First Time Saver

A question about : First Time Saver

Hey Guys,

Ive been browsing the forum for a while now and love the motivation you all give each other. I thought I would make a thread purely for that reason. And atleast this way I can keep track of where my money is going. Wish me luck

I am 19, living in the depressed area known as Merthyr Tydfil, and recently got a job as a letting agent I am aiming to have between Ј3000 -Ј5000 savngs to put down as a deposit on a house. I just had my first pay check and Ј400 has gone straight to my savings.

Follow my journey and tag along

Best answers:

• Congratulations on starting your savings Ieuan! I'm in a similar situation. I have also recently begun saving, after getting my first full time job and paying off any debts I had from my first pay packages. I'm hoping to reach the goal of a deposit for a house with my partner this time 2 years. We're aiming for 20k-25k between us for a 20% deposit.
  This is my third month of saving. It's a good feeling to watch the money stacking up (in the bank account) and it makes all the effort worth it! This week I will open an ISA to ensure I am getting interest on my savings, tax free.
  All the best with reaching your goal
• Hello Ieuan and Katherina,
  WEll done! You have to be proud of yourselves.
  I together with my husband have started saving up too. We're hoping to buy a 25% share of a shared ownership property, cash, in exactly 726 days from now. So we are having a lot of fun, creative ideas how to entertain the kids on a budget and we can not believe how much you can do on a small budget. We have 2 small children, a 3 and a half year old daughter and a 1 and half year old son.
  But all in all, what a fantastic idea, to have a thread where we can support each other
  Katherina, could you please tell me more about the ISA account, please? I am very interested. Thanks a lot!
• Welcome and Good Luck you all.
• Hello TSSfamily. I'm impressed by your specific timeline! I've been looking into ISAs lately and it appears that if you have savings you should have at least one ISA. I am not a financial advisor though so please also do additional research!
  ISAs are government backed savings accounts where you don't pay tax on the interest you make. There are two types: cash and shares. I have only been looking at the cash ones as I don't feel inclined to take any chances with my modest savings at this point in my life.
  There is a limit to the amount you can put in an Isa during each tax year; somewhere between 5k and 6k per year in a cash isa. Then when the tax year ends you can start another one while still earning the tax free interest from previous years' isas.
  The tax year will end in a couple of months, so I want to use some of this year's allowance before then. The interest rates are not as good as they used to be- the top is around 2.8 % but i'm going for 2% as it is easy access and easy to transfer money to online; shop around (using the Isa guide on this site is a good starting place) to find the best one for you.
  MSE has an excellent Isa guide so have a look at that - the whole idea confused me at first. Best of luck with it; maybe also check out junior isas.
  How's the saving going Ieuan? Sorry for hogging your thread!
• Hi Katherrina,
  my specific timeline... well it is just another method of keeping us on track, you see? And if we manage to stay on track we should be able to start shopping for our first home in January 2015. So that is 720 days from now. Finger crossed.
  Thank you very much for all the info, it sounds like a perfect option for us! I will for sure look into it!
  I do not know if it is allowed to talk about it on this thread, but if it is, what methods are you guys using to get closer to your goal? Maybe also... faster? Thanks a lot and have a nice Sunday!
• Hey guys this is great how we can all support each other on the forum I think having that extra bit of support on here will really help us and make us more determined to type what we have saved. I agree with the statements made above about sharing different ideas how we all save money, that would be a great way to help one another
  As for my savings at the moment, I get payed monthly so just waiting for the next pay to enter my bank account so I can save some more
  Keep up the good work guys and keep posting here
• Sounds great, Ieuan! Just keep going and the money will really stack up. I wish I'd started saving at 19 I'll follow your journey with interest. Enjoy!
• Hey Mudangel thanks for taking an interest I sure will keep going, just cant wait untill the day I get to have my own space I know thats what everyone says when they are a teenager BUT its true I need my own place where I can call home
  People my age often question me why I dont rent, but working for a letting agency myself I see Tenants get attached to their property and then having to move out after their Tenancy is finished and this is something I would hate to do. Anyway RANT OVER.
  Keep me posted on your journey's guys
• Hello everyone,
  So apart from savings from the salary, how else are you helping yourselves?
  I, for instance, use coupons, offers and always look for free/next to free entertainment for the family.
  Have a nice day!
• Let me see - I have found that shopping around helps to cut costs a lot. Like going to Aldi for several food items has been a recent addition to my money saving efforts.
  An example of an item I save on with them is their 'not from concentrate' juice. With them a litre of this fresh juice is 1.29 compared to (I think) 1.79 in Tesco. (So a saving of 50p a week on juice, or more if you would otherwise have bought a brand name juice; my boyfriend drinks a different fruit juice and has recently also changed to aldi, resulting in a Ј1 household saving per week)
  We try to cut back on things we don't need but not on health or happiness!
  Although we pay for a tv licence, we have not invested in a tv so all our television viewing is through the internet (live and 4od/bbciplayer). If we did have a tv we would use a freeview connection so as not to pay for an extra bill.
  I hope this is useful - I'll try to think of more things. We don't have children but maybe others would have tips to add for families!
• Hello!! I'm saving too (see sig!) Will be interesting to see how you get on!
  To begin with I was saving for a house deposit, but not sure if that's the case any more. Maybe a round-the-world travel ticket. Fancy car. Holiday of a lifetime. Plastic surgery () Who knows?!
