To think it’s very bleak to be saving this and getting absolutely nowhere? What’s the point?

I feel you, @weeha. I am in the same boat really as a lone parent (also with some maintenance), and it is really hard to get ahead. Especially with the COL crisis.

What people often don't realise is that the household costs arent that different to run a home as one parent only (apart from the 25% council tax discount) but with only one income coming in, so it really can feel like being on a financial hamster wheel. Couples and families often have two incomes coming in for the same home, which mitigates issues slightly if there are boiler breakdowns, etc.

I am renting rather than owning so our experiences differ there but I've just been paid 2k for a freelance job today (a month's worth of work) and its almost all gone again now in the same morning ... hmrc tax payment, food shopping, credit card bill, etc. It is so dispiriting. And without a second income, it is like trying to stay afloat when there's a hole in the boat.

Sending you solidarity and hope it all improves one day.

What's 60000 divided by 18000? 3.333333333333333333333333... That's 3.33333333333333333333333 years to reach the goal. The very snails would weep at the slowness of pace. The boiler might have added how many 3s behind the decimal to that elongated period of painful waiting? A holiday would surely play havoc.

£1500 a month is an amazing amount to save.
I think you need to consider what your financial situation would be now if you hadn't already saved that money and been able to easily pay for the boiler and other expenses. You're in a good position.
For context, my husband and I saved up around £60k but it took us about 4 years pre kids, and we lived very very frugally during that time, it also overlapped with covid (limited opportunity to spend but we both continued working) and a big salary increase for my husband in the 3rd year of our savings.
It is demoralising seeing your savings go down, but some years are just worse than others. We had to replace our boiler and do a roof repair back to back, first time we'd dipped into our savings for years but it was almost £10k.
The reality is that being able to put that amount of money into savings means you are financially secure even if the progress feels slow.

Op if you do have that much available for savings every month and your main priority is mortgage related, why not look to overpaying your mortgage by a chunk every month. You'll pay it off so much quicker and may not need to take a break from paying it.

This post smacks of a humblebrag. You’re saving £18,000 a YEAR and claiming you’re not getting anywhere?! Even if you have to then take ~£5k a year out for unexpected expenses, you’ll still meet your £60k target in about 4 years.
About 25% of UK adults have less than £1000 in savings. You’re saving more than someone on minimum wage earns.
Get a grip!

At the rate you’re going, you’ll be up to 60k in not much longer than 3 years. You can pay a block of your mortgage and save yourself a load of interest. Maybe split the payment into different “pots” £500 for long term (pay off mortgage etc), £500 for unexpected big expenses like boilers, trees, dentist etc and £500 for a holiday and other fun things. You can definitely have a lovely holiday abroad for 3k for 2 of you. Any leftover money can go into the long term pot.

I assume you also have a work pension and are on track with state pension.

I get its frustrating to spend your hard worked for savings on boring stuff like a new boiler. But that’s an investment into your property too. It should be more efficient.

In 5 to 10 years your discipline and savings could make you so much wealthier. I don’t think it’s pointless at all.

You did well to save enough to cover these contingencies - which is what savings are for.

How has OP been 'shafted' by corrupt government and freeloaders? Did they break her boiler?

Most people aren't financially secure. Many people are in much worse financial situations than you. You are in a good position financially if you can afford to save £1500 a month, even if you have had to spend some of it on unexpected emergencies. If you hadn't saved this money, you would have needed to borrow the money to pay for a new boiler and to have the trees cut down which would have cost you much more due to paying interest.

Thank you 😊

S&P500 has gone up 23% this last year which is phenomenal. Usually only goes up 11% on average per year but as you say can go up and down.

sadly I don’t have much in it, but I’ll be looking to add to my holding on pull backs through this year.

I’ll also have a look at this one you mentioned. Thanks again

Saving 1500£ a month. I feel so sorry for you. Lol.

Fuckin hell, £1.5k a month and moaning. You’re just deliberately winding people up now.

I understand completely how you feel about managing to save so much, and feeling secure, if only for a short while. Pre Covid, Pre Supply Issues, Pre Shortages and then the dastardly COL crisis, many of us could save a decent amount, and it felt so good, such a nice secure feeling, and it motivated us to do even better, make the little sacrifices that would allow for more savings.

