To think most people could save a small amount regularly if they prioritised it?

Some can some cant some dont want to.
I save for holidays my next one will cost me £3k almost finished paying.

So are you speaking from experience? I mean have you saved without being able to buy so much as a latte or is it just what you imagine other people should do?

I agree with the OP, if you actually read the first line where they state some people can't do it and that's alright. I think there will be a lot of people who have money they could save up, but not necessarily blow it, but certainly spend it when not really not needed. But as mentioned there is a balance between being a spend thrift and profligate.

There's a thing going on in this thread where £3,000 saved up is either a pittance or a lot of money, which makes no sense, same goes for the people trying to make it work out that spending £600 saved up on an emergency is a bad thing, because it means you don't have the £600 anymore?!? I'd love to see the mental gymnastics in action to an explain how that's not worse than going into £600 of credit card debt for the same emergency?

I used to be in a lot of debt, and have clawed my way out over the years, and now in a phase of trying to save for things and not spend unnecessarily on credit cards, and buy everything on debit card instead. I send money into a savings account each month, and some of the things I'm saving for I'm only saving small amounts, two of them are holidays I hope to go on in about 10/12 years time, so yes over time the small amounts will add up.

And people saying cutting back on things to save for a house deposit isn't worth it, that's literally what me and my partner did, and that should be like the bare minimum you have to do unless you're loaded, we're living in an age of instant gratification, where people want the newest and fanciest things instantly, in total disregard of any negatives, and that's how so many people are in debt problems nowadays.

I think the concept of financial resilience has been lost and I think this is a much bigger motivator for setting aside a small amount each month. Savings and debt are two sides of the same coin - with saving you put aside each month to (hopefully pay for something in one go) or you can use debt and pay for it in one go but have to put the money aside each month afterwards often for longer. £50 gives you £600 a year plus a bit of interest. I have just needed to spend £80 for a tyre for my car after managing to drive over a nail and our fridge is on the edge of dying. We do have the income where we can pay for these things straight away but not every one is.

It's a reason I think the savings accounts the government offered ( possibly still off) for people on certain benefits were a really good product. You could/can save £50 a month and at the end of year 1 you get 50% of the maximum amount you have saved in interest even if you have had to withdraw the money before the end of the year. It builds in the idea of putting aside a small amount on the months where you have a little extra to make the months where you have extra costs less problematic. (Or at least this is close to how the accounts worked to the best of my recall!)

When my grandparents were starting their family my gran rounded up her rent so that it was paid over 11 months instead of 12 months. The "rent" money in the 12th month was then used for Christmas.

My great grandparents and the two generations before them were poor-house poor and the concept of buying extra storable foods in weeks that you can has stuck. This has come in handy a few times where for whatever reason we have been unable to get to the shops and we have been able to survive a week beyond our normal shopping frequency. They used when rather than not being able to get to the shops they couldn't afford to go to the shops.

My great grandad collected 20p and had a homemade tube to put the in which held £10 worth of 20p.

For those talking about treats and experiences - this can absolutely be used in the same way. £50 a month could give you a £600 a year treat and experience budget if you were on a tight budget.

I think there's probably a thing with cost of living now, that people feel they should have nicer (not sure if that's the right word but more glamorous/fancy) lives on their income than they can afford. People hit certain salary points and feel it should mean they can buy certain clothes, holiday more, drive a certain car - it means people end up spending more I think. Things like insta etc, mean people are always bombarded with the nice things out there and the stuff that's available, they can immediately order it on credit online. I think in the 90s (as an example) more people had slightly crap cars bought 2nd hand in cash, people went away less, interior decor wasn't really all that great, we didn't have to buy tech because it was basically just a bigger tv or not.
It's hard to save when all of these things are marketed 24/7 to you and you're encouraged to think it's normal to have it when you work hard. Debt is also normalised, SiL built up 13000 of debt just on holidays - that she continued to go on whilst the debt built up, and she viewed it as all normal.

We do save really hard, and I think if people knew what we earned they'd be shocked because we drive a 2nd hand car with 112k miles on the clock, and shop at Aldi/Tesco and buy clothes on Vinted, but it's so we can save for the kids and retirement (and nice holidays that we pay upfront for tbf). I think ours is fairly unusual in approach.
It's also the cost of housing - if to save a deposit you need £100k, setting aside £25 a month is basically pointless- so I can see that being tricky for young people.

yes i think you are right about that.

