Saving up £5k in a few months - best ideas

[TheLever]

I have to save up around £5k in the next few months. (For context, I have already been saving like crazy I am 5k from the target I need)

• I work full time 9-5 and cannot do overtime for extra income in my type of job.

• I could get a part time job but it can’t affect my current job so not sure what I could do to work more hours - open to suggestions. I have no skills to offer in terms of making crafts etc.

• I am selling things on vinted and not doing too badly (also Facebook market place where possible)

I have a disposable income of £1500 - how much do you think I need to live on in a month? (After all bills paid).

• I have to drive 20 miles round trip to work and back every day. Car is 1l engine. I walk everywhere else
• food for myself 3 meals a day. I don’t have much time to invest in batch cooking but I could fit it in…. If I made effort 😂 I like nice healthy fresh foods I don’t eat takeouts. Reasonable budget without being too gruelling and unrealistic?
• toiletries - what is a reasonable monthly budget? I do not get hair or nails done and I have all my make up I don’t need more. Just the basics?
• I will not buy any clothes or shoes at all
• bloody CHRISTMAS is in the middle and I have a big family with lots of children - reasonable budget?
• I don’t really drink or go out so not including socialising
• I have cut down all my subscriptions already
• I have a cat. Food is on subscription, needs litter

TLDR how much could you live on per month out of £1.5k AFTER all bills with one cat and a commute to work without it feeling too much like you are in prison 😂

thanks!

Have you seen the payments for bank swapping bank accounts?

Yeah actually considering doing this too. Thanks. Is there a really good one out there?

Re Christmas- tell all the adults you're not doing presents this year. Kids- a chocolate Santa, usually about £2 each.

Babysitting in the evenings?

Write down all essential outgoings that must be paid, rent/mortgage, bills, petrol, insurance etc. then set a cash-only weekly budget. Get the cash out every week and that is what you use for food and pretty much everything for the week.
We did this for 6 months before moving and we had 3 young kids. It was pretty life changing as it made us realise how much we wasted on stuff we didn't really need using our cards.
All I can say is it worked for us.

Just my own arse to keep after all bills?

200 miles per week commute is about £30 a week.
Cat litter/food £10 per week max
Basic as fuck food £40 per week

Assuming you have access to some funds for emergencies (new tyre, washing machine goes bang) I reckon I could save £1100 a month out of £1500. That's without Christmas though - can you just tell folk you can't afford presents this year because you're saving up?

I really think I could do £1100 without Christmas in the mix! It is stressing me out hence considering how to make extra income.

The only emergency funds I have is my savings fund which I am paying into.

@peachescariad I have started doing this, very interesting! I do think I eat too many exotic foods in all honesty 😂

There will be a lot of seasonal jobs coming up in retail / bars / restaurants over the next few weeks if you can fit in a couple of evening or weekend shifts per week.

I saved fast by moving as much to savings as possible once my bills were paid and I cut out pointless spending. I think I’d saved £3k in 8 weeks when I first started.

Actually that might work. Put most of it in savings and have to transfer it over when I need it. This will be giving myself a budget I will have to think before I spend anything. I might leave £20 in there for as hoc but transfer food shop each week

Instead of gifts at Xmas, could you do home made ‘vouchers’ instead?

So for your mum/sister/female relative; A SPA night in using stuff you already have?

for kids; arts/craft activity, baking a cake together, movie night at home with popcorn?

for their parents; babysitting voucher?

@TheLever Lloyds bank are doing a £200 switch offer which is the best I've found. A few others are £175-150 so you could do a couple of switches over the next few months

Bank switches - check out https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/compare-best-bank-accounts/

Bar work for a few months?

Make sure getting best interest on savings.

Cut down on Christmas presents for the family - discuss with them.
Cashback sites for presents you do buy.

Review what you are spending, it sounds like you are on top of this.

I don't want to sound snippy, but you can do that easily with £1500 disposable a month.

