No rainy day funds

[anoniem]

Hi you lovely lot

Not sure if this is the right place but is anyone else struggling to just get by. I’m on a healthy income so I won’t be eligible for any support from the government but sometimes I just feel I have little to nothing left to save for a rainy day. What do you guys do? Any tips

I don’t want to be a complainer because I know I am lucky, but I just feel stuck in a rut, unable to see the woods through the trees

how do you save? What tips do you recommend? Please let me know it’s not just me feeling this.

It's not just you! Everything is so expensive now. My husband and I are struggling to make ends meet at the moment. We're hoping he gets a promotion and hopefully next year will be easier for us.

We are the same. Holiday are a thing of the past, just days out here and there now. All i hear is folk going abroad, i really dont know how they do it.

Same here. We're on two reasonable wages, but by the time we've paid for nursery and all the regular expenses, anything we've optimistically put aside, gets used up for car repairs or similar.

I looked at holiday prices recently and was shocked. My 5 year old is desperate to go on an "aeroplane holiday" but I had to dress it up as how lucky we are to be able to go to different camp sites with our camping things instead...

Same here. We on paper are quite well off but we have had lots of things to pay for lately, big bills, and had lots of things go wrong in the house that have eaten into our savings. We are about £500 worse off than this time last year with mortgages going up and dp being made redundant and getting a lower salary job. I could do without the expense of Christmas but we'll have a nice time regardless. But yes food has gotten so expensive and my teenage sons are a hungry tribe

our salaries look good enough on paper but by the time we pay the mortgage, bills and childcare we don’t have much left at all. In the past we’ve saved up for home improvements and new to us decent cars. I don’t see us being able to do either for a very long time. Life feels really different now. Even when we stop paying nursery that extra will be going on higher mortgage payments when the fix ends. Life feels a lot greyer.

I transfer 2/3rds of our disposal income to savings on payday so I have to make a conscious decision to transfer it back to spend in small chunks. It makes saving far easier when you see that number go down and down. When it's already in your current account it's far less of a psychological barrier to just work your way through the whole lot.

Online shopping stops a massive amount of impulse purchases. We recently stopped doing them and our bills have shot through the roof. And we are eating far more crap.

Back to being organised it is!

This is a great idea - I'm going to start doing that. Pulling money out of my savings hurts me every time so I'll really think about it before doing it!

Pay yourself first , as soon as you get paid transfer some money into savings and it will help - money sat in a current account feels different to that in a savings account

It doesn’t take long til you start getting hooked on seeing that amount get bigger and you start questioning every purchase. A good 50% of the time I realise I don’t absolutely need it, or it can wait til next month, so I get that lovely warm glow of seeing a higher savings amount each month.

I have an instant access savings account with a great rate - transfers arrive within fifteen minutes.

We're the same op, never been so skint but on a decent salary. It's depressing. We have a plum account linked to our current account and it siphons off money each week. You don't miss it going out and it gives us a nice pot of money for Christmas/summer

I forecast my outgoings a few months in advance into a spreadsheet based on this rule:

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-the-50-30-20-rule/

So 20% of my total income goes in savings, sometimes more. I ‘pay myself first’ and move the money into three accounts - an easy access Chip account, a regular saver with Halifax, and I buy Premium Bonds.

Is there any stuff you can cut out or back on to save more?

I have a Monzo account and I have pots for everything. So when I get paid it immediately splits out like this, into separate pots:

• Bills
• Annual bills (a savings pot for bills that I pay on an annual basis)
• Groceries and household spending
• Car savings (for maintenance and MOT costs etc)
• Emergency savings
• Christmas savings
• House savings (currently saving for a new kitchen!)
• Holiday savings

I leave myself a small amount of discretionary spending. Once that runs out I have to make an active decision to move it from one of the savings pots which makes me think much more carefully about spending. I never touch the emergency or car savings, only the latter three. That way the essentials are always paid for, no matter how tough times get, and we always have enough for food and the bills (which in itself makes me massively privileged, I know).

Thankfully no debt and I like the idea of 50-30-20 but 20% of my take home pay means I can’t pay for bills or essentials. Hopefully one day.

I hate that you are feeling the same, but I’m glad I’m not the only one (sounds so selfish, I’m sorry). I just feel like my savings are getting smaller and I’m not spending anymore! Childcare being the biggest chunk 🙄 some good ideas on here, I will definitely give them a try and keep you updated x

op we are the same ... its called the squeezed middle ... we will always be squeezed and then everything we have worked towards will just about pay for our mediocre care.

If you are lucky enough to get a pay rise in 2024, assuming it’s paid on time in month 1 treat yourself with the extra net income. From month 2 onwards increase mortgage DD repayments by 35% of the net increase (bearing in mind any restrictions) increase STO to savings by 35% of the net increase the remaining 30% is probably going to be needed for food and bills increases but may give you an extra treat or two.

Ain't that the truth!

yes! 🙌🏽 like I’m not resentful for those on UC, because I’m lucky enough to earn, but I do get frustrated that there isn’t much support. When (not if, trying to talk it into existence) I win the lottery you lovely lot will get a share too x