Anybody else finding it impossible to save money at the moment?

MikeL93

Pretty much as per the title really. Since I bought my house in 2022 I have not been able to increase my savings at all, there have been periods where I have had larger amounts of money in my savings account but then besides the usual household bills (mortgage, energy, nursery, water etc) every few months something always crops up that needs to be taken care of. Whilst I totally understand that savings are there for the big unexpected bills it doesn't make it any easier when I take money back out of my savings and see the amount decrease and then it takes me months to increase it again.

We are not a frivolous family when it comes to money, every penny is accounted for and things such as takeaways don't happen in this house as we just cannot justify the money.

I think I just needed to come on here and have a bit of a rant as it is getting me down at the moment.

2point4

I empathise with what you are saying. We feel the same. We are not frivalous with money and whilst many of our choices are our own such as having kids and buying a house, we tend to save and then have to dish out the savings. I worry more about the future than my wife so when our savings get drained a little i see it as being thrown off against a retirement or investment target but at least we do have savings to draw on as and when we may need them even if they get used up again.

We tend to try and budget for everything so that there no surprises and like you, don't tend to have takeaways or luxuries that often. day to day, that can become boring but you have to consider what the price of not being bored or feeling down about it is. For us, we have friends who appear to have a much more extravagent life than us but recently told us that they are £12k in debt and having sleepness nights. We do not suffer from that and I'd gladly feel bored or a bit down over not making as much progress as i'd like vs being in large amounts of debt just to feed a dopamine hit.

Without wanting to get too philosophical or political, i think it also comes down to what and how you think the social contract that we have with each other and governments should look like. If we work hard and have nothing left to see of it we can feel hard done by especially when looking at others who appear to have an easier life. I sit somewhere in the middle politically so dont have strong views to either side but it can feel worse when you feel that contract is even.

I do try and tell myself sometimes that just because it's sometimes advertised as so and we expect certain qualities of life in a society, it's not a given and life can be hard and a struggle but that it what keeps me going personally. I'm not having to toil a field to grow food or hope for rain so that we can drink but i do expect a certain standard of living which i think is unreasonable.

Not sure if this helps, but if that is what gets you down at the moment, i would say that you are lucky that is your main concern and not that of being destitute or homeless or in a war savaged country. It's all relative of course but that's what i remind myself of when i feel like you do.

Exodi

Unfortunately for you 2022 ended up being the absolute worse time to buy a house. I can somewhat relate, I bought my house in 2019 so not much better.

Using my area as an example, house prices have effectively stayed the same for the past 4 years in nominal terms. However remembering that inflation has been very high over the same period, in real terms this means houses have lost nearly 20% of their value in my area over the last 4 years… I'm honestly surprised the public isn't up in arms (though I think due it's subtle nature and as headline price not going down and adjusting for inflation adds a layer of complexity, the general public hasn't realised).

See below (dotted line is nominal value, solid line is real value, red is my sector, blue is the outcode).

You can check this for your area here: https://housemetric.co.uk/geography-search

We're actually in quite similar situations, I also have a young child in nursery. The silver lining of this of course is that it's only temporary and I presume you are benefiting from the governments 30 free hours. When they turn 4/5, you could well save £500+ p/m, which is more than enough to kickstart your savings again. I think most accept that hoping to save while kids are in nursery is somewhat of a pipedream now.

I somewhat agree with the above example (though not as extreme as comparing yourself to third world countries), over half of people your age don't own a home.

kimwp

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82078844#Comment_82078844

Surely the house value has no effect on savings unless you are wanting to move?

I do think nursery fees are eye-watering.

Exodi

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82078852#Comment_82078852

In essence, sure, but this isn't the DFW board and I can't see that the OP was asking for advice on cutting their costs. They were asking for others views on the cost of living to help understand their own situation. Pointing out that they were carrying a more expensive mortgage than most is relevant - even if they can't really do anything about it. It's no different to mentioning nursery, even though they can't do much about that either (though fortunately the nursery situation is slightly more temporary than the mortgage).

Agreed nursery is eye-watering, we plan on having two kids (one at the moment) and even as a relatively well off household, our headroom to save will be minimal once they both attend. Not a clue how a household bringing in <£70k is supposed to afford it.

strawb_shortcake

I imagine most of have been there at some point. I've spent most of my adult life within a single income family. It's certainly been hard but it does get easier. Though as a single income family we never had nursery fees to pay, and preschool was free when ours were small.

Two mistakes I made

1. Comparing ourselves to others, we we never going to compete with a household with 2 working professionals. People brag about the holiday/new car but never the debt.

2. Having one saving pot, everything went into one pot, so only one pot could be pulled on when needed. Now I have pots for the car, holidays, yearly costs such as insurance. Whilst we have an emergency fund squirreled away we also have a pot for odd top ups and the unexpected

MikeL93

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82078809#Comment_82078809

I think it is getting me down at the moment because I feel like me and my partner work all the hours we possibly can but yet we still don't have much left in the bank every month and can't take our son on days out but yet his brother and wife neither of them work, they have two kids and just get everything handed to them and are constantly going for family days out. I don't want to get into a political debate about it but currently stuff like that is really getting under my skin.

oldernonethewiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82078911#Comment_82078911

Comparing ourselves to others - that is definitely something to avoid. The "keeping up with the Joneses" mentality will eat away at your soul. Live your own life and don't worry about how others live theirs.

InvesterJones

Agree with the above. Don't compare, and don't focus on what you can't do. Instead, concentrate on what's in your control, and the things you can do.

strawb_shortcake

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82078912#Comment_82078912

Some of the best days and memories are the ones that cost very little or nothing.

My favourite memory is when we jumped in every puddle on the way home from school, at just over mile walk we're pretty soaked - admittedly not much chance of puddle jumping at the moment.

kempiejon

I know that when you're already working all the hours and living a frugal life you can't earn more or cut back further, I try to sweat my money hard using money saving hacks, regular savers, switching bonuses, cash back sites, interest free credit and so on. It's little steps and inevitable knockbacks but can squeeze a bit more cash.