The 'Save 12k in 2013' Thread!

YoungBusinessman

Emergency fund: house deposit seen to be 2 main things being saved for! Good luck everyone!

Herbyme

Snowgo, thanks for your encouraging words. Please could you remind me of ' the benefit of 'pay yourself first' process' which you mention?
(Sorry, quote button's vanished)

cydney, brilliant you've gone from minus to plus, must be a great feeling!

I am self employed and have salary envy IYSWIM. My money comes in in odd lumps or dribs and drabs, makes it much harder to budget but this thread is really helping. Have been reminded that the new tax year is the one on which our earnings will be assessed re DS1's University grant/loan application for 3 or 4 years so best not to earn too much, oddly. Mad system.

alja

lbnblbnb wrote: »

It depends what you buy the magazines for, but Pinterest satisfies my magazine craving now! Lots of lovely clothes, decorating ideas and recipes. And frugal ideas too.

I loveee Pinterest! I'm using that more often now which is giving me my fix!

snowgo

carolinerunner wrote: »

Please could you remind me of ' the benefit of 'pay yourself first' process' which you mention?

Thanks for asking. Its helped me to think through how it works for me.

For those who don't know already, the pay yourself first process involves deciding at the start of the month what you are going to save, paying it straight over into a savings account and then using what's left for the month's bills and to live on. (Contrasted with waiting to see how much you've got left at the end of the month & that then becomes your savings).

The big advantage of pay yourself first is that there is less in your spending account to tempt you throughout the month. So you're less inclined to fritter it away on things you don't really need, as you know that otherwise you'll be struggling towards the end of the month. (But you've still got your savings set aside if things get desperate!) It also means you make a commitment to saving when you've got the money - motivation can be less at the end of the month when there's less in your account. For me there's another psychological benefit from paying myself first - it's like a way of saying to myself that my needs are a priority, rather than just the bills. But most important benefit for me - and this is the tester - is that I save more this way.

I am self employed and have salary envy IYSWIM. My money comes in in odd lumps or dribs and drabs, makes it much harder to budget but this thread is really helping.

I do know what you mean. I switched to being self employed about 2 years ago and my income arrives in dribs & drabs 3 to 6 months after I've done the work. I found I had to sort myself out a regular 'salary' by making a conservative estimate of future earnings and using emergency savings fund to pay myself a regular amount each month. I then put my income towards repaying the emergency fund, establishing a better 'float' for future monthly payments and the very necessary pot earmarked for when the tax payments are due. Two years on and I'm better organised now, with standing orders going from my main account to other bank accounts all serving as 'pots' earmarked for different purposes (piggybanking).

nat21luv

Urgh, 9 significant birthdays have all taken its toll on my savings this month, should still be able to put away £400 but I've spent about £100 on cards/presents(all immediate family) at least they are out the way now although I do hve another 3 big birthdays next month. It's my sons birthday on Saturday and I said we'd go bowling(£16) I've barely bought him anything, he doesn't look after toys so I told him he wouldn't be receiving any from me. I've bought him some books and a couple DVDs(super cheap 90s films!!) but I'm not sure what else to get him, he'll be 9. I might give him a small amount of money for him to put into his savings, any other suggestions?

girlatplay

carolinerunner wrote: »

Snowgo, thanks for your encouraging words. Please could you remind me of ' the benefit of 'pay yourself first' process' which you mention?

snowgo wrote: »

For those who don't know already, the pay yourself first process involves deciding at the start of the month what you are going to save, paying it straight over into a savings account and then using what's left for the month's bills and to live on. (Contrasted with waiting to see how much you've got left at the end of the month & that then becomes your savings).

The big advantage of pay yourself first is that there is less in your spending account to tempt you throughout the month. So you're less inclined to fritter it away on things you don't really need, as you know that otherwise you'll be struggling towards the end of the month. (But you've still got your savings set aside if things get desperate!) It also means you make a commitment to saving when you've got the money - motivation can be less at the end of the month when there's less in your account.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I have a budget which has savings built in to it. I have all my DD's and SO's set up for 1st of the month (payday 28th of month - so January's pay covers February's bills) and that includes a payment to my savings account. I know (because it has happened, more than once ) that if I left savings until the end of the month there would be far less or even zero. I guess it is a bit like tax and national insurance for PAYE people. It gets taken off before you receive your salary so you have to work with what you get. Same with savings, pay them first and work with what you have left (realistic budget required obviously).

Wentthedaywell?

I work on quarters of my salary. Q1 for mortgage & council tax; Q2 for utilities, car, insurance, house maintenence etc pot; Q3 for spending including food, petrol; Q4 for saving. At the moment my mortgage is only 1% :j so I put the saving away (at a far higher interest rate) so my savings are more/ mortgage less than a quarter currently.

I find if I divvy out my money like this it's easier for me to budget and there are no nasty hits on the savings pot if I need something for the car or house.

girlatplay

My budget is very detailed. I pay all my insurances yearly (apart from life assurance where they insist on monthly payments) so I put away a certain amount of my monthly wage to cover all of them. I put away another amount to cover car MOT/servicing/repairs/unforseen things.

I have separate savings in case any repairs are needed on the house. I pay the exact amount each month for all regular bills (although I adjust my council tax to suit me, not them but I am never behind with that).

I get tax credits weekly and they are my food budget which is why I don't currently include it in my monthly salary. If I stopped getting them I would just incorporate it into my wages.

Savings are whatever is left in the pot once all this is covered. I keep my budget on an excel spreadsheet and the total of everything, including savings must add up to my incomings. I pay across the savings right away as I would definitely fritter the money if I left it in my bank account.

Billie-jo

Well like I said yesterday I did get to the bank today but managed to put £74 in instead of the £60.

£292.76/£3000 - 9.7%

Scottish_Lassie

girlatplay wrote: »

My budget is very detailed. I pay all my insurances yearly (apart from life assurance where they insist on monthly payments) so I put away a certain amount of my monthly wage to cover all of them. I put away another amount to cover car MOT/servicing/repairs/unforseen things.

I have separate savings in case any repairs are needed on the house. I pay the exact amount each month for all regular bills (although I adjust my council tax to suit me, not them but I am never behind with that).

I get tax credits weekly and they are my food budget which is why I don't currently include it in my monthly salary. If I stopped getting them I would just incorporate it into my wages.

Savings are whatever is left in the pot once all this is covered. I keep my budget on an excel spreadsheet and the total of everything, including savings must add up to my incomings. I pay across the savings right away as I would definitely fritter the money if I left it in my bank account.

Yeah I'm the same, it kinda makes saving boring though and means I don't have a lot of updates to make on this forum as my money is saved at the start of the month and thats it...not much to do until next pay day (unless I have some eBay sales!)