To think you can’t save if you simply don’t earn enough?

Yes it’s true. Poor people don’t deserve downtime with their families.

I think quite a lot of people could work a few more hours than they do though.

A parent who could fit in 3 hours baby sitting each Saturday night while their spouse was at home with own kids, could easily add £150 a month.

100% this. We're all told we need to pay into pensions. But if you can't earn enough to meet your monthly expenditure (I'm not talking a daily coffee, I literally mean rent/utilities/food), how the hell can you afford to pay into a pension?

Save?
I’ve never even earned enough to live within my means.

I think people do look for ways.

But they’re not machines. They can’t work every hour.

Plus the unemployment situation is quite bad.

Well it all boils down to what is considered 'essential living costs' really.
Brutally, housing, commuting costs, basic food, chilcare and household bills are 'essential'.
All of the other add-ons which are seemingly 'essential' such as two newish cars, family days out, activities, soft play, date nights etc because 'we live in one of the richest countries in the world' or 'I refuse to let my children suffer' or 'I work hard so should be able to afford a coffee when i want one' or any of the other reasons often given on MN to justify discrentionary spending as essential, not so much.
Lifestyle creep has meant many things which were definately luxuries even 20 years ago are now regarded as everyday spending.

To be honest if I had nothing left each month after paying the essentials, I'd be desperately looking for any way to increase my income.

100%. I’ve never understood the MN obsession with saving. What are you saving for? To pay your own care home fees when your friend who had nice holidays and Starbucks coffees gets hers paid for?

I think sometimes there is an over focus on saving small amounts and not eating avocados and not enough on the bigger picture -

Your income - I find it incredibly depressing how many people have written themselves off as having low earning potential from a very young age. I'm not saying everyone has the potential to.earn 6 figures but almost anyone without an intellectual disability can do something to better their earning prospects

Your living costs - lots of people haven't been very thoughtful about where they live and why. E.g. moving might mean you don't need to run two cars, might have better childcare options so you can work a different job. Or on a more basic level getting the very best deal on utilities

Financial literacy is very poor. I have seen people say it's not economical to work because in the school holidays they would pay more in childcare than they earn - not really counting the fact that they could cover some weeks with annual leave and they should average out the cost over the whole year.

There will always be some people who really can't save a penny but I don't think there are that many.

I was discussing this with my other half just last week. My view won't be popular...

Leaving aside people who have no possibility of increasing their income (e.g.too disabled to work) if you need more money in order to put some aside for savings, emergency fund, pension, you HAVE to take on better paying work. That usually means longer hours, more responsibility, being in a decision-making role where you are accountable if things go wrong.

Partner and I started our working lives in NMW jobs but now in our 50s we have more stressful jobs and get paid commensurately for that.

Sure, you're going to have periods of your life where you have bugger all income and are just treading water, but as life goes on and kids leave home you have more time available to retrain, seek higher paying jobs and take on more responsibility at work.

If you do NMW work your whole life you'll have NMW money your whole life.

Well it very much depends. Of course a significant minority of the population don't have enough to cover very modest basic essentials let alone save money each month.

But many other people could save, if they reduced what they spent on what they see as 'essentials'.

Is their phone SIM only with a cheaper smart phone, eg £100-200 value, changed every 4 years, so average cost under £10 a month, or do they have the latest high end phone with a £40+ monthly contract?

If they had £50 left at the end of the month, would they save it or spend it on a takeaway?

Is their hair cut and colour £100+ at a salon or do they spend £30-40 on a cut and finish at the local hair dressers and use a £5 box dye?

Etc etc etc.

Everyone can save- some can save £1000s a month, others may be only able to save 1p a year.

I know some people who claim to be poor yet they also have a flat-screen, colour TV!!!

We had years where we were on the bones of our arses. Could not save as could barely meet expenses.

Things got better and we now have substantial savings. You cannot save what you don't have in the first place.

Whilst there are indeed some people who do make very unwise and careless spending decisions, a lot of people genuinely do not understand what it's like when you don't have enough money coming in - or just enough but none at all to spare.

They do it the same if you ever mention that you don't have a pension - all the wonderful 'advice' about how it will be harder for you when (if) you retire, so you really should get a pension - as if they have them in a big box in the park and you can just take one.

It's always a giveaway when people give you all the 'tips' about how much you could save or redirect to something better, if only you stopped buying all of the little regular luxuries that they believe everybody buys - which you couldn't hope to be able to afford anyway! If you don't have a spare fiver to give to Starbuck's in the first place, you also don't have a spare fiver to spend on anything else!

I used to be able to save and put aside £500 a month. Not only have I not had a pay rise in 3 years, everything has gone up in price massively. I’m fed up with it all.

Of course, its basic maths.

My entire food budget used to be £12 a week, I didn’t have hot water as I couldn’t afford to heat it, as I was on a water meter I had most of my showers at work, the only way to save would have been to eat less or default on either my rent, council tax, electricity or water.

Even the government likes to get in on the act and blatantly exploit poorer motorists who can't afford to pay a year's VED in one go. If you can only afford to pay monthly, they take advantage of you and pump you for extra over the course of a year. It doesn't even cost them any more in admin, as all the payments are automatic.

Electricity costs more from a pay as you go meter than billed

I think pp might be thinking of the thread about compound interest?

Here's a link to a compound interest calculator: Compound Interest Calculator | Hargreaves Lansdown https://share.google/2a2rXU4no6YVJTmgs

It shows how your money grows and snowballs the longer you keep saving. This calculator also allows you to work out how much ypu need to put away each month, or how long you need to save, to achieve your savings goals. Relatively small amounts over a long period can give you a really nice sum, much higher than what you contributed.

Absolutely this
There was a great thread about how even small amounts accrue interest and how a long term apptoach to saving gets you an astonishing return
The PP Vinted idea is brilliant

I think that's many people. There isnt much left after bills and some spending money

If you dont have spare money you cant save. Many years ago l was a single mum, living on benfits and part time work, l couldn't even afford to eat and heat my flat, no way could save. Just made sure kids were ok.
Then life got better and l could save, managed to get a good savings buffer.
Last year my DW had an accident, she cant work, im now a carer for her, we are using our savings to top up carers and attendance allowance. They will be gone in about 3years and then we will get more benifits once we go under the 16K...its all swings and roundabouts, although l wish we had spent our savings having our best life.

Well done. That's a great habit to start. It may not feel like much now, but it will soon start snowballing, especially as time goes on and you can afford bigger contributions.

So many people don't start savings bc they think it's not worth it if you only have a few quid spare, but it's starting the habit that's the first step. Then you start building on it, and when you start to see results it actually becomes addictive.

A LISA is a good choice for this as you get your tax back from the government as a nice monthly bonus, and it's not freely accessible so you can only use it for a house deposit, retirement savings or if you get seriously ill, no frittering it away on a rolex! So you can look forwards to a nice retirement bonus.