I’ve never been a big saver as such. I used to save my birthday and Christmas money and any unexpected money from family and friends – but my pocket money from my parents used to be spent without a second thought. When I had my paper round, the money was mine to spend and when I turned 16 and got my first real job, that was mine too. Once I turned 18 and had both my shop and pub job, I paid some rent to my mum – but the rest? That was mine to do what I wanted with and working in a pub meant a lot of it got spent – in the pub. The rest went on shopping trips with my girls.
When I look back, I do regret not saving as much even if I was having lots of fun. I was lucky to have a fall back if I was short of money – although I never touched it. My Dad opened up an account for me when I was born and I couldn’t touch it until I was 15. Despite it being there if needed, I never actually used that money until I was 20 and moving into my first place with Steve which I am grateful for. Since then, I have saved any cash prize wins but these soon disappeared when we had Jack and moved into this house. Ever since, I’ve been saving but then dipping into them for certain reasons.
I’ve spoken at length before about the financial worries we had in the months leading up to my redundancy. It didn’t seem it at the time but it really was a blessing in disguise as the amount I was spending on travel wasn’t sustainable in the long run. Since then, we have been trying to cut down our debts completely and save up. At the moment I am saving some money in an Instant Access Savings Account for various different things, this includes paying some people back. I would rather pay back some lump sums to what we owe than a few pounds here and there. I usually pay these debts via bank transfer and I am slowly but surely cutting them down.
We are going on holiday soon which my parents are very kindly paying for – Steve is doing the driving and we only have to pay for our food and activities. I’m going to use this time to relax and regroup and plan on coming back with a fresh mind to target our remaining debts and really boost our savings. This means sorting out a really good work schedule around Jack’s pre school hours (only working when he is at home if I really have to) and really utilising the different ways of making money that I know. I’m planning on taking on a part time role outside of the home alongside my freelance/blog stuff come September when Jack is at the nursery at school – perhaps even temping at an old job over the Christmas period if they will let me – anything to get our debts down and our savings up. Becoming truly financially stable.
Wish me luck!
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