The "Save 12k in 2021" Thread!

VickyV

#67 declaring for Feb at £1600. Mostly wages but no council tax and a nice little utility refund added in too! Total £2,627.28/£10,000 so over 25% there 2 months in! I doubt it will carry on this way next month as I have a kid’s bed to buy (unless I can repair it 😱) but I’m hopeful of hitting the target! 

Vicky x

Frugaliza

Everyone is doing so well!
Form submitted and no 74 declaring February savings of £1958.70.  Can't quite believe I have managed this.  I wonder if we will all be able to save so much when life returns to normal.   My savings include what I save and what I overpay off my mortgage.  I'm wondering whether to start including voluntary retirement savings - after all it's money I could spend but don't.  If others include this do you count the gross payment in from your salary or the net amount you are living without to make the retirement saving - hope that makes sense!  

greent

Frugaliza said:

 I'm wondering whether to start including voluntary retirement savings - after all it's money I could spend but don't.  If others include this do you count the gross payment in from your salary or the net amount you are living without to make the retirement saving - hope that makes sense!  

I made the decision to include SIPP payments and just include the net amount added before any tax relief. I don't include any pension payments deducted straight from salaries   

KeepOnKnitting

@[Deleted User] I am so glad everyone was alright. My comment (as a knackered nurse) would be that I have regularly had a car nap before driving home. Or sometimes mid-way home. Or even on one memorable/awful occasion once I had parked at home as I was too tired to get out the car. Not sure if it would work for your OH, but I know it does for me. 

KeepOnKnitting

I skipped a January update because I have changed the way I do my budgeting. From now on as soon as the month closes and I get the interest paid on my savings accounts, the savings are declared for the following month. I opened a start to save account, as the interest rates are dropping on all my other accounts. Also topped up an ISA beyond my plan as it was so close to getting a slightly better rate. 

I have decided not to include my regular mortgage overpayment, as I want to think of that as just the amount it costs, rather than as an extra bit of savings that could be nibbled at in an emergency.

My budgeting might change again in April, as my pay date is changing from the last Wednesday of the month, or the second-to-last Wednesday in December and January (yes, very confusing) to the 15th. Every month. Simple. 

Argyll22

Only second month and already slipping 🙄 it’s been a spendy month. A wee treat to myself, new Fitbit, and redecoration of kitchen and bathroom leaving home office to complete, everything bought, but haven’t painted it yet. So will be declaring £600 for the month, short of £1000 monthly target. I have sold spare furniture on FB market place and eBay to offset decorating expenditure, but haven’t counted that towards the total. 

Also made first ever mortgage overpayment, haven’t counted towards total saved as it is debt payment really.  
Having to work out what I’ve saved this month makes me realise how easy it is to overspend reducing savings. 

madeleinerosew

No. 68 coming in with £700 saved this month! £100 down from what I intended due to some extra spending but will make up for it next month.  

Wentthedaywell?

Only £1,000 in Feb, which is less than I actually paid in, but my S&S ISA has dropped a bit. I hope it's not going to be a repeat of this time last year's precipitous plummet.  That was awful, seeing my life's savings dropping thousands every day!

Suffolk_lass

Gem-gem said:

Moneybear said:

Number 20 confirming £1122.25 for Feb.

This was made up from my salary, small amounts of interest paid on anniversary of account opening and a tiny amount of overtime. I've found myself feeling quite down about my savings. I'm halfway through my overall goal of £50k. £25k is the most amount of money I've ever had in my life so I should be proud. But I feel stuck and like hitting my goal is still such a long way away. This month I spent a bit more on treating myself so I have a new kindle and have been trying to enjoy hobbies more.

Next month I am hoping to save more  

👏👏Well done Moneybear on achieving 50% of your target. Try not to feel down about your savings, if you have the will, you will get there. 

Two years ago, I felt like you. My savings were between 25-30k and were not moving much (mind you DH and I were enjoying travelling  eg Japan, Vietnam, New Zealand and Cuba were some of the countries). Then 20months ago DH had a stroke, which luckily he recovered from but then last year he started to have seizures. This along with C19, our passports have gone out to pasture. 

I have now shifted my focus to building my nest egg so that I can retire early and have a fruitful retirement with my DH whilst we can.  Like yourself, my target seems so far away and sometimes, like yourself I feel fed up. I don't regret spending the money on travelling, that was building memories with DH but what I do curse myself for is all that wasteful spending that I did at various points in my life. I use to spend every penny that I earnt. If I could go back and talk to myself there are many things that I would tell myself. But there is nothing that I can do about the past but I can control my future. I am thinking much more about my spending. (Whilst in lockdown I have been amazed by how much more I have been able to save.)
new thinking:  I can afford it, but do I need it. If I buy it, it will mean that I will have to work longer. 

Good luck. 

Loving the new thinking. We are all, as you say, a step or an event away from life changing for ever. Treasure every day and make the most of it 

Lomcevak

Suffolk_lass said:

Loving the new thinking. We are all, as you say, a step or an event away from life changing for ever. Treasure every day and make the most of it 

Very much feeling this at the moment. Sadly my best friend died this week. We were swapping messages the previous evening, the next morning he had a massive heart attack. He was 47.

Still trying to process what's happened, but it does make me wonder about my priorities.