everything about it really :-(

Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to get the best mortgage in the world so I may just have to get a couple of small doer uppers and use as holiday lets to grow my money a bit faster and get a house for me a year or so after.

Anyway, will update more regularly for the rest of the year now - I promise!

And good luck with everyone else's savings!