How to fall in love with saving money

cathybird

hi Eco Miser! thanks, yes I knew that bit - I'm just not sure how the individual providers are going to deal with it, ie I have an S&S Isa with Charles Stanley but are they just going to allow me to keep a cash component in it? If so (I'm guessing so), what interest rate will they offer - the same as now? Is it going to make any general difference to the level of interest rates providers offer on cash, or none at all? Is there therefore going to be a little more flexibility on changing providers when the changes come in? ... etc etc. It was more the nitty gritty I was worried about. But thank you. I didn't make it clear what I hadn't got my head round. The S&S Isa situation is really complicated enough as it is without these new changes. But I guess we'll see.

atush, I really didn't keep a proper grocery budget in April, or any kind of budget, so think I'll start again with May. I can work out what my savings were though (there were some, luckily) and will do that shortly. The book spend thing is not really working for me, in all honesty - don't think I will last the year, alas I think I need a new system somewhere in between not buying any new books and buying loads of new books and not reading them Maybe I could settle at something like for every new book I buy I have to read three I've already got, or something, and make a list of what I'm going to read and post it here. Don't know.

Lomcevak, you'll be pleased to hear I did have a look at YNAB yesterday and started entering numbers into it. It looks very useful, though I am not quite sure I have quite got my head around the fine details of how it is supposed to work just yet.

Lomcevak

cathybird wrote: »

Lomcevak, you'll be pleased to hear I did have a look at YNAB yesterday and started entering numbers into it. It looks very useful, though I am not quite sure I have quite got my head around the fine details of how it is supposed to work just yet.

Well done - give a shout if you're confused, the initial bit is by far the hardest, and remember that the budget takes time to get right, so it doesn't matter if it isn't perfect the first time, you can rearrange it as you go.

In an ideal world you have a full 'buffer' to start with (i.e. you have a month of cash put aside which you use for the May budget, all income this month then gets marked as 'income for June'). If not, the golden rule is to only budget money you have right now, even if that means some work to target the near-term expenses first. Don't 'overbudget' (so the 'available to budget' on the budget screen should show £0, it should never negative and in red). When you get paid this month (if you haven't already) then you update the budget at that point.

edit: although the purist would insist on budgeting to zero ('give every dollar a job') it's fine for 'available to budget' to be green, that gets carried over to the next month (e.g. I currently have £179.59 available to budget in May, which also shows in June as 'not budgeted in May' and adds to the 'available to budget' next month. Budgeting less than your income is the best way to build the 'buffer' if you need to

YoungBusinessman

Budgeting less than your income is good advice. Iv finally figured having a decent budget while realistic and having a home for every penny is key to saving success. Had a set back this weekend but onwards and upwards.

cathybird

Thanks Lomcevak I think it will take me a while to get the hang of it but those pointers will help. It is certainly something I need to have a serious go at.

YoungBusinessman, hi! Nice to hear from you Onwards and upwards, absolutely.

Eco_Miser

cathybird wrote: »

hi Eco Miser! thanks, yes I knew that bit - I'm just not sure how the individual providers are going to deal with it, ie I have an S&S Isa with Charles Stanley but are they just going to allow me to keep a cash component in it? If so (I'm guessing so), what interest rate will they offer - the same as now? Is it going to make any general difference to the level of interest rates providers offer on cash, or none at all? Is there therefore going to be a little more flexibility on changing providers when the changes come in? ... etc etc. It was more the nitty gritty I was worried about. But thank you. I didn't make it clear what I hadn't got my head round. The S&S Isa situation is really complicated enough as it is without these new changes. But I guess we'll see.

Ah, I see.
You can already hold cash in an S&S ISA, but in future you won't get taxed on the interest, and you won't need to claim that you're waiting for the right moment to invest. But I can't see the S&S managers offering much in the way of interest. Maybe Nationwide and Halifax (and other banks?) will each link up their cash and S&S ISA offerings to form a uniform product.

cathybird

Eco_Miser wrote: »

Ah, I see.
You can already hold cash in an S&S ISA, but in future you won't get taxed on the interest, and you won't need to claim that you're waiting for the right moment to invest. But I can't see the S&S managers offering much in the way of interest. Maybe Nationwide and Halifax (and other banks?) will each link up their cash and S&S ISA offerings to form a uniform product.

Well, that's what I'm wondering really. The changes to Isas made this year by George Osborne were quite far-reaching in some ways but I haven't seen much by way of a response from providers so far, though I also haven't gone looking. But certainly CS haven't got in touch by email or whatever to tell me what they might be doing about it. It's been pretty quiet.

cathybird

My car insurance is finally organised and I got free breakdown cover and cashback of £45, bringing the cost down to the region of £150. So, I'm pretty pleased with that.

Now I need to work out what savings I made in April and get my signature etc up to date.

It's a beautiful day out there ... I have to work today alas, but hope everyone else is having a good bank holiday

amiehall

cathybird wrote: »

Well, that's what I'm wondering really. The changes to Isas made this year by George Osborne were quite far-reaching in some ways but I haven't seen much by way of a response from providers so far, though I also haven't gone looking. But certainly CS haven't got in touch by email or whatever to tell me what they might be doing about it. It's been pretty quiet.

I think the banks, like all of us, were caught out by how far reaching the reforms were and haven't managed to get their products ready for launch yet. The new regulations are only in-force from 1st July though so I guess they have a bit of time yet.

atush

Oh dear I bought books this week.

TBF, I sold 3 last month, some of the books i bought were bought with a gift Cert from TCB though.

Will list more books for sale tomorrow, to boost the coffers.

My little bird (who isn't very little lol) who flew the nest came over for sunday dinner last night for the first time since he left. He stayed the night and got breakfast too lol. then refused to take the rest of his stuff. Once he gives me a spare key i will sneak some of it over lol

cathybird

amiehall wrote: »

I think the banks, like all of us, were caught out by how far reaching the reforms were and haven't managed to get their products ready for launch yet. The new regulations are only in-force from 1st July though so I guess they have a bit of time yet.

amiehall, I think that's true, and I would think the announcement sent them into a frantic bout of planning. It might take all of them another few weeks to announce what the results are.