Savings Diary: BDays, Xmas, Controlling Impulsive Spending

MovingForwards

Entering comps passes the time and is a distraction from window shopping.

Is it England / Wales or Scotland you're looking to buy in?

Solicitors costs vary based on area, size of firm also cost of property, but it's fixed costs, not hourly charging rates. 
Disbursements ie searches are fixed, but vary between areas.
Stamp duty as a FTB has a bigger no charge element, but again is based on property price; there's plenty of websites which let you calculate the cost.
Lenders arrangement fees vary, some let you add the cost to your mortgage.
Broker fees also vary.

Make sure the solicitors firm you pick is on your mortgage lenders panel. That's something you can ask your broker to check.

I had a separate savings pot for my broker, solicitor fees and mortgage arrangement fee, keeping them separate from my mortgage deposit. The former were slowly saved as I knew it would take a few years to save the deposit.

I can go into more detail as the time gets closer for you.

Not spending is hard. Can you have your takeaways as a monthly treat?

Scarves sound great and will keep you occupied for a while.

lindsay54v3

@MovingForwards I'll be buying in Scotland but have at least a few years before I'll properly start looking at properties due to being in college for at least another couple of years. Well, I've already looked around but more to see the prices of houses in surrounding areas so I can have a rough idea of minimum deposit savings I'd like to reach (prices could rise but I'm not interested in anything too large or fancy as no need for it). Then I hope to find employment related to my studies but wont limit myself, have qualifications and experience in other areas too. Definitely going to make sure I have full-time employment for a while before I attempt to search so I have more security in my finances.

In regards to other fees, would a Notice Account be a good idea? Would earn more interest than instant access, keep it seperated, and stop me going near it. I've found one at 0.6% AER which could change due to covid so under no assumption the interest will stay that way but considering I have no need for large bills I've been considering it. I feel like I've answered my own question there

lindsay54v3

Tonight marks another success in avoiding an uneccesary spend, wanted to spend £137 on Skincare

It is the absolute last thing I need right now, I have samples and products to use already! Plus my SIL gave me a product earlier, a pot of a really lovely face mask, as one of her friends had decided it wasn't quite agreeing with her but my skin isn't so sensitive so I get to give it a go! Usually I struggle so much to think of gifts people could buy me but now I have my eye on something I will mull it over till my birthday later in the year and ask for a giftcard to the site to contribute towards the cost, I definitely have enough products to keep me going till then

I'm so glad I made this diary to track my successes and my thoughts, whenever I go to make a purchase I think of how much I'm saving myself already from not indulging on impulse buys!

In barely 5 days I've saved myself over £300.

I have never spent more money than I have in my account, I have always had some form of a savings set aside that I refuse to touch, but I think after a period of unemployment due to health a few years ago and spending very little in that time, I've been over compensating for it and buying things whenever I want, thinking its okay because I had savings. But I need to build on my savings and make sure I know I can decide between a want and a need, that I don't need to spend money to be happy and recognise I can be happy with what I have right now.

(also for anyone who does read this I'm not married but refer to my OHs sister and her husband as my SIL and BIL for ease .  ) 

Skint_yet_Again

Well done on avoiding the skin care purchase 🤗 Great idea to make a list of treats you would like & use birthday/ Christmas money to buy them instead. 

MovingForwards

Buying up here is a lot more straightforward than E&W and there are some great areas to commute from. Keeps the purchase price down if you avoid the major areas and live a little further out.
- A similar property would have cost me another £100k if I purchased near where I rented, but my income wouldn't have got me the mortgage.

A notice account is good, means you can't easily get to it.
- I would save for a year, then move most of the money into a fixed rate account and have it locked away for a year or two, repeating the process each year. 

Well done avoiding the spends, it's not easy, but has to be done when saving for a big ticket item.

lindsay54v3

@Skint_yet_Again Thank you! I've already reached my usual Xmas gift budget which I usually don't start saving for till about September, soon enough I'll have plenty to cover birthdays as they crop up and then any excess will just go towards other savings this year

@MovingForwards A goal of mine is learning how to drive once lockdown etc is all over and it's safe to do so, but not particularly fussed over having a car myself. There are great public transport links in many areas of Scotland. If I do move further out I would consider purchasing a car but only if it were absolutely necessary to get to work, although hopefully that isn't the case as a bus or rail pass is so much cheaper than everything that goes along with owning a car.

I'll have a look at some fixed rates accounts (truthfully I hadn't heard of them before!) and see if there is anything that would suit my rough timeline. Wishing I had started a bit sooner in saving for all the extras I hadn't considered but hindsight is 20/20. I could hopefully reach the minimum for some relatively quickly, but having never heard of them before I definitely have quite a bit of research to do!

And thank you! I did end up spending £12 last night on a couple of items on a deal, but I know I like them both and will get good use from them, much better than spending £137 anyway

MovingForwards

Transport links are definitely a lot better up here than where I moved from, also run more on schedule too. The cost of my car is on par with commuting to work, when I'm back in. Positives are getting around and not waiting for connections or during winter!

The fixed rate / term accounts are not paying good interest, compared to when I used them. But if your account are only paying 0.01%, then 0.35% fixed for a year or two is better!
Most banks have them.
Regular savers are worth trying to find too, but you have to be quick as they only allow so many people to have one.

With the last rental it was unfurnished aside from white goods. I hit a charity shop, picked out what I wanted, including a brand new bed and mattress, got it all delivered and put in each room, for a fraction of the cost of buying everything new. Curtains I picked up in a sale. Saves a lot of money that way. I was also buying little bits for my flat as the purchase was going through.
If you've space in your room, there's nothing stopping you from buying smaller items in the sales, saves having to try and get things when you move.

Can't change what has happened, but we can learn from our experiences. 

lindsay54v3

@MovingForwards I'll think about it more at the time, but as long as I learn to drive I always have the option to change my mind.

Spoke to my dad to ask some advice, might end up switching banks accounts and make use of rewards but wish lockdown would relax a bit so I could go visit him to sit down and talk it all through. I'm quite anxious around change and making choices so having him with me step-by-step would help a lot

Definitely no space unfortunately, but no problems with buying second hand furnishings! I know my dad is considering changing furniture at some point, if I can get him to hold off I could probably grab a few things there as he's offered to contribute towards buying things like furniture, would save us both a bit of money

MovingForwards

Have two current accounts as lenders like to see stability (account 1) then the other can be used as a switching account (account 2).

The minute people know you're moving, they can always seem to find spare items to give to you!

lindsay54v3

@MovingForwards Oh gosh, I think I might get confused, never considered having two accounts