The "Save 12k in 2020" Thread!

Gem-gem

Just transferred £25 into my savings - that would have been my petrol. 

utopiah

Suffolk_lass said:

utopiah said:

Hi All I've not posted any updates since I joined in with this challenge. It's been a very strange and worrying time for us all. We are fortunate that we are both working and can continue to save but it's taken a while to adjust to a new budget. We have managed to save £5500  this quarter but this is down to a variety things. Outgoings are substantially lower as we were unable to go on holiday so no currency to buy and all the additional cost that go with a holiday. We have been given credit for a future holiday so no need to save for holiday next year now. Cancelled  gym membership, lower fuel costs ( walking to work for exercise) and stricter meal planning has cut grocery costs. Also not eating out and socialising has saved us loads!! We both knew where our money was going and all these things are factored into our budget but this crisis has actually made us reevaluate a lot of areas. We probably wont take more than one holiday each year, go out once a week but on a tighter budget and think about sharing a car. 
Hope everyone is staying safe and well and I will try and update regularly from now on!

Just been listening to the radio where they were talking about airlines offering credit notes - just be aware that if you have a credit note it is not currently covered by the ATOL Protection scheme, so if the company fails, you lose that money. If you have already accepted this it might be worth booking something a year ahead so it is covered again

Hi Suffolk lass, the holiday is with P & O cruises so no airline involved. I'm hoping this will be ok. We were due to go on 21st March so decided to put holiday on hold as this crisis was still developing at the time. yes I could book now to get covered again.thanks for the heads up.

Gem-gem

Just transferred another £24.00
Sold books to two different online companies. £49 so far...

bobobski

So I've been absent since February and now having caught up I wish I hadn't been.  I was reluctant to check in here as our budget has been very much affected by the virus and me being furloughed (neither the other half nor I are key workers), so I was burying my head in the sand insofar as reporting figures goes - plus I've really been struggling with this mentally.  But, having now caught up, I can see that I was being selfish and actually many of us are in the same boat, and I hope this doesn't sound 'wrong' but I find that really reassuring.

Anyhow, it's payday and I got paid more than I was expecting (including a discretionary bonus - for historic reasons, obviously!), so here are my figures:
- March: £331.36
- April: £1,452.70

Like all of you, our pension and S&S balances have been hit hard (although are now starting to recover).  But fortunately for this challenge, I never counted my pension contributions as 'savings' and I only counted actual contributions to S&S rather than its balance.  I track them though, and it is nice to see them starting to pull back up.

A few things we're doing, in case anyone is similarly worried and looking for opinions:

1. As soon as I found out I was being furloughed, we applied for a mortgage holiday, but we are still budgeting the monthly payments and overpayments, so *if* things recover by the end of the holiday we can make a lump sum payment and reduce my projected monthly payment increase from £30 to £10.
2. I have reduced payments on my 0% card from £400 p/m to the minimum (c. £50), again still budgeting the usual amount.  This is for cashflow reasons.  The 0% has over a year left, so it's a "just in case" move.
3. I reduced my work pension contribution from 10% to 4%.  Much as I've been working to increase pension contributions, again, this move was for cashflow reasons.

Let's hope this is as short-lived as possible; for us financially prudent people, these types of moves are really nerve-wracking!

I hope everyone is keeping safe and well, and is coping with this situation as well as can be expected.  Hugs to all.

Suffolk_lass

bobobski that all sounds very sensible and prudent, and from the timing you suggest, you were the B of the Bang in terms of changing things. I feel so sad for people who have been cut off at the knees with nothing.

We are supporting DS who works as an essential worker but on a flexible hours contract. So all the people on contracted hours in one area that is no longer running, have been moved to take up shifts where he works and instead of choosing the shifts he can work, he is filling in where others fall ill (as nobody is taking leave now) - increasing the risk to him and his household (3 young male housemates). He has put in a claim for UC so it looks like it will be pretty desperate for him for a while yet. Thank goodness for that safety net.

tommyedinburgh

bobobski said:

So I've been absent since February and now having caught up I wish I hadn't been.  I was reluctant to check in here as our budget has been very much affected by the virus and me being furloughed (neither the other half nor I are key workers), so I was burying my head in the sand insofar as reporting figures goes - plus I've really been struggling with this mentally.  But, having now caught up, I can see that I was being selfish and actually many of us are in the same boat, and I hope this doesn't sound 'wrong' but I find that really reassuring.

Anyhow, it's payday and I got paid more than I was expecting (including a discretionary bonus - for historic reasons, obviously!), so here are my figures:
- March: £331.36
- April: £1,452.70

Like all of you, our pension and S&S balances have been hit hard (although are now starting to recover).  But fortunately for this challenge, I never counted my pension contributions as 'savings' and I only counted actual contributions to S&S rather than its balance.  I track them though, and it is nice to see them starting to pull back up.

