Saving stategy/psychology

Rich1976

We used to use separate accounts for different things such as annual bills, car expenses, home maintenance but found that apart from the annual bills , it was very difficult to estimate how much was needed for each category and I can guarantee that whatever figure we set was never enough . 

Car maintenance for example, we pulled a figure out of thin air of say £900 but then the car went in for its service and MOT and needed quite a bit doing to it . Then a few months later 2 of the tyres needed replacing, then something else happened so that year was about £1200.

Holidays was another issue . We researched the hotel and flights and then estimated the spending money but hadn’t accounted enough for meals out as we had to eat out quite a lot and the place we went to was expensive . On top of that the trips were more than we thought . 

So really it all got a bit tedious and irritating to have to pull money from other accounts.

so now most of what we have is in one main pot though the Regular Saver account I suppose in the holiday fund for next year .

Any annuals bills such as car insurance are just taken from that month’s take home pay and just means less goes into savings that month. Which is fine because it would have to be taken from savings anyway if we still had an annual bills pot.

it works well for us now and no irritation or micro managing what goes where.

jaypers

I personally like the idea of having separate ‘pots’ of money allocated to different things. Psychologically it sits better with me doing that rather than taking lumps out of a single balance to pay big bills.

Like many have mentioned, Regular Savers are ideal. The interest rates are usually higher than most typical savings accounts and having them mature throughout the year is a nice thing to have. I usually allocate the different ones to different things. 

kimwp

I've settled on what I need to/ happy to spend on everyday things and I track those spends to make sure I'm roughly on track so my savings/investments are added to.

I aim to get my savings/investments earning as much as possible by putting them in regular savings and low cost index funds, plus taking advantage of any offers eg cashback, switching offers etc that I see on mse.

Try to get the best deals when renewals come up, by using price comparisons.

And for spends (large and small), it's really down to the lowest cost for the attributes I want (which could be ethically based, function based etc)

subjecttocontract

I'm wealthy enough not to have to save for anything so don't need different accounts for anything in particular. I try to max my savings/investments by picking the best payers where I can. But I won't spend time trying to make extra by shuffling/churning money continuously to save ever last bit. I can usually make more money by using my time on other things. Overall stategy.....to enjoy life.

Savvy_Sue

I'm another one with several high interest regular savings accounts, but none of them are particularly 'labelled'. Four of mine have matured all at the same time but I've restarted them all again. The notable exception is the NatWest regular saver, which doesn't have to be restarted every year. Just keep it to less than £5k or the rate plummets! 

Stolas

I like the idea of specific pots, but like most people here I use regular savers (after my ISA+LISA) without really earmarking them for specific things (I don’t drive, and my holidays aren’t that extravagant anyway). 

As most of them allow withdrawals (or at least early closure) they’re accessible in an emergency if needed, so I feel comfortable having a decent amount of them to take advantage of the higher rates. 

Psychologically I think having money in a savings account makes me reluctant to spend it, even if it’s an easy access one. 

Eco_Miser

Stolas said:

Psychologically I think having money in a savings account makes me reluctant to spend it, even if it’s an easy access one. 

I treat easy access savings accounts like current accounts with better interest. Money goes in on payday and out on bill day (or the previous day to a real current account with SO or DD set up). I've even got on nicknamed 'Buffer', because that's its purpose, buffering the irregular inflows and outflows. 

Stolas

Eco_Miser said:

Stolas said:

Psychologically I think having money in a savings account makes me reluctant to spend it, even if it’s an easy access one. 

I treat easy access savings accounts like current accounts with better interest. Money goes in on payday and out on bill day (or the previous day to a real current account with SO or DD set up). I've even got on nicknamed 'Buffer', because that's its purpose, buffering the irregular inflows and outflows. 

Yup! That’s exactly how I use mine, everything goes into the easy access account on pay day, and is then either fed into regular savers, or paid to my current account when needed to cover bills and day to day spending. 

twopenny

I remember my Mother and Grandmother having special tins that were sold, onel long tin with several slots labled for utilities. That was in cash days so it's not a new thing.

Yes, I have seperate accounts. 2 ISAs, one longer term one flexible for savings, one for bigger purchases. 

2 current accounts, one with a small amount in and the card goes in my camera bag for parking (we've aquired major parking companies out here in the sticks that don't take cash) but if I loose the card it's only a small amount.

And the other is bills in and out.

Back in the day I used to have the 2 current accounts so one was for bills. Now the bills are so erratic and large that was too depressing.

dingling68

twopenny said:

I remember my Mother and Grandmother having special tins that were sold, onel long tin with several slots labled for utilities. That was in cash days so it's not a new thing.

My dad had these, and each Thursday would put money in each slot and note it in his book. At one point he was using two, as bringing up two daughters in the early 80's as a solo parent was an expensive business