We save money every month but it goes into the mortgage so we can re draw if need be. It hang always been that way though, do what you can now as you never know down the track you may be able to increase the amount.
11% of your income isn't much, most Aussies pay over 25% od income on rent or mortgage, maybe look at areas tht you may be able to cut back on
We save a fair bit each month - probably more than when we were on 2 wages. I pay our bills, loan etc then put money into our savings and what ever is left over is used for the grocceries etc. I use to leave the 'savings' part until last and then find we never had anything left at the end of the week, so I changed it around and it really helped. I also pay set amounts off our bills each week so we don't get any massive bills and be scrambling to find money. I found once our savings started to build each, it was easier to put money away and watch it grow. It's frustrating at the start when it feels like you will never have anything substantial in your account. We do dip into it occasionally but I do try to replace it.
We have also been putting away any $2 coins we have. Weird I know lol, but it is amazing how they build up! We have almost $300 from just the last few months. Normally I would of spent them on coffees or magazines. If we keep up at this rate, we should have around $1000 by the end of the year which will help out with Christmas, and DS starting school.
We save money each fortnight when we are paid. We save in two different ways. We have a set amount that goes into our savings account and we also pay a set amount extra into a loan. This loan has a re-draw facility, so we could access the money if we needed to, but we don't tend to. That being said, I like knowing that we have a large amount of money (well to us anyway) available at the drop of a hat that we aren't tempted to spend on a daily basis.
At he moment I am able to save almost half of DH wage a month. We are in the uk, so I'm saving for when we go back home. I think a secret stash is the way to do it, even if it's a little bit. If you don't know it's there, you tend to not really miss it.
When we were in oz, I'd put any extra dosh in my mortgage, to have the money work for us, and re-draw if we needed it.
Honestly no. We are both on centrelink (hubby is studying) and we are paying off DH's study, a new car and an insane amount of fuel. In 3 months all will be paid and I can start putting away the $400 odd a fortnight we spend on the car and DH.
Not really but I do put away any overtime DH earns to our 'bills' account and he just got a payrise, so the extra will be going in there too. I am trying to save as much as possible for when I go on maternity leave but it has been tough so far with Easter and a holiday in there, so starting again this week.
I was going to say the same as Olive, 11% is quite low. 25%-35% is generally about the amount people pay towards there mortgage & other debts. Can you consider talking to a financial planner whom you could get a plan drawn up, so it is not wishy/washy and you have a set goal to strive towards?
We save a lot but DH and I are both on very comfortable incomes. We put it all into our offset and have almost paid off the mortgage - about 10% to go - which we are quite chuffed about.
11% of your income on rent is not much at all.
Maybe try writing down everything that you buy for a month and then sitting down and really looking at what you spending is.
Also, DH and I have found that if we don't carry cash then we don't spend it. We keep a $10 and a $20 in our wallets but that is it and if you break the note you have to explain to the other why (not in a "I've been naughty" sort of way - just a "think about what you are buying" sort of way) and everything else goes onto the credit card which we go through the bill every month (it only takes about 10 minutes) and check what we have been spending money on and then pay off the whole bill so that we aren't charged any interest.
I agree with one of the PP (sorry cant remember who it was!) that savings should be put away before you start spending, otherwise you will be left with nothing!
DH earns quite a hefty income (FIFO) and I work part time 3 days per week. I worked full time up until Jan but DH wanted me to go part time to reduce my stress and concentrate on IVF. Taking the pay drop was hard but I work on the retainer and commission anyway so my income has always been a little unpredictable.
We have quite high overheads so quite a lot of our income goes on bill however we still save at least $2k per month. I allocate a certain amount every week to be paid off the c/c (at the moment savings + more as we put our last round of IVF on it ) a certain amount goes into an account for unpredictable bills (rego, gas, electricity, insurance etc) we only leave money in our account that can be spent and we allow ourselves a certain amount each week to spend on ourselves.
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) a certain amount goes into an account for unpredictable bills (rego, gas, electricity, insurance etc) we only leave money in our account that can be spent and we allow ourselves a certain amount each week to spend on ourselves.
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