The "Save 12k in 2019" Thread

Excellent tips, thank you everyone
I'm definitely going to do a daily Tilly Tidy as well as packing lunch for work (my team are terrible for delicious takeaways that just make me poorer and fatter), I think I've successfully set up adequate standing orders to various accounts to cover regular expenses like car expenses etc. We just started keeping track of spending on fuel and food, allowing £400 for each per month (I have a long commute) but thinking we really should be able to reduce that and anything we come in under can go to savings. Also hoping to make some mortgage overpayments as well. We just moved in the autumn and now have 28 years remaining on the mortgage! That's got to come down!

Thank you for the tips and motivation.

Novice_investor101 wrote: »

I've joined the January Grocery Challenge thread to track my food/household spending. Set a budget of £50 pm (I live alone!) & keeping a track of every penny. Stopping wasting food is a big one for me.

- planning & booking my summer camping trips in advance. Pitches are much cheaper booked now than nearer summer. I go in whatever weather, so no danger of losing the money spent.

- banned myself from JustEat

I just wanted to echo the recommendation of the January Grocery Challenge over in OldStyle Moneysaving - it is well worth reading the first few posts over there as there are some top tips. I personally brought our monthly spend down from over £700 to just over £200, albeit our human food machine left home six years ago. Also a range of cheap recipes that are well worth dipping into to minimise waste.

Re booking early to save money - this is a good tip - I'm seeing the camping crowd tonight and will suggest we agree and book this while they are staying here for the next couple of nights - (another tip - Party at a home, with everyone bringing the food and drinks so it does not fall on one person. In days gone by our children came too and we organised some games for them and they all slept in the lounge overnight).

Finally Just Eat - very tempting but what are we paying for? a premium to a platform provider that is not even going to the business providing the food. It is basically a sophisticated version of the old Yellow Pages. You are absolutely right. I will send DH to collect any take-aways we have from now on ! :rotfl:

Even the most simple act of keeping my receipts & logging how much I've spent against my budget really helps me think about what I'm buying/spending. I've done another little shop today, as I've unexpectedly got the day off work, & was mindful to only buy a few of the bits that are on my long shopping list already (the Big Shop is due...) so I could make some tasty lunches & dinners today & tomorrow. I've just bought them a bit earlier.
If I'd not been doing the challenge, I'd have had all sorts of rubbish in the basket ....

I am so excited to get started on this tomorrow

Will be saving into a help to buy ISA, stocks and shares plus a flex saver account.

HTB and S&S are not to be touched but flex savings will be used for holidays, special occasions plus any emergency s through the year.

Hi! Please can I sign up for 29419.55? (Yes, quite specific number there for a reason!)

Good luck everyone and happy New Year!!

For the readers amongst you, who actually buy books - I realized how much I actually spent on books after doing my spend review for 2018 a few days ago and almost had a heart attack...

I just found Libby! It's an app that lets you borrow books from your local library for free (you just need a library card). Super awesome & I've decided that I'm not allowed to spend one penny on books (used or new or ebooks) in 2019 and instead use Libby! Hope it's helpful to some of you too!!