Feel guilty if I have to take money out of my savings account.

markbsac

I feel the same but I'm 56 now and I have to start spending it's difficult when I have been a saver all my life

eskbanker

REJP wrote: »

My main bank account only offers 0.020p interest.

So you'd have to save for fifty years to earn a whole penny, that really is derisory!

MikeL93

So going off what a few people on here have told me I should stop feeling guilty if I need to use my savings. August and September are always expensive months for me because I have car insurance, road tax, a service and my dad's birthday that all need paying for. I just need to get to the end of this month and then with my pay rise I'll be getting an extra £200 a month which I can just put into my savings and then once my dentist bill has finished being paid off at the end of December that is another £200 a month that I can also put into my savings.

I think I'm gonna be okay.

Jimjimmini

Over the past year and a half I have had a huge change in circumstances, moved house and had a baby, and it certainly has put a dent in our abilities to save money. I had the same feeling of guilt watching our savings either stay put or even go down. To overcome this, I have thoroughly gone through my expenditures and income and documented them all monthly in a spreadsheet. By doing this I have been able see where we are overspending so we can cut down (and there was a surprising amount of overspending!!) but also I have been able to create a graph to visualise my savings, and to my surprise even though it has felt over a long period that my savings were static or decreasing, actually there was a small upwards trend. This trend is also accelerating upwards thanks to us getting our overspending under control.

It takes a good few hours to construct the spreadsheet, but believe me it helps so much to overcome the feeling of guilt!

piggielady

Mike, I totally understand where you are coming from! I feel the same about my money I have saved. One way round this is to keep saving as you are, but set up another account or ring fence some money and call it spending money, not savings. This way you could put some money in it monthly for car tax, insurance, service, dad’s birthday and everyone else’s birthday and other things you will think of. Don’t call it savings, but spendings perhaps and then you won’t feel guilty.

It’s hard to earn so keep on using it wisely.

I am impressed with your attitude to saving, and you will soon have that house you are saving for!

MikeL93

Thanks for your suggestion, I may just do that. I think because my ultimate end goal is to own my own house I feel as though if I take money out of my savings account I feel as though I am detracting from that goal. As I've said previously I have a Help to Buy ISA which I pay the maximum £200 a month into and I've got £10,000 saved up in there. I then view my other savings account as a way of topping up my Help to Buy ISA. So I may just open another account for spending money so I don't feel so guilty about using it.

Old_Lifer

I've just noticed this thread. I think piggielady has made an excellent suggestion. I did something similar when I first started work.


I opened a couple of monthly regular saver building society accounts which paid higher interest but had restrictions on access and a low cap on the amount that could be contributed each month. I also opened an ordinary account which paid a lower interest rate but which allowed access anytime and into which I paid a varying amount at the end of each month. I had just left school at the time so didn't have household bills as such but if I needed money to pay for an occasional item such as a holiday or new suit

I could take money from my ordinary savings account without touching my 'real savings'.


I am a natural saver but for those who are not, it is also a habit that can be accquired, especially with the

decipline of regular monthly saving. The amount saved is not the main thing. It could be a few pounds a month or a few hundred. It is the frame of mind mind which counts. Once you have the savings habit, it is probably something you will have for the rest of your life.



The secret with monthly savings is to choose an amount you can realistically afford and not overstretch yourelf and to open another account as suggested by piggielady.

Robie

Interesting topic. I am a saver not a spender.

Just to put it all in perspective. My position has been made redundant and I will be getting redundancy payment middle of September. It is not a huge amount but a very good amount. My first thought is put in the savings account who know if/when I will get a job. Funny isn't? I am not thinking let's go on a holiday at least and then start looking for a job. I just want to save it - thinking of future. But, who know I may drop dead tomorrow.

Sad situation for me and I am sure others who can't seem to spend their hard earned money. :mad: I don't know how to get out of this thinking either. Quite tough really.

falcieri

Don't feel guilty. Savings are still there to be used, they're not just numbers on a bank book that you look at. If you really need it, use it. If I didn't have savings I'd be living on the street by now. I used to feel guilty but I don't anymore, because they enable me to live. I make them work so I am usually putting it back in as well but essentially money is there to help you live, not so you can leave a will to someone incase you die.

MikeL93

After reading some of the suggestions on here I think the most important thing to do is just find a right balance. I feel as though I was doing this up until March when this year when I started paying £200 a month to my dentist for some dental work. No doubt some people will say "well you shouldn't have got it done if you can't afford it" but I could afford to do it and it was something I had wanted to do for years.

I was saving about £400/£500 a month at the time but this has now gone down to around £200 a month which goes into my Help to Buy ISA which is my more important account. At the end of this month I will get an extra £200 a month from my pay rise which I can save and then in December my dentist bill will be paid off so then I'll be getting that £200 a month back which I can save. I just have to accept that some months I will need to dip into my savings account for when things arise such as my car insurance and things like that. On the whole though I would say I am fairly sensible with my money, I don't go out drinking every weekend, if anything it's only once every few months and I occasionally treat myself to a new top or something like that.

Even though I'm using money from one savings account occasionally I have to look at it as though I'm still saving into my Help to Buy ISA every month.