26, no savings feel stuck

Houseplant26

newfoundglory wrote: »

Hi Houseplant26

Have you decided where you are going to save your money each month?

Unfortunately interest rates aren't looking too good at the moment, but, there are some good bank accounts which pay interest as well as 'monthly' saver accounts where you save an amount each month for a period of time (eg a year).

Who do you bank with?

Hi newfoundglory,

Thanks for posting. No I haven't yet I've been feeling under the weather and really overwhelmed and tired the past few days and haven't properly stopped to work on my financial planning.

At the moment my personal bank account is HSBC and I have a pre planned overdraft facility left over from uni of up to £1,500 of which I think by end of Aug will be about -£200. I get charged a modest interest rate of about 19% APR at its worst in a year I paid £25 when I was completely in it. Then my joint account is Halifax the one that gives you a fiver a month.

Flowers123

Hope work went well today and you're feeling better. I noticed you said about swag bucks. I've signed up too :j:j
The is also a site called Crowdology which looks quite good but it does take a while to get set up

Houseplant26

Flowers123 wrote: »

Hope work went well today and you're feeling better. I noticed you said about swag bucks. I've signed up too :j:j
The is also a site called Crowdology which looks quite good but it does take a while to get set up

Hi flowers,

I've been feeling a bit sorry for myself and being a stroppy cow due to lack of sleep but partner bought us a Chinese and now I feel a lot better hahahah. We haven't had a takeaway in probably 6months. I know it's so bad for you but it really has perke sleep up, probably all he sugar and E numbers. :rotfl::eek::rotfl:

Yes I like Swagbucks I was on a real roll with it at first but I've got a bit lazy lately. Leaving the videos running whilst getting ready in the morning can be a good tip.

Well done for doing your updated SOA and I'm glad you had a nice lunch with your friend. It sounded like you got a lot for your money and it's a good step that you're keeping track.

Houseplant26

*perked me up even!

newfoundglory

Hi!

Okay, so HSBC do a "regular saver" account paying either 4% (or 6% if you have the Advance current account). This is a really good! You can save anything between £25 and £250 per month into this HSBC savings account. You can open it online using internet banking.

I do have one of these accounts - please remember you cannot withdraw your money during the 12 months (but you can close the account during the year although you will earn almost no interest).

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/savings-accounts/regular-savings-accounts

bobobski

newfoundglory wrote: »

Hi!

Okay, so HSBC do a "regular saver" account paying either 4% (or 6% if you have the Advance current account). This is a really good! You can save anything between £25 and £250 per month into this HSBC savings account. You can open it online using internet banking.

I do have one of these accounts - please remember you cannot withdraw your money during the 12 months (but you can close the account during the year although you will earn almost no interest).

https://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/savings-accounts/regular-savings-accounts

Or if OP wants to double-down she could move £200 from Halifax to HSBC (if it's available) to get rid of the overdraft, then use the switching service to switch HSBC to First Direct, get paid a switching bonus, access to a 6% regular saving account, and also have a fresh start for a fresh outlook.

I count my savings as having started in February 2015, as that's when I opened my First Direct account. And never looked back

Houseplant26

Thanks both, both very good suggestions. If I was going to move banks I'd just wait a bit until completely out of overdraft and do it then. The switching bonus is tempting but I've been so worried at the thought of never having an overdraft facility again and even 0%credit cards scare me (never had one).

I'm feeling a bit better.
Managed to clean the bathroom thanks to power-by-e-numbers giving me a sudden burst of energy!

kjarvo

I think you need to stop thinking that you are poor and realise that £18,000 a year is an low but more than minimum waged job and it is easy to save on, especially for a 4 day job.
I earnt £17k which was raised to £19k and I saved £400 a month. My rent was £395 including bills, but I never really thought that I was poor and automatically transferred the money into my isa and tough, the rest was what I had to live off.

A big thing for me was spending money on the bus. It is great that you can walk to work. Second thing is food. I tend to take food into work everyday.

Breakfast - toast, or porridge
Lunch - Can of soup in work, fruit, multipack of chocolate
Tea - Pasta/rice with frozen/tinned/fresh veg, and meat

Also, batch cook! it is so much cheaper to make 6 portions of everything and stick 1 portion for the next day in the fridge and the other portions in the freezer. It is boring but it saves so much time and money!

Houseplant26

More accurate S.O.A/proposed budget for when overdraft paid off, starting from September payday.

Income after tax
£1,100

Outgoings
Household
£550 to joint account for rent and bills, OH pays £650 we end up with a surplus of £49.52 in our account each month I believe now and then £5 from Halifax. So as a pair we are in theory saving £50 each month as a buffer for unexpected bills.

My individual contributions specific contributions without overpayment are:
Rent - £387.50
Council tax - £76.50
Electric - £23
Water - £12.20
Internet - £11.50
Tv license - £14.55

Personal
Savings - £100 into savings account
- £10 into sealed pot
Food - £80
Mobile - £27
Entertainment - £60
Toiletries - £20
Medicines - £10
(Dentist - £5)

Total outgoings
£835

Thoughts? Now seems like my outgoings are loads less even with savings!

I've been trying to do £50 cash out the bank a week for all personal expenses (which I think equates to a bit over this budgets budgeted amount) which currently includes my half of food shopping. This has been doable but felt tight at times.

Should I plan to stick more into a savings account? Should we start putting food money into our joint account or another purely groceries account?

Houseplant26

I realise this includes no money for clothes or presents (probably do need to start factoring this in and save a bit each month in a pot or something). Also includes minimal toiletries but that's partly because I have a lot to use up!