To think I don’t have enough saved at aged 32?

[Redbusgoingnorth]

I have a joint mortgage with my partner, I’m 32.
I have £500 in my savings account.
I can’t seem to save anymore. We did well to save for a mortgage, but that was before I had my son. Now I seem to spend a lot of money on clothes etc for him.

How do you budget? I'm probably at the opposite end of things, I have a spreadsheet, it lists our income each month (varies due to overtime/unsocial hours payments) then a minus list of every bill we have including childcare (everything is on direct debit), a minus for regular savings for us and DS, and a spending allowance for DS. Not all of it is spent each month but it means it builds up and is there for when he needs a new summer wardrobe because nothing from last year fits him for example. I found otherwise I was buying a lot of his things from my spends just because I'd be more likely to pick them up or order online than DH. This way everything is allocated first then we get the same amount of completely fun spends each just for ourselves.
You might only want to go into this much detail once or twice a year to see where your money goes, I review ours monthly as bills -utilities etc go up and down (let's be honest mostly up), and have the spreadsheet set up so it auto-calculates everything, but that's just my own geeky pleasure!

Have you looked into getting 2nd hand clothes off ebay? And do you sell things on once you're done with them?

I'm 33 and have £800 saved so we are about the same. At least it's savings and not debt, could be worse.

Are you paying for everything for your child?

I think with a little one it is initially hard to save. I found once we got the free childcare hours we could finally put a bit aside each month. I set up a transfer from my account to different savings account to come out straight after pay day. This way I can’t forget and can’t get to the end of the month and say ‘oops, nothing left to save’ You could try doing it with £50 or something fist then increase after a few months of you can.

Similar age, we don't have much in savings at all. We've recently upsized, we have excellent pensions and good insurance, savings will come it is just hard to have it as the priority when just getting on the property ladder with a young family.

My husband is 37 and has less savings than you. I have more so we're usually OK. We budget and are careful. Fact is he doesn't earn much so after bills he doesn't have a lot left over but we're not in debt.

It is relative. And you will get a wide spectrum of people in different circumstances.

Have you got enough to get by. Are you paying childcare etc now. In time this will go down. Are you working part time now. In future this can change. Do you have the resources in an emergency.

In the last 3 years I've been on my arse broke when kids dad first left. Took all the money. And didn't pay child support. We got by just. Family helped in an emergency. Or school uniform etc.

I've cleared debts. Work more hours pay less child care still get no child support. But am able to save some
Money each month now. I'll never be rolling in it. And further down the line it will change again when the benefits stop (as kids get to 18). But I will cross those bridges when I get there. I can down size if the kids have left home. Rent out a room. Might of meet someone else and live together. Or be caring for my parents. But I know there are options.

Does your partner pay his share of your DS’s costs? I know some mums who were paying everything out of their (often reduced) income.

If yes, then your savings time will come. It’s hard at this stage. If no, you need to look at your respective spending on your DC.

You are right, you don’t have enough saved. But, at least you are not in debt. Just keep building it bit by bit.

We try and have 6 months household expenses saved. I'm 30. But it's all relative and obviously depends on how much you earn and what's feasible. We are quite comfortable but I'm tight with things like kids clothes. I buy all 14month old DS's clothes in bundles on Vinted!

As others have said, maybe look at it another way, you're not in debt and you do have £500 for an emergency or whatever. Comparing your savings to someone of a similar age is pointless... people have totally different salaries/outgoings and some people will have had more help from parents/inheritance etc.
Give yourself a break and put your energy into improving your savings where you can, if that's something you want to do- reduce your food bill slightly, buy secondhand here and there, do a home beauty treatment occasionally where maybe you might go to salon... etc! Just do bits and bobs where you can, it will soon make a difference!

Well it depends on your income and how you're splitting costs, if you're on mat leave, if you're buying a ton of designer others he'll wear once then charity shopping them etc.

I'm 39, I don't have much more but I'm a SAHM so it's hard to save.

Depending on your income / benefits you can open a Help To Save Account which has a good but limited return. I also have a Plum Account which does automatic deductions into a savings account.

Can you spreadsheet all your outgoings and see if you can save anything and ensure things are even with your partner

I didn’t have any savings at your age but I’m mid 40’s now and have quite substantial savings.

It was easier to build it up once the kids were older and I could increase my earnings. We’d gotten so use to living off one income for ten years that when I got a job we continued to live to the same budget and could plough all my earnings into savings.

If you can find a way to increase even a little bit it will start to add up and it does feel good to have money put away

For food try going down a level in poshness, so if you like a brand try supermarket ownbrand and if you like supermarket ownbrand try the cheapo version.

Do you qualify for any of these benefits?

www.gov.uk/get-help-savings-low-income/eligibility

If so you can get a help to save account - you can pay in up to £50 a month and get a government bonus of up to 50% if you leave all the money in there for the four years. So over the four years you could put in a maximum of £2400 and if you leave it all in you’d get a bonus of £1200 by the end. I’m about 3 years into mine, it comes out just after I’m paid and it would have been frittered away otherwise.

In a honesty, do you maybe buy more clothes than your child actually needs? Not sure how old he is, but at a young age I'd imagine it's easy to go overboard on all the cute outfits, the majority of which he'll never even wear, he'll out grow then quicker than you can put them on.

If that's one area you are aware of, then unless he has actually outgrown outfits, then you buy no more. Force yourself to stop buying, only if he actually needs it.

Crikey - can't see how 1 child needs too many clothes.

Very good that you are thinking about it and no, you don't have enough saved!

You will feel loads better when you get to grips with your spends and start stacking away a few more quid. You did it before to buy your home and so you know you can do it again.

Build up a nest egg 💪🏻🥚👍🏻..😉

You've saved £500 more than I have

DH and I each have savings sufficient to cover the whole household bills for 12m plus a bit of extra wiggle room, so if we both lost our jobs at the same time we'd be 2yrs before we're in a complete pickle. For the last 5 years ish one of us has been in job woe through no fault of our own, just circumstance, so we've worked hard to save for unexpected unemployment (which in our case happens far too regularly).

I'm 31 and feel your pain. I have a 2 and 4 year old. Childcare is extortionate. Our age group started our careers off in a recession and now have this to battle too. It's not easy.

At your age we were trying to make ends meet (if I am remembering correctly) . Fast forward nearly a decade and we have healthy savings . You have managed to save and buy a house,you may well manage saving again.

Thanks god the replies. I find it difficult to hold back buying things, especially for my DS.

I hope your son's dad is paying half for his stuff? He should be.