Motivating stories of money saving...

[Buddy80]

I am 6-months into money saving. So far we have downsized our house (a much smaller rental, closer to everything), got rid of one car and cut back a lot (meal planning, selling un-needed stuff).

We are doing well and the savings are starting to show...a trickle effect. We are saving for a deposit on a house, that's our main goal.

Thought we could share our stories and it may help keep some of us motivated. I know for a lot it's a necessity but wanted to make this a happy thread.

[Ememem84]

I'm in. We are also saving for a house. Hoping to sell our lovely flat (which I don't want to sell but nothing short of a lottery win would allow us to keep it...) during the next 3 years and buy our forever home.

We played with saving last year, but now things have gotten serious. I am off work this month, due to start new job next month, and have been selling things, de cluttering, and trying to live as frugally as possible, without it affecting our lifestyle much (so far so good). I have made £200 selling things on ebay so far. am also meal planning, and am determined not to waste anything.

Luckily new job comes with a bit of a pay increase, so that will help a lot.

In terms of money savers, we are currently paying 20% more than we need to on our current mortgage in an attempt to pay it down as much as possible to enable us to get more cash from the inevitable sale of lovely flat.

I am planning on saving at least £250 per month. I already have about £2,500 in savings kicking about, and am going to really start being sensible with money. shopping is my downfall. If I don't need it, then I'm not buying it. Am trying to go until feb payday without buying anything for myself. so far have managed it.

Bonuses from work are usually paid twice a year (if we are lucky and get them), and in the past I've frittered these away on seemingly nothing (new handbag, clothes etc). now these will be saved.

Credit cards are paid off and I've had to go through and delete all card history from internet shopping. credit cards are for emergencies (or big purchases) only. No big purchases coming up, so no need to use them.

[Buddy80]

Oh bless you Ememem84 thanks for replying!

[Buddy80]

I am going to post with more detail of mine, once I get back

[Ellisisland]

I'm in too

We sold flat in London a couple years ago and moved out to be nearer family. We are currently renting looking to buy as soon as we get a deposit together. We have a few grand left from the sale of our last place but we used the rest to clear debts etc
Started seriously saving this month. So far aim is £100 a week from DH wages as he gets paid weekly. Then £200 a month from my wages (am currently on mat leave but still get a basic pay for 8 months) so that's £600 a month. Sounds good but I know from experience it only takes a car breakdown or something to drain savings so fingers crossed nothing like that occurs!
Our target is £26k. Hoping to buy in 3 years. Seems very far away would be good to have others doing the same to stay motivated !

[Buddy80]

Yes, that sounds like me. Sold the flat, quite a few years ago. Been in rentals ever since (got 2-children). The rentals have worked out fine (we have been lucky) but it's gotten to the stage where should buy somewhere. Need to save another 13k. This could help me stay motivated.

[Ellisisland]

We have been pretty lucky with the rental as well but we should have bought somewhere by now too. Still I was working part time before this mat leave so even with savings I don't think we would have qualified for a mortgage. Am going back to work full time on a higher salary at the end of this year so that should help but need to up the savings. I really want my own home again now!

[Buddy80]

Ellis, £600 a month is really good. We just find that extra expenses just pop-up each month. I am hoping part of the frugality drive cuts back on that!

[Lucy90]

We are also saving for a house, we need about 8-10 grand. Currently trying to save about 200 a month. Im starting a 4 year nursing course in sept so we are living with MIL until ive qualified. This saves a huge amount on rent and means we will be in a better position to apply for a mortgage as ill be on a higher wage.

[banananugget]

Hey can I join please? I have just bought a house and need to seriously save. I'm looking to overpay my mortgage by nearly £75 a month (rounding it up) and save £200. I'm also paying £30 a month as spending for disneyland paris so in 4 months I when that is paid for by will save that money too. I'm hoping to save other money here and there too but that's my minimum plan. I would like to save at least £6000 (3 months salary) and I'm also saving for some work for the house (aprox £2000-£3000)

[Buddy80]

Yes! Join us banana

Congrats on buying your house!

We are making small savings as well. Started gardening more, but for veg and herbs that have a good yeild.

Also trying to be aware of false economy frugalising (yeah, I am understanding it is sometimes cheaper and less faff to buy reading made )

[Ememem84]

Budget is done. we are on. new house in 2017..boom.

I am working out ways we can save money and am driving DH crazy with money saving ideas (all sourced from the interwebs). Some admittedly are bonkers.

So far we have:

no massive flouncy holidays this year;
no wasting food;
meal planning;
sell everything that we don't use/need (am following the marie kondo threads and am decluttering everything that we don't absolutely love);
use car as little as possible - tried today to run all my errands at once.

the big one for DH will be the holiday. he was brought up having fancy holidays every year (at least twice). he is already sulking

[Ellisisland]

Em - j sold everything j could think of last year and I got really into it! Ended up making about £600 and I would never have thought I had anything worth selling before! It is amazing what people will buy. I sold everything from old clothes and shoes to DVD box sets and perfumes. It became a bit of an addiction!