I know. From my experience some of it was tradition / cultural. Showing people you can have your own money to spend on what you want took time to see that you could then get more value in different shops.

The biggest reason was not being able to spend the money before xmas .

Is that right ? How lovely for you, you probably aren’t their target audience then

I find NO works

Good high pressure sales people

I love my ‘Save the Change’ savings account. Whatever I spend on my debit card is totted up daily, and the difference between it and the nearest £ is saved. I wouldn’t save it physically, but it adds up over the months.

I am the same. No way I’m stashing up money when I could be enjoying it 😂

That's fine since it's your choice to make. The only issue I have is if people in your situation claim that they can't afford to save. The truth is they can, they have just decided not to.

I do understand, it's about differing priorities but i was answering the bigger picture and the point OP made of saying people can often save even if it's small amounts but their choice is sometimes not to. Our society is bombarded with adverts which are designed to part us with our cash and to get us to equate spending with a pleasure reward. Go on treat yourself, you deserve it messages everywhere which are encouraging superficial, short term pleasure purchases which can be at the expenses of our future long term happiness.

I spend all my spare money on gigs. Each one brings me joy and it’s been my ‘thing’ since I was a teen (I’m now 55)

I’d have 1000s in the bank if I stopped but would it be worth it?
Life is for living and sadly can also be very short for some.
I pay into a pension but nothing else. I’m unlikely to ever change!

Absolutely this!

But surely you can still understand why other people may feel differently to you?

It's one thing saying "I would rather have savings" and quite another pretending that you don't understand why anyone would want to spend some money on something fun occasionally.

I also think having 4 children is different to having 1, as to an extent, you have a ready made group of friends to hang out with. It's different when you have one child who wants to join in with their friends.

😂 I dunno... I'm not the OP, am I?

I guess I honestly value having a rainy day fund over spending on take out food which is massively overpriced. I can only spend that money once and it doesn't seem good value to me. I raised 4 kids as a single parent for the most part and my parents died a long time ago. I had to become my own financial safety net and for my kids. Having money to cover periods of unemployment. illness, replace car etc was worth more peace of mind than takeaways, new TVs etc.

Saying no to icecreams for 4 kids plus me was a given, it was out of our budget and would have meant living hand to mouth each month. What we did have is amazing picnics, a huge extended friendship circle and lots of fun on a budget. I don't feel it was missing out. Just different priorities.

I think you're right.

There's also a big difference between choosing the thermos or the homemade sandwich, and having absolutely no option but to have it - every single time.

have no idea why anyone uses a hamper scheme company.

I think they just have no idea how grinding, relentless and mentally oppressive poverty is. How different “monetary treats” look when you can’t possibly afford them and have to live with your children constantly missing out. Does anyone remember that awful documentary where Michael Portillo had to live on a pittance for a week? He treated it like a fun intellectual challenge. It gets old quite quickly, unfortunately.

I'm on the fence but sadly that £3k could be eaten up in seconds with a home maintenance emergency when you're back to square one. I've been there! However, at least that meant there was no need for a loan or interest.

It's awful when the press push stories about some young adult who's managed to save gazillions and then it turns out that either their mummy and daddy gave them a huge wadge of money to kickstart things OR that they've been living for free or for VERY low rent at mummy and daddy's house and have been able to save loads.

I am pro savings but I also know there are people who would benefit more from using that money to pay off existing credit card debts or loans BEFORE they start saving as the interest is what makes the difference.

That said, I think it's CRAZY scary on here when people mention that they've got no pension. Like, what are you expecting to happen?!?!

I do not think you can generalise as everyone's finances are different, and people have different needs , priorities and appetite for risk. For instance if your parents are wealthy and generous you can risk having few savings as know they will help in emergency. Buying a car that is reliable and under warranty may be a better bet than a knackered old banger. A good holiday may be the help you need to cope with a stressful job. That may be worth more than a small cushion of savings

I don't understand the mentality that monetary treats are good and better than free ones. Surely cheap/free ones are even better wins.

Are you genuinely saying that you can't understand why someone may want to buy their kid an ice-cream at the park, or meet a friend in a coffee shop occasionally, or grab fish and chips at the beach?