The 'Save 12k in 2014' Thread!

Hantsman

lettucekl wrote: »

What wages are you people on that save 12k in 12 months??, on average you'd have to put 1k away each month!??. Monthly bills, rent/mortgage, shopping has to come up around £1000 and then spending money, so you'd need like a take home wage of at least £2300 each month surely???

I am very lucky at the moment to be earning a good wage with very little in the way of outgoings. The army takes my rent from my paycheck so I never have to worry and my bills are included in that. I'm trying to make the most of this and saving what I can before I leave.

Also no kids, debts other than student loan means I have an opportunity to save for the future rather than spending it all on myself now and having to borrow later on down the line

porgiegeorgie

lettucekl wrote: »

What wages are you people on that save 12k in 12 months??, on average you'd have to put 1k away each month!??. Monthly bills, rent/mortgage, shopping has to come up around £1000 and then spending money, so you'd need like a take home wage of at least £2300 each month surely???

We save as a couple and are fortunate that we do have a comfortable joint-income. Our 12k target is set to really stretch us over the year though, and despite being on track at the moment I really do wonder if we will make it to 12k! But part of the challenge is stretching yourself

We aim to live as simply and frugally as we can and are aiming to save for a house deposit which keeps us focused on living frugally. Most months we limit our spending to the essentials like rent, bills, food, train-fares and entertain ourselves with free activities like walking and geocaching. Despite not spending much DH and I have really rich/happy lives (that sounds corny but we really do!)

We have also made the choice to not have children until we have saved the desposit (which was/is a really tough decision), but probably allows us to save a fair whack more than a couple with children would be able to. :cool:

Hantsman

porgiegeorgie wrote: »

We save as a couple and are fortunate that we do have a comfortable joint-income. Our 12k target is set to really stretch us over the year though, and despite being on track at the moment I really do wonder if we will make it to 12k! But part of the challenge is stretching yourself

We aim to live as simply and frugally as we can and are aiming to save for a house deposit which keeps us focused on living frugally. Most months we limit our spending to the essentials like rent, bills, food, train-fares and entertain ourselves with free activities like walking and geocaching. Despite not spending much DH and I have really rich/happy lives (that sounds corny but we really do!)

We have also made the choice to not have children until we have saved the desposit (which was/is a really tough decision), but probably allows us to save a fair whack more than a couple with children would be able to. :cool:

I agree, i've found that keeping to a budget and making it a challenge to find cheap things to do and finding everyday ways to save a few quid here and there has been rewarding in itself. Also seeing everyone on this thread building up their savings gives me the motivation when I feel like spending for the sake of it like I might have done in the past.

115K

I've managed to do a new food budget so hopefully will be putting in £1,000 in savings on payday in April. No alcohol and only a couple of treats so managed to reduce it by about £50 a month.:T

I worked out that my pets cost us on average about £250 a month.:eek: They are worth it though.:p:A

Poster_girl

Hi all

I have been awol for a while. I was on holiday abroad in January and completely forgot that I was supposed to be trying to save (not like me at all)! And then work was completely crazy in Feb and March and updating my spreadsheet came right at the bottom of an extremely long to do list but has now finally been done. So it is a three month update from me (sorry slowlyfading)

January: £0 :mad:
February: £220.29
March: £536.16

sparrer

lettucekl wrote: »

What wages are you people on that save 12k in 12 months??, on average you'd have to put 1k away each month!??. Monthly bills, rent/mortgage, shopping has to come up around £1000 and then spending money, so you'd need like a take home wage of at least £2300 each month surely???

As ajdj says there are peeps with a lower goal. My target as a single pensioner is £3k for a trip to NZ next year. It's tough going but may be my last 'big' holiday (unless I win the lotto and go to my other dream destination of China), but am determined to get to target. It's all relative really, there are possibly couples and singles people with healthy salaries, likewise there may be couples and singles in not such a fortunate situation. And I like a challenge

stoplurking

Hi number 100
Not sure I'm updating properly as my figures on spreadsheet don't match my updates. Anyway, total so far to end of March is £1242
Also can't seem to get colours right.
Thanks for running the thread, Slowlyfading.

Twiggy_34

Tucked my £545 away into my ISA yesterday now that we're into the new tax year. I've got £500 tucked to one side as well and am hoping that will stay put for April's savings but it could be a bit optimistic as it was my DP's birthday yesterday and I've still got some presents to pay for (meal out and indian head massage as he's been suffering with bad headaches for a few months now and so far the Dr's haven't been able to help much). I will try not to kick myself too much though if I have to dip into it as I'd only budgeted for a cautious £125 a month and have exceeded this every month so far...

I really must stop checking my online bank account daily though - I really don't know what I'm expecting to see other than my main bank account balance slowly going down as the month progresses! :doh:

Hantsman

Twiggy don't worry, I do the same thing, I think it's natural (at least I hope it is!)

I'm not sure what i'm going to put as my totals this month, all the moving money around I've done has meant I've lost track of what if from this year and what was last years. I may just have to make a conservative guess.

hickles69

Another £150 into savings so a total of £3060 - 25.5% saved so far this year