growing a savings pot

steveouk

So having recently changed jobs to one much lower paid i am looking to save any money i don't spend.

I know this sounds underhand but i am going to be putting into a separate account and not tell my wife so that when i get to my target she will be surprised as i have always not been great at saving money. I also want to surprise myself too!!

What tips does anyone have?

I want to save £5000.

jimjames

Only you can make the changes to spend less money. I'm a bit puzzled if you've never managed to save before when you were higher paid, how do you think you'll be able to do so when you are now "much" lower paid?

Maybe start by paying money into savings as soon as you get paid. Only you know how much is realistic and possible with your lower wages.
Avoid frittering money on things that are "just £2". That coffee every day will amount to £60 per month, £720 per year. Just by cutting out one coffee.

steveouk

I have managed to save before but I have never been very good at keeping track of my cash spending each month. Also I know we can save by keeping track of food spending each week.
I save each month but want to use the account to squirrel away the change each month

droopsnoot

Set yourself up a spreadsheet, and put all your spending into it. Split it into categories, then you can easily look at exactly what you're spending money on and how it can be reduced.


I guess the reduction of income is the wake-up call, and maybe you can get into good habits now that you perhaps didn't feel you needed to when you were bringing a bit more in. The challenge then is keeping the good habits when/if you move again to a higher income.

edinburgher

Set yourself a 'pocket money' amount that covers all discretionary spending. Capture how much of the pocket money is left on a simple spreadsheet that shows the number of days until your next payday and divides the pocket money by this figure to show cash per day. I find it to be a tremendous motivator to hold onto my cash

I too used to be a bit !!!! at saving, but surprised myself and my wife by managing to save over £5,000 just from my 'spare' money over the last few years.

Best of luck.

Dan83

There used to be a TSB account that if you bought on your card, if rounded it up to the nearest £ and put it in an account.

So if you bought something for £1.50, they would take £2 but put 50p in another account.

Pincher

There was this guy from south of Manchester on my BSc degree course, around 1981. He was saving £10 a month from his grant money!

We were the committee for the Science Fiction Club, on a course under a Department called Cybernetics. No girls would talk to us. I suspect we were on a par with chemical engineers in terms of social popularity.

No social life expenses, that's real savings.

Just say: "I shop at Costco." a lot.

No one will call you for a pint any more.;)

JohnRo

Set up a monthly budget spreadsheet, work out all regular incoming and essential outgoing. Work out the cost of extras, work out what if anything left over you can afford to save.

It's worth doing that anyway imo, whether saving or not, just to get a record over time of how your finances are doing.

If you really must dip into the savings pot for something essential then do so but otherwise try to instil the thought that the £5000 savings target, at say £100 a month, is an important bill that must be paid, to your future self.

YorkshireBoy

Dan83 wrote: »

There used to be a TSB account that if you bought on your card, if rounded it up to the nearest £ and put it in an account.

So if you bought something for £1.50, they would take £2 but put 50p in another account.

There still is...it's called 'save the change'. Lloyds have the same thing.

But you'll probably 'save' more by ditching the debit card, reverting to cash, and saving your own change from your pocket each day in a jar at home!