The "Save 12k in 2020" Thread!

Wentthedaywell?

KeepOnKnitting said:

Wentthedaywell? said:

KeepOnKnitting said:

Reporting for July with another bumper month. Not my highest, but I have paid for a holiday and MOT this month. 

A holiday? What is this thing of which you speak?!  

I plan on risking the cancellation of a caravan on the coast for a week. I am a nurse, and I have not had a break since March, not even an isolation fortnight or a sick day. I think I deserve it!

You most certainly deserve it! I've just had four days in hospital and couldn't believe how hard everyone, but especially the nurses, works. Stuff the clapping for the NHS, give the staff a decent pay rise instead. Thank you all 

frugalandsave

#72 checking it for July. £900 to add to the pot. 
Total: £5250 
Target: £8000

livilayo

slowlyfading said:

Apologies for the VERY delayed updates - life has been incredible hectic and I don't seem to be able to juggle all the plates successfully.

The reason why I haven't been around is:

• Trying to homeschool and entertain a two year old is nearly impossible
• Working from home combined with point number 1...!
  
• We've been on holiday for a week
• I have launched my first physical product which took a lot of time behind the scenes (see here for that!)
• I have been trying to keep on track with YouTube which also takes a lot of time
• I have been featured in two national newspapers this week which has been bonkers!
  

I have done some updates on the spreadsheet and will do some more tomorrow - I have two young boys who do not like me to sit at a laptop and ignore them. I will do it - promise!  

Wow! Hope you are doing okay, thanks for doing this. Apologies, I have submitted the form a few times...I figured it was my computer that wasn't working.

george4064

george4064 said:

#21 reporting £1,128.31 for June

Definitely does seem that my monthly saved figure has increased since lockdown, good or bad I am trying to just crack on with things. There are times when I struggle mentally with this lockdown, feeling frustrated, bored, trapped but I've just go to try stay positive. I have started a new project by creating a website/blog which will be about millenials investing for their futures, if anyone is interested please get in touch and I will send you the URL once its up and running (expect August 2020 launch).

I made my first mortgage overpayment this month which was exciting, moved some money from instant access to S&S ISA in early June and the amount I am paying into AVCs increased with my salary increase that took effect this year.

Form submitted. Happy saving everyone, keep going and we can get through this together. 

#21 reporting £1,112.69 for July

Pretty much exactly the same as last month, lets hope it continues and maybe I can improve further! Made a few tweaks to some accounts etc which I will report on more in August's update.

Had a lovely holiday to Morocco booked for later this year (we booked it last year, so pre-COVID) and our outbound flight has been cancelled. Need to have a proper sit down with the OH to decide what to do, I think we may cancel it for a full refund (fortunately ATOL protected with BA Holidays) and go somewhere closer to home but probably still abroad. Such a shame but we really don't want to go to Morocco to find that lots of things are closed due to COVID restrictions and find ourselves essentially stuck at the hotel.

My Dad had a clear out of his house and found some old premium bond certificates which he had bought for me years ago when I was a baby, finally managed to sort them out with NS&I and got them all accessible via my online account. I won't be counting this as 'money saved' since it was always there and not from my actions (i.e. it was from my Dad!), still a nice little surprise during these difficult and strange times.

Form submitted.

kev2009

darkidoe said:

kev2009 said:

I agree, I only include the money save from my salary each month, I don't include anything else such as interest, dividends etc, i only include what i physically save each month.  Similarly, i also don't include any big purchases i.e expensive repairs or car purchases etc as I save fro my salary and then I spend as required but each month I try to ensure i'm saving something.  I don't use it as a running total of my total savings as I started this much later so already had some savings etc prior to starting.  This just effectively keeps me on track for saving each month and i'm kinda accountable for want of a better word .  For example last year's money, I've used to over pay my Mortgage but I've not recorded it here as otherwise the figure would be minus or £0
Kev

Surely purchases must be deducted from savings?
If not your numbers will give you a false sense of saving more than you actually do.

Hi,
I mean I don't count it in this challenge of save x in 2020.  I obviously reduce it from my overall savings total but I don't count it towards this challenge of saving x per year as I save every month, any large expenses come out of my savings but not the challenge.  For example, i'm currently saving £6k per year through this challenge.  If i bought  car for £15k lets say, I don't say in April i sent £15k so i'm now -£13k as i'd never get back to £0 by the end of the year so I continue to say x per month towards the x per year challenge and don't inclde it BUT i do include it when i'm totalling up my savings accounts so i know exactly how much I have in total, not just this challenge which i'm using to fund a regular saver atm
Kev

lantanna

I deduct anything spent, even if it been part of previous months savings. I want to physically have the amount in my bank account at the end of the year. 

Wentthedaywell?

lantanna said:

I deduct anything spent, even if it been part of previous months savings. I want to physically have the amount in my bank account at the end of the year. 

Yes, I'm the same, I want to know my savings are net after any spends - and share-falls too in my case. Should I need the money, it is actually there.

I also have various 'pots' - home, car, health, IT, holidays, memberships, bills etc - which I additionally contribute to every month. I don't declare these extras here and hopefully these cover any big outgoings without me dipping into my savings. 

