How do u save??

[Skittles]

How do you save money? Dh is earing a decent wage atm. However it feels as though we have lass as he earns more we are getting less ftb and child care cost heaps more. We are wanting to move by christmas but need to save a bit more money first.

So questions:
1. How do u save?
2. Do you go with out to save?
3. Where do u put the money you save?

TIA:wave:

[punkbaby]

At the moment no :( i hate it but if you dont have it you cant save it. The first thing though that i would do if you are trying to save is write down everything you spent for 2 weeks, then go through that list and work out things that you didnt need, eliminate those things and save that money :) you will be suprised where your money goes when you account for every single cent you spend. Oh another thing, i found that i would always go to the milk bar for milk etc but now i go to coles, works out i save about 40 a week just doin this alone so its a big saving really when your watching your $$$

[kayla Lilyz mum]

I work out all of our expenses first, so like mortgage, groceries, bills ( i put a certain amount away every week so that i have enough when they arrive), entertainment money ( i allow a bit for this as it could include many things like new household things, DP smokes and beer and cash for him at work, clothes etc), petrol money, then i save whats left, which is always the same amount as i have a set amount for everything, if we go over anywhere it just gets taken out if the entertainment money. It isn't that hard and i don't skimp really at all. I have netbanking set up and it gives you good interest.

[NibbleCurlynBub]

I just pretend that I don't have money to spend.

I spend what I absolutely have to on food and leave the rest for bills and try to forget I have money at all after that. :)

[sja]

The day after DH's pay goes in the bank I have an automatic payment to our savings. When I started this I made the amount 10% of our net income (including FTB). That's when DH and I had 2 kids and were both students, so we didn't have much money at all. When DH finished his degree and started working I kept the figure at 10%, so we saved a bit more. Since then, whenever DH has had a payrise I increase the amount I save to include the pay rise amount (less what we lose from FTB). So we are still essentially living off of what we had when DH started out working (he was earning $35k a year, so not much). So the amount we now save is 19% of our income. Plus any extra payments like the baby bonus, or tax returns mostly go straight into savings as well. I don't take money out of savings for anything. If something comes up, like car repairs, I have a separate savings account that always has $1500 in it, and I take the money from that account and treat it as a loan and repay it over the next month or two.

I don't think we go without, but others do. IMO we have never struggled - we have always managed to have an okay lifestyle. But that's largely because DH and I aren't really into material things. So we're fine to rent a small, old place, and have oldish cars, and have second hand furniture. We are constantly getting offers from in-laws to borrow money to get nicer stuff, or rent a nicer place, so others obviously think that we do go without.

I have an online savings account with ING. I also have some money in shares, but I don't even want to think about how little they're worth these days :no: Because we're planning to buy a house in a few years I want the money to be somewhere with no risk - if I didn't need the money for another 15 yrs or so then I would probably look to investing in blue-chip shares.

[Funkychicken]

I have recently completed a 'course" through Berry Street and The Brotherhood of St Laurence.
It is called Money Minded and it's about equipping people with the knowledge and practice to save.

But it isn't just a normal course-it is financed by the ANZ bank and they will match you $ for $ up to $1000 if you participate. The money saved though has to go to educational costs for either your children or yourself.

It is genuine and so worth it if you are eligible. Eligibility is based on having 'some' income, a health care card (we only had one for 6 months but it was still OK) and either yourself or children in study or school.

What was required of me was an initial meeting with Berry Street to produce the above documents. We set up a 'plan" specifying how much I would save and over what period of time. We decided $1000 over 12 months. This worked out to be about $22/week.

I then needed to open a savers plus account at the ANZ (fee free) and this is where my $22/week was deposited. I didn't take a card or other easy access option to the account and have just used netbank, once a week to transfer the money.
I found after a few months that the $22 was easier than I thought so I started adding a little bit extra-some weeks $30, sometimes $50.

I attended 4 x 2hr sessions with other participants to discuss savings and possibilities etc...and learn more about ways to save 'outside of the square'.

So fast forward 12 months and I have saved $1500 plus $18 in interest and on Monday I pick up a cheque for $1000. That is 100% interest!:smiliedance:

Not a huge amount of savings but the first time ever I have saved solidly for 12 months and NOT withdrawn from it even once! And a free $1000 for the children's school fees has put a smile on my face.:D

It is being run in lots of states, so I can pass on the info to anyone who is interested. Pm me if you like.

[aje001]

I put money asside into two seperate accounts each fortnight. One into an ING online savings account for a home loan, and the other is into our normal savings (which we've had to dip into a few times because of problems with work - but that's another story). That works pretty well for us.