The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread

countrygirl27

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

First target reached! Have updated sig.


A standing order straight into your savings account after you get paid. I get paid around the end of the month, and I have standings orders set up for the 1st. That's it, gone, can't spend it. From what you've said, your SOA would be something like this:

Income: 1250

Outgoings:
Rent 200
Horse 145
Petrol 100
Car Ins 30
Car Tax 15
Car Savings 30
Mobile 10

Savings 600

Spending Money 120

That's how I organise my money. I round bills up to the nearest £5 for leeway and treat my savings like a bill that has to be paid no matter what. I take my spending money out as cash, you could take out £30 a week as you don't want to be carrying a lot of cash around. It's a lot easier to keep track of what you're spending with cash. You can see exactly what you've got left.

Hi yes I do currently do that, I pay by standing order into a lloyds regular saver and ive just opened the Halifax 10% account which Im saving £500 into. But I dont have a credit card so I do need a little bit left over in case Dobbin needs the vet or something! Also I agree with the rounding up, all those figures are rounded up to the nearest ten. Part of the problem is that my circumstances have changed a bit recently so Im having trouble with the tax office! My pay is varying tremendously at the moment, but hopefully this month they will have pulled their finger out and got it right. However, I do know that 1250 is what they should be paying me, so when everything stabilises it will make it a bit easier for me to keep track of.

Thanks for all the ideas on this thread!

ZoeGirl_3

countrygirl27 wrote: »

These are sorts of little things that you don't really notice buying, but add up. I have tried to be able to measure it and control it by withdrawing £40 a month and using that for these sorts of purchases. But even so the money still leaks away somewhere!

...I feel a bit like Ive ranted, but I do wonder where some of the money goes!

...Any ideas on how I can cut my cash leakage down would be helpful!

I don't do a spending diary myself but I do have a spreadsheet with what I have in different accounts and goals for end of this year and end of next year. I think this keeps me motivated to some degree.

Also, the main thing that stops me spending is as soon as I get paid I transfer money to my accounts and they are the kind that you get bonus interest for no withdrawels.

As well as my house savings I have holiday savings, which have to come out of my day to day spending, eg, if I waste money on a few hair clips or something then I have less to save for holiday, which I am really looking forward too!! :beer: :j :T

Presents and stuff I buy and put away all ready to go, saves me heaps and I dont have to spend during the year. A couple of bottles of wine always goes well for that too, I have a few wrapped and ready at all times.

I think I am a bit extreme though, I avoid spending if going out, I mean I go out, but I still limit myself. Quite a bit. If I am having dinner, I will drink water, if I am having a couple of drinks I will just have a plate of wedges etc. If I am going out to a show I will eat before I go, :P You can't have your cake and eat it too ...

Now that was MY rant lol...

lostinrates

Country girl, a couple of things thathave worked well for me with horse costs this year....

I took my horse barefoot using an EP instead iof a blacksmith/farrier trim. More expensive than a farrier trim, but MUCH cheaper than shoes. although you do have to make allowances for the hoof during the transition my mare was ridable immediately for schooling and grass work and short spates of road work. We had some problems with lack of wall growth eary this year, but now (shoes of for almot a year) we can do anything. We are both more sedate than in our competing youth, but her feet would hold up to a three day if her body would, lol. Also, my mare is a very poor doer, and I have found that using Top spec is working out fantastically cheaper. This is the first summer in her life she hasn't nedded any other supplemntary food. I knoe it sounds contraindicatory, but swapping to this single supplement (I buy the sack) has really rationalised her food bill. We have also made a scarifice in that instead of keeping her in livery over winter I am keeping her on some neighbours land and doing their old horse for them. Instead of £25-50 a week for diy I'm paying £10 and schooling in the field while the ground holds out. When the ground doesn't I'm hiring and hacking (on those barefeet!) to a manege. I won't gve up mine either, but I'm finding there are comprimises that are very easily livable with.

Welcome to all other new deposit savers!

OK, my only news is that we FINALLY got to see an IFA who is confident he can make our savings 'work harder' for us. We felt comfortable with him, but it IS expensive. He takes only long term clients and charges an up front fee and then itro £80 pcm. I have nothing to compare this too with reasonabilty of cost. Anyway, I think we are going to go with it. If the worst comes to the worst we've spent money to really break down our expenditure in a way DH finds hard to do and I find impossible to make him do (DH is a great guy, just not very focused on our personal finances). so we start in earnest In september, ith a day of breaking down our expenses and goals with the IFA. I'm so scared of spending and losing (the huge loss in value of the ISA makes me feel douby reluctant) but I'm also facng that I'm just not numerate or savvy enough to manage our finances with out guidance.

