My motivating money saving diary

WSC

Hi Julicorn. Thanks for your nice message. I’ve just seen your signature info about how much you have paid off on your mortgage - it’s incredible! Very inspiring. How have you done it mainly? That’s great you make money on the side. Always fab to have a side hustle. I used to have that too, but sort of stopped as my new job got so busy. I was on significantly less 6 months ago in my old job, but I made the job move to London. 

That’s a great tip on how you save, I will have a look at what you are describing. I am a complete newbie really. I can buckle down when I wnat to (I save £10,000 plus on a very low salary to get the deposit i needed for the flat I am in now) but as soon as I moved in I stopped saving again as I’ve been trying to pay off the deposit for it ever since. Did it in a backward way but only way I could get on the property ladder.

I haven’t spent any money again today which is fab (easy when I am now working from home!).

I called the premium bonds company today & they are sending info to set up an account as I am going to put my savings in there, I know it’s not a high chance of winning anything, but my wonderful grandad always used to say ‘be lucky’  instead of ‘goodbye’, so I may as well take a punt. 

julicorn

Hi @WSC, sorry for the late reply - I've only just seen yours for some reason!
It's hard to say how we've managed to pay off so much, I suppose budgeting is really what kick-started it for us. It works out well because I feel I have a really clear picture of upcoming expenses, and therefore the confidence to send anything beyond what is needed to the mortgage. We have always been on reasonably low interest rates as well, which made it easier to pay off more of the capital rather than lots of the money being eaten up by interest. 

We're not super frugal though or anything like that, but have become really clear on our priorities. We used to spend more money on eating out, for example, and are more conscious of that now. We still always overspend that category (budget £100 per month, end up spending £150 or so, stealing from other buckets like clothing or cosmetics, or most ironically 'working out'  ), but that used to be a bottomless pit essentially - we would just spend so much more if we didn't consciously reign it in. But it's important for us to still eat out a few times a month, so we set the money aside for that. Similarly, we've been on big holidays since we started overpaying the mortgage, including 2 weeks in Japan last November - we just saved up for it, and spent all that money without even a tiny bit of guilt, because it was all accounted for. 

Overpaying the mortgage also just made me want to earn more money on the side, and almost all of that goes towards the mortgage now. I run an etsy shop, take part in some surveys, and am involved in an Appen project at the moment as well. It's amazing how motivated you can be when you have a clear goal in mind. Oh, that's another thing as well, I have a big old spreadsheet with mortgage pay-off projections, and playing around with that is such a good motivator. At the moment, we would be mortgage free in January 2024 (if we weren't planning on moving and all that), and it's really nice to play around with the spreadsheet and see how much more money we'd have to overpay to shave another month off that, for example. 

WSC

Thanks so much for your reply and explaining all of that. What you are doing sounds brilliant and so impressive. I think because you are both committed to the same goal that must really help. 

We never eat out really, or have takeaways, even pre-covid period, but instead our money probably goes on branded things generally for clothes etc I love the white company for example, and I’ve always bought branded cosmetics, so I’m trying hard to get cheaper alternatives to things. I used to buy more expensive hand wash and things like that (even jo Malone! Which now I think is crazy of me). 

I still haven’t spent any money this week which is great.  

My job is crazy hours/workload so I can’t do a side hustle atm. I would do though if I were you and had an Etsy shop. That sounds great. I also googled the company you are doing the project for and it looks very good.  I am for people earning money and doing well, who are grafters in this world 💪. 

julicorn

WSC said:

My job is crazy hours/workload so I can’t do a side hustle atm. I would do though if I were you and had an Etsy shop. That sounds great. I also googled the company you are doing the project for and it looks very good.  I am for people earning money and doing well, who are grafters in this world 💪. 

Cheers WSC! I should clarify that the Etsy shop is one of my side gigs, I have a 'day job' as well (running a market research company), so work full time. Although I have to say that my company are pretty good with not forcing crazy hours, and I'm usually able to take TOIL for any overtime, so basically just work a 40-hour week in my main job (which is not that common in that industry, most people I know work ridiculous hours). 

Mr julicorn isn't as much of a planner and doesn't have as much of a goal as I do, but he's not a spender at all. He occasionally buys various film equipment, but we manage to save up for that quite well. I'm usually the one whose spending needs reigning in  

WSC

That sounds great. My job is the opposite- crazy hours. I could work all day and night so have to force myself to stop. My boyfriend is the same he isn’t as focused on saving as me but he is paying off his credit cards which is great. 

Been to the farm shop this eve & spent £50 on fruit and veg! But we got loads and it’s just delicious, so I don’t mind it coming out of our food budget. 

Still haven’t spent any money other than that. Determined not to, until at least my next pay day on the 15th! I’ve arranged only a socially distanced dog walk with my friends on Saturday that’s it. 

I have started looking at houses so online so I hope that encourages me to save too, so I can see the bigger goal. 

WSC

So this week I’ve spent a tiny bit more than usual as we used the £15 free Uber Eats App deal I saw on this website, to get our first takeaway in over three years. It came to £30 in total though, so with £15 off its cost us £15. I was a bit annoyed at that really, as we didn’t need to do it, it was because of the offer.

