Motivate me to save money

[Myusernameisnotmyusernameno]

Myself and DH just got married. I actually wrote a post the other day about house deposits and turns out I need at least 5% and I'm already 40. Got stuck in renting when we were very young. Anyway in this area you need a lot so I'm writing this lighthearted thread asking you to motivate me into saving this money and not frittering my salary away on total crap like I normally do
I get bonuses every quarter as long as we hit target and he is in a band so gets a bit from that but right it seems like it's going to take forever! Thank you x

We are doing this currently, my mortgage application will go in in early December.

Initially we went through our bank statement with a fine tooth comb and cancelled everything we don't absolutely need, except our family Spotify subscription. We have small accounts attached to our main one where a monthly amount goes for fuel, groceries, pets, holidays etc. The day before pay day I transfer any excess into savings. All holiday savings now go straight to house deposit savings.

We also paid off everything we owe. So the £210 a month that went on car finance now goes straight to savings, I earn around £200 a month extra as my student loan has been paid off so that goes straight in and so on. Having zero debt was also a condition of my mortgage offer so better to do it sooner rather than later.

We've cut our grocery budget by 25%. We're terrible food snobs so this has been an easy saving.

We sold everything we don't need. We don't go out often at all now (but do still treat ourselves to a drink out occasionally so we don't lose heart) I have become an overtime fiend and DH has picked up the slack in the house while I'm out.

Truthfully it's not much fun and I'm unsure how sustainable it would be in the long term. I'm glad we have an end point in sight, but seeing the pot grow is somewhat addictive

Skip eating out or getting takeaways, coffees etc. We saved a fortune over lockdown and learned how to make our favourite Chinese and Indian dishes at home.

Only shop and Lidl/Aldi and if you go close to closing time there are bargains to be had.

Try not going grocery shopping for as long as you can to use up any odd frozen food, tins and packets you already have.

Don't impulse purchase anything. Always wait a day or two to make sure you really need/want it.

Best of luck, op.

I am actually really excited about it. We have some debts as well so going to clear those one at a time and free up more money as we go!

@LagneyandCasey

Skip eating out or getting takeaways, coffees etc. We saved a fortune over lockdown and learned how to make our favourite Chinese and Indian dishes at home.

Only shop and Lidl/Aldi and if you go close to closing time there are bargains to be had.

Try not going grocery shopping for as long as you can to use up any odd frozen food, tins and packets you already have.

Don't impulse purchase anything. Always wait a day or two to make sure you really need/want it.

Best of luck, op.

Such good advice. Thank you

Syart tracking what you spend. Every penny. And track your savings to see it grow - that motivates me anyway.

My tips which have not already been mentioned:-

Giving you inner voice a speech about how saving can help you weather storms later in life, praise yourself every time you do and give yourself a treat which is free- walking in leaves, beautiful music, a funny film and savour that feeling of joy.

Reverse psychology:- go to an expensive store and pick out ten items you really like. Either buy or add up how much they cost. I’ve done this- over £1000 for a couple of dresses and suits that were beautiful. I was literally sickened at the wastefulness and put them back. Instead I search for really beautiful items that are cheaper.

You have to change the way you think so it becomes second nature to question yourself before you buy something you don't really need. For me the problem was I kept putting stuff on credit cards and thinking I'd just pay it off with my next bonus, but then when I got the bonus I'd want to spend it on something nice - you can guess where that ended up. What worked in the end was building up a sense of resentment about all the other people who were getting to live well on my money, mainly the middle managers at Visa who were getting lovely holidays paid for by my interest payments and my smug landlord living a life of early retirement leisure because I was paying his mortgage instead of my own. When you start thinking like that the lovely soft jumper and the artisan gin seem a lot less attractive.

@raspberrymuffin

You have to change the way you think so it becomes second nature to question yourself before you buy something you don't really need. For me the problem was I kept putting stuff on credit cards and thinking I'd just pay it off with my next bonus, but then when I got the bonus I'd want to spend it on something nice - you can guess where that ended up. What worked in the end was building up a sense of resentment about all the other people who were getting to live well on my money, mainly the middle managers at Visa who were getting lovely holidays paid for by my interest payments and my smug landlord living a life of early retirement leisure because I was paying his mortgage instead of my own. When you start thinking like that the lovely soft jumper and the artisan gin seem a lot less attractive.

Absolutely right! I'm definitely going to think of my smug landlord and his 20 houses but he won't do certain things in this house whilst I pay his mortgage. I'm just going to keep that thought in my head every time I click on PayPal credit now

Unsubscribe from online shopping emails.
Bulk buy stuff or Amazon subscription to minimise supermarket trips and the associated impulse buys.
Allow yourself a certain amount of fun money or you will go crazy and splurge.
Rather than going out for family/friends Christmas meals or having multiple dinners at home host one big (bring a plate/bottle if your lot are into that kind if thing) party for everyone. This saved us a bomb one year when we were saving up for a long holiday and turned out to be great fun.
Meal planning etc, see frugal threads.

I saved most of my house deposit through sheer frugality. I'd set money aside at the start of each month, as well as looking for ways to save money throughout the month and adding the pennies or pounds to the pot. More fun than it sounds and I really love my little house Good luck!

Ooh yes, I also delete all the emails that come into my inbox that may potentially be luring me into spending money.

So I open my inbox to 10 emails, 8 will be for clothes shops, holiday companies etc and I swipe left on them without even reading them. Immensely freeing as it turns out

I had to transfer a min amount to savings as soon as I was paid - if I didnt do that I would have spent some/all of it and had less to spend. We also kept a certain amount of disposable income each week and that meant we never had to take money back out of savings for birthdays, christmas, school uniforms etc.

If you dont mind saying, how much will you be getting a mortgage for? (I am curious as here in Ireland we have to have a minimum 10% deposit).

I used to be very wasteful with my money, spending for the sake of it on basically crap I didn’t need. After another trip to the charity shop dropping off brand new stuff I’d never used I had to change.
Over the last 6 months I’ve totally changed my mindset, don’t feel the need to treat myself etc . Some good tips here already but I think once you see your savings starting to grow it motivates you into actually not wanting to spend the money.

For hardcore saving question yourself every single time you go to buy something.

Learn to say no to things you don’t want to do. I remember we didn’t go to one of DH cousins weddings. We didn’t really like him that much nor see him often and the wedding would have been about £500 to attend as needed two days in a hotel and it was long distance.

I am amazed at how compliant, weak, overly nice, scared or whatever loyalty people feel going to events they don’t want to. What a waste of time and money.

Another thing, if you haven't got premium bonds already set up an account and a direct debit to buy every month, minimum is 25.00. Amazing how it racks up. In my first year of doing this I won 50.00.
Also go through your house and sell stuff you don't need and give someone a bargain.