All that is off the table now, for many of us, if not the majority,
All the BS that's being thrown as us now, the frightening amount of money one should have 'in the bank' for the future, for when things go wrong, is quite frankly, not only sobering but very concerning.

Best of luck OP, hopefully the bigger expenses you've had will ease up for a bit, and allow you to reach your comfort zone once more, but to get ahead and stay ahead will be very difficult.

lots Of people are in the same boat. Cost of living increases and emergency funds needed, it’s a cycle of never getting ahead. Lots of people feel the same way.

You could put £25 (or more if you want) of your £1500 per month into a unit trust or something that you cannot access until it matures in 20 years. Then you have savings for emergencies, and a lump sum as you get towards retirement.

Won't solve your feelings of security now, but will help in future. You have to watch when you cash them in though - the can go down as well as up (and also depend on how good the fund management is), but overall the return is usually way better than standard savings.

Your bank will probably give you investment advice for free, so it's worth contacting them for help too.

I save £150 a month for emergencies and felt quite pleased I have got up to £2000. I am awaiting the big expense, I'm sure any minute now !! But at least I'll have something to contribute.
I'd love to be in your position. Bet you've got decent pension too ! 🥴

How would you feel if you allocated your savings jobs . I used to have one pot and I got upset of I had to spend any .

So I now have holiday fund and house fund and it's ok to spend from those .

But I also have a much smaller amount ( £150) a month I put away that is not to be touched unless I lose my job . I ve been putting some money away since 2016 although I think I started at £50 a month - I have 11k in there now . That's not 60k but still a short term nest egg

I think I just wanted enough to pay my mortgage for a few years without working, so I wanted 60k in the bank ideally.

OP ... come the eff on. This is nice and everything, but hardly anyone can afford this. You are financially secure – you've achieved that. Some years will be worse than others for unseen expenditure. That's life.

I don't think you have a good grasp on how money works.

You do realise that's more than many people have to live on?

You are in a very fortunate position.

And you ARE secure!

I think that you are

a) being very defeatist, and
b) are too focussed on instant gratification

I also think you need to reconsider your definition of financial security. Saving up enough money to have a couple of years paying the mortgage whilst not working isn't financial security. Because at the end of it you will have no savings and no job - basically, financial insecurity.

I would have thought overpaying your mortgage would be a better way to go, with a view of being able to reduce your working hours without reducing your lifestyle once it's paid off. It won't be instant gratification though. It will take time.

Well going by your extra spends you have still managed to save some money. £1500 a month is a huge amount to have spare, I don't understand what you are worried about
Yes, so of it will need to be used for emergencies but you are still saving some

If you set yourself the target that to be financially secure you need to go from £0 to £60k in the bank, you're always going to feel like that is too far to reach.

Targets need to be achievable in stages.

1. Have £1,000 in the bank. (Sounds like you are here already)
2. Have 3 x monthly salary in the bank
3. Have 6 x monthly salary in the bank

Or which ever milestones work for you.

If you want a holiday with DD you need to factor that in.

• Once I've got 3x monthly salary in the bank, future savings go into the holiday fund to £2,000 then back to the next target.

Yes, you will have unexpected bills that come up - being able to pay them from this fund is financial security. I don't think you understand how many people live pay cheque to pay cheque and would be in significant debt if faced with the costs you've incurred.

Not having to use to debt for these costs is being financially secure.

I can't save that much a month, so you're doing well, and yes I get fed up of how quick even seemingly little things eat into savings. I am not talking about holidays, just general boring stuff like a new washer for example.

Grateful always to have savings, and to be able to use them, I just think the problem is everything is so expensive now that savings soon disappear when you have a couple of things to pay out for - and often not nice things - just boring house stuff. It can feel a bit 'what is the point' when all you have to show for the dip in savings is a boring household item. But as others have pointed out, at least you had the money to fall back on and didn't have to panic as to how you were going to pay for your boiler. So savings are always a good thing, even if they end up being spent on 'grown up' stuff.