Savings - what's left or standing order?

SavingSassy

Hi,

Just looking to see what others do in terms of savings.....

I have a standing order of £350 that goes into my ISA every payday. The last couple of months, I have been finding it rather tight the week before payday.

I don't know whether to just deal with it, or to lower my standing order or just wait until the day before pay day and transfer what's left over (trying to be as careful as i normally am).

Out of curiosity, what do others do? I've been reading some diaries and it appears that the amounts that people are able to save vary from one month to the next.

jimjames

For £350 per month an ISA may well not be the option that gives you the best returns and you could get significantly more using current accounts.

It may be worth dropping the amount and then moving the remainder manually.

Or move the £350 on payday so you know how much you have to spend for the rest of the month once your savings are taken out - it is probably easier to visualise the money you have remaining to spend rather than trying to keep £350 by next pay day.

TonyMMM

Always "pay yourself first" ...that means putting the money away into savings as soon as you get paid. If you go down the "transferring what's left the day before payday" route you will always find your spending creeps up and nothing gets saved.

If the amount is really leaving you unable to manage, reduce it slightly, but don't change what you are doing now - it works.

justme111

What the last poster says

Starlet_gt

My standing order goes out the day after payday. I then know how much I've got for the rest of the month so pretty easy to budget accordingly.

Jaxb_2

My wages vary each month as I work shifts so I manually put in my savings 10% of my take home pay then if there is anything left at the end of the month I top up the savings

nearlyrich

I pay my ISA and regular saver by SO just after pay day and my Current account sweeps into my savings account the day before payday. Only came unstuck once when payday was early and on a bonus month I went to draw some money out and my account was empty Arrrg..

Eponym

I do a bit of both: standing order into a top regular saver the day after I get paid, then leave enough to get me through the month in my current account and transfer the remainder into my easy access savings account (an old account which is still paying 3%). That way if I find myself a bit short I can transfer some back, but that rarely happens.

Just opened a Nationwide Flex Direct at 5% which £2500 will go into.

SavingSassy

Thanks everyone. Okay, so I'm going to lower my standing order to £300 and give myself a little extra, however at the end of the month, I will transfer whatever is left in my account to my savings

I wonder if I'm being too strict with myself sometimes, but I know I wouldn't save much if I wasn't.