First Time Saver

Ieuan_2

Hey Guys,

Ive been browsing the forum for a while now and love the motivation you all give each other. I thought I would make a thread purely for that reason. And atleast this way I can keep track of where my money is going. Wish me luck


I am 19, living in the depressed area known as Merthyr Tydfil, and recently got a job as a letting agent I am aiming to have between £3000 -£5000 savngs to put down as a deposit on a house. I just had my first pay check and £400 has gone straight to my savings.

Follow my journey and tag along

samehat

Congratulations on starting your savings Ieuan! I'm in a similar situation. I have also recently begun saving, after getting my first full time job and paying off any debts I had from my first pay packages. I'm hoping to reach the goal of a deposit for a house with my partner this time 2 years. We're aiming for 20k-25k between us for a 20% deposit.

This is my third month of saving. It's a good feeling to watch the money stacking up (in the bank account) and it makes all the effort worth it! This week I will open an ISA to ensure I am getting interest on my savings, tax free.

All the best with reaching your goal

TheSuperScrimperFamily

Hello Ieuan and Katherina,

WEll done! You have to be proud of yourselves.
I together with my husband have started saving up too. We're hoping to buy a 25% share of a shared ownership property, cash, in exactly 726 days from now. So we are having a lot of fun, creative ideas how to entertain the kids on a budget and we can not believe how much you can do on a small budget. We have 2 small children, a 3 and a half year old daughter and a 1 and half year old son.
But all in all, what a fantastic idea, to have a thread where we can support each other
Katherina, could you please tell me more about the ISA account, please? I am very interested. Thanks a lot!

gothrockchic1

Welcome and Good Luck you all.

samehat

Hello TSSfamily. I'm impressed by your specific timeline! I've been looking into ISAs lately and it appears that if you have savings you should have at least one ISA. I am not a financial advisor though so please also do additional research!

ISAs are government backed savings accounts where you don't pay tax on the interest you make. There are two types: cash and shares. I have only been looking at the cash ones as I don't feel inclined to take any chances with my modest savings at this point in my life.

There is a limit to the amount you can put in an Isa during each tax year; somewhere between 5k and 6k per year in a cash isa. Then when the tax year ends you can start another one while still earning the tax free interest from previous years' isas.

The tax year will end in a couple of months, so I want to use some of this year's allowance before then. The interest rates are not as good as they used to be- the top is around 2.8 % but i'm going for 2% as it is easy access and easy to transfer money to online; shop around (using the Isa guide on this site is a good starting place) to find the best one for you.

MSE has an excellent Isa guide so have a look at that - the whole idea confused me at first. Best of luck with it; maybe also check out junior isas.

How's the saving going Ieuan? Sorry for hogging your thread!

TheSuperScrimperFamily

Hi Katherrina,

my specific timeline... well it is just another method of keeping us on track, you see? And if we manage to stay on track we should be able to start shopping for our first home in January 2015. So that is 720 days from now. Finger crossed.

Thank you very much for all the info, it sounds like a perfect option for us! I will for sure look into it!

I do not know if it is allowed to talk about it on this thread, but if it is, what methods are you guys using to get closer to your goal? Maybe also... faster? Thanks a lot and have a nice Sunday!

Ieuan_2

Hey guys this is great how we can all support each other on the forum I think having that extra bit of support on here will really help us and make us more determined to type what we have saved. I agree with the statements made above about sharing different ideas how we all save money, that would be a great way to help one another

As for my savings at the moment, I get payed monthly so just waiting for the next pay to enter my bank account so I can save some more

Keep up the good work guys and keep posting here

*mudangel*

Sounds great, Ieuan! Just keep going and the money will really stack up. I wish I'd started saving at 19 I'll follow your journey with interest. Enjoy!

Ieuan_2

Hey Mudangel thanks for taking an interest I sure will keep going, just cant wait untill the day I get to have my own space I know thats what everyone says when they are a teenager BUT its true I need my own place where I can call home

People my age often question me why I dont rent, but working for a letting agency myself I see Tenants get attached to their property and then having to move out after their Tenancy is finished and this is something I would hate to do. Anyway RANT OVER.

Keep me posted on your journey's guys

TheSuperScrimperFamily

Hello everyone,

So apart from savings from the salary, how else are you helping yourselves?
I, for instance, use coupons, offers and always look for free/next to free entertainment for the family.
Have a nice day!

samehat

Let me see - I have found that shopping around helps to cut costs a lot. Like going to Aldi for several food items has been a recent addition to my money saving efforts.

An example of an item I save on with them is their 'not from concentrate' juice. With them a litre of this fresh juice is 1.29 compared to (I think) 1.79 in Tesco. (So a saving of 50p a week on juice, or more if you would otherwise have bought a brand name juice; my boyfriend drinks a different fruit juice and has recently also changed to aldi, resulting in a £1 household saving per week)

We try to cut back on things we don't need but not on health or happiness!

Although we pay for a tv licence, we have not invested in a tv so all our television viewing is through the internet (live and 4od/bbciplayer). If we did have a tv we would use a freeview connection so as not to pay for an extra bill.

I hope this is useful - I'll try to think of more things. We don't have children but maybe others would have tips to add for families!