I'm living on just under £1k a month before bills. And I have a car and a dog. I have an old house which is yet to see a month go by without having a tradesman have to visit.

I'm mortgage free, thank god, but still manage to pay the bills, go out for a meal with friends once or twice and save £250 a month towards things like Christmas, MOT (I move that money straight over so it's out of my bank account and into a separate one).

I'd recommend cancelling all unnecessary subscriptions. Switch your phone to a sim only contract if you can (I pay £8 a month for unlimited calls, texts and 16gb data). Check to see if you get a cheaper energy tariff at home and switch. Use cashback sites like Quidco when you shop online. I'd also suggest shopping online for groceries and get the cheapest possible delivery or click and collect slot. I go to a cashback site, choose my supermarket, click the link and the cashback usually covers the delivery fee - and seeing your online basket cost makes you review and ask if you really need the this and that which are £2 each.

Cut back on your Christmas gift purchases. Everyone will understand. For next Christmas, start saving in January. Remember the saying - people who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

Obviously, I don't know how fast or urgent you need to get the £5k, but you can easily save £1k a month, at least, imo.

In the nicest possible way, I don't see how this is stressful. Depending on what you mean by 'a few months' you need around £1000 pm, which is easily doable.

Fuel isn't much, £60/70 pm, say £100 pm if you get out and about at the weekend.

Basic toiletries for one person cost virtually nothing. Fiver a month? It's noise within a grocery budget.

Cat it depends, but about £50 pm month?

Even if you say £500 pm for these things and groceries, you have £1000 pm to save. You can add some slack to the budget due to the suggestions in this thread - change bank account etc.

How many DC are the 'big family'? Agree not to buy anything for just about all adults - few things are actually wanted/needed and it's just a waste of money, time and resources.

DC - give them all £20 in a card taped to a selection box.

If your target is to get a mortgage or similar be careful switching banks a couple of times wont affect credit rating.

It may be a bit late but not is the time to look for seasonal work in shops for Xmas.

@Bjorkdidit I didn’t ask if I should be stressed or not, thanks for your input 😂 CHRISTMAS is stressful is what I said. Anyway saving up for £5k in a short timeframe, I don’t know who wouldn’t find it a bit challenging?

Anyway. I found some part time flexible work so I can see how that goes. I will be clobbered for tax I am sure!

@Fluffycloudsfloatinginthesky yes good point. That is what it is for. I will be careful. I don’t need to increase my income to afford the mortgage, I need the savings by exchange but I can’t really predict when that is going to be, very dependent upon the chain. Below is no issue, above has some complications. The faster I can gather the money the better just in case

You can one a new bank account, start 2 charity direct debits and use this bank account as the one with start with the switches.

I’ve made £200 in 4 days! Selling on vinted and some extra work. I keep the faith it will work

For one person you could easily save 1k a month plus. Idea for next year is I work out in January how much Christmas and bdays for family & friends (plus allow £200 for car MOT & minor repairs) and then split cost by 12. I transfer that over on pay day. I’ve been doing this around 15yrs and the months I have a few bdays and Christmas I really appreciate it.

Christmas....I'm not sure how good a cook you are but I started baking my own biscuits. Very easy to do, a batch of ginger, a batch of chocolate ones and a batch of lemon cookies or something. Only costs egg, flour, sugar, cocoa etc. Got some cheap bags on Amazon - they sell pretty little cookie bags, with attractive seals and bows, plus a "home made with love" sticker and food allergy sticker as a batch. They're quite small bags so easy to make mixed bags of cookies and distribute to friends/family/children. Very cheap, everyone appreciates the effort of homemade goods, and the bags look professional but pretty.

After a few goes at biscuit batches I actually got the hang of it and at one point, when I was trying to raise a bit of cash, I managed to sell homemade biscuits locally too. I did it through the church/family/friends rather than commercially, because if you do it as a business you'll start to need food handling certificates and health & safety inspections. But selling to folks you know is acceptable without these.