How to save?!!

SassyForever

Hi! I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right forum so please excuse me.

So basically, long story short.. I'm struggling to save up.

I'm a stay at home Mum and my partner works full time and brings home around £2300 a month after tax. We then have household bills, a gym membership, council tax and a phone bill bringing the monthly sum to approximately £400. We then have car insurance for us both, £200 a month and then our rent £500 a month. Then we have our food bill which is never consistent. We spend around £60 on a weekly shop but going there and back for other bits such as nappies, toiletries, bread, milk, fruit etc so I'm going to say about £100 a week so £400 a month. This brings our total monthly expenditure to £1500, minus a few days out with the kids let's say £100 and this would mean we're left with about £700.

So why are we not saving £700? We're literally left with about £100 if that a month as we must be buying things we don't need! When we sit down and write up how much our monthly bills are we seem to have loads left, but it's never the case!

I'm basically wanting some advice on how to save money. We're trying to save for our own house as currently renting but we're struggling so much.

Any help would be much appreciated

eskbanker

There are templates such as http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php that allow you to record what you're spending in a wide range of categories, so these can help, but if you're struggling to understand where it all goes there's no substitute for tracking (e.g. on a spreadsheet) everything you spend down to the penny for a month or two.

You'll be amazed at all the bits and pieces and how they accumulate....

Edit: for example, if you're paying car insurance, there will presumably be petrol, MOT/servicing, tyres, parking, etc, etc, even if these aren't all incurred every month.

PeacefulWaters

Gyms. Walk everywhere and save on petrol and gym!
Lunches at work. Make sandwiches.
Coffee shops. Waste of cash.
Television subscriptions. Who needs movies and sport?
Mobile phone contracts. Look at sim only.

Excellent starting points for saving money.

Another tip - save before you spend. Pay comes in. Stick £250 in a savings account. See if that can drive more cautious behaviour.

ST-User

SassyForever wrote: »

We then have car insurance for us both, £200 a month

£2400 a year for two cars? I'm sure that you can find a much cheaper insurance, and if you have some savings, it is worth paying the premium in a lump sum and not in monthly instalments.

trailingspouse

Well done for realising there is a problem and asking for help. You're halfway to solving it already!

You will find lots of help on these boards - here's my contribution -

Are you both in agreement that saving is a priority and that changes need to be made? It won't work if one of you is frugal and the other blows the lot on fripperies.

Once you've tracked your expenditure over a month or two, look at which category you spend most on. That's where the biggest savings are likely to be in the short term.

Gym membership is a luxury that I don't think you can afford right now. Sorry, but the money can only be spent once.

Shop at Aldl if you don't already - I reckon to be saving £25 a week from that alone (£75 down to £50).

And finally, would it be feasible for you to get a job? If you can't reduce the outgoings, then increasing the incomings would amount to the same thing.

Make every penny a prisoner.

grumbler

SassyForever wrote: »

When we sit down and write up how much our monthly bills are we seem to have loads left, but it's never the case!

That's what bank statements are for - combined with writing down all cash expenses every day.

IMO, the less cash, the better in your case.

flea72

I found YNAB app works for me. it allows me to keep track of cash spending and general expenses, and stops me overspending in areas. I used to think i spent £200/m on food, because my main weekly shop was £50/wk. But id forget about the top ups, and school lunch money as i was paying for those in cash. In reality my monthly food bill was more like double that i thought it was. With the YNAB app, it just makes me keep track of how much im prepared to spend on certain areas of expenditure, and if im hitting my limits, it makes me stop and reassess whether i have the funds or not

I know i can do much the same with a pen and paper, rather than pay for the app, but i like that me and OH can log into the app on all our devices, and keep track of spends on all our accounts. I also cant be doing withthe crossing out/tallying involved in the manual method

pmduk

It'll be the little things that are letting you down, the cups of coffee and the 'occasional' magazine. The only way I solved this way to write everything down for a couple of months, it takes discipline and you both need to do it but it really pays dividends. A notebook and pen each is as easy as any technological method.

datlex

OP If you believe you should have £700 left at the end of the month put aside say half at the start. £350 into a savings account. Then only allow yourself to spend what is left. ALWAYS save at the start of your pay period whether monthly or weekly. Then if by chance you do have funds left at the end of it save then too.

I am a great believer in smart / simple swaps rather than giving up what you buy. e.g. changing where you buy your coffee/ type you drink/size or looking at where you can get something eg Sky movies can be got for £5 a month via Now TV if you buy a box on offer with passes whereas it costs at least double to get included with places like Virgin.

SassyForever

ST-User wrote: »

£2400 a year for two cars? I'm sure that you can find a much cheaper insurance, and if you have some savings, it is worth paying the premium in a lump sum and not in monthly instalments.

Mine is only £50 as I've been driving for 7 years but my OHs is £150 a month as he only passed 2 years ago and we have both just turned 25 after this years new policy. So we were classed as "young drivers" and it's really expensive. Hopefully it should go down next year when we renew as we'll be 25 when it's due for renewal.

SassyForever

trailingspouse wrote: »

Well done for realising there is a problem and asking for help. You're halfway to solving it already!

You will find lots of help on these boards - here's my contribution -

Are you both in agreement that saving is a priority and that changes need to be made? It won't work if one of you is frugal and the other blows the lot on fripperies.

Once you've tracked your expenditure over a month or two, look at which category you spend most on. That's where the biggest savings are likely to be in the short term.

Gym membership is a luxury that I don't think you can afford right now. Sorry, but the money can only be spent once.

Shop at Aldl if you don't already - I reckon to be saving £25 a week from that alone (£75 down to £50).

And finally, would it be feasible for you to get a job? If you can't reduce the outgoings, then increasing the incomings would amount to the same thing.

Make every penny a prisoner.

We're both definitely in agreement, we both want to save and both realise how important it is!

Unfortunately for the gym membership it's a 2 year contact and expires in January next year so we can't cancel it otherwise I definitely would (it's my membership).

We do our weekly shop at Aldi which is about a 20 minute drive from us, and we spend about £50-£70 (not including nappies and baby wipes, and depending what we buy as sometimes we like the odd treat every now and then), and do the top up at our local Tesco as it's 2 minutes down the road.

I'm in the process of getting a job. Just passed the first 3 assessments and got my final interview in May and then my fitness test a week later, so it just depends on whether I pass those which I'm keeping everything crossed I do as it's a career!

I did apply for various other jobs such as retail and cafes but unfortunately I wouldn't earn enough to cover childcare costs which is why I've been a stay at home Mum for so long. We don't get any help from the government (as we're not entitled, so it's understandable) so living off OH's wage. I'd love to get a job but it's just the expense of childcare with having 2 young ones. But hopefully I'll pass this interview I have in May and then I'll be in for a long career with this specific job! I really want to be out there earning now but it's just very hard to find something that pays well when you've got childcare expenses to think about