Every month I fail at this

[Coffeephile]

Morning,

so I really want to save more money each month. At the start of every month I tell myself that I am going to be careful so that I can put a chunk of money into my savings account. Each month I just don’t manage to achieve anywhere near the level of savings that I should. This month is a good example of this. Admittedly we did go away for a weekend at the start of the month. I get paid next week on the 26th of June. I have £280 in my account this morning. I need to do a top up good shop and also put some diesel in the car, so in reality This is going to drop to £180 by the end of the week. I am sick and tired of failing at this.

I’m the same as you- one thing that has really helped is Plum. It’s an app that automatically puts money into an account and does round ups. I’ve managed to save over 600 pounds which is very unlike me!! You can access it immediately if you need it but I found the more it built up the less I wanted to dip into it.

I had planned to have more than that but cost of living isn’t helping.

Move your savings on payday, not the last day of the month. You're only saving what's left otherwise. Pay yourself first (savings), leave enough for regular outgoings in your current account and anything left over is your fun money for the month which you need to make last.

I have a transaction tracker so I can easily monitor spending
Can you actually afford to save where is surplus money going? Are you under budgeting?

Having a regular saver set up could help if you're sure you can afford to save but you don't get organised each month to do it. They're usually fixed for 12 months on a decent interest rate, and allow you to pay in something like £10-£250 a month. Decide how much you can reasonably afford.

You can't access the savings until the account matures though, so they're only worthwhile if you already have a rainy day fund you could access instantly if you needed e.g. an expensive car repair.

I used to be like this until I got hardcore with myself and just stopped the little spends I would do. And stopped giving myself consent to have a little treat here and there because I'd been good. I constantly was up against it when the last few days of the month came around and in the end I had to concede that it was my own fault. That's my advice therefore. Be more careful and frugal until you are where you want to be financially. THEN get some treats.

Have you reviewed your budget to check that you can afford to save the amount you want to save?

Have you accounted for annual and irregular expenses and do you save up for these in advance?

When you booked the weekend away did you think about the cost and how it would be paid for?

If the answers to the above are all yes, what are you buying that you haven't budgeted for and did you need these things, if so, you probably need to adjust your budget. If you just wanted them, did you want them more than you wanted/needed to put money aside?

But it's not been a complete failure, it looks like you'll be able to save £180 this month, which is great.

Have a look on Moneysaving Expert. Loads of tips on how to set a budget, reduce your costs to free up more money to save and spend, and advice on how to stop spending on things that don't bring any value to your life.

There’s a saying ‘pay yourself first’ which means putting your money into savings first. It’s amazing how you can cut back when you don’t have the money available in your current account.

Get an instant access saver account and transfer £200 on payday each month. Then if you need to dip into it, you can transfer it over. If not, transfer it to a fund with higher interest rates.

Before doing a top up shop, check what's in the cupboard, fridge and freezer, and try to create as many meals as possible from what you already have.

Put the money into savings as soon as you get paid then you don't have it to spend.
What kind of savings accounts do you have? ISAs often have a minimum monthly deposit of £50 so you could commit to something like that then that really feels like you don't have that money.
Do your research first though. Money saving expert is good for this.

I agree you need to put the money in savings at the beginning of the month, not at the end. Equally you need to budget for each month not just a general budget so that it’s actually realistic - eg you know that you have a holiday in a month so you will spend an estimated £X on that but less on groceries and petrol (say), or you have a child’s birthday in a month so you will be spending extra on presents and a party, etc. Some months just are higher spend months than others which is fine, you just need to be aware of where your money was planned to go so you know what was actually an unexpected overspend that you could cut back on.

As everyone says savings need to be treated like a bill you pay immediately after payday.