Tip on over spending!

[dancingmonkey]

I'm desperate to buy a house with my partner and really need tips on how to curb the urge to waste my money on just stuff That I really don't need so I can save! Between me and partner we have a reasonable amount of disposable income so could be saving plenty but I'm just constantly browsing online and buying stuff I really don't need.

Any tips or advice would be much appreciated!

Not really sure we can help you. Sounds like a self control issue.

Make it inconvenient, delete your cookies so your card details aren't stored and keep your cards out of your way so if you're ready to checkout your basket you have to go get your purse and the inconvenience will give you an extra opportunity to question if you need it.

I find putting money aside on payday into an account I can't view is the easiest way to save. Start by putting a small amount away that you won't miss and gradually increase it.

Write down your outgoings and how much you are going to save every month and how much you will spend.

Think do I need this before you buy something.

I found that by setting a spending limit for each week, and withdrawing the amount at the start of the week rather than using my card, I saved loads. This meant I had to physically buy what I wanted or needed rather than making those quick impulse buys in the evenings whilst on the computer.

The amount I saved each week by doing this spurred me on and it gave us a good buffer in our account for a rainy day.

Put stuff in the basket and review the day after. I bet most of the time you won’t remember what was in the basket.

Would going cold turkey help? Check out the buy nothing for a year challenges. I think someone in a similar position to you saved 22,000 pounds! Seriously, most spending is either fear of missing out or conditioned behaviour. Rise above it. You can exchange clothes with friends and do stuff at home.

We had to have s very frugal month in January. I'm self employed and had flu in December so income was massively down. We set a budget for each week and checked to make sure we stayed in it. It felt miserable but at the end of the month we had survived without the £800 we were down. I found myself thinking, hang on do we waste that much money in an average month? So then the next two months we set it as a savings challenge. It felt amazing to be saving that much and I soon kicked my Amazon habit. Just as well really because then we got locked down and income dried up completely.
It's just a question of knowing what your budget is and sticking to it. I certainly found knowing how much I was saving to be a big incentive.

Pay yourself first. By that I mean put your money into savings as soon as your salary comes in. In the same way you would set aside money for bills. Then you can only spend what you’ve left each month. I find it easy to do with my Monzo account as I sort everything into pots when I get paid, and I know I can spend what’s left.

Try signing up to You Need A Budget - once you start accounting for every penny it is easier to see where it goes and to be mindful when shopping

Stop looking. Why would you even do that if you don’t need anything? Find something more interesting to do.

Seriously. I realise that sounds quite rude, but when there's so much other interesting stuff on the Internet to read about or even other things to do in life I can't imagine ever deciding to go looking for things I don't need to buy with money I don't have . People do this?

Before ordering write down the pros and cons of ordering it, ie how much use.

I have a regular savings account which has a direct debit each month from my current account. It only lasts for 12 months but they tend to have a reasonable interest rate compared to standard savings and the money goes in without me really noticing. When the year's up you can sweep it into another savings account and start a new regular saver.

On payday, move the money to another account. As it's for a deposit you dont need immediate access, so find an account from bank that won't let you have it back out easily, or not for a certain amount of time. Moneysavingexpert has a great page for savings accounts and tells you exactly how much interest and how easy or hard it is to get back out.
As for you shopping habit, replace it with something else. If you feel the urge to spend mindlessly read a book, have a coffee, call a friend. Its just habit and you need to exercise self discipline if you want a deposit.

Have a definite amount you are looking to save, and a definite date you want to buy.

We're just (hopefully about to exchange on our first home.) We knew how much we needed, to buy what we wanted, in the area we wanted. This meant we knew exactly how much we needed to save each month. At that point, we knew that anything we spent, meant we would have less money to spend on our house.

A find a specific goal helps, otherwise it "doesn't matter" if you overspend this month, or don't put anything away next month etc.

All of these are good tips, but for me I've found the most effective is to put what I want into the online shopping cart, but not to buy it that day/night/not at that time. By the next day I've often forgotten about it, and if it pops up in my email or whatever, I often think 'wow, why did I want that?'. It's telling myself I can have it if I really want it that helps, but just not buying it on the spot IYSWIM because the impulse part of it is gone.

I agree with the other tips. Treat your savings for the house as a bill. You wouldn’t not pay your electricity for instance, so once you’ve sorted a savings schedule and know your monthly amount, get that transferred on payday.
It may also help you to factor in a ‘blow it’ amount. Even £20 a month you can spend on any treat you fancy. Want something that’s £40? You’ll have to wait until next month. Nine times out of ten you won’t want it any more. On the one occasion you do, there will be a much nicer feel to buying it as you budgeted for it.
When a goal feels hard or far away, the temptation for instant gratification is great. If the house feels like an impossible dream, you’ll always pick the temporary buzz of a new xyz. So really plan and make the house a tangible goal. When do you want to start looking? Where? Tick those months off.
Your other option is to only buy things if you sell something else to get it. So if you sell a bag for £50, then that’s £50 you can spend on anything. Hopefully you’ll see that actually it’s better off in the house fund.
Good luck. At heart I’m a real spendthrift, but you can unlearn these behaviours with determination!

Unsubscribe from every online store you can - that way you don’t get constant emails enticing you to buy stuff.

You need to remove the money you want to save as soon as you get paid and save it elsewhere. Otherwise you’ll just keep spending because you know there’s money there.

Pay your savings first, then bills, then whatever’s left you have to play with. I am very disciplined with saving (though huge caveat is that our outgoings are low which really helps!) and love watching the number in that account increase. I use a Marcus account for my savings which is online only (no app) which makes it a faff to remove money from. I also have different accounts for different things - our joint for food, my normal current account for bills, my Starling for my personal spends & then a Marcus for savings. It’s much harder to spend the money if it simply isn’t in your spending account!

I direct debit money into a savings account each pay check
Also it's worth reading Maire Kondo or decluttering books. You don't need as much 'stuff' to be happy. In fact your life will be better for it

Thank you all so much, so many good ideas on here, will definitely be doing some of this and re reading when I need motivation!

Thank you all so much, so many good ideas on here, will definitely be doing some of this and re reading when I need motivation!