How to fall in love with saving money

tara747

jimjames wrote: »

Spending on food is fine - just make sure you don't waste it as per the headlines today. If every household on average wastes £700 of food per year there must be some exceptionally wasteful households as ours is pretty close to zero.

One thing to remember is that you are already doing better than the majority of people in UK when 28% have no savings or under £250 and two thirds have under £1000.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/feb/25/millions-britons-without-future-savings

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

That's really shocking!!!!

cathybird wrote: »

Re the coin counting dilemma. I noticed today that there is a branch of Britannia near where I shop for groceries. I bank with the Co-op so rang them and ask if I can bring in some coins. "Yes, if they're bagged up," was the reply, "and we don't take more than 10 bags."

I've got no bags so I trek down to the branch, tin and Kilner jar of coins in my hand - they're very heavy. I go into the branch and ask the smiling cashier for some bags. They get some bags out of a drawer.

"Do you need an office to count all those coins out?" the other cashier asks, as she hands me the bags.

"Um, sure," I say to this unexpectedly kind thought. The cashier shows me into an office and I retire in there with my bags and start laboriously counting out the coins.

A few minutes later the other cashier appears with a coin-counting machine.

"I thought this might help because you've got so many coins," she says.

"Well, I don't want to be a nuisance," I say.

"No, it's no trouble." She eyes the coins. "Just tip them out on the table and I'll bag them and put them on the machine to be weighed."

At this point I notice for some reason I can't explain there are coffee grounds mixed in with the coins at the bottom of the Kilner jar. I point this out.

"That's fine, tip them on these," she says and grabs a sheet of A4 paper to put on the table. I tip out the coins, which go everywhere, along with the coffee grounds, not just on the paper but all over the table.

"Sorry about that," I say.

"That's perfectly all right," she says. She appears to be completely unfazed. She starts counting the coins up about a million times quicker than me. I note that not only are there coffee grounds all over the place but also a handful of other random items - two keys, a 13-amp fuse, a tiny metal dog (!!!!!!?), coinage from other currencies, dust, and what looks like a very large, ancient piece of popcorn. I pick these up and hastily put them back in the tin.

I count coins very slowly while the cashier counts coins very quickly.

"There are two bags of £1 and 50p coins that aren't complete, we wouldn't normally bank incomplete bags but those two might be all right," the cashier says.

"Oh right," I say. "Oh good, that's very kind of you."

"It's perfectly fine."

When all is done, about 10 minutes later, and my coins are neatly bagged up I start not very effectively trying to sweep what I can of the coffee grounds and other gubbins back in the tin.

"Don't worry about that, I'll get a cloth."

I hastily clean up what I can anyway then take my coins out to the other cashier.

"Well, we're technically only supposed to take 10 bags of coins," she says, eyeing all the bags rather nervously.

"Oh that's all right," I say, "you've been more than kind already."

She counts the bags up. "Thirteen bags. Thirteen? I suppose that's all right."

"And there are these incomplete bags," I say nervously.

"OK, that's all right."

She weighs my coins. Two of the bags of 1p pieces don't weigh up and need to be re-counted, which she does very slowly and patiently.

"Sorry about this," I say to the woman behind me waiting to be served. She ignores me totally.

"Right," the cashier says finally, "that's £80.50. Mounts up, doesn't it?"

I produce my card and the cash goes into my bank account.

"There you are then! Have a lovely day!"

I exit the bank, the two cashiers and a woman clutching a mug of tea who seems to be a manager cheerfully waving and smiling as I leave.

Maybe as soon as I went out of sight they said "whoa, CRAYZEEEEEE" and downed a few gins to cope, but all things considered, best and nicest service I have ever had from any bank branch anywhere. Though not sure I can ever show my face there again.

Anyway, in the meantime, that's another £80.50 gone into the savings account. :j

Oh, how kind of them - and well done you! That's amazing.

gallygirl

Brilliant coin counting episode :rotfl:. I only have my little Peefer Pig who holds a max of £40ish. I bag them up and take to local PO to pay in and always think the staff are feeling sorry me in my desperate poverty . Then I go home and pay it off my mortgage :T.

cathybird

ha ha gallygirl, thanks - I thought my coin-counting adventure was funny! So embarrassing really even though they were incredibly kind. Must remember to be more organised with the coinage next time. Not that I can ever go show my face there again ...

cathybird

Tara747, have been following your thread - really impressive. Have been meaning to go back over your earlier posts to see how you did it in more detail but thanks for your tips, very useful.

cathybird

YoungBusinessman, know what you mean about the bills! no sooner did I decide I wanted to save some proper money six weeks or so ago than I got three unexpected £300 bills in a row - weird! Anyway, I'm on the right track now (I hope).

cathybird

Am also following the Save £12,000 in 2013 too ... some great stuff happening on there.

Eco_Miser

YoungBusinessman wrote: »

Find there's nothing more annoying and morale killing than putting money into a savings account just to have to take it back out to pay the bills.

Oh but there is: having to get an overdraft, or go to Wonga, to pay the bills because the savings account is empty.
One reason for saving is so that you can pay the bills when they turn up unexpectedly.

cathybird

Eco Miser, good point. Are you a bit of a night owl? You post in the wee hours of the morning

cathybird

I can sense myself inching towards going over budget for November since it's the 1st of the month today and I'm already within about 12 quid but that's okay for this first try (well, I'm not going to beat myself up about it too much ... not today :rotfl:). The main point is to get rid of the habit of buying lunch every day and taking it from home instead. I do want to find a minimum spend that I'm happy with and stick to that though. The point about eating less meat is a good one. It is (obviously) healthier to eat more veg-based meals anyway. Nice at this time of year to have the ingredients for cottage pie and other similar comforting meals in the freezer though, I have to say.

cathybird

The eBay point is a good one too (both from Tara, thanks ...). Am now going to look for something round my house I could stick on eBay.