Money resolutions for 2018

[chockaholic72]

Bit different from the becoming debt-free thread - I don' have any debt (apart from a new mortgage), but not much in the way of savings or an emergency fund and frequently guilty of having to live off pasta and pesto at the end of the month. I got my will done last week and have decided that 2018 is the year I'm going to get my shit together money-wise. I'm going to try and keep to the following as much as I can:

1. current account for bills, direct debits, food and petrol.
2. short-term savings account for non-regular payments - car repairs, small house maintenance, hairdressers, clothes etc.
3. savings account for long-term savings - holidays, large expenditure on house or on a replacement car
4. stocks and shares ISA
5. one food shop every fortnight (single, no kids -realise this isn't realistic for everyone). No top ups apart from fresh fruit and veg.
6. ride my bike to work more and cancel the gym membership I don't use
7. stop buying Rapha cycling kit until I've cycled enough to use the petrol money I've saved to pay for it
8. stop eating so much bloody chocolate

Anyone else got any good ideas I can snaffle to help me stick to my resolution?

Not sure about good ideas but I am going to make an effort to cook more at home, not just get readymeals.

Also the usual cut back on chocolate but I know that won't last long.

2018 needs to be the year in which I secure a long term job, before I spend too much of my emergency fund. Having been made redundant a few months ago, I am not enjoying doing nothing as much as I initially expected. So job hunting will be high on the list but also thinking of other careers that might be suitable... childcare market has changed a bit over the last decade so maybe time for a change.

I am also giving myself the mission of learning more about investing. A friend brought be The Intelligent Investor book for Christmas, so having a read of that - it's from the 1949 but the principles apparently are still sound today.

If you have no debt other than mortgage then you are doing well.

Have you heard of Dave Ramsey? His steps to wealth are:

1. Starter emergency fund.
2. Pay off consumer debts.
3. Increase emergency fund to 3-6 months of expenses.
4. Invest 15% of income.
5. Invest for children's future education.
6. Pay off mortgage.
7. Invest more of income and give more to others.

Each September I work out a financial plan for the following year and then I spend Sept-Dec working out if it's feasible.
My main aim is to find the best balance between having a good life and providing a good childhood for my dcs and over-paying on my mortgage.

One good savings tip I read on here was that every Friday, check your current account and round down your total to the nearest £10, putting it into a savings account. I've been doing this for the last year or so and have saved up nearly £1k without really realising it!

Come join us on the Frugaleers thread over in Credit Crunch - we’re a group of people doing exactly what you’re trying to.

We are in the same position as you OP - only a mortgage debt wise but no a lot saved. We only overpay £50 per month on our mortgage. In September our eldest will go to school then in Jan 2019 our youngest will get 30 hours childcare so this is the year our childcare costs will start to drop (it has been over £1000) at one point. So I want to:

-Start overpaying more on the mortgage
-Put a bigger proportion into savings
-Go on holiday

My goal for next year is to start an emergency fund. DH wants to save £1000 just to leave in savings in case a disaster happens. As it stands we have no savings.

To spend as little as possible.

Yes I need to get my act together too. I would also like to find a way to regularly save for Christmas - any good ideas anyone?

Best you can do on savings is about 1.5%. Regular savers look to pay more but the actual Apr is much less.

I have a standing order for £500 to go in a separate account for bills, all my DDs come out of that account.

I overpay the mortgage by about £2000 a year.

I have a standing order for two regular saver accounts: one for 3-6 months worth of salaries, the other one for long term investment (I am aiming for £1000 which will then go into a stock and shares ISA)

I pay whatever I can afford to lose into a high risk stocks and shares ISA, just £30 per month.

For treats, I have a £2 coins jar, when it’s full I go and splurge on treats.

I also menu plan, so I reduced the food bill considerably.
HTH

Easiest way to save for Christmas in my view is to simply decide how much you will spend on Christmas and then divide by the number of months until then. So if you have pay coming at end of Dec you can put some of that and then the same amount in Jan-Nov.
Eg: £600 / 12 = £50 per month.

Putting it in any savings account you like. It isn't there for the long term so interest is not really that relevant. If you get some interest, consider it a bonus.

Keep it simple and low risk.

I have 2 current accounts with the same bank.

1 for wages & direct debits.
1 for food & petrol.

They sweep any money from the wages account on the 20th each month & put it in a savings account.

My cousin came up with a simple one last night. Not sure if this is applicable to everyone, but my council tax is paid over ten months, not twelve. She says she always puts the two "missing months" into her savings account, which would be £300 in my case.

I do that with my council tax chock. I also treat child benefit as being paid monthly rather than four weekly and put the thirteenth payment away as savings. So that and ct is automatically £450 saved.

Yes, I need to get my shit together with money. DS will be 18 in 18 months so I'm going to put away the maintenance and child benefit from now on until then - may split it between overpaying mortgage and saving. Got about £125k outstanding on mortgage over about 14 years, but will be able to withdraw some of my SIPP in 3 years (depending if my financial advisor manages to make any money on it..) and hoping that a combination of overpaying and my SIPP will allow me to pay it off.
So another aim for this year is to be more proactive with my investment.
Also to build up my 3 month emergency fund again.
To save for home improvements.
To grocery shop more carefully and use up what's in my overflowing freezer
To earn more money - either by moving job or doing a side gig.

Luckily DS will be ok, he has about £7k in a savings account he doesn't know about yet which will hopefully go towards a home deposit when the times right. Plus he will get my SIPP and the house (paid off through the death in service benefit from my employment pension) should anything happen to me (god forbid).

can I hop on here please?

I'm saving every bean in prep for freelancing later.

I also need to revisit current savings plans to make sure I'm getting the max out of them.

I want to reduce the cost of the food shop as much as I can. Currently shop at Aldi but want to make a lot more from scratch and really save even a couple of spoons of leftovers and buy from local producers.

frugaleers thread mentioned to me before but when I popped in it was things like "I bought a silk skirt reduced to £60" and I thought, this is not for me!!!

Pension?

Ive come home for a cafetaire coffee, instead of the cafe. Ive only saved £3 but this is exactly what mindset I need to be in.

LadyGAgain - is that a general question to the world?

I have one but I'm not hugely keen on pensions - they change the conditions every five minutes so savings are more important for me.

I'm in a bit of an opposite boat. I'm trying to save a deposit. Have a bit of debt, no savings and 2 kids.

Currently retraining for a better job so income will improve but not for at least for 5 years so I need to do what I can.
This is my plan so far.
Get rid of sky.
Reduce food bill
Meal plan. I work long days and often the food I buy goes to waste and we end up with takeaway.
Stop buying takeaway.
Check all direct debits- mobile phone bills, 're they out of contract? Can I get cheaper electric bills?
Need to set up a savings standing order.
Need to check my tax is correct and im not overpaying.

That's what I have so far. I was thinking of setting up an ironing business to earn a bit more cash but not sure how to start really.

SnipSnip you can use www.gov.uk/personal-tax-account to view your tax code and estimate for how much HMRC thinks you will earn in the tax year. Can be useful for checking that your tax from employment is correct.