Frugal Friday | Saving for a better future

I think most people in the UK could manage to save £100 a month but struggle to do so and struggle to make it to the end of the month because they waste money. You can live for today, but if you are thrifty and frugal now and save for the future, you can have extra money to spend for a few decades.

According to the AA the average amount of interest paid for a car loan or credit is £234 a year and the depreciation on a small car is over £1,200. On top of that is tax and insurance of £850. I run a larger car and pay just over £700 tax and insurance and my depreciation is around £300 a year because I look after my car. I paid cash for the car so don’t have to pay interest on  a loan. I get interest by investing my money!

If you can save £100 a month and at the end of the year invest it in Zopa getting over 5% interest at the end of 5 years you would have £6,000 plus interest. For a non taxpayer the interest would be over £1,000.

I save money on most things and have no large bills for a few months. All the bills for my car are at the end of the year. I have been saving around 40% on food just lately because I stock up on things from Lidl and Aldi, when I’m passing there. I get annoyed about all these buy three for £10 offers in Asda. I still buy a few things from there but even fruit now is buy two to get the reduced price. I was reminded how expensive Asda can be when I bought a lot of fruit and salad for Christmas; I left that until nearly Christmas so it would be fresh.

Other things I save money on is clothing, I don’t buy designer labels normally. The only thing I do like, that has a designer label, is boxer shorts! I also bought a pair of jeans by a particular maker recently but generally the 4 pairs for £10 jeans I got from Asda are good enough. I have a Matalan card now and they sent me a voucher for 20% off so I can use that to pick up bargains in the sale. I want more tee shirts for the summer, all mine look faded now I have bought a few new ones! 

Many people spend a lot on entertainment, renting DVD’s and socialising. I do get DVD’s for free from my family sometimes and rarely socialise now. I had guests at Christmas and all the food I got by shopping around and the drinks didn’t cost very much. The cheap chocolate liqueurs from Lidl went down well with my guests! Many people waste food at Christmas, I don’t; I eat any food that’s left. I might have to  throw away some spring onions, I think they don’t agree with me but I will eat everything else. My leftovers are yummy though!

You can save money easier if you simply buy what you need and not everything that you want. Try not to compete with other people, trying to keep up with the Joneses can be very expensive. I don’t need a late model car or the latest gadget. If I won the lottery I might buy a smart phone and even a smart TV; but I don’t need them. I want a sat nav for my car, but do I need it? I will probably buy one before I go travelling next summer but I shall research it first and buy one in the sale; I can easily afford it and it will make for safer driving.

Finally, I intend to buy more shares on the stock market. They appear to be under priced at the moment but I watch the movements and try to pick ones that I think are really cheap. To buy shares someone has to sell, it’s a market and there appears to be more people selling than buying at the moment so there are bargains to be had. If the economy starts to pick up then investors will start to buy and buyers will exceed sellers, prices will then go up. I think companies will also get credit from banks easier and that will promote growth and again share prices will go up. If you have money to invest, you could make a fortune in the next few years. If you have wasted money on fancy gadgets, designer clothes and paying interest to the banks; the future may not be so rosy.

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