Never_Ever_Again

Hi Everyone
I have been reading this thread with great interest, as I am desperate to start saving for a house deposit, the only thing stopping me at the minute is I am still in debt, BUT on the final stretch to becoming debt free (I should be able to start saving in March 09) I keep thinking of the day that the money I am currently spending repaying my debts will infact be going into savings for me to finally move out and get a place of own!!
Good luck to everyone who is saving for a deposit and hopefully I'll be joining you all on the journey very soon
X

countrygirl27

lostinrates wrote: »

Country girl, a couple of things thathave worked well for me with horse costs this year....

I took my horse barefoot using an EP instead iof a blacksmith/farrier trim. More expensive than a farrier trim, but MUCH cheaper than shoes. although you do have to make allowances for the hoof during the transition my mare was ridable immediately for schooling and grass work and short spates of road work. We had some problems with lack of wall growth eary this year, but now (shoes of for almot a year) we can do anything. We are both more sedate than in our competing youth, but her feet would hold up to a three day if her body would, lol. Also, my mare is a very poor doer, and I have found that using Top spec is working out fantastically cheaper. This is the first summer in her life she hasn't nedded any other supplemntary food. I knoe it sounds contraindicatory, but swapping to this single supplement (I buy the sack) has really rationalised her food bill. We have also made a scarifice in that instead of keeping her in livery over winter I am keeping her on some neighbours land and doing their old horse for them. Instead of £25-50 a week for diy I'm paying £10 and schooling in the field while the ground holds out. When the ground doesn't I'm hiring and hacking (on those barefeet!) to a manege. I won't gve up mine either, but I'm finding there are comprimises that are very easily livable with.



Thanks for your advice. Im lucky, as I have three, 2 ponies one horse which all together cost approx 145 per month. I keep them in a field at the end of the garden which I own, and I turn them out all daylight hours and they are stabled all hours of darkness if you see what I mean! The horse is shod as he needs shoes and the two ponies are trimmed. There is only one farrier available to us and he is very reliable so cant really shop around! I do keep them on woodshavings as otherwise they develop coughs, this is expensive I know but not as expensive as the vet. Then they have hay and I feed a handful of pasture mix each night. In the winter they are rugged. At the moment I have found it hard to get hold of shavings so am having to buy tham from the shop which is a bit more expensive. I do all the work myself and the vet comes to do boosters and rasping once a year barring emergencies. Its the woodshavings that are a killer though, Ive got a load on order, (although they are not coming til November!!!!) and they are going to be £394 for 90 bales delivered. 90 bales lasts me approx 4 months.


On the non horsey front - Ive opened the Halifax 10% account and have started making payments! And I nearly have enough clubcard points to pay for my MOT/service in March, so time to save them up for other stuff as well.

lostinrates

Coutrygirl....I'd really think about the feeding. (I'm an equine scientist with a basic grasp of nutrition, no higher nutrition qualifications) but the handful of pasture mix is one of my pet no-nos,

Re the bedding, we used Foddington Fibres elephant grass last year....it worked out very economical. (I use a lot of bedding). Anyway, it works out cheaper than your shavings delivery you get a significant discount on the first order, and it makes a great beding. I'm a confirmed disliker of dep litter, but this did make a super semi-deep bed, cut my bedding use in half!


I agree though with your farrier, if he's good hang on to him. :T

villafan10

right, I wish to join this thread.. stats as follows

Income p/a: 21,300
Insurance: £1,800 this year (for motorbike and car and should come down considerably in November and January respectively)
Mobile phone: 35 p/m
Lodging: 200 p/m

That's pretty much it. Add on that petrol and other normal expenses.

I started saving in June and have got £1,800 so far as per my signature. I am currently saving £500 p/m but hopefully can up that to over £600 p/m in November due to first years no claims on motorbike. I aim to save £25,000 on my own in 3 years and think this is massively attainable but would by the same token still represent an achievement in my eyes.

playing_with_fire

An update from me as I have been very lazy and not posted for ages.

Quick reminder of who I am....27, my boyfriend is still studying so it's just me saving, the plan is for us to live together once he finishes his studies....at the moment not sure if we will rent for a bit, it all depends on what the housing market is doing.

Am very excited as when I get paid at the end of the month I will break the £25k barrier, which feels like a huge milestone and I will have an approx 20% deposit for a property of around £125k in price. So I still have around £5.5k to go before I have a 25% deposit (and then I have to save for fees etc.) By my calculations I should hopefully have 25% by the end of April.

Phew...getting there.

lostinrates

For the first month we are not going to meet target savings ironically the IFA fee is part of that, but we had some silly spends (self indulgent!) and some necessary ones too. All we can do now is see how close to target we can get this month and make up the diference next month.

Bone_Idle

I've been looking at our budget again, and it looks like we're going to have to put less away in monthly savings, not more! This is mostly because I've increased what we've got allocated for bills, just to be on the safe side, so if it turns out I've been over-cautious there should be a spare bit of money somewhere. But it's very frustrating! Best have another look and see where else I can squeeze things...