26, no savings feel stuck

kingrulzuk

lstar337 wrote: »

Feel like I have to weigh in here.

Unless somebody else is paying everything for you, I don't see how this is possible.

Please explain how you live on £200/month, because that wouldn't even cover my monthly council tax commitment.

Single person council tax in Edinburgh: £80 a month
electricity bill: around £10 to £20 summer/ winter
food bill: I try to keep it under £50 a month
and I keep £50 for extras

badger09

kingrulzuk wrote: »

Single person council tax in Edinburgh: £80 a month
electricity bill: around £10 to £20 summer/ winter
food bill: I try to keep it under £50 a month
and I keep £50 for extras

So you pay council tax, but no rent or mortgage?

kingrulzuk

badger09 wrote: »

So you pay council tax, but no rent or mortgage?

Paid off my mortgage when I was 30 now its been 2 years mortgage free.

Houseplant26

eskbanker wrote: »

This will seem a bit harsher than earlier comments, but with the exception of the groceries, most of the above items are easily avoidable if you're really trying to get after clearing your overdraft and then starting to save. Your call and your money of course, so you're quite entitled to some little luxuries here and there, but the old saying about 'look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves' is very applicable when it comes to understanding how all these little things soon add up.

In other words, if you really want to save, you need to be prepared to make compromises and cut out some of the discretionary spend. Only you can judge how to get that balance right but if I was in your position I'd be looking very closely at most of those non-grocery items and thinking about how they hinder your ability to save....

Not harsh that's fair. Some of my spending on social commitment are plans I've had since a while ago and I need to keep, although may cost me more than expected and I probably need to be a bit tougher on saying what I can afford, not yes to be polite.

Houseplant26

kingrulzuk wrote: »

Hiya Houseplant26


I have been reading some of your post and its nice that you want to start saving, but I feel like you don't know what you really want to do.
In one post you say U took a pay cut to leave a stressful job for one I that U love, and in another place you say U want to start ur own side business and U said U have no idea how to start/go about with it right?


What you have to do now is sit down with a nice cup of tea and think hard what you really want to do, saving money is not that hard, making your mind up is the hard part.
I earn around £2200 a month after tax and I save £2000 every month without fail.

There's some truth in that comment. I'm closer than I have been though. I now work in a role that's much more related to what I do (I don't want to give much away online but I moved from a charity in one sector to an entirely different one in line with my degree). I'm starting from the bottom a bit and still slightly working out end goal in terms of better job role, there's a role above me I'd like one day so going to see if the colleague would maybe mentor me a bit. I will be working with her on some projects too. Although my pay is low I'm actually in a management role with a lot of autonomy, creativity and responsibility which are all things I value. The side business is not dissimilar to the world I work within, and would be more to learn about being self employed, use skills I want to use more but I'm not and discover if one day it could be for me. My hunch is it isn't but it could be a good creative outlet. My only worry is if I invest lots of effort in this I won't have energy to invest energy in other places such as career progression in my main job.

Houseplant26

Sorry if I'm not making a lot of sense. I am a bit confused.

Houseplant26

Dobbibill wrote: »

Welcome to the forum.


It normally takes a few tweaks to get it right so don't be disheartened if you have to re-do it as things pop up that aren't included......that's normal.

My suggestions are in Red.

Allocate every penny a job, whether that's savings, bills, spending money etc etc

Alll the best

Thank you so much this is all incredibly helpful. I plan to work through your suggestions bit by bit and let you know how I get on. Amazing how great it feels to have someone write down a to do list for me, it's been so scrambled in my brain.

lstar337

kingrulzuk wrote: »

Single person council tax in Edinburgh: £80 a month
electricity bill: around £10 to £20 summer/ winter
food bill: I try to keep it under £50 a month
and I keep £50 for extras

kingrulzuk wrote: »

Paid off my mortgage when I was 30 now its been 2 years mortgage free.

In that case I have to say well done to you.

Though your money saving looks a little extreme for your circumstances, I'm sure you have your reasons.

darkidoe

Hello Houseplant!

Thank you for being so honest and well done for being brave enough to post out here trying to get some ideas to help you move forwards.

"also need someone to tell me I'm doing OK and trying my best and not being as useless as I feel! I feel like my life is kind of on pause and I only ever live week to week. I have no savings or assets at all and I'm 26. I don't earn a lot, I've always worked in the charity sector. Recently I took a pay cut to leave a stressful job for one I love."

You are 26. You have minimum debts and have a job. Life is not all roses (to be fair it never was) but you are working towards something. From speaking to many people in their 20s, I find it is not too uncommon for millennials these days feeling a bit lost in what they want out of life or work. Know that you are not alone. There are people other there that are just as lost and living day to day. It takes time try things out and figure out what you want. For a start, you are doing good being out of debt. But that is just the starting line.

Goals
"Holiday!!! A hot one! "
"Emergency fund/fund towards half a deposit on house."

I think these are reasonable short-mid term goals! People can live simply and be happy. I would work to secure basic necessities in food, roof over your head, internet, 1 phone. Anything else you have is probably a decent luxury many others cannot imagine to have, so if you choose to have it, take it as a treat. You don't need it to survive but it makes you that bit more happy.

Once you work out how much on the bare minimum you can live on, make sure you 'pay yourself your monthly expenses first' and the rest should go into savings that you never touch except for your goals! The cruel cold hard fact of mathematics and life is to balance the budget and achieve some savings, your have to either cut your outflows or increase your income. No running away from that. You get a choice to do that on a day to day basis and you will feel you are wrestling some control back from just living day to day.

Start small and aim to have a positive balance each month. Once your do, start increasing that balance. As long as you do so, you will keep out of debt. Learn about high interest savings accounts Start a help to buy ISA for your deposit even if you are not sure what size of a deposit you need. Somethings it is just worth starting early.

26 is a good time to start reflecting on such issues. We are all learning constantly. Good luck in your reading and learning and hopefully you will get an inkling of a plan from all the excellent feedback from this thread!

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.

darkidoe

kingrulzuk wrote: »

Single person council tax in Edinburgh: £80 a month
electricity bill: around £10 to £20 summer/ winter
food bill: I try to keep it under £50 a month
and I keep £50 for extras

Frugality at its best! Hats off to you!