Savings diary of Lifeatthekings

WillGates

“Do not save what is left after spending; instead spend what is left after saving.”

Warren Buffet

GiddyInvestor

Can either of you refer the other for a bank account/ credit card for a bonus.

[Deleted User]

“Do not save what is left after spending; instead spend what is left after saving.”

I already have put what I can save into savings for Christmas.

he doesn't want to switch banks

WillGates

"Purchased take out - £23.90 on Chinese used lloyds to pay so I get spare change saved."

This just seems wrong if you are saving hard!
It's nearly 10% of your food budget.
When at university (40 years ago) I would regularly buy some mincemeat, rice, ketchup and onions, cook it all and it could last 3 or 4 days.
As for coffee, make your own.

[Deleted User]

its from my spending money which is left from what i am saving so its there for me to spend on what ever I want without feeling guilty. This is the first take out I've paid for in months as my fiance buys usually (he has plenty to spend & saves tons) . I also use my Lloyds account to spend so I get save the change.

I put £245.55 away this month , as soon as wedding is paid for then I will put the amounts i would have saved for wedding into new home & Emergency fund.

never pay for coffee when out unless its 'special' such as when we were on holiday we had a coffee some days.

[Deleted User]

Todays round up
•No spend today...
•Accepted for coop banking , waiting for card+pin to come through
•Work not breaking any rule about not paying me for day off...
• Sold a body butter set to a girl in work for £3 though not given her the item as not in until Tuesday
• May need to use the £100 from Christmas fund to pay for a new bed. Ours is broken beyond repair ...

Rich1976

lifeatthekings wrote: »

its from my spending money which is left from what i am saving so its there for me to spend on what ever I want without feeling guilty. This is the first take out I've paid for in months as my fiance buys usually (he has plenty to spend & saves tons) . I also use my Lloyds account to spend so I get save the change.

I put £245.55 away this month , as soon as wedding is paid for then I will put the amounts i would have saved for wedding into new home & Emergency fund.

never pay for coffee when out unless its 'special' such as when we were on holiday we had a coffee some days.

Personally I think you're doing things fine and you both seem to have your heads screwed on the right way round.

I like how you are setting down what the bills are, how much is for savings and then seeing what's left for spending money.

The odd take out wont do any harm and based on my own experience you do need to factor in fun money and enjoyment without feeling guilty. If it becomes all about heavy saving to the extent of everything else or just concentrating on paying off debts you end up miserable and tend to sabotage your money structure as a result.

So I think you do have a good balance and well done for being sensible with your money.

As for the broken bed well that's life and you will get other emergencies when you least expect it no matter how inconvenient the timing. So try and set aside your emergency fund to cover such events and that helps to reduce any stress as you have the money set aside to pay for it.

Keep us updated with your progress but well done so far :T

[Deleted User]

Thank you Rich1976 for your kinds words.
I will actually scrap the new home fund for now and save everything in my emergency fund.
I don't have to worry so much about a new house...we've coped for 2 and a bit years. what's another 5 months.
I think this way will lessen the mental stress of trying to afford everything...

We had to buy the bed! We've been sleeping on our pull out sofa for the past 2 nights and will do until Wednesday evening aha. Usually I'd try and wait until more money but it's making my back issues worse and poor hubs to be hasn't been sleeping well either.

Christmas savings....£0.00! :eek:
I still have plenty of time to save.

Today & yesterday's round up

Yesterday I paid for take out again at McDonalds...Oops. but we did go there as it was the cheaper option. Will NEED to do weekly shopping tonight & also pop out to tesco for lunch things so I don't spend any more.

Back at work tomorrow after they gave me today as a day off (not holiday but I was unneeded...we're super quiet) and will leave ALL cards at home... well Except for 1 as I need to pay off my "IOU"

Today has been a no spend day and If i stick to only grocery shopping then it'll be a full one, yay! Was tempted to buy food in but has microwaveable pasta instead and resisted going out to the shops.

Glasses broke today. Will need to find arm so I can DIY-fix them.

The Hubs has a person looking at his old car. Hopefully they will buy...

Rich1976

You're very welcome!

I'm a lot older than you and still learning. The difficulty is getting all the figures to balance.

I've found personally the best way to keep up the motivation is to have goals or pots of money for different things and to set a budget each one.

So for example we want to have a holiday next year and need to pay for it so have a holiday account which our budgeted amount /12 goes into

Equally car expenses. The cars will need servicing and Mot's plus the insurance so again we have a separate account for that.

House repairs or an emergency fund, again a set amount going away each month

Birthdays and Xmas happen each year without fail so have a budget on how much you want to spend on each person and stick that amount away so you're not raiding your Xmas fund to pay for a new set of trainers as an example.

It helps that our savings accounts are in joint names so we both contribute. Make sure your partner is paying their share so it doesn't fall to you to cover everything.

All of this helps me with mental stress as I can log in and see all the accounts and the respective balances.

I also keep a spreadsheet of all income and all outgoings including personal. So whilst I don't detail what every penny is spent on I can see what each household bills costs; how much is going into each savings account and the amount left over as personal spending money for each of us.

Oh and when my glasses broke i took them back to the opticians who fixed them on the spot without charge. No need for sellotape this time round 😀

[Deleted User]

It's never to late to change though and yeah that's part of my problem.

I have loads of saving accounts open for different things but I don't earn enough to deposit into each one as i'd like to.

I've been so caught up in making sure I have enough to pay for our wedding in September that I've forgotten about birthdays and christmas . I don't buy anyone anything big now as We're all grown up & don't see my family often. Next year I have a plan of stashing £365-£400 at the start of the year for Christmas and birthdays then use the rest of the money for savings.

I'm trying to persuade the hubs to have a shared account even just for bills and joint saving goals. I try to - first month of actually logging everything .

my glasses were from a discount site... i can't find the arm in the house. they've already been super glued once! :rotfl:

my partner does so much for me and has helped me out in the past with bills, emergency breaks such as washing machine. He owes me a little bit of cash for fridge draws & the bed as well as £300+ for wedding payments. We live by the 50% rule...we both pay 50% no matter what. If i can't afford the 50% then I pay back until the 50% is paid