Happy future starts now!

happy_money

Hello Everyone! :hello:

I thought I would start a diary as I'm not sure what I'm doing with my life and need somewhere to track my adventure into becoming a debt free, home owner!

I'm 36 years old and have no savings to speak of - I don't know how this has happened but I blame myself for spending to keep up with my friends and also never really having any education or advice from family/school on how to handle finances. Either way, bottom line is that I've been careless and not really been serious about money thinking it will be ok!

Now I'm nearly 40 I'm having consistent panic moments leading to anxiety and depression looking at my friends and how they all seem to have their lives in order, have their own homes and families and nice cars and how I'm still struggling month to month financially to afford the basics and it's a little embarrassing now

I'm desperate to break this cycle that I have gotten myself into and want to sort out my finances once and for all so I have a secure future for myself and not have to constantly worry about money.

I have a decent job with a decent salary, I'm single and currently living at home with my parents now

I have a £3,000 credit card bill to pay off
I also have to purchase a new car within the next couple of months as my one will need a new clutch soon as the cost of repair isn't worth the value of my current car
I have a dream to be able to purchase my very own home by the time I am 40
So those are my main goals!

But I only have £1000 in savings to date which is in my current account....

I'm hoping this diary will keep me accountable to saving and hoping to get lots of advice from you lovely lot on how best to move forward to reach my dreams!!

Charliegirl93

Happy New Diary!
I am also aiming to be debt free and eventually buy a house, good luck
Charlie

happy_money

Thank you Charliegirl93
Nice to have someone else with the same goals! We can support each other :)

savingholmes

Good luck on your journey.

happy_money

savingholmes wrote: »

Good luck on your journey.

Thank you savingholmes!!

I’m actually feeling very excited about what I can do and achieve! Feels like I’ve got a sense of purpose now if that makes sense?

I’m currently looking at bank accounts and seeing which one would be a good one for saving my emergency fund in - any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Honeysucklelou2

I use a National Savings&Investments account. It's a postal only account, so I can pay money in every month by standing order and have fairly quick access to it but not immediate. To get money out I have to complete a form and post it to NS&I and it's paid into my bank account the next day, but it does mean that any use of the emergency fund is considered and not able to be transferred on a whim.

savingholmes

MSE has a link to top bank and savings account you can look at too

happy_money

Honeysucklelou2 wrote: »

I use a National Savings&Investments account. It's a postal only account, so I can pay money in every month by standing order and have fairly quick access to it but not immediate. To get money out I have to complete a form and post it to NS&I and it's paid into my bank account the next day, but it does mean that any use of the emergency fund is considered and not able to be transferred on a whim.

Thank you Honeysucklelou2 - I've never heard of this before so will definitely look into this!

happy_money

savingholmes wrote: »

MSE has a link to top bank and savings account you can look at too

Thank you - will be spending this evening going through this link!

happy_money

So I had a pretty good weekend! I got a work bonus of £400 this week so debating what to do with it - as in where to save it.

I think my main goal right now is to save up for a new car. I've been told that the clutch is pretty much due to go any minute. I've also damaged the bonnet so it doesn't open properly anymore. So the sooner I can get a new car, the better!!

I'm thinking if I can save £2000 than I can put that towards a deposit and then either do the rest on finance or lease, depending on what kind of deal I can get

Once I have the car situation sorted out, I can then focus on putting money away for my emergency fund, paying off my credit card and saving for my house deposit!

With the work bonus I got this weekend, my current savings stand at £1,900

Feel really sad that I've done so well so get out of my overdraft and to save up a bit of money for it to be taken away from me so quickly!

I'm hoping that at the end of the month when I get paid and all my bills get taken out, my total will be £3,400 - fingers crossed!
This will still be enough for a car deposit and have some left over for insurance etc

I'm still really confused about different bank accounts for saving. I only have a current account. So I'm going to make it a priority to read up on them and decide what is best for me going forward!

savingholmes

I have multiple bank accounts for different things. You might want one for your main direct debits, one or more for your annual / quarterly bills to save us a pots - either combined or individually and one for long term savings for things like car, kitchen, house deposit etc, separate one for emergency fund... and an account you want to use for long term savings and investment. Some people swear by ynab or monz to help them know whether they are over-spending a category compared with the budget - you have to find what works for you.