July Pin Money Savings Challenge

nicki_2

I've bought Christmas Pressies this weekend out of my Xmas club (£5) on reduced toiletries so I'm counting that £5 as virtual now.

Went to DD's summer fare and bought some groceries, won some smelly, a huge cuddly dog, some cherryade and I bought some clothing, bags and cushions. But the best bit was buying about 20 videos at 4 for £1 If I don't like them then I will sell them on ebay All in all I've done quite well as I spent about £10 but the money for the summerfare came out of my pocket money so only the loose change goes into PIN.

With one thing and another my PIN totals stand at :
Actual Cash PIN : £6.16
Virtual PIN : £5.00
XMAS PIN : £3.69
TOTAL : £14.85

JAMIEDODGER

went to tesco's this morning bought a few bits of food. big bargain spent £16 on 4 pairs of school trousers (had budgeted £8 per pair 2 each kid..3 kids at school) so i think thats £16.00 towards PMS? can i count it?????

then..went to boots and bought 4 packs of double pack nappies at £16.00 for 2. bought those and bOGOF on wipes and few other xmas prezizes as i had £2 off a £15 spend and a 10% voucher. i budget £7 per week for nappies and wipes and the nappies will last me 2 months!!! and the wipes a month. so i spent £33.62 at boots am counting £1.38 as PMS and will put rest in PMS out of next months nappy budget...otherwise gets totally confusing!!

when i get some more money in my "xmas savings account" i will pay PMS for the presents i have bought probably wont be until next month though....


so total spent grocery so far: £42.89
total pin money so far £17.38....i think!!!!

edited to say...some one bought me some cigarettes back from holiday as a present...can i count the money i usually spend this week as PMS?

i have also cut right down on trips in car meaning that this week i dont need any petrol.....can i count that too???????

omega_2

JAMIED - great savings, well done! Re cigarettes - if your ciggies are accounted for in your budget planning already, then these are a bonus, and you could therefore count it as PIN (either Actual or Virtual). Ditto the petrol, although with something like this, if savings were ongoing (for example, if I'd managed to have combined trips as a "new way of working"), I'd probably lower my petrol budget after, say 2 months, and discountinue to count it as PIN. But that's only MY way of handling it, there are no hard and fast rules!HTHs!

JAMIEDODGER

cheers omega....

i have been walking to school as its the summer months thats where my petrol saving is. when the weather gets rough again i will be driving...so i might count it as PMS this months and then fill the tank up anyway next month so i have a bit extra petrol in car (and its summer hols!!)

forgot to say those nappies were on 200 points for one pack ive made 800 points there...which will be spent on more chrissy prezzies!!!! so i wont count that £8.00 in PMS but im off to a flying start!!!!!!

Queenie

lemanie wrote:

If I buy superstore own brand instead of branded I would usually buy can I include the difference?
..... Assuming I can include these type savings plus bogofs, multibuys and reduced items, savings so far £11.74 (virtual). :j

Plus cheeky question about sofa (see previous post). May be best bargain buy ever! For a cost of £38.97 we have very comfortable 3-seater, 2-seater and chair, due to extensive efforts now clean and looks good too. Can I count the difference between cost of this and Ikea 3 seater was going to have to buy on Ikea card (Ektorp @ £345 + £60 delivery) or equivalent new in similar style from DFS (£1284 for Sherwood from website). Would really boost my pin money total

If you buy store brand instead of your usual branded product then yes, the difference becomes your pin money savings.

Re: the sofa - not a cheeky question at all
If you already had the cash/savings to purchase from Ikea/DFS then that would be an *actual* saving and yes it does count as your pin money.
If you didn't have the cash/savings and would only have been able to purchase them via a card/credit, then it is *virtual* savings.

JAMIE - yep, the savings on the trousers are pin money too Well done! :T As to whether it is virtual or actual, then if you have a clothing budget that you set aside in a different account anyway, then I'm assuming the £16 saving will simply roll on towards the next lot of clothing purchases? So then it becomes *virtual* pin money. However, if you usually purchase clothing as and when the budget allows for it and needs arise, then it would be *actual* pin money.

