The "Save 12k in 2017" Thread!

Suffolk_lass

darkidoe wrote: »

I haven't got a car but would love to own one for some freedom of travel but still struggling with justifying it. The cost of maintenance of a car is such a drag on savings that's after the estimated 3-4k hit straight off the bat for the cost of a second hand car, insurance and fuel for the year. Even used cars can be costly due to fuel costs. I wonder how much do people spend on driving each year?? I would imagine at least £500-£1000 for insurance, £1000++ for petrol?

I thought it might help if I describe my Son's car experience as it is his first.

My Son (25) has a second hand Honda Jazz - a basic 1.1L engine - his first car. It cost £7000 (give or take) to buy at four years old (we bought it with him, from the main dealer, and added £500 to have rear parking sensors installed - I would highly recommend these, especially for a new owner). His insurance (age 23, and 24) has been between £800 and £900 both years. Starting from 0% NCD we were disappointed that it was still over £800 the second year.

The car needs an annual service, and this year, some bigger parts, due to age and mileage. Probably £300 this year, compared to £170 last year (including MOT). He commutes 10m each way to work and runs around, occasionally running friends to airports or being designated driver, with them contributing to his petrol costs. He has had two new tyres in two years - £160 (His Christmas present!). He spends about £80 on petrol in an average month.

At the moment, he puts a regular £100 per month away, so that he always has some money to pay (not all though). He has had two small (unrepaired) dinks, one where his girlfriend's Mother's handbrake failed and her car rolled into his, and one a hidden bollard that he touched.

I expect him to keep it another three years, all being well, and its resale to be about £2-2500 at that point (so £1000 a year depreciation). Come September I am going to try and persuade him to save some more so he can pay a good proportion in cash for his next car.

excelwizard

Payday today so I'm checking in with August's totals:

Total was £7078.94 , August savings - £1153.98

New total: £8232.92 :j

slowlyfading

Spreadsheet updated

darkidoe

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I thought it might help if I describe my Son's car experience as it is his first.

My Son (25) has a second hand Honda Jazz - a basic 1.1L engine - his first car. It cost £7000 (give or take) to buy at four years old (we bought it with him, from the main dealer, and added £500 to have rear parking sensors installed - I would highly recommend these, especially for a new owner). His insurance (age 23, and 24) has been between £800 and £900 both years. Starting from 0% NCD we were disappointed that it was still over £800 the second year.

The car needs an annual service, and this year, some bigger parts, due to age and mileage. Probably £300 this year, compared to £170 last year (including MOT). He commutes 10m each way to work and runs around, occasionally running friends to airports or being designated driver, with them contributing to his petrol costs. He has had two new tyres in two years - £160 (His Christmas present!). He spends about £80 on petrol in an average month.

At the moment, he puts a regular £100 per month away, so that he always has some money to pay (not all though). He has had two small (unrepaired) dinks, one where his girlfriend's Mother's handbrake failed and her car rolled into his, and one a hidden bollard that he touched.

I expect him to keep it another three years, all being well, and its resale to be about £2-2500 at that point (so £1000 a year depreciation). Come September I am going to try and persuade him to save some more so he can pay a good proportion in cash for his next car.

Thanks for all the car owning experience stories. As you can see from being part of this thread, I am somewhat of a decent saver but to sacrifice perhaps potentially half a years of savings to own a car is not a such a great idea to me given my aim of financial independence. Fair enough if it is required for work, but I think I will always try to live near where I work, or use public transport; and I hate the idea of traffic. And the stories of road trips and weekend driving trips are such a tempt as well. Perhaps I am not such a good spender. I always thought that delaying car ownership for as long as I can in my life would be such a great idea, an even now i am entertaining the idea that if I can get away with never owning a car, all the better for the environment. I don't think I know many households which never owned at least a car before though.

It is something that I would consider once I feel that financially, it is less of an impact on my savings in the grand scheme of things.

Suffolk_lass

darkidoe wrote: »

Thanks for all the car owning experience stories. As you can see from being part of this thread, I am somewhat of a decent saver but to sacrifice perhaps potentially half a years of savings to own a car is not a such a great idea to me given my aim of financial independence. Fair enough if it is required for work, but I think I will always try to live near where I work, or use public transport; and I hate the idea of traffic. And the stories of road trips and weekend driving trips are such a tempt as well. Perhaps I am not such a good spender. I always thought that delaying car ownership for as long as I can in my life would be such a great idea, an even now i am entertaining the idea that if I can get away with never owning a car, all the better for the environment. I don't think I know many households which never owned at least a car before though.

It is something that I would consider once I feel that financially, it is less of an impact on my savings in the grand scheme of things.

You could look into whether your community has a car share scheme - there is a crescent near us that has two cars that people can book, that get parked in a designated space when returned and all booked on-line. The households share it because parking was so hard and lots of them wanted it for occasional things, while others wanted it for the convenience of shopping or road trips. It works like a hire car, the running costs sitting between the household members on a proportional basis

Cottage_Economy

#129 declaring £420 for August.

Includes £50 for Christmas.

However, the total so far in my signature does not add up to what is in the 'Save 12k' spreadsheet

Had to have a little jiggery pokery with the money as I realised that I had been including some money in my mortgage overpayment account, and didn't realise I couldn't get that back, so I've excluded that.

I also forgot that I have interest added every month, so need to include that.

The actual total of my savings account is £3270. Slowlyfading - could you please update the spreadsheet to reflect this correct amount.

Suffolk_lass

Just confirmed DH was paid yesterday (some question as he works in Essex and lots didn't ). So that ends the month for that account and the other one is already down to £4 until next week (pay day Thursday) so no real scope to scrape anything out of there so I have submitted my update for August. I think that puts me at just under 74% of target at the two-thirds stage.

jacci45

Worst month ever!! We have, however, just bought a rather gorgeous new car and my laptop died! £74.43 so now on a total of £5718.43! I have updated the spreadsheet SF.
Take care all! x

kitjos

Hi SF!

Quick update. #73 with saving of £500 for August. Taking total to £8000. Many thanks xx

Lolly88

Saved £342.75 this month bringing my total saved this year to £2100. Spreadsheet updated.