To ask how much of this you should/could save?

[Terrazzomazzo]

After putting 1400 towards bills into the joint account. I have approximate 1800 left. Settle an argument…How much of this would you expect to save?

it is used to cover miscellaneous expenditure - coffees, lunches, kids treats, kids clothing, pocket money and fuel for one car.

What's the issue as you havent said?

If you’re under 40 you could open a Lifetime ISA. This can be used for pension or to buy a home if you haven’t already. If you save £4000 a year into that the government will add £1000.

Who is it that you’re arguing with about savings?

I pay same proportion of bills as dp.we own our house so that’s mortgage and all bills.He then saves more into our holiday fund then. He earns slightly more. We both have our own ample savings (separate)

The dc are not his so I do not expect him to clothe them. I don’t get maintenance from their dad but if I have a huge expense then he will give me half.

the argument is actually with my mum. I said I save 850 per month between 3 accounts. She said I should live a lot more and save 500-600 per month and I was restricting myself.

I would tend to save like you

especially if you are happy with your life and what you do in it

the question is why does your mother say that? Are you often not doing things because of money - and is that just a way of saying I really don’t want to spend money on that rather than i am short of cash ?

I will sometimes say, oh I can’t do that yes, or we will be shopping and she will see a nice lamp etc for the new house and I will say, no it’s too expensive (house items I will half with DP anyway) but even a jumper etc. I sometimes won’t justify a large price.

That is after pension is paid. I have no debt aside from my mortgage.

Instead of “it’s too expensive” try “oh it’s nice but not THAT nice” or “it’s nice but I don’t need it really “ or just fib and say you don’t really like it or DH will hate it

you mam wants you to have nice things after all and enjoy life so she needs to see that you do ( assuming you are not secretly pining for the lamp)

On threads like these, I always wonder what the savings are for?
As in, if you really want a jumper but don’t buy it as you’d rather put the money ‘into savings’ is that so you can buy jumpers in the future, or so you can have money for Christmas or can put it towards a bigger house in the future or for your retirement?
What I was saving for would impact how much I put into savings out of any amount.

Big things to save for include losing your job, big holidays , early retirement , bigger home

middle things include household repairs , replacement white goods and cars , Christmas, normal holidays

as a general rule if you don’t want something that much, wait till you do.

in my case - rather than buy something that’s nice , I’ll buy something I just love.

What are you saving towards ?

Also I don’t think it’s just “you have to save for a purpose”. Saving for the purpose you don’t know you have yet is fine

I people just think “you have to spend for a purpose “ where “that’s nice” or “because I like it” isn’t a purpose

it’s just one of the ways people are wired differently

Given what you have said about the kids and the uninvolved ex, I wouldn't ease off the savings, if you need to put the kids through university, the current student finance rules will mean you are expected to contribute quite heavily

My savings accounts are
emergency fund- this is at just over 1.5k
car-for anything car related - at about 1k
main Savings - nearly 70k. I don’t know what this is for tbh…
myself and dh have a holiday fund also

@childofthe607080s i do have income protection etc.

A new boiler would be ? 8k
a new to you second hand car could be 15k
that’s not huge savings for major expenses

He is involved, I just don’t get maintenance. He has them 50% of the time, but he earns slightly more. We halve costs big costs. Uni is accounted for as the have a trust from ex dh family.

Ah ok, sorry for misunderstanding

Yes which is why I add to it as much as I can.

I would like to get my emergency fund to 2k and keep adding to the 70k as much as I can.

I'd be making sure we'd got savings for longer term things - holidays, one day having to replace the heating system or the roof, replacing the car when needed, etc, maybe thinking about savings for the dc if they go to University, and then to help them with a deposit for their first property, etc., and then I'd be overpaying the mortgage.

I wouldn't be looking for things to spend it on 'just because it was there'.

If you are happy with what you are saving and don’t feel like you are restricted, that’s all that matters. I have a decent amount of savings (to buy a house) but that doesn’t mean that I’ll waste my money and spend it on things I deem as unnecessary or not worth the value, whereas I have friends that think I’m mad. They have a completely different attitude to me but that’s fine.

£800

£800 into savings pot, £200 into a rainy day pot that you can dip into as and when needed or for unexpected things (even just impromptu dinners out)

You sound very sensible

Ignore your mum, it's terrible to try to push you to make unnecessary purchase you are not interested in.

Put it another way: you are in debts (most of us are 😂) Your mortgage is a debt. Saving as much as you possibly can, while having a life, is more than sensible.

if I think about the mortgage too much I may cry 😂 but I know what you mean. I feel like I do save enough but I may try to save a bit more and rest myself.

Stop discussing it with your mum. There's no correct answer, so you just have to phrase any answers as personal choice not right/wrong.

You sound more financially sensible than your mum. I just wouldn’t discuss it with her any more.