struggling to save

[Zizi444]

We bring home about 5k per month wages/tax-free gratuity payment, and we get about another 1k in various other bits and bobs. Our essential outoings aren't that much - about 1k max, with another few hundred for phones and so on. We have around 150k savings, but can't seem to add anything more. I know on paper we have a decent excess, but in reality,there's always something. How do others manage to save?

Well I suppose the first question is ‘what are you spending £5k a month on beyond your essentials’

Yes, you're clearly spending a lot on either non essentials, or annual and irregular things that should be part of your budget eg insurance, car repairs, Christmas, holidays etc.

Look at your spending,preferably over the last year and see where your money goes. Either download all the transactions into a spreadsheet so you can categorise them or perhaps use a budgeting app - there's a current thread with ideas.

The Moneysavingexpert money makeover will walk you through reducing the cost of things like broadband, mobiles etc and prompt you to think about cancelling subscriptions you don't use, to maximise the money you have available to save or spend.

Then you have to think about what you want or need to do with your money. This would depend on your age and life stage, eg if you're coming up to retirement age with a mortgage free forever home and good pensions is very different to if you're 30 and needing a big deposit for a mortgage, planning to start a family and only making minimal pension contributions.

Do you not budget? Even somewhat loosely?

So, you've got £4500 a month just disappearing into thin air? £54k A YEAR with absolutely no idea where it's going, and nothing to show for it?

You apparently have no idea about money. The problem isn't ' I don't have anything left at the end of the month to add to our massive savings pot' but ' I have no idea where I'm missing £150 a day'.

Start a spreadsheet op. Every single penny spent gets recorded for a couple of months. You'll figure it out.

I think you've miscalculated, your essential and other routine expenditure is unlikely to be only £1200-1400 p/m. Additionally, are you only considering monthly expenditure, and factoring quarterly / annual expenses : car & home insurance, water, gas, electricity, holidays, etc.

I’m confused…..you have £150k in savings but are struggling to save? Without meaning to be rude, can you see the irony? How did you save that?

@Zizi444 The key for me was a STO into savings the day after payday. It’s harder to take out.

You need to go back on bank statements. Write out everything you pay on bills, food, housing, any extra subscriptions or payments. EVERYTHING. any regular payments like SO or DD. MSE has a template for outgoings.

You need to then look at where quite a large chunk of the rest of the money is going: cash withdrawals, card payments. It’s a lot to just disappear. I mean you do have savings, they are nearly how much our house cost when we bought it!

You need to then work an amount to save every month, that comes out of your bank just after payday. I don’t earn anywhere near your incomings but that’s the first thing u do is send savings out to accounts/individual savings

they budget to spend less than they earn. Even if you had double your essential spend at £2k a month, you would still have £3k surplus each month to play with.

Understand what you have spent over the last 3 months
Target areas to cut
Pay yourself first on pay day by treating your savings/investments as another bill that has to be paid.

You have £150k in cash savings?

What is your plan for the £150k savings? Is this all in cash? Why do you want to add to it?