How much should I be saving?

[mytartanscarf]

I earn approximately £600 p/w (it's approximate due to two zero hour contract jobs)

How much should I be saving monthly?

Why are you hiding the thread? I'm very sorry if I put my foot in it about the pension thing, but can't we still be friends?! :)

Not pensions then. Any stocks and shares saving vehicle would be good, even for just a couple of years. Or you could BUY shares and play the markets! That'd be fun.

If you haven't found a way to hide the thread yet, TartanScarf, I'd suggest either getting a bank account which automatically sweeps at the end of the month, or do it manually (put a note in your diary for the first or last of each month!).

If you want to save more, then you can look at your outgoings, and if you want to cut back anywhere.

If you really want to get a handle on it, I'm afraid its down to writing everything down, or buying everything on card for a while, and keeping all the receipts.

I think, given any fixed amount to save will be difficult - I don't class makeup as essential, but I'm sure many (most) ladies would disagree. Given you also have a different spend pattern to traditional households, it makes it even harder to put a number down.