Saving for my wedding!

New_Bride

Hello, newbie here

I am getting married this Sept and my OH and I have/been saving since Jan 2011 for it. I thought what we were saving was spot on, but despite my best intentions of having a detailed budget I did some number crunching last week now that I have accurate figures for certain things and I have under-budgeted a bit (eeeeeeek!!!!)

So it's extreme money-saving time! I've been a long time lurker of this forum and I hope this thread will help me keep focused. I'm shopping round like crazy to get good deals for pretty much everything so it's been very busy!

As a little challenge, I will try to put away at least £350 every month between now and September (I'll not count OH's savings for this) towards the wedding. It will be tough! (Car tax and birthdays this month won't help!!!)

So far this month I have put away 230/350, so £120 left to go. If I do this, it will leave me with little disposable income but needs must!

Should I just bite the bullet and put that money away now, or see how it goes? I think an extra £120 this month is extremely ambitious, but it wouldn't be a challenge otherwise!!

NB

samehat

Welcome New Bride! Sorry to hear about the miscalculations, but thankfully you have found out now rather than later.

Is the wedding in September? It's amazing how much you can cut down on when you need to. Do you really need to spend a lot on presents? Could you maybe bake something instead of buying a gift? That is, assuming that the costs involved in the birthdays you mention is in the gifts..

If you really need to save that 120 then maybe it is a good idea to put it away now. Would it be in an easy access account? That would cover you if you really need it. Would it be earning more interest there than in your current account? If yes is the answer to both of these questions then of course you should put it away!

Best of luck with it! I believe there are wedding forums where you could gets lots of advice on deals.

gothrockchic1

Good Luck with saving for your wedding. As katherina said I would put it in an easy access account rather than an ISA so if you need it it doesn't affect your ISA allowance.

Also raising money is easy, have a look at what you can sell Ebay has at least two free listing days a month.

New_Bride

Thank you very much for your replies!

I think I'm a bit of an oddball when it comes to savings - I have money put away for the car tax and all the bits and bobs coming up this month (I am usually always very careful with my spending choices when it comes to presents etc) but I usually always try to use my 'own' money (ie money in my current account) to cover at least some of these predicted spends.

I know it's odd, that's why I saved the money in the first place! So I'll see how it goes, I transferred the £120 into normal savings account and hopefully I'll not need it.

Cheers

New_Bride

Hmmm I am trying hard not to dip into my savings. As it turns out I have no self-restraint when it comes to buying baby clothes!

But they are for my best friend's baby, and she'd do the same for me, so I don't feel bad about it in any way shape or form.

In other news, I have been working a lot of overtime. I work behind a computer all day and despite doing my hardest to take a DSE break every hour and stretching every so often my shoulders are killing me.

At least I'll be a couple of hundered pounds richer (before tax) by next payday at the end of the month, so it'll all make sense then.

I was going to do some more overtime over the weekend (it's my first full weekend off in three weeks) but I think I better not. Probably a hot bath and some Ludovico Einaudi is in order this evening (listening to Einaudi is not pretentious by the way he is brilliant! Check him out!!!)

Off to figure out if I should have signature, have a good weekend folks!

NB

New_Bride

Well how quickly things change.

Due to my OH'S expenses claim through work we now don't need to save as much for the wedding, as he's putting a chuck of it towards it.

However, the car packed in. It was on its last legs but we were hoping it would like until the wedding, but it won't. Meaning we need to take out a loan to buy a new car, which I'm not happy about but there isn't any other way around it.

I'm currently sorting out a loan and OH is sorting out a car so when that's all figured out I'll know how much £££ I can actually save. I am optimistic we can manage saving and paying the loan (and continue saving for the usual short-term things like birthdays, medical, heating oil etc etc, this will carry on regardless), and I'm obviously picking a repayments plan that will allow us to carry on without having to live in poverty.

I also decided I'm going to have a "contingency" savings account, with a ballpark figure of £200-300 or so. I have accounted for 99% of upcoming bills/expenses but I just want an extra safety net, just in case.

So I'll probably not have a proper update until the loan is approved, but I'll drop in if anything else comes up.

NB

The_Magnificent_Spoon

New_Bride wrote: »

Well how quickly things change.

Due to my OH'S expenses claim through work we now don't need to save as much for the wedding, as he's putting a chuck of it towards it.

However, the car packed in. It was on its last legs but we were hoping it would like until the wedding, but it won't. Meaning we need to take out a loan to buy a new car, which I'm not happy about but there isn't any other way around it.

I'm currently sorting out a loan and OH is sorting out a car so when that's all figured out I'll know how much £££ I can actually save. I am optimistic we can manage saving and paying the loan (and continue saving for the usual short-term things like birthdays, medical, heating oil etc etc, this will carry on regardless), and I'm obviously picking a repayments plan that will allow us to carry on without having to live in poverty.

I also decided I'm going to have a "contingency" savings account, with a ballpark figure of £200-300 or so. I have accounted for 99% of upcoming bills/expenses but I just want an extra safety net, just in case.

So I'll probably not have a proper update until the loan is approved, but I'll drop in if anything else comes up.

NB

Bad luck cars always seem to know when the worst possible time to go up in smoke is.

When you say new car, is it a new car you are looking at buying, or preowned?

New_Bride

Hi The Magnificent Spoon, thanks for stopping by!

The car is new to us, no way are buying a brand new car!!!!! OH has spent the weekend researching and comparing cars online and thinks he's found 'the one', he's already driven it and it has low miles, is 6yrs old and the owner showed him full service history. I know very little about cars but I can't find any problems with it and neither can OH, so it's looking good. All we need to do now is see if the loan gets approved, and I'd be shocked if we get turned down as we both have a good credit history.

So fingers crossed

Daedalus

New_Bride wrote: »

Hi The Magnificent Spoon, thanks for stopping by!

The car is new to us, no way are buying a brand new car!!!!! OH has spent the weekend researching and comparing cars online and thinks he's found 'the one', he's already driven it and it has low miles, is 6yrs old and the owner showed him full service history. I know very little about cars but I can't find any problems with it and neither can OH, so it's looking good. All we need to do now is see if the loan gets approved, and I'd be shocked if we get turned down as we both have a good credit history.

So fingers crossed

Have you done background checks? Even though its an older car it can still have something hidden, write off etc. Almost caught on one aeemingly god car.

gothrockchic1

A HPI would check if the car is stolen or has outstanding HP on it.

If it's from a car dealer then they are obliged to do a 79 point check on it. That is almost like a service and any flaws with it they should sort it.

seekert

My wedding, 15 years ago was £600 all in.

We had no money, I bought a Ivory bridesmaid dress, got some shoes on sale.

My mum paid for the flowers as a prezzie.

My Father in law paid for the Church as a prezzie.

Everyone was invited, but told to buy thier own meals ( was at country pub).

Friend lent me Jewellry, and paid for a night in a 5* hotel for a prezzie.

Told everyone that they did not need to get prezzies, just come along (we live in a really nice seaside place).

No debt. Very relaxed. Everyone sat with who they wanted.

So many people, have told me it was the most relaxed, enjoyable wedding they have ever been to.