[Ememem84]

it's great. So far this month I've made almost £200 on ebay. I get annoyed though if people watch items i have to sell then don't buy them...!

[starfish4]

banananugget, congratulations on your new home. We moved last year, knew we were taking on a larger mortgage (fine) but we need to save for an unexpected expense which we didn't envisage and don't have the money for.

We've mainly cut back on food shopping by approx. £100 per month. It was a bit of a struggle at Xmas, but now I know we can live on less and still eat. DH is also making homemade wine (works out approx. £2 a bottle and tastes ok as well), so that saves a little.

We've cut back on clothes spending, ie only buying what we really need not just because we fancy something or because something may only last a few more months.

Also, if we go out we're taking sandwiches with us more. I've tried to stop having coffee & cake in town, but on occasions I really can't wait until I got home I've gone into Wetherspoons and had coffee (which I recommend) and biscuits for £1.45, which is a good saving on the usual £3.50.

[Perfectlypurple]

We always pay off our credit card so never pay interest but ended up using savings to cover it if we spent more than we should. So now I take cash out of the bank and put it in a tin, we use that when we need to get shopping, and I regularly see how much we have left and how much per day we have. If we get through without spending much we may treat ourselves to a takeaway or something.

I also bulk buy things like toilet roll, kitchen towels, tea bags on groupon. My family laugh at me but it does save money and it means the money in the tin goes further as I don't have to buy them from that money. It does mean an initial outlay but worth it.

[corkgirlindublin]

Joining if thats ok :-) We are a family of 4 renting with big childcare costs. Both of us work. We'd love to get out of the rental trap and hope to buy in 3-4 years. I am hoping to save around €500 a month. We are currently debt free and have no credit cards or overdraft.

[proudmummywife]

Hi everyone we just bought a house and I love it. We were very lucky as my brother gave me loan of 15k so we paying him 1k month to that's paid. We have 13k debt also so once my brother is paid we will pay it All off :) can't wait to not worry about loans and once we paid off if I doby have the money I don't get it! I've managed to cut down on general spending and got my groceries down from 100 week to 60 :)

[Buddy80]

Ugh, had a bad month this month. I really thought we would do great but then it just did not work out that way.

We have decided this month we will take out the "housekeeping" in cash, to stop all the quick trips to the supermarket and help keep a better track.

So far we have £0 saved for the house deposit!

[proudmummywife]

Awh it so disheartening buddy isn't it. Is it unexpected bills or food/shopping bills set you back?

[Buddy80]

Yep! 2-months in a row. I combed through the bank statements over the last month and although we "appear" to be frugal, we can do better.

We have cut a lot out with this house move, so, we are being even more frugal from now on. When we moved, we got rid of the dishwasher, tumble drier, a car.

How is all your money saving going?

[proudmummywife]

Really well we have stopped earrings out so much I don't go to shops at all cos I always buy something I don't need. Quit asda an Tesco as I always ended up buying things like dummies socks towels clothes for kids that wasn't needed. I can cook a meal every evening under £3 for two adults 3 kids. I shop between Iceland and lidl now saves me a fortune. When I need go get milk or bread I don't take card I keep fiver in my purse so bread and milk is all I buy. I bought larger freezer few months back and that has saved fortune an so much waste. We got Chinese every Sat night and I've been making my own curry that's £20 saving week in itself. Started sending ds school with packed lunch and dh same as he was breaking tenner day on lunch. This will sound weird sometimes I'l shop online fill my basket an look at it then reason why I don't need it and empty it again lol

[proudmummywife]

On my phone eatting out I meant

[Buddy80]

proudmummy that sounds really good. How long have you been doing this?

You are right, it's all the "quick" trips to the supermarket. Something I need to curb.

[proudmummywife]

Been doing it past 5 months and keep getting better at it. I buy large bag potatoes every week for £3 off my mums friend. Frozen veg from Iceland and mince £2 lidl is good I'd do mince spuds cheap dinner. Sausage bacon spuds beans cheap too. Spaghetti Bolognese one night it's only 49p bag pasta in lidl and the sauce in my opinion is better than any other. Meatballs is £2 in lidl me 7 yo Ds loves it. I have huge tub batchlors curry powder friend orders it for me thru her restaurant for £20 does me few months do it once week. I get large bag of sliced chicken Iceland does me 4 meals maybe 5 and costs £5. Iceland burger pizzas are sons fave at 89p and the fish fi gets are so good from lidl proper fish fillet in batter only 1.20 for 15 something like that. The biggest secret is big freezer so u don't rub out so quick an have to run to supermarket u go into buy milk an come out 30 pound poorer lol

[proudmummywife]

Where do u do your grocery shop buddy? Next time take exact change u need for bread milk so u can't spend any more