We also went for a run with some lovely parkrun friends (socially distanced) we haven’t seen the whole lockdown & afterwards we went to the park cafe that we normally go to but is only now selling drinks through their window, so we sat outside and had a cup of tea. No one had their money with them as their wallets were in the car & as I have Apple Pay on my watch I paid for everyone to have a drink/cake. It came to £18. They are really lovely people & friends & I loved it & I know although I am trying so hard to save, one day they will buy me a coffee back I am sure. I’ll make sure not to keep doing that though, as I do tend to offer to pay for people & I know that’s not a good habit when saving! I always used to spend a lot on people gift wise in my 20s, but I have cut that down as I have got older. 

I also went to the farm shop to get veg & fruit for the next week, and spent £33 on a massive box of things, which is much less than I have been in the farm shop during lockdown, so that’s good, & hopefully what I have got will last us all week. 

I went for a socially distanced walk with some other friends too & didn’t spend anything which was great. 

So overall this week, we have spent £18 + £33 = £51 (which my partner and I will pay half each for).

Really glad I haven’t spent anything else this week. It’s my payday on Wednesday & I can’t wait! 

I am worried as lockdown has eased I’m going to get more pressure now/situations to spend, so this will be the real test of how I can manage that. I have already been invited today to a brunch in two weeks time at an expensive restaurant, and I am worried about going into a restaurant again after all this time Covid wise, as well as the cost. The group also suggested a picnic as an option, so I have voted for that so that its better on both the pandemic front & cost. Fingers crossed we end up with the picnic. 

Boot fairs are also starting back up I have seen & I do have lots of clothes I could sell if I can just get the energy to sort them out & do it. I am not sure I can be bothered though when people we often offer you as little as a £1 for an item, as my clothes are good quality. I try to buy less but better. I am probably better off putting them on eBay- again if I can get the energy to do it around my crazy job. 

WSC

Pay day today. Over 2k added to my savings account. Now on 12k. Haven’t a penny spare you spend now apart from coveting bills & outgoings but it’s great to see the total figure in my account. 

Only got paid £450 for my week of AL I sold as the tax & student loan took so much from it. 

I’ve applied for a premium bond account, which looking forward to putting the savings into.

next payday my aim with my bonus is to have £15k in savings total. 

I just need to not spend as little as possible again this month. 

I’ve worked so hard for it...I’ll just keep going..

WSC

I haven’t written in this for over a month. I got paid recently with my six month bonus & managed to add another £2000 into my savings. Ideally need to put another £1000 in but I’ve ordered a few clothes to try on for sizes so once I’ve sorted that out I’ll know how much I‘ve bought. I know I shouldn’t really be buying any clothes but I’d like some new lounge stuff as I’m now at home so much WFH. 

I have sorted out all my old clothes though so I need to sell those on eBay to pay back for the new things. 

My NS&I account got sorted & I now have £13,015 saved in there. With £5,500 on a 0 percent CC so it’s not costing me anything. 

I also paid off a big amount of my student loan this month (£500+) so I hope that will start to be nearly paid off over next year or so. 

Haven’t been as strict this month with not spending & have bought a few things online. 

WSC

Haven’t done as well this month. £1000 paid into my NS & I account so now £14,015. However I’ve still about £1000 on a credit card now that’s as result of clothes shopping. I always do this! So annoying. I have just applied for M & S 0 percent credit card so I can get my windows replaced & spread the cost (haven’t had windows that open for over four years & they are unfixable). Plan now is to rent my flat out to move in with my nan for at least 6 months so I can try & continue to save for a house deposit but try & keep the Fiat I own too. I can’t bare to sell my flat as it’s my security net. 

Cancelled tv licence as we never watch BBC. 

Sold bits of eBay last month and made £230. Was meant to do a boot fair too but just too knackered from work. 

WSC

Decided to do a check in each pay day.
I have just paid in £2k into my NS&I account so now I have £16,015K in there. My plan by Christmas is to have £20K. This will be my half of the deposit that I need to save to buy a house with my boyfriend. We have decided to keep my flat & rent it out & save up the deposit of £60k that we will need to buy a house. 20k each + we will get a loan from parents of £20k & pay this back to them. 

I got the M & S 0 percent credit card & have put our new windows on there and car insurance in one payment so that we don’t pay interest on paying it back monthly to car insurance people. 

Looked back on a couple of purchases last month that I didn’t need to do really & weren’t worth it so I’ll try and keep that in mind for this month.

My biggest thing I am finding hard atm not to buy is online clothes for winter. I have coats etc so I can really do without buying any more but I find it so hard. I need to stay focused on the house. Other than that, I don’t spend money on anything atm we don’t get takeaways unless there is a really good deal on & we don’t eat out etc (never did prior to Covid either). It’s just clothes which I never used to buy so much but I think it’s now I have time on my hands at weekends more & because we aren’t going on holidays etc. 

Anyway...target now is 2k next month and December into NS & I to achieve the 20k deposit by Xmas. Don’t buy clothes & try to sell some things on eBay again or market bay to pay for some of the clothes I bought last month! 

Nothing I can see this month I can cut our bills on, as I’ve done that as much as I can. We just need to focus more on batch cooking & meal planning so I’ll tackle that too & report back next month!