To Clarify:

The pin money challenge is a means of keeping track of your efforts at saving money and building up a nest egg from it. It comes from spending/cutting back in forms that you cannot bank on on a regular basis. So it grows according to the coupons/deals/reduced items/etc that you manage to secure when it comes to parting with your hard earned
Coin jars count because it's not an income you have "banked" on having.

If it is a major purchase that you have saved up the amount for and then you find you can get it for less then it is still a *saving*. Now, because I keep a seperate account for major purchases, I would leave the difference I've saving in that account towards the next major purchase/renewal but would record the saving as *virtual* pin money.

You're all doing really well :T :T :T :T Keep up the great work

Don't hesitate to ask any questions if it's still not clear, it makes no difference if you are making actual savings or virtual savings. The most important aspect is *knowing* that you're making savings and where you are making them.

I'm nearer my goal through focusing on my *actual* PMS and even then, once achieved, it will be an investment purchase so I can save further money.

When I look at my virtual savings, it reminds me that all my efforts aren't in vain. Adding the two together ....... makes me :j :j :j :j

squeaky

Thanks for that Queenie.

Actually, since you've re-written the starter post this month I've just realised that I need to change the link in our "Welcome" sticky to point to it.

Would you like to include (cut & paste?) this clarification into that post, or just pop a link in?

Rabbit

Thanks Queenie for your post, it explains it very well. I'm still trying to get the hang of this, so hope you don't mind me asking you all a question.

I went to Tesco last week and got a voucher for £50 off car insurance. Mine is due on 26th July and as long as you buy the policy before 15th July you get a £50 cashback and 10% off for buying online. :j

Now..... as I had budgeted £330 (guesstimate as I changed car mid way through year so not a repeat of last years amount), it came in at £285 with D/Line so I checked out Tesco and it came out as £265 saving me £20 plus the £50 cashback to come in the post later.

I was going to put the £50 cashback and £20 saving into the PMS fund but should I be saving the difference between the budgeted figure of £330 and the £215 my insurance is actually costing me as this is what I was saving for and thought it would be?

I have a 2nd current account with free £100 overdraft that I put money into each month and pay bills from when they come in. So more cash in it would be useful for unexpected bills or ones that come in higher - but PMS money would be great too - help pleeeeeease. Ta x

Queenie

Rabbit - you could do either or you could ....

330-285= £45+£20 = £65 that could stay in the unexpected bills account.

£50 cashback is the real *bonus* (well done! :T ) and *that* will go into your *actual* pin money savings and you could tot up the £65 from above into your *virtual* savings record because by taking advantage of the insurance deals you have still *saved* (even though that money is still in your "unexpected bills a/c)

Tip: Change that 2nd current a/c to a savings account if you are regularly putting money into it for "unexpected bills" - particularly if you pay annual bills from it such as car insurance. You'll get better interest from a savings a/c than a current a/c.
I keep a seperate savings a/c where I make regular payments via DD to cover our annual expenses - when the bill comes in, I simply transfer that amount in the current a/c

squeaky - thank you, but I think the starter thread is already quite a long one w/out adding the clarifying points. Besides, I don't mind answering people's questions Usually, it's only when they first begin getting used to the challenge that queries come up.

Rabbit

Thanks Queenie, I will do that with the £50 and leave the rest in the account to build up for unexpected things. So I now have some virtual savings too to add on. I won't add the actual £50 cashback though until I get it, should be within the next 2 months the voucher said.

The tip for changing the current account is a good one thanks, I will look into it.

Keep up the good work fellow virgins and experienced PMSers.

lemanie

Thanks for the advice on the sofa savings Squeaky and Queenie. I've decided that as I would definitely have bought the sofa on Ikea card with no hope of paying of in full this year it is a real saving of £405 - £38.97 from extra debt. In this light I am going to put the £38.97 back into July's Housekeeping budget from the amount set aside for clearing debt. Very pleased with self for resisting extra debt/bidding at auction for first time. :j

Doing well with challenge so far; spend to date £63.80, virtual savings £25.12 and don't intend to go food shopping again until 12 July. Next week could see strange bottom of freezer, back of cupboard menus but it's in a good cause.

Rapidly becoming MSE addict but am obviously in good company. :rotfl: No time to spend money with all excellent chat forums, articles to read etc.