Saving

Pissy Missy

I'm looking forward to starting my new job soon, and I was just curious what do you save if anything? Like do you save 30% of your income or just try not touch your income where possible and save as much as possible? Or do you find saving tricky tricky?

Viscount Aggro

70 - 80% every month,

Gets locked away in a savings account.

Live on the rest.

Pissy Missy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119510999#Comment_119510999

Ha so you have 20% left for bills, rent, car costs, groceries, socialising etc? 😅

Creamy Goodness

Treat savings as a bill. find out what you comfortably afford and not miss in your discretionary spend. The day you get paid set up a direct debit to squirrel it away somewhere that's semi-difficult to get to (i.e. not somewhere you can easily transfer out to a current account).

Pissy Missy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119511057#Comment_119511057

Thank you 😊

Viscount Aggro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119511035#Comment_119511035

Yes... I am ruthless with my cost control.

Example - 20 EUR per week is my food budget, all meals made from scratch, in bulk, freeze portions.

Pissy Missy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119511185#Comment_119511185

Fairplay to you, nothing like a challenge eh

Creamy Goodness

Whilst it's great that someone can save 80% of their take home, bear in mind you do have to live as well. That person has gotten there by being ruthless, and has probably taken years to work up to that amount. I guess what I'm saying is start small and build up rather than jumping in at a high amount, failing and thus deflating you and then you don't save anything. Each to their own and all that but constantly bulk cooking and freezing sounds incredibly boring to me and I'd struggle to get a food shop for 20 quid a week.

Right now I'm 30% savings, 10% pension, 25% housing, 7% bills, 8% car loan and the rest I spend without caring as I know the other essentials are taken care of.

Pissy Missy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119514004#Comment_119514004

Thanks so much for sharing, it's great to get other perspectives. I don't mind batch cooking as I'm trying to lose weight and get healthier, plus it appeals to me as I couldn't be arsed cooking a meal for myself everyday. My downfall is probably celebrations like people's birthdays, christenings etc (we have a massive family) and clothes shopping 🛍️🛍️🛍️💰💰💰 I also have a massive college loan and medical bills to pay off

Creamy Goodness

no worries, key takeaway here is everyone's life/wants/desires are different and thus have different thresholds for savings. You've got some debt that I'd try and clear faster rather than trying to save and make loan repayments at the banks schedule at the same time, that way you free up the repayment amount of the loans to become monthly savings.

Pissy Missy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119515121#Comment_119515121

Thanks a bunch!

Irish_rat

I save somewhere between 30% and 50%. I think near 30% is a comfortable amount. My mortgage is only 20% so that gives some freedom. I'd advise cancelling any credit cards, pure waste of money. I use my debit card now whenever I need to book something.

Pissy Missy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119516317#Comment_119516317

Thank you, I had a credit card in the past, was pure temptation so got rid of it

Viscount Aggro

I was in a position to save cos I had no mortgage, and I was an above average earner. I also got in with a group of high savers I met online... Anti consumerism types. It became competitive.

Pissy Missy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119516499#Comment_119516499

Teach me your ways 😂

combat14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119510999#Comment_119510999

might be possible on average wage with no rent/mortgage, kids and car ..

whats a reasonable amount to save if u are stuck with the above expenses..

Creamy Goodness

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119517000#Comment_119517000

Print off a 3 month statement, two highlighters. Highlight the "must pays" and "What was I thinking spending that much" pays. Add up the latter and see if you can funnel any of money into savings the second you get paid. Savings can always be dipped into if an unexpected expense comes in (car broken down, appliance breaks etc.) but you can't dip into it if it's been already spent.

Also if it's been over a year with electricity/gas/tv/internet providers get on to bonkers.ie and get a better deal. If you don't change these suppliers every year you're leaving a huge amount of money on the table.

combat14

thanks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119519066#Comment_119519066

thanks thats great advice