How on earth do you save?!

DrCarrie

Yes, start saving today!

Coffeekup

Andyjflet said:

sacha28 said:

I have opened a basic account with barclays that my husband and I will be setting up a standing order from our respective accounts for £100 a month, starting at the end of the month. Although this is only a tiny amount, it's only until the new year (want to get Christmas out of the way first before the big savings begin). I've been musing if I should put away half the agency into it, rather than all? That way I don't feel I'm working for nothing? Or is that a stupid idea? I could do 3 agency shifts a month which would mean £450ish a month doing it this way (but some months may be less, so I don't die, some months could be more if my permanent job shifts allow).

And here is where the mindset bit starts..... waiting to save more until after Christmas for example is just another way of putting things off, cut back on your Christmas, start saving today. x

I noticed this but wasn't sure how to word it I also didn't want to come across as being critical.
As Andyjflet says start saving now you'll have 3 months of saving by Christmas then, also don't go crazy buying gifts at Christmas set a budget for everyone you want to buy for and stick to it, or even better try and come in under... Which means more savings.

CreditCardJunkie

Honestly just don't buy !!!!!! you don't need!

I think a lot of it has to do with your mindset, we're never wearing the latest fashion but we have funds for rainy days should we fancy a holiday, day out, weekend away. We value these types of things over designer clothes.

We transfer our savings as soon as we get paid and stick to a strict budget for the resr of the month on food, eating out etc.

ellenvan

I always find that leaving it until later in the month to see if I have money left to save is no good.
Money straight out on payday to Regular savings account or Premium Bonds, means that the money left in the account has to last the month.

Why wait until after Xmas to save - start now and have a more minimal Xmas - 
I volunteer in a charity shop and see lots of unwanted gifts being brought in - which is great for the charity.
But I also feel for the people that bought those presents with money that could have been saved for something more useful

tealady

Have a chat with people you buy for at Christmas to see if they are happy to do cards only.
Or suggest everyone has the same budget for each present, or do secret Santa.
 You could ask everyone to name a present they would like, then everyone pick a name out of a hat to buy that gift. Means everyone only has to buy 1 gift.

YORKSHIRELASS

I have a difficult relationship with money which I can trace back to my childhood.  I need the "right stuff" for people to like me and to fit in and I will never 100% shake that off, so I have made my peace with it.  Like you I have owned my mistakes.

There are 5 key things I think.

1.  Set a realistic budget, and factor in things like car bills, medical bills, boiler service, etc, so many of us don't.
2.  Set aside a small amount for treats that you can spend on whatever you want.  The deal is once it's gone it's gone.
3.  Set up a standing order to a separate bank account that you have to log in and check for your savings.  Weirdly I find weekly standing orders work well for this even though I get paid monthly.
4.  Be completely honest with yourself, keep proper financial records, know exactly where your money goes. 
5.  Remember every penny really does matter, keep an eye on the small stuff.

Good luck, you definitely aren't on your own with this and have nothing to feel bad about.

Dobbibill

I'm also a fan of the piggy-bank/pots approach. 
Treat your savings as another bill and transfer on pay day, keep money for personal spending - savings for house/car/xmas/birthdays/hobbies/house emergency/holidays/clothes etc etc. 
Doing it this way doesn't give you a huge savings pot on day 1 but will build gradually. 
Cut back on Xmas this year - start saving a small amount in Dec/Jan for Xmas next year. 

When you start a new routine and mindset, it isn't easy - it is hard but once you've been doing it for a few months, you will wonder why this wasn't the norm years ago
All the best

foxgloves

Agree with other posters that saving needs building into your monthly budget just like any other payment. I never used to save anything back in the Spendy Decades because I never had anything leftover at the end of the month except a bigger overdraft. Since our major reformation of money habits & discovery of the powers of budgeting, I arrange savings like this.
*A monthly standing order into a regular savings account (savings for 'the future') - not a huge amount, but it all adds up.
*£100 into future car replacement fund (to avoid requiring a loan). Based on how long we are likely to keep our current car plus what we think we will get for it part-ex. Divided this sum into monthly amount which is saved as part of regular budget.
*Emergency Fund. Before the car fund, we saved into this. It's now at a decent level so have closed it until circumstances force us to dip into it.
*Then I have 10 Savings Pots which are paid into according to need at the time, but some of them are paid each month on budget day:
1.Car maintenance

2.Clothes

3.House & Garden

4.Holidays

5.Optician & dentist

6.Meow fund (mostly vet!)
7.Presents

8.Appliance replacement (fridge, washer, etc)
9.Tech replacement (laptop, TV etc)
10.Leisure & entertainment.
The pots cover expenditure which is entirely foreseeable so prevents us dipping into our emergency fund for things we should have seen coming.
In addition, we have a monthly budgeted amount for groceries & we each have £100 a month Personal Spends, any unspent amount of the latter carries over into the next month so we can save for things. There are only 2 rules with Personal Spends money - we can spend it.on.anything we want, but when it's gone, it's gone. 
We are now in a fortunate position of having paid off our mortgage, so we do have more to put into savings than we used to. But I still used the system above - just paid smaller amounts into everything. 
What I wish I'd realised in my 20s & 30s is that saving has more to do with regularity than almost anything else. Even £50 a month put away from now will produce a useful £600 pot this time next year. Any savings is more security than nothing. There was certainly no security in all my past excuses!
F

Martas

One thing that helped me is listening to The Minimalists podcast on Spotify. Watch as well their documentary Minimalism on Netflix. It will make you rethink the way you live your life and what is actually making you truly happy. It was key for me as I realised that all the stuff I was buying was only getting in the way of what's important. I probably sound like some sort of motivational speaker now 😉 😄 but seriously give it a go and see if you can change your attitude to shopping as it will heavily impact on your ability to save.

Cressida100

I've set up a standing order to premium bonds, only £100 a month but it comes out of my salary at the beginning of the month and I don't notice it now. For some reason I am not tempted to touch that money. It's also a bit of fun waiting to see if your number has come up.