A few things we're doing, in case anyone is similarly worried and looking for opinions:

1. As soon as I found out I was being furloughed, we applied for a mortgage holiday, but we are still budgeting the monthly payments and overpayments, so *if* things recover by the end of the holiday we can make a lump sum payment and reduce my projected monthly payment increase from £30 to £10.
2. I have reduced payments on my 0% card from £400 p/m to the minimum (c. £50), again still budgeting the usual amount.  This is for cashflow reasons.  The 0% has over a year left, so it's a "just in case" move.
3. I reduced my work pension contribution from 10% to 4%.  Much as I've been working to increase pension contributions, again, this move was for cashflow reasons.

Let's hope this is as short-lived as possible; for us financially prudent people, these types of moves are really nerve-wracking!

I hope everyone is keeping safe and well, and is coping with this situation as well as can be expected.  Hugs to all.

Some very sensible temporary measures by the sounds of it. 
Hang-on in there, we will all get through this.

Looking forward to reporting May's amount as we have saved a fortune on childcare with the nursery being closed, they are also organising refunds as we were paid two months in advance.

£157 added for April, Virtual Grand National winnings, lotto winning, money for a takeaway we didn't spend as had something from the freezer and unspent pocket money.

Merlin's_Beard

bobobski said:

So I've been absent since February and now having caught up I wish I hadn't been.  I was reluctant to check in here as our budget has been very much affected by the virus and me being furloughed (neither the other half nor I are key workers), so I was burying my head in the sand insofar as reporting figures goes - plus I've really been struggling with this mentally.  But, having now caught up, I can see that I was being selfish and actually many of us are in the same boat, and I hope this doesn't sound 'wrong' but I find that really reassuring.

Anyhow, it's payday and I got paid more than I was expecting (including a discretionary bonus - for historic reasons, obviously!), so here are my figures:
- March: £331.36
- April: £1,452.70

Like all of you, our pension and S&S balances have been hit hard (although are now starting to recover).  But fortunately for this challenge, I never counted my pension contributions as 'savings' and I only counted actual contributions to S&S rather than its balance.  I track them though, and it is nice to see them starting to pull back up.

A few things we're doing, in case anyone is similarly worried and looking for opinions:

1. As soon as I found out I was being furloughed, we applied for a mortgage holiday, but we are still budgeting the monthly payments and overpayments, so *if* things recover by the end of the holiday we can make a lump sum payment and reduce my projected monthly payment increase from £30 to £10.
2. I have reduced payments on my 0% card from £400 p/m to the minimum (c. £50), again still budgeting the usual amount.  This is for cashflow reasons.  The 0% has over a year left, so it's a "just in case" move.
3. I reduced my work pension contribution from 10% to 4%.  Much as I've been working to increase pension contributions, again, this move was for cashflow reasons.

Let's hope this is as short-lived as possible; for us financially prudent people, these types of moves are really nerve-wracking!

I hope everyone is keeping safe and well, and is coping with this situation as well as can be expected.  Hugs to all.

Definitely not wrong, bobobski - it's tough and it helps to know that that everyone is finding it just as tough - mentally, financially, emotionally. Definitely not selfish either! My mental health has been really, really up and down with uncertainty, and isolation, and being stuck indoors even if my financial situation is dealable with.

I'm going to wait until the 1st to declare what I've saved for this month - while last month's  pay was full and I've had a couple of regular savers  mature, I've developed a compulsive kindle  daily deal habit and I'm not sure I can be trusted to go cold turkey until next week.

Marina1506

Number #52 declaring £1420.03 for April - form submitted and signature updated.  

Had to pay my credit card bills for all of the annual car expenses (service, MOT, insurance and car tax) and our service was expensive this year, but this was offset by a partial refund for my annual season ticket.  We also switched our car insurance to Admiral, so will benefit from the £25 refund in the next few weeks.  

Unlike in March, I actually had some money left in my current account on payday to move across to savings.  Really grateful we are both still receiving our full salaries, that we have a decent emergency fund and that we are both able to add to our savings.  It's tough being stuck at home all of the time, but at least we do not have any financial worries at present.  

Our spending has not changed very much during the lockdown, partly because our food spends have increased.  We have also been buying items to make our time at home more comfortable, such as new garden furniture and a Dyson fan for the summer (not very MSE!).  However, most of these items are a long term investment, since we had very little furniture when we bought our house back in July 2019.

Hope you are all keeping safe and well, and are coping as well as expected.

Xenon

# 100 Xenon 
April £1048
Flat Deposit & Costs £ 132,148

slowlyfading

Spreadsheet updated