Advice with budgeting/saving

hashbrown123 · Jun 28, 2020

I’ve managed to save over £2000 now and all my debts are paid off finally!!!! I’m so happy it’s taken me a year of saving to get to this point. So now I’m just trying to live within my means and save for a house/emergency fund/holiday.

I’m going to start budgeting myself £50 a week in disposable income. I sideline petrol money into another account already - £100 a month. Every Friday I’m going to work out what I’ve spent of my £50 and then I’m going to put it into another account as emergency for that month if it doesn’t get used it will then be extra on top of the amount I’m already saving! Hopefully this will allow me to save more! I also put spare petrol money into my savings for that month. Fingers crossed!

Boredinstagrammer29 · Jul 7, 2020

Guys what do I have to do on Prolific to make some actual decent money... I’ve made like £3.09 in two weeks

what am I doing wrong

Tiredbones · Jul 8, 2020

Boredinstagrammer29 said:
Guys what do I have to do on Prolific to make some actual decent money... I’ve made like £3.09 in two weeks what am I doing wrong

You need to constantly be checking it, studies fill up so quickly. Like I said upthread if you're on your computer have Prolific open in another tab, there'll be a number in brackets if there are studies available.
Also make sure you've completed all of the About You section so you can be matched to the right studies.
Alot of it is down to luck of the timing, logging in at the right time to sign up. I check it really regularly through the day, I've made £21 so far this month

Jc456 · Jul 8, 2020

Boredinstagrammer29 said:
Guys what do I have to do on Prolific to make some actual decent money... I’ve made like £3.09 in two weeks what am I doing wrong

I keep it open in a tab. I've made £40 since I signed up in June

Boredinstagrammer29 · Jul 8, 2020

Jc456 said:
I keep it open in a tab. I've made £40 since I signed up in June

Same, I check it daily but most only pay like 39p a study

Tiredbones · Jul 14, 2020

Boredinstagrammer29 said:
Same, I check it daily but most only pay like 39p a study

It's always worth doing the low paid ones, the amount soon adds up and you never know what bonuses might be available until you do it. I did an 85p one last week and got a £4 bonus

petra23 · Jul 16, 2020

I think I'm just after some advice really... My partner and I really want to crack on and buy a house, we've both rented since 18 but moved back in with our parents now to try and really save. My problem is that I have had to take a lower paid job recently after being made redundant and I think I am still spending as though I'm on my previous higher wage. I have made a Monzo account and thinking of transferring a set budgeted amount into that for spending on food, petrol etc.. my direct debits will come out of my normal bank account as I don't want to have to change that one and then I'll use that to store my savings as well. I am aiming to save around £500 a month as my parents are not making me pay rent (they are desperate to be rid of me

)

I have about £600 to pay off a credit card then I am debt free (apart from my car finance but that will be finished in January 2022), my question is do I pay it off in big chunks, perhaps £400 this month and £200 next month and sacrifice this months savings or do I save and pay off the credit card alongside... My only issue is that I want to cut my card into small pieces and never have the temptation again

Also any advice for saving for a deposit would be gratefully received!

Bae56 · Jul 16, 2020

Is the interest rate higher on your credit card than savings? I would pay off the credit card in that case, tbh I probably would aim to get that paid off regardless as it will hold you back saving & it being gone will go in your favour when it comes time to apply for your mortgage.

petra23 · Jul 16, 2020

Bae56 said:
Is the interest rate higher on your credit card than savings? I would pay off the credit card in that case, tbh I probably would aim to get that paid off regardless as it will hold you back saving & it being gone will go in your favour when it comes time to apply for your mortgage.

Yes it is, I think I'll just try to get rid of that in the next month or two then focus on the saving. That'll teach me to buy a Dyson airwrap the week before I get the sack

MotherofDragons · Jul 16, 2020

petra23 said:
I think I'm just after some advice really... My partner and I really want to crack on and buy a house, we've both rented since 18 but moved back in with our parents now to try and really save. My problem is that I have had to take a lower paid job recently after being made redundant and I think I am still spending as though I'm on my previous higher wage. I have made a Monzo account and thinking of transferring a set budgeted amount into that for spending on food, petrol etc.. my direct debits will come out of my normal bank account as I don't want to have to change that one and then I'll use that to store my savings as well. I am aiming to save around £500 a month as my parents are not making me pay rent (they are desperate to be rid of me)

I have about £600 to pay off a credit card then I am debt free (apart from my car finance but that will be finished in January 2022), my question is do I pay it off in big chunks, perhaps £400 this month and £200 next month and sacrifice this months savings or do I save and pay off the credit card alongside... My only issue is that I want to cut my card into small pieces and never have the temptation again

Also any advice for saving for a deposit would be gratefully received!

The advice is usually to concentrate on paying off debts before saving, and personally this is what I would do, especially since you could do it over a very short period of time.

