My 2008 Savings Diary

MushyPeas

And you said you hadn't saved much....over £100 already! Small fry in comparison to me Well done!

Reformed

I'd love to have the discipline to write all this down. It would be interesting to see at the end of the year. I do put all my quidco money and cashback from credit cards straight into my isa though so that at least is a good discipline.

Becky_2

A live journal sounds interesting. Please tell me more about it.

The only thing I do is to deduct the money I spend on food from the monthly budgeted sum and this seems to work for me.Also, On Friday evenings I withdraw the money I am allowed to spend until the following Friday, this has really helped me not to overspend and I take real pride in not withdrawing anymore money that week. Before I did this, the week or 2 weeks before payday I had run out of money but this doesn't happen anymore. Hope this helps someone else.

shaaark wrote: »

This is a really good idea!

I didn't spend anything yesterday and am going to start a religious spending diary today as I'm doing my groceries/petrol shopping tonight.

I have a LiveJournal so I'm just going to keep track of mine on there and start as I mean to go on!

Good luck with yours!

(Not going to use my signature as mine is massive and don't want to incur your wrath!)

jo_b_2

Reformed wrote: »

I'd love to have the discipline to write all this down. It would be interesting to see at the end of the year. I do put all my quidco money and cashback from credit cards straight into my isa though so that at least is a good discipline.

I kept last year's savings diary going all year and found it useful to keep me motivated.

Paying all your savings straight into an ISA is excellent moneysaving. I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't have a cash ISA open for this current tax year! But - that is because I'm still on maternity leave so most of my Quidco cash etc is swallowed up by basic monthly expenses, unfortunately.

One of my aims for January is to get a cash ISA open, Even if I don't actually pay much into it, it will still earn a better rate of interest, which will help. (I've been looking at the ISA board for info on the best rates.)

Anyway, this weekend I've:

Cut my son's hair at home (actually my husband has but I'm not splitting hairs!) - Saved £6

Had extra mobile phone credit from 02 - £1

Used vouchers at Tesco - £1.70

jo_b_2

Saved £1.40 today. (Was wrongly undercharged and before I start feeling guilty, I did point out to the girl serving that she hadn't charged me for a drink and she still undercharged me so I think the stars wanted me have it for my diary!) :rolleyes:

Made £1.09 selling a book on Amazon. Also got a free toothbrush and toothpaste from Aquafresh. Not sure how much that's worth - at least £2 for both?

Also won £5 at Virgin Bingo but can't count that just yet as I'm still money down there until (If!) my Quidco money tracks in at the right amount! Fingers crossed!

wannaberich41

Hi im going to try and caluculate through the years my spends and savings etc. the spends do you include the mortgage etc. every penny going out?
on the saving side of things do you include free samples of like face cream etc?
would be interesting to see what happens through the year although we are already half way through the month.

jo_b_2

wannaberich41 wrote: »

Hi im going to try and caluculate through the years my spends and savings etc. the spends do you include the mortgage etc. every penny going out?
on the saving side of things do you include free samples of like face cream etc?
would be interesting to see what happens through the year although we are already half way through the month.

I don't keep a record of my spending, to be honest. As a family, we're not in debt but don't have a great deal of money coming in - especially as I'm on maternity leave until June this year. The last three months will be totally unpaid and I'm on Statutory maternity pay at the minute. It's worth every penny (unearned) spending the time with my baby though! :T

I know where our money goes every month and only spend on essentials and 'treats' that are within our means. I have done spending diaries for a few days at a time when I've felt that I've been frittering money away and that has helped to curb those tendancies! :rolleyes: That's more of an issue when I'm out at work and spend money needlessly, mainly through disorganisation!

As for savings, I do tend to list everything that I remember receiving through the post - however trivial but don't always give things a monetary valu. (Unless it's free stuff that I would have had to pay for otherwise.)

Each to their own though. If you find it useful and motivational to log all your spending, there's no reason not to. Good luck x

wannaberich41

just a quick question when you buy things and its a buy one get one free offer do you count the free one as saving on your list?

jamtart6

hi jo_b have you always been a board guide?? congrats if its a recent thing

jo_b_2

wannaberich41 wrote: »

just a quick question when you buy things and its a buy one get one free offer do you count the free one as saving on your list?

I counted BOGOFs in my savings last year.

jamtart6 wrote: »

hi jo_b have you always been a board guide?? congrats if its a recent thing

I've been a board guide on here for two or three years actually! I've moved around different boards though. I started BGing on Freebies but that got too busy to cope with when I changed jobs.

I've been BG'ing on the new board for Martin's show which I'm loving!

I probably confused you because I don't post my BG signature unless I'm posting on a board where I'm a BG. Anywhere else I'm just posting as *me* so I don't include my sig!

Your post has reminded me that I haven't updated this diary for a long time!