The 'Save 12k in 2013' Thread!

Tiglath

My final result is £7763.03 for 2013, and there was me wondering a year ago if I'd hit £1000 and not seeing how it could possibly happen!

Billie-jo

Added another £50 in Dec and total for 2013 is £3382.85 slightly above target set so well pleased.

JustinCredibleGillespie

I am declaring another £130 into savings for this month. Bringing my total to £5632.08! Surpassed myself.

Bring on 2014

JCG

xx

mandatory

Hi all,

Saved £900 in December, bringing me to my total of £8k! £529 over my target too, very happy. Congratulations to everyone else who was able to reach their target. :beer:

snowgo

I've been so busy these past few months that I'm only just getting round to updating. My savings in November are £816.03 and £697.16 for this final month. This brings the total for the year to £11756.28. I'm really pleased with this, as it is well over the target I set and it doesn't include an extra £1473 which I have put aside for house improvements. I haven't included this in the total as it will be spent in coming months.

Some personal positive learning points from this year:

• Setting budget categories in advance for the year, logging all spending and tracking in spreadsheet really works for me. It is time consuming, even aided by phone app, but it really helps in seeing where my spending is going off track - and where I'm doing well.
• I've grown some of my own food this year and learned about what fruit & veg save me money, and what don't. (I'm still cutting perpetual spinach in December!)
• MSE forum posts helped me achieve savings on insurances and car expenses.

I've also identified some areas where I think I can do better next year. My spending on gas & electric eventually came in under the year budget, but I suspect that I could make further savings. Electricity & appliance monitors could help in working out where I could save, so I'll give that a go.


Well done to everyone who has stuck with this 2013 challenge - too many names to mention individually. I've really appreciated your posts throughout the year. Although I've now completed the 2012 and 2013 saving challenges, I've decided that I won't be signing up for 2014. It's just that I've had less time on my hands these past few months. I know that if I change my mind, I can always join in later on.


So good luck to everyone for next years savings. :xmastree:
And of course a BIG THANK YOU to Slowly Fading for all your hard work throughout the year.

slowlyfading

I'm hoping for lots of people to submit numbers today

I just want to say a massive WELL DONE to everyone on the thread this year! We all know how hard it is to save when there's so much to buy it's so good to see so many people hitting their targets.

I haven't made my target, but I'm very happy with my 83.75% that'll do me!

TDPIX

Well done everybody, some great stories and savings

As for me, I'm reporting £1,075.56 for December - bringing my 2013 total to £5,904.98.

Which was below my (revised downward) target of £6,500, but still something that I'm happy about. We'd overspent on our house purchase towards the start of the year so effectively only started saving 'for real' in June.

But despite that, we added a fair amount to our savings.

Onwards and upwards w.r.t 2014

ajdj

Declared for the year. I saved £7,010!

Although short of my £10,000 target I haven't included the pension contributions (2013 was also the first year of having a pension, to which I contributed just under £3k).

Feel really positive going into 2014 with a better financial focus for long term planning and a solid emergency fund now in place!

I've signed up again for next year (amazing how quickly it goes).

Well done to everyone, thanks to slowlyfading and welcome to any newbies taking up the challenge!

sugap0ps

Total for the year is £5300/£12000.

It probably was a bit too high a target in hindsight but I am glad to have saved what I have. WELL DONE to everyone who took part and bring on the challenge for 2014!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

geoffers4

Hi everyone, declaring £420.18 for December. Big bills this month included the balance on our winter break next Feb, plus of course the dreaded xmas bills.

So my final total saved this year is; £14,324.97... am allowing myself a brief celebration this evening as it's our first anniversary of being mortgage-free and debt-free (hasnt always been this way!).

Many congratulations to everyone who has stayed the course with their saving in 2013... and as always a huge thank-you to SlowlyFading for running our Thread.

Tomorrow...we start again in the 2014 Thread... Happy New Year everyone!