The 'We're saving for a deposit' thread

vl2588

Well done everyone :T:T:T

I have another £1k inheritance paid in now too (pending transfer so not in sig yet) - mixed feelings about this but very grateful to my dear nan for thinking of me

Austen23

Just a quick update. Things have been slow at the moment and so I've haven't been able to increase my saving per month like I had hoped. I work in the Arts which is going through major cuts so I don't think that is going to be changing any time soon. Still I feel lucky that I at least still have a job and being able to update by signature made me feel better that I have saved something since July. I'm almost up to 25% on my goal which feels like a really big milestone.

For once I had a nice letter from the tax man saying that due to a mix up with my tax codes I had paid too much tax and so got a cheque for £800! I automatically put it into my ISA so that it didn't tempt me sitting in my account! That was for 09/10 so hopefully I'll be getting another one sometime in the coming months which will also go straight into savings. It really is great to see so much positivity on these pages. Whether people are at the start of their saving or making that one last push it is great to get support. Squirrelling away can often seem very dull but the incentive to update my signature has helped me think it's all worth it!

mcbean2011

Ive set my target for Christmas of having 5k. then onto big money when im 18 woop.

Good luck people

[Deleted User]

It all continues to go well, I'm roughly half way to my final goal (51% - deposit, emergency savings, and a bit extra for expenses, fees and furniture).

It will be a while to go before I get there though - slow moving, but at least it's going in the right direction.

D9

vl2588

Excellent stuff. An extra £80 today from last month's '2nd job'

ClareyFairy

Managed to add another £500 today, have literally been living on bread and cereal. Really want to get to £20000 by December

themightysloth

vl2588 wrote: »

You seem to know what you're doing mate carry on! £24k at 18!!! I am not on that yet and I am 29 :eek:

vl2588 - thanks for posting that! so many people on here seem to be saving huge amounts and doing brilliantly and although I know I'm not alone on this - I've only just really got myself into the saving spirit! i'm also 29, i've done ok on saving and have about the same amount saved up as you (more through luck than real planning!) but now i'm depositing money every month into the Santander First Saver account and am a lot more savvy after reading through this site - i've become obsessed! it's just encouraging to hear someone who's the same age and has a similar saving pot to me to know that i'm not alone.

loving this site and this thread in particular. :-D

I don't have a particular saving target... just to keep on doing it and review later in the year.

Thanks again to all on here

vl2588

Yup I keep wondering if I should have a target but I feel it would turn out to be either unachievable or possibly too easy and then de-motivate me to save more...so the more the better!

Channel the obsession

Svenena

Do you plan how much you're going to save? My starting point was an SOA (as used on the debt-free wannabe board), which was the basis for my budget. I put money aside every month for things which are regular but not monthly, so annual costs like car insurance, tv licence, holiday etc, and also things like presents and haircuts (so I worked out how much I spend a year and divide it by 12) - money for these things all goes into a separate account (several in fact). I then pay myself a weekly spending allowance to cover groceries (food, toiletries, cleaning products) and entertainment (alcohol, meals out, cinema etc). This allowance goes into another separate bank account. Because it's weekly, I always have more coming in once a week, which is nice (never face the situation of many of my friends, where they've run out of money a week before payday).

What this means is that, as I get the same salary every month, I know exactly how much I will have left to save every month, because it's what's left after deducting all the above. Then I can just multiply that by 12, to work out how much I will save in a year. Of course you have to factor in interest too, which I do using the regular savings interest calculator on this site (bit complicated as various pots of money are earning different rates). It's harder to predict further than a year ahead, because I don't know what will change in the future, but you can make estimates. Because I pay myself my spending allowance weekly, my monthly saving amount varies depending whether there are 4 or 5 Thursdays in the month (I pay myself before the weekend, because that's when I need the money more), but I know in advance whether it's a 4 or 5 week month anyway.

Another advantage of saving with this level of planning, rather than just saving what's left over, is that you know if you're spending more than you should on something, and think twice before making unnecessary spends, because they will come directly out of the deposit pot! Plus you can move the money to savings accounts as soon as you get paid, so you're a month ahead on interest.

vl2588

Unfortunately (I am good at excuses...) I can't plan that well what I save as a lot of my savings are made up of things like ebay sales and not going swimming due to feeling ill etc. which I can't plan. I barely earn enough to cover my bills so it's only when my car doesn't go wrong for a while that I get to put any extra in! It's working out really well so far though!