KeepOnKnitting

kev2009 said:

darkidoe said:

kev2009 said:

I agree, I only include the money save from my salary each month, I don't include anything else such as interest, dividends etc, i only include what i physically save each month.  Similarly, i also don't include any big purchases i.e expensive repairs or car purchases etc as I save fro my salary and then I spend as required but each month I try to ensure i'm saving something.  I don't use it as a running total of my total savings as I started this much later so already had some savings etc prior to starting.  This just effectively keeps me on track for saving each month and i'm kinda accountable for want of a better word .  For example last year's money, I've used to over pay my Mortgage but I've not recorded it here as otherwise the figure would be minus or £0
Kev

Surely purchases must be deducted from savings?
If not your numbers will give you a false sense of saving more than you actually do.

Hi,
I mean I don't count it in this challenge of save x in 2020.  I obviously reduce it from my overall savings total but I don't count it towards this challenge of saving x per year as I save every month, any large expenses come out of my savings but not the challenge.  For example, i'm currently saving £6k per year through this challenge.  If i bought  car for £15k lets say, I don't say in April i sent £15k so i'm now -£13k as i'd never get back to £0 by the end of the year so I continue to say x per month towards the x per year challenge and don't inclde it BUT i do include it when i'm totalling up my savings accounts so i know exactly how much I have in total, not just this challenge which i'm using to fund a regular saver atm
Kev

I have a similar system. If I have a savings goal, and then use the money for the chosen goal, I don't deduct that amount from the savings total for the year. For example, my current goal has been my house deposit. When I transfer that to my solicitor, I won't show it as a minus on this challenge. I still saved that money and used it in line with my plans. I still achieved what I set out to do. 

However, I only do this for big savings goals. Things like car repairs and regular holidays are budgeted outside of this challenge. New cars and celebratory holidays are fair game for this challenge. I am weird, I know.

george4064

KeepOnKnitting said:

kev2009 said:

darkidoe said:

kev2009 said:

I agree, I only include the money save from my salary each month, I don't include anything else such as interest, dividends etc, i only include what i physically save each month.  Similarly, i also don't include any big purchases i.e expensive repairs or car purchases etc as I save fro my salary and then I spend as required but each month I try to ensure i'm saving something.  I don't use it as a running total of my total savings as I started this much later so already had some savings etc prior to starting.  This just effectively keeps me on track for saving each month and i'm kinda accountable for want of a better word .  For example last year's money, I've used to over pay my Mortgage but I've not recorded it here as otherwise the figure would be minus or £0
Kev

Surely purchases must be deducted from savings?
If not your numbers will give you a false sense of saving more than you actually do.

Hi,
I mean I don't count it in this challenge of save x in 2020.  I obviously reduce it from my overall savings total but I don't count it towards this challenge of saving x per year as I save every month, any large expenses come out of my savings but not the challenge.  For example, i'm currently saving £6k per year through this challenge.  If i bought  car for £15k lets say, I don't say in April i sent £15k so i'm now -£13k as i'd never get back to £0 by the end of the year so I continue to say x per month towards the x per year challenge and don't inclde it BUT i do include it when i'm totalling up my savings accounts so i know exactly how much I have in total, not just this challenge which i'm using to fund a regular saver atm
Kev

I have a similar system. If I have a savings goal, and then use the money for the chosen goal, I don't deduct that amount from the savings total for the year. For example, my current goal has been my house deposit. When I transfer that to my solicitor, I won't show it as a minus on this challenge. I still saved that money and used it in line with my plans. I still achieved what I set out to do. 

However, I only do this for big savings goals. Things like car repairs and regular holidays are budgeted outside of this challenge. New cars and celebratory holidays are fair game for this challenge. I am weird, I know.

Really interesting to hear different people's methods, I also think it supports and motivates others to keep going! All-in-all I think it just shows that everyone's different, so whilst a particular method might work for someone it may not work for someone else and ofcourse everyone has their own quirks with things like this.

bobobski

Morning all!

A slightly late July update for me as things have been hectic around here but in a good way: I'M ENGAGED!  And just because clearly we needed some additional good news(!), my fiancé has just accepted a job at almost double his current salary, having spent his whole working life being chronically underpaid by his current employer.  So a lot's changing over here!

My July update is £705 but I realised my June update was wrong so I'll record £580 instead to balance it out.  I'm now just four months away from clearing my interest-free credit card and that will add £450 p/m to my savings pile.  And with the fiancé's new job we'll probably re-jiggle some household expenses between us once he starts there (at the moment we're not 100% 50:50), which will increase my savings pot.  For those who are interested: although it's essentially arbitrary as all of our combined savings will be spent on "us" (wedding), for him it's very important that he contributes 50:50 to everything joint, and he hasn't been able to do that our whole relationship so far because our salaries are (/were!) so far apart.  So at present I contribute 2:1 to the mortgage, which isn't a nice feeling for him.

I've just caught up on everyone else's updates and am so happy to see that the savings continue.  I was particularly jealous when reading about compressed work weeks - I think I'd love that!

@Slowly - I saw one of your newspaper appearances as it came up out of the blue on FB for me.  I saw it and thought "OMG she's famous - and I know her!" haha.

On the question of deducting spends from savings - for me, it depends on when the spend was and what pot it was from.  If, say, one month I saved £500 but had to spend £100 unexpectedly, I would report £400.  But - real life example - we're having some work done out of our emergency fund, which is what it's there for and what we built it up for, so I'm not counting that spending as a reduction in my monthly savings because it's spending out of pre-accumulated money for the correct purpose.  Each to their own though, I don't find hard and fast rules helpful as it's all quite fluid