In terms of saving generally I have found what works for me is to budget as follows:

I write down my monthly take home salary then subtract my food shopping, bills, phone contract and other direct debits. From what is left I decide how much I want to save, and put that straight into a savings account - I'm currently saving to get married so that's what this pot is for. Whatever is left is my budget for the month, and I divide this into 5 equal weekly budgets. Chances are that the 5th week won't ever be a full week, but this means that you don't have that last few days to get through until payday that you have if you divide it into 4 weeks. The reason I do weekly budgets is that I find it hard to make it stretch with a monthly budget, whereas with a weekly budget if you blow it all in the first few days you don't have long to wait until you can spend again. Anything left at the end of the week from my weekly budget gets transferred into my Monzo account, which I'm using as a second more short term saving account for any treats like concert tickets, clothes, Christmas etc. I make sure I write it down whenever I spend anything so that i'm not going over budget at all. This might seem overly-complicated but it's what is working for me at the moment and i'm managing to save quite a lot into both pots since we're in lockdown. I also write down at the beginning of the month any dates I know i'll have to spend money such as birthdays, social events so I can make sure I plan around these and they will be within my budget.

Just generally I'm trying not to spend much which is so much easier now that I can't pop to the shops on my lunch break and i'm not really going out socially. I'm avoiding shopping websites and deleting marketing emails which might tempt me straightaway. I'm on an £8 per month SIM-only deal instead of having a phone upgrade and I've switched energy suppliers through lookaftermybills.com

bluebell22 · Jul 16, 2020

I have my own bank account that my wages get paid into each month. Straight away on payday, I have a standing order that takes money into a joint bills account that I share with my husband, and all of our bills automatically come out of that. The rest of my wages left in my personal account I give myself a monthly budget (I try to do it by week, say £80 a week for example which covers bus fare, food shopping, weekend plans) and that gets transferred into my Monzo account. I try to not touch my main bank account then. Monzo is good as it gives you an idea what you spend your money on. It also has the option to do 'round ups' on your purchases. So say you spend 79p, it will round it up to the nearest £1 and the difference will be put into your pot. I've saved so much money this way - it all adds up.

Sometimes I'll dip into it my main account, but I try not to touch it. At the end of the month, whatever is left over I put into my savings. I could probably do this the other way round and put it straight into my savings when I get paid, but I like having money in there just in case. This has all changed due to COVID as I've been on furlough, I haven't really needed to budget apart from food, so I've saved so much money!

Bae56 · Jul 16, 2020

petra23 said:
Yes it is, I think I'll just try to get rid of that in the next month or two then focus on the saving. That'll teach me to buy a Dyson airwrap the week before I get the sack

Definitely a good plan of attack & then you can concentrate on your savings without the debt lingering. You've made a big sacrifice moving back in with parents so fully take advantage & save every penny you can. Eyes on that end goal. I love saving lol.
Well at least if one good things came from the situation, your lovely hair

Good luck with it all!

no-no · Oct 15, 2021

Thought I’d bump this thread because a few of us could do with tips. I know I spend hundreds a month in supermarkets. It’s just me and the dog but it is costing £40 a basket (and I go several times a week

). I’m vegan and usually only buy on offers but there’s hardly any these days so what I’m spending has obviously shot up.

I think I’m going to be more conscious of meal prepping but that’ll only take me so far. I need to kick the habit of going to the supermarket of a weekend and make an effort to use up what I have in the cupboard. I’m not in a position to save at the moment and have a few BNPL’s I have to clear off before Xmas. This month will be tight

Bubblesandflowers · Nov 1, 2021

no-no said:
Thought I’d bump this thread because a few of us could do with tips. I know I spend hundreds a month in supermarkets. It’s just me and the dog but it is costing £40 a basket (and I go several times a week ). I’m vegan and usually only buy on offers but there’s hardly any these days so what I’m spending has obviously shot up.

I think I’m going to be more conscious of meal prepping but that’ll only take me so far. I need to kick the habit of going to the supermarket of a weekend and make an effort to use up what I have in the cupboard. I’m not in a position to save at the moment and have a few BNPL’s I have to clear off before Xmas. This month will be tight

Batch cooking is probably the best way I found I can cut my food shop down. I always bulk things up with lots of veggies and pulses too.
You are right - I've found there are less offers recently. I also shop around to find the best offer. So I found Asda had a 5 for £5 freezer deal and stocked up on a few faves.
Can you find your dog food cheaper online too?

ChilliBean · Nov 1, 2021

Yellow sticker bargains are also a great idea for going in the freezer and batch cooking at a later date, asda are great for around 7pm reducing everything to a few pence

busybody · Nov 2, 2021

Sooo, I get paid 15th every month and I find it so difficult to save! (Low paid job) I have about £100 left until 15th November and I’m terrified of spending money haha

but I’m going into a new job soon… I’m just wondering if anyone had any advice to bridge that gap whilst I’m waiting? Im conscious of Xmas coming up and idk how I’m gonna manage it all!! Im trying to sell stuff on Vinted/EBay atm, but it’s slow going. Any help would be greatly appreciated.