To feel utterly deflated that it’s ‘only 12k a year’ and to ask when is enough?

Three things:
You managed to leave an abusive relationship with your DD, you’ve kept you both safe.
You have managed to pay off 17K of debt.
You have managed to save 12K and will continue to add to it.

OP you should be very proud of what you’ve achieved.

Your brother should be too. Pay no heed to him, just keep on keeping on.

Your brother is an idiot. That is an amazing turnaround you have achieved. And that's a bloody good rate of saving.

That is a very good amount of money to save as one person. I don't know why your brother has put your efforts down. It was mean of him.

Thought this was going to be about earning 12k a year. I know many people who work full time and earn that or less over the last decade. If you are saving 12k a year you are doing better than well.

Hah! Wish I was able to save even close to that. I have a joint household income and we still barely save £500 between us.

You are doing brilliantly and I am jealous!

And yet another knob bloke !! You ARE doing well x

Congratulations OP. That is an amazing achievement. I am struggling to save £100 / month at the moment.

Just ignore your brother, you should feel really proud of yourself. What a brilliant future to create for you and your child.

Ignore him, you're doing brilliantly...incredible in fact. hat's off to you!

OP, you're doing absolutely brilliantly. We don't save anything a month, only just manage (two pretty low incomes) and I worry all the time about not being able to save. I'm generally very careful but there just isn't enough to save regularly.

Please give yourself a big pat on the back! Sounds to me like you're absolutely smashing it.

Your brother is horrible. Saving £12k a year is amazing and very above average in these tough times!

Saving 1K per month is incredible! Not many people can say they are able to do that. Paying off a 17K debt is also incredible. As is being a solo parent. Most of all, having the courage to leave an abusive relationship is especially incredible. You are doing so well in life and creating a safe, secure and loving environment for your daughter, you are a great role model for her. Hold your head high and be proud of yourself. Of your brother wants to chew a wasp then leave him to it.

That is amazing OP, don't let him piss on your chips.

I’m 50, 2 abusive relationships bit of whom took everything. will likely never be in a position to be able to save £200/month let alone £1000.

Your brother kust live in an entirely different univers to the I know.

£1000/pcm is amazing

The vast majority of people I know would not be able to save that each month.

OP is not just £1k a month you are saving, you’re also paying off your mortgage. You need to see that as a saving too - it’ll come straight back to you when you sell up. Then if you have a pension, that also counts as saving. £1k a month PLUS whatever is going into your mortgage AND a pension is very very VERY good!

I don't know what your brother is up to, but saving 1K a month is excellent and more than most of us could manage. If the boiler broke your savings wouldn't be 'wiped out', they would be 'used' to replace the boiler without incurring any debt. Boilers don't cost 12K anyway... Ignore him.

Thats a really substantial sum, ignore him.

I assume it's what you can afford to save (and of course still live decently), and you're not spending 50k a month on champagne and gigolos?

If so and he's normally a supportive brother I would take it as well meaning and slightly clumsy encouragement to keep going rather than putting down your hard work. It may be because you're considering halving your savings for some time. Have you mentioned that? If it's the right decision for you then that's what matters.

That’s fantastic - I would consider what you’re saving for and set a limit, surplus could go on improving your lives now or paying your mortgage off a little earlier.
I can understand you wanting to share your good news with your brother - his reaction was really crass.

I think he's feeling a bit jealous actually.

Don't talk to him about this stuff anymore

(and that would be an extraordinarily expensive boiler)

£1k is great and your brother is a misery guts, yes a new boiler would wipe it out ( actually mine was only £2k with fitting) but likely you'd be able to stretch payments of something like that over a longer period at a low interest rate and not use your savings.

Are you saving to the detriment of anything else? DD is only young once so if you are missing out on days out or full cupboards I'd save £750 and use the the £250 for fun things for the two of you

I am ‘good with money’ in that I have never been in any debt (apart from ‘necessary ones’ ones like student loan and mortgage etc) and I’m a bit uptight about saving so is not like am spendy sort and I think £1k per month is an incredible amount to save OP, and you deserve a massive pat on the back. Your brother is being unnecessarily dismissive. Yes it could be wiped out by a new boiler but if you continue doing it it won’t be. What a start. Keep going, you’re doing amazing.

1k a month is immense (as is paying off all that debt)

And it will really grow once you start to invest - so once you have an emergency fund start to do that, even if you reduce savings to 500 that is still a lot and will grow

There is a women's investment education type organisation called vestpod who do courses on financial literacy and investment, they do burseries so if you were interested I'd think you might get one. It's run by a woman called Emilie

Your bother is possibly just dense, or maybe a bit jealous - you've achieved a lot

It’s a lot to save but not very financially savvy when you have a mortgage unless you are also overpaying a similar amount?

You are doing brilliantly.

Paying off 17k is amazing.

Not sure what planet your brother is on! I think the majority of people cannot afford to save 1k a month! That's loads!

I think I'm doing well if I get my rainy day savings up to £400! And you're saving more than double that in only one month!!