hi everyone,
some good news, I have managed to clear my credit card debt!
I'd like to start saving money (for real!!), does anyone have any tip on saving money?

What always happens with me is this -- whenever I have managed to save say £200, suddenly the car window button-thingy gets jammed and we need to replace it.

OR

I have saved say £150 and then the boiler needs fixing.

Also, I have had a look at some personal budget templates online, but they look difficult and confusing, does anyone have any advice for me on using templates, maybe a really simple one? where can I get a really simple one -- accounts for dummies kind of template?

thanks very much
love satchi

Google Money Advice Service and see if there are any templates there. There are probably mobile apps too. Alternatively, crack open a spreadsheet, list your regular monthly expenses in one column and their amounts in the next, and add them up.

Accept that there will always be a need for repairs - you need to include those in your budget plan. e.g. if every year you end up spending £200 on car repairs then you should be putting aside £20 a month specifically for that in anticipation. You may want two savings accounts - one for dull stuff and one for fun. Make sure they are ones that you can take the money out of at any time without penalty.

Check on your finances/bank balance regularly (at least once a week). Identify any bad habits and find ways around them e.g. if you're always paying on your debit card and losing track of your spending, take a fixed amount of cash out for the week, and you're not allowed any more (unless it's an emergency). Check each day how much you have left that day and recall where whatever's gone has gone.

If you've had a regular amount going out by direct debit to pay off your credit card, set up a standing order for the same amount to your savings account - you're used to that amount going, so keep up the habit.

You can build up your savings even in small amounts - e.g. if you check your account online and the amount is, say, £207.52, transfer the £7.52 to your savings. You won't miss it, and if you do that frequently (rounding the small amounts down and sending the difference to your savings) it will soon add up. It's a lot easier (I think) to put aside 4 x £10 at different points of the month than to put £40 aside in one go, but that might just be me!

I'd say the same as Hazy, have one account where you put money in for repairs and emergencies, and another for proper saving that you don't touch unless it's a mega emergency or something. I personally use my ISA as my 'don't touch' account and a normal savings account for the other one.

I also have this thing called 'Save the Change' on my bank account where every time I spend anything on my card it rounds it up to the nearest pound and puts it into a savings account. So if I spend £1.30, 70p goes into the account if I spend £3.02, 98p goes in etc. It's not a mega money saver but over the last 3 years I've saved about £300 from this which I use for xmas pressies.

Good luck with the saving =)

hi Hazyjane and Caro thank you so much for your replies! How do I get 2 savings accounts? Would it be on my bank website? or I need to go and speak to them?

where do I find this save the change thing? it sounds like a great idea.

I have identified one bad habit of mine---I tend to buy things when I'm depressed. I have returned some of them, for example shoes that don't fit me. I will need to work on this.

love satchi

depending on your bank you can just open multiple accounts online, and just click a button to save the change too

The other thing I'd suggest is if you haven't already, go through any insurance policies/utility accounts and so on and see if you can switch to another company for less money, or negotiate a better deal with your existing provider. It's a bit of a pain but I've discovered it's worth phoning up my broadband provider and threatening to leave, getting new insurance policies and cancelling ones that have become expensive, etc. It frees up quite a bit of money each month.

You can have as many savings accounts as you please, and with as many different banks as you wish. The only restriction is related to a particular type of account called an ISA, where you can only open and/or pay into one per year.

For example, I currently have three savings accounts, one of which is just a regular basic one with a rubbish interest rate which I allow myself to dip into whenever I please, while the other two are ISAs, one of which has been open for years and I just leave there and the other of which is new and I am actively paying in to.

At the moment, if you are saving up from scratch, I wouldn't worry too much about interest rates as they are all pretty rubbish at the moment, but do check the conditions of any account in terms of how often you can make withdrawals. That is more likely to be important to you at this stage.

Do have a look at this site for general advice:

hi everyone, thank you so much for your replies. I feel so much better now about saving money. Will go and see my bank account online. To be honest I don't know the website very well, I guess what would be a good place to start looking? Thanks again
love satchi

To be honest if you're feeling that uncertain about the website I'd strongly recommend going to a branch and having a chat with someone.

Just don't get signed up for any kind of account that (i) has monthly fees attached and (ii) has restrictions on what you can take out. Simply ask for a basic savings account and get them to enable online access for you.

hi hazy jane thanks very much; I have managed to save £300 -- hope it will stay!
love satchi