# Could we be saving more?



## poppy1 (4 Jan 2010)

Age: 32
Spouse’s/Partner's age: 34

Annual gross income from employment or profession: 27.5 i think
Annual gross income of spouse:29 i think

Type of employment: e.g. Civil Servant, self-employed 
private sector
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
spending all wages each wk but save a bit

Rough estimate of value of home 
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 160k
*What interest rate are you paying? tracker 2.5 i think)*
*€589 pm*

Other borrowings – car loans/personal loans etc
*none*
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? 

Savings and investments:
Me (save 100pm)
Him (xmas club at work 80pm
Joint (150 pm for new car)

Do you have a pension scheme? 
yep
Do you own any investment or other property? 
no
Ages of children: 2yrs (childcare 440pm)

Life insurance: basic decreasing policy (15pm)


*What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you? *
We take home €3790, both drive to work cause no bus service in area. Cars are more than 8yrs old so want to save for a new car.  We know are are lucky to have jobs and have never lived beyond our means but find after bills as the bit we do save we have nothing left. We do bring our lunch to work so we spend about €2 each a day. 
I dunno where it goes to each month.... There is always a wedding, birthday, new baby present etc 
Could we be saving more? should we look at our day to day spending??


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## so-crates (4 Jan 2010)

Probably the best thing you could do poppy1 is to start a spending diary (and confirm the "I thinks"!). You appear to be sensibly in control of your spending but if you feel that there maybe savings to be made the easiest way to identify them is to firstly closely examine your outgoings. Start with an outline budget to give you an initial cash position for the week and then record every penny spent, whether it is a newspaper, a carton of milk, a euro to a charity, a weekly shop or money to savings. Treat all outgoings the same. Do this for probably two or three months and this will give you a clearer picture of what you are spending money on. Examine and challenge every spend no matter how trivial and decide whether it is money that you need to part with for that purpose.
Once you have a clear idea of your spend start looking at a more comprehensive budget including savings as the first item in the budget rather than the last. Look at giving yourselves each a daily allowance to cover your costs for the day and look at ways for differentiating between your different savings streams. Savings should not be looked at as a lump, you should be saving for different things in different ways. For example, there should be a savings cushion for emergencies that is accessible but ring-fenced for genuine emergencies. This should be a target amount that you maintain (preferably a multiple of your monthly take home pay). There should be easy-access short-term savings to cover annual expenses (Christmas, holidays, big annual bills, weddings etc) - not to be confused with your emergency savings. There should be medium-term and long-term savings to cover expenses that come up less regularly (cars, houses, retirement), these should be relatively inaccessible - this will allow you (generally) to avail of better rates of return.


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## poppy1 (5 Jan 2010)

thanks so crates
we'll do that, starting now. i just find we have less disposable income since i came back from mat leave, but then we have a little person to pay for too;-)
in relation to the "i thinks" all our paperwork is at home so i didnt have all the paperwork to hand yesterday.
Ill take the advice on board
cheers


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## BoscoTalking (7 Jan 2010)

I agree with the last poster but also i would suggest that you change your spending behaviour and how you spend your free time because if you are one person who nips to the shop here and there you might want to plan ahead a bit more regarding food shopping and prep in order to have more control of your money but also to have some more time with your small person. 
I also find the approach of treating your savings as the first "bill" you pay and that you put it away and then tackle the real bills and see what you have left then is a good one. I still believe in a small standing order to my post office "pin money" account as my just in case of God knows what!


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## UFC (7 Jan 2010)

When I gave up alcohol, coffee and junk food I was amazed by how much more money I was able to save per month.

In particular, my 2 x coffees and my croissant/bar of chocolate each day. By cutting these out I can now save an extra 300 or so per month.

When I cut out alcohol (well, buying pints in the pub, I still drink a bottle or two of wine at home each week) that was another 200 - 300 per month. Anyone who goes out in Dublin city centre will know this is only a couple of nights out per month.

So that's at least 500 extra per month I could save from those smallish changes. Another huge positive which came out of it was all the health benefits - you don't realise how much your sleep and weight are affected by caffeine/alcohol until you give them up.


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## Frank (23 Jan 2010)

Any new parents I know are pretty much giving up alcohol; well in pubs at least by default. 

New kiddie and sore head don't go together apparently.

You need some bit of a life too mind.

Sounds like OP and partner have their heads pretty well screwed when you see the mess some other people are in.


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