How do you save?

[ActDottie]

I’m just wondering how others save money because I find our way a bit stressful at times.

So on pay day I put £X amount into savings based on what I know our costs will be that month. So if I know I have a big bill coming up I will put less in savings etc.

The issue is a week before pay day we then have to really budget and think about money. So I get paid on the 20th and we have £60 left for a shop this week and some petrol. Obviously we have some savings too so we can and do dip into these - but I wondered how other people do it? We can live on that £60 as just me and my husband and we try to so we don’t have to dip into savings but it can feel a bit stressful and if a friend asks us socialise etc. we would try arrange for after payday.

Another way would be to just leave all the money in there until pay day then see what is left and save that. It’ll probably make me feel better knowing there’s money in our current account but I’m worried I’d just spend it all because it’s there. So I’m just curious what other people do?

Or if there’s another method I’ve not even thought of like putting money away weekly based on what the week has brought?

No take the money out as soon as you get paid or better still set up a standing order so it goes automatically. If you wait until the end of the month you will sooner everything. May start a bit lower so say you're saving 200 a month, maybe start with £150 and gradually increase back to £200.

You do exactly as you're doing now - save first as a matter of course (treat it as any other non-negotiable bill) and then make do for the last week or so of the month.

Just reread your thread, can you go out maybe once every two months instead? If they're friends I'd be inclined to say we're cutting back etc I won't be dipping into savings for night out.

This is how I do my savings and budgeting

I get paid on 2nd of the month. Ive arranged so all my direct debits come out on the 3rd of the month or before the 5th. So Council Tax, water, gas, electric, internet and phone.

I have other money to pay through the year in annual bills - car MOT, February insurance and service September. House contents and building insurance October and AA cover for me and my family July. So car MOT is £50, + £150 for service, insurance was £250, household and building insurance was £295, AA cover £170, makes a total of £915 through the year. So divid by 12 is £76.25

I put £75.25 into a bills account by standing order every month - so every month I have the larger bills covered.

Obviously for the first 6 moths you may have to top up the bills account, but after about 9 months you should always have money in that account to cover the bills.

Then I place all the grocery shopping money into another account. So if you average £100 a week - place £433 into that account. As there are 4 and a half weeks in each month roughly. Then each week only use £100. If you want extra grocery money for December then put £450 into the account each month and you should have extra for Xmas.

I pay my savings account by the money I have left after grocery, direct debts and bills account.

Savings are simply what's left from income after outgoings.

So if I want to save more it's a case of either increasing income or reducing outgoings.

How it's administered ie soon as paid or end of month etc is kinda irrelevant imo, just personal choice.

I think you're doing the right thing by moving money to savings when you get paid. I do that, but then I also have a buffer in that I leave a bit more than enough money in my current account for the month. I virtually always go into the next month with money in my current account. Could you do that, or do you think you'd just spend it because it's there?

You can often choose the date monthly bills get taken, so I try and arrange as many as poss to come out on or close to pay day.

To even out the bills over the year, I have a spreadsheet where I add up all the irregular bills (e.g. water, car MOT, car tax etc) and divide it by 10 and pay that amount to a bills account each month except August and December, so there is always enough in the bills account but I don't have 'tight' months when the big bills come up. The reason I don't pay into the bills account in August and December is because I like to have more to spend on socialising, going out and food in those months.

I have 2 savings accounts that I put money into every month by standing order. One is an instant access account that I use for big (ish) expenses such as the car service or a holiday. The other one is for long term saving and I rarely touch it.

Always worked for me.

I transfer money to my savings account on pay day. I just treat it as a bill that has to be paid.

I do all my shopping on a credit card paid off every month. So on payday I pay off all of the last month's spending and my bills and I know I can save pretty much all the rest.

You do need to be confident that you won't overspend or fail to pay it monthly though.

Me and DP both have standing orders on payday into our joint savings account. That way, we never even see the money, so just learn to cope without it.

I do a spreadsheet every month where I forecast for the following month my wants, needs and savings amounts. These are 50%, 30% and 20% of my income. Similarly to others, in the savings bit I give myself a £50 buffer, for an unexpected social event or something and have arranged for as many direct debits and standing orders to come out on payday or the day after. Do you have full transparency about your incomings and outgoings?

I also have several 'pots' that I use and pay in like I would with a bill. It could be better as we're also paying off some 0% debt from home improvement but we will get there. I like to have some that are easily accessible, and some that are locked away.

We have:

• sinking funds for bigger bills and unexpected costs so that we don't have to borrow. Easy access. Try not to let it go below £1000.
• Holiday savings. Limited access regular saver with a higher interest rate.
• Debt repayments. 0% Credit card is on minimum payments and we're saving the balance in another limited access regular saver which is about 6%. We'll pay the card off at the end of the 0% period and keep anything left over.
• My own instant access saver where I just drip in £20-30 most months but it Soon adds up and acts as a socialising fund or for a treat for myself.

I used to do this but divided it by 12 and it was amazing how much built up in that account after a year. I think maybe I need to start doing this again, I think annual bills accounted for about £100 a month. I think I’ve just become less disciplined recently and need to get some discipline back.

I think psychologically the way it’s administered plays a part. At least definitely for me so just wanted some ideas on what other people do.

In my head I’d love to do this because I’d fee quite in control knowing each month is paid for in arrears. I’m just not great with money atm so worried I’d get carried away.

Thanks everyone it’s been good to hear what you do, I just have one savings account so I may look at opening another so I can have different types of savings etc.