The 'Save 12k in 2013' Thread!

[Deleted User]

Hi All, not been a great start to the NY for us. OHs car died and we have had to buy a new one. On the plus side we are due money back from his old cars tax disc. I also need to get organised with selling some more books on Amazon and we have an old printer and laptop that we could sell.

This week I have done an inventory of the kitchen cupboards to use up what we have this week and minimise our food spend. I also had a look at some of the OS eating cheaply threads and have got a lot if inspiration from them.

Wentthedaywell?

[Deleted User] wrote:

This wee I have done an inventory of the kitchen cupboards to use up what we have this week and minimise our food spend. I also had a look at some of the OS eating cheaply threads and have got a lot if inspiration from them.

Like you Allie, I'm looking at food and how much I waste. I am sitting here waiting for my new freezer delivery and have just done a spreadsheet to set out what food I will have in it. No more mysterious tubs of unidentifiable mush that get ditched!

YoungBusinessman

Im not doing near as good as i should be....£300ish in the kitty so far. Not bad considering not even been paid yet this year. Bearing in mind the aim of £20,000, iv a long way to go! Onwards and upwards though, im making great progress on all fronts, will see massive improvements to tally soon as.

Herbyme

Just banked the money my very kind mum gave me to help with the costs of Christmas. So far, ahead of schedule, which gives me a bit of slack for those tricky months.

Trying to decide whether a new laptop is:
a) a sensible investment which will help me feel more confident about the travel/meetings coming up and make me more efficient as I'll be able to work eg in airports,
or
b) an indulgence which is a thinly disguised reward for doing the work which I'd rather not be doing

or both?

In which case shall I or shan't I?!

nat21luv

That depends, where do you plan to buy the laptop from? If its from pcworld and the like, why don't you set yourself a target to achieve at least £50 in vouchers towards it by doing surveys ect and use cash back sites. It's what I always do when buying big items, feels like I'm getting a bargain and it give me a bit more time to really think about if I need it or if it's an impulse buy. if there's no vouchers available for your chosen retailer, do as above but chose a retailer for clothes and take the voucher amount from your clothes budget for the year.

coolcats

I've managed to open the first direct account hoping I can open the regular saver now as well. Also hoping that I can get the £125 bonus from it. thats a work in progress. Hopefully it means I get extra saved each month and a little nearer the target. I already save £500 so this will be a little more on top.

ccbrowning

carolinerunner wrote: »

Just banked the money my very kind mum gave me to help with the costs of Christmas. So far, ahead of schedule, which gives me a bit of slack for those tricky months.

Trying to decide whether a new laptop is:
a) a sensible investment which will help me feel more confident about the travel/meetings coming up and make me more efficient as I'll be able to work eg in airports,
or
b) an indulgence which is a thinly disguised reward for doing the work which I'd rather not be doing

or both?

In which case shall I or shan't I?!

I have passed on computer upgrades in the last year, personally. You have to ask yourself if you really need it and why you are considering a new one. You do say new laptop, so not sure if that is a replacement or a laptop since you don't have one at all.

In my case I realised I was upgrading just because I wanted something new but the end result was rather intangible so I banked it instead!

gothrockchic1

Got money from my check ins from Quidco

£1.45 to add for me:rotfl:

Tales17

coolcats wrote: »

I've managed to open the first direct account hoping I can open the regular saver now as well. Also hoping that I can get the £125 bonus from it. thats a work in progress. Hopefully it means I get extra saved each month and a little nearer the target. I already save £500 so this will be a little more on top.

Also thinking of doing this, how does it work? Most of the others used to say you had to use their "switching service" to get the money and since I have wanted to switch over my bank account fully, just get another one, I've never gone through with it!

Herbyme

nat21luv, you're right about pausing to see if it's an impulse. I don't actually do any of the cashback things but certainly if I was going to spend £00s on such a thing, I should consider doing that, thank you.

ccbrowning, thanks for your thoughts. This is the kind of debate I'm having.
I do have a laptop, it's about 3 years old, large and heavy, slow to start up hence not good to make use of small chunks of time eg in transit, and too big to use on a plane. Also it's my husband's main computer so I pinch it from him when I'm travelling.

I could manage without but I would be more productive and more confident with. Hmmm...