  I would recommend adding a signature for your posts coz it is nice to see the total increasing every so often!!
  I'd also recommend joining the No Spend Day challenges each month. See here for February's challenge.
  Good luck and keep us posted!!
• Hey thanks for the comments headabovewater and katherina. With regards to saving money, I always look for 2 for 1 deals especially on saturday nights when my gf is around and we need some munch
  The most important secret to my money saving is I dont drink ( I will go out maybe 3 times a year if i am lucky with about 35 quid a time) and I do not smoke.
  Woow there before you think i am boring :L I use to drink socially after a game of rugby every saturday when playing amateur, but i have recently been offered a development contract with cardiff blues and pontypridd, so drink has completely gone out the window for me and the thing is i do not crave it atall :S
  So thanks to my hobby it has helped me cut down on weekly costs
  Keep posting guys let me know your secrets :P
• Congrats on the development contract Ieuan!
  Lol there's no need to excuse a lack of drinking; in my opinion along with cigarettes, alcohol is up there as the biggest waste of money there is (here I may be attacked). I gave up drinking at Easter in 2009 and haven't looked back. Thankfully I've never smoked. Yes that probably is the biggest money saver compared to many people in their 20s and 30s.
  I also rarely buy clothes or other 'luxury' items. When I travel I do my best to get the best deal eg shop around for flights/trains/buses early and if I need accommodation I'll find a way to get it cheaper (rented an apartment in Paris last summer for Ј17 a night - slept 2 of us comfortably and my mum when she joined us for a weekend!)
  ps welcome headabovewater!
• Hello everyone,
  thanks a lot for all of your tips! And congratulations! You're doing great!
  We are a family of 4 (2 young kids) and as I said before we are planning to buy our own house, as it is not so nice to live in a rental flat. We need our own love nest. So, as we want it to happen as soon as possible, we are very strict. And do not find it difficult or boring.
  First of all, we do not drink alcohol, fizzy drinks (the naughty coke use to bust our budget big time but not anymore-we drink water now), we do not smoke and we do not eat out. We love home cooking (both heathy and cheap).
  Second of all, we coupon a lot, we always look for offers. We have a chest freezer which we stuff with offers. We always try and buy things from the best shop we can (for example we bought "taken 2" dvd in Tesco and not Asda - same price, but in Tesco we get loyalty points too). We keep an eye out for cheap entertainment. And I am not saying we go to the park every weekend and play ball, but for instance we go to the cinema (cineworld) and buy junior tickets (the whole family goes to the cinema for less than Ј4).
  Third of all, very sensible (switch off the lights in the room we leave, use power saving bulbs and so on).
  As I am writing I realize it sounds soooo strict, but it doesn't feel like that at all, because we do not miss on anything. Apart from switching off the lights, my husband keeps complaining about
  So all in all, we try to live a balanced life (always have healthy foods and snacks and keep fit - my husband goes to the gym and I train at home on an exercise bike), we go out every weekend but not spend all the budget on it.
  P.S: In regards to clothing, we always buy it on offer!! For us and for the kids! Asda has some amazing offers!
  I think if you keep an open mind when you go shopping and always bring your coupons you will save LOADS!
  Cheers!
• Great to read everyone's wee tips and tricks! Maybe pick up a few extra ideas myself!!
  Me and OH shop the reduced sections. When feeding a family of 5 it can be quite costly, but the range of foods we've got on offer is unreal! Trying fancy foods that we'd never otherwise get to try. Stuffing ourselves for pittance! Great
  Spent over 10 years in debt and finally my money is my own. Much as I'm all for saving as much as I can, I also refuse to 'do without' or deprive myself, just for the sake of saving. Couple of examples: me and OH love our coffee shops. We'll go once at the weekend (with the occasional stretch to twice! . Much as we love cooking, we'll go out for dinner once every 6 weeks or so. And I treated myself to a new Xperia phone on Saturday. I had the money so why not?!
  I don't live for work. I work to have a life
• I AGREE, HeadAboveWater! There a fantastic variety of food which is great to try when reduced, but honestly we would never buy full price! And of course you have to treat yourself to something nice, otherwise you give up! I know we do! And after we move into our own home we can relax! But until then, Super Scrimper Family cheers!
• Hello everyone,
  how are you all going? Are the savings growing? We're still on track.
  We had a very long and exciting weekend, we had a lot of family fun. We went out with the kids, we had a couple of cosy evenings where we went "late shopping", you know the usual, a few new DVDs for us (and of course 2 DVDs for the kids), ice cream and diet coke! Relaxation! So all in all, we had a fantastic time celebrating my husbands 4 off days and we have no regrets in regards to what we've spent.
  And unfortunately we also had another unplanned bill, as the double buggy broke and we had to buy a new one. So, in the spirit of a relaxed and happy long weekend we decided to upgrade and buy a really nice double pram for the kids! Spring is in the air and we are getting ready for those looong walks in town! Great fun!
  Have a great evening you all!
• Hey guys sorry I have not replied in a while been working too hard LOL. I am glad to see people are using their nogging when it comes to reduced food, its a great way of saving quite a bit of money. Also I am glad to hear you had a good weekend @superscrimperfamily it is brilliant just to treat yourself once in a while, not only does it feel great but you can look forward to it again. I myself have had to dip into my savings so far my parents needed a lend of Ј80 and I took out Ј30 for petrol which only leaves me with Ј290 but I will be sure to put it back wen I get payed at the end of the month. Keep up the good work guys
• Good luck everyone on your savings goals - just wondered if you have seen the "we're saving for a deposit" thread.
  You might enjoy a read and/or to join the thread.
  Here it is: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...d.php?t=789675
  D9