Do you save any money each month?

My husband and I relocated back to Australia last year and as a result of setting up a new life from scratch, we have not saved a cent and are getting use to the cost of living here. It so expensive.

I have been looking at returning to work and was offered a full time role. It's not ideal, but I have been looking for a part time job for 8 months and have had no luck. We were looking at our budget last night to see how much we can save on one salary, and was really surprised to see we could only save a very small amount each month. Our mortgage is only 11% of our monthly salary so thought we could save much more.

Am I being unrealistic that we should be able to save money each month on just one income? I guess I'm just getting use to the change of only living on one income and having a baby. I know my parents only started having a savings account when they were 50. They sacrificed a lot to send us to a private school.

Thanks for your thoughts!

We save money most months. I think everyone should save something even if it's just a token amount, even if that means cutting something from the budget.

I save a small amount every week, it's amazing how quickly it builds up. We've recently had a massive pay cut so I've had to dip in to that money. I don't know what I would have done without it.

We do. We're very lucky that my H earns a fairly big income and we always choose housing that is well within our means so usually have money left over at the end of the fortnight to put away. Lately we've been dipping into savings instead so I guess it comes in ebbs & flows.

We save a little sometimes and alot sometimes, I don't set aside an amount to save each month, there are to many uncertainties that come up. I don't stress over the amount, I am just happy to be in a situation that lets me save each month. I have just returned to work 3 days a week and my entire wage will be put into an account that we hopefully wont need to touch.

Yes and no... All extra money of ours goes into the mortgage, so while it isn't readily accessible to us, if the proverbial hit the fan, we could re-draw!

We have been saving each month (to save up for maternity leave) but while on mat leave we don't. When I'm back at work we are going to be looking at paying some off our mortgage and setting some aside in savings as we can't redraw from our mortgage so we need to make sure we have both bases covered so to speak.

We save as much as we can and it all goes into the mortgage which has a redraw function in case of emergencies.

We save 10% of DH income every month without fail, on top of that if we want a holiday or expensive item we save what's needed seperate from the 10%.

After having DH made redundant a few times in a row over a 2 year period savings are very important to us.

Hi, I am originally from the UK been here 4 years and Australia does seem expensive in comparison to the UK at the moment (as all our relatives constantly tell us - in some bizarre hope we will go back) but when we arrived 4 years ago alot of things were cheaper so is swings and roundabouts - but I do get visitors to bring over stuff as is so much cheaper in UK currently.

We don't manage to save any money when on one income, but when we were on two we did so had some savings prior to DD which got depleted while I was off work, and then topped up a bit when I went back part time, and now are depleted again while I am off after having number 2. It is depressing sometimes (I graph our status and currently is just down down down) but I know it isn't forever and we will replenish when I am back part-time. Everything goes into our offset mortgage and we can redraw without any penalty whenever we want. Our mortgage is more like 50% of one income though.

Not particularly at the moment. We were doing well on just DH's income until a few years ago when the Aus dollar started increasing significantly in value. DH is paid in US dollars so he has had an enormous pay drop over the last few years. Combine that with me at home with the kids not working and our ability to save is minimal. Like others though, we have a mortgage offset so everything goes on that so some months when we haven't been slammed by bills we'll have a good surplus. Other months not so much.

When I go back to work we still won't save as such - just get it on the mortgage and clear that again asap.

We on average save $1000 a month BUT that can vary depending on if the car needs fixing ect ect. We live off one wage

pls excuse the spelling mistakes on my galaxcy

It goes on our mortgage and we have redraw without penalty so it works well for us.

I couldn't when I was with my ex. But now as a single mum I can save plus pay all of my bills!!!


Cat xox

As a contractor, I've got to be aware of my living expenses. With public holidays I don't work, so I don't get paid. I budget on a 4 day week, the extra day's pay goes into a seperate account, which is emergency & holiday money (have 2-3 trips planned this year & at the moment 2 for next year). I'm also planning on going back to university next year so will be cutting down to part time. I refuse to rely on partner's money for things that I want to do (like my solo travel or university).

I try to save every month, as I've got things structured that all bills/living/rent etc is from my first 3 weeks of the month's wages.

We always save up until now it wasnt a lot but enough if somethibg came up but now we are strictly saving hoping in 2 years when new lease is up we can buy a house

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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.

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 :rolleyes: ) 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.

xx

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.

No :( and at the moment we are going backwards, hence the need for me to get a job.


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only a small amount, as in the extra going into the mortgage. I returned to the workforce 1 year ago and really have just been playing catchup since then getting/doing the things that we have held off on. Also returning to work does cost. Now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but our focus will be credit card debt.