There’s never a time when I’m not saving. I may not always have a huge goal but there’s always multiple savings streams going on. I used to have about 10 different bank accounts which housed savings for different goals. Thankfully Monzo came to the rescue with their pots so I didn’t need all these different bank accounts. There’s a lot I’m currently saving for so I thought I’d share with you my Monzo pots and what money I’m putting aside.
Tax and general savings
Let’s get the general boring ones over with to begin with. Luke is solely self-employed and I am part-time self-employed so one thing I’m saving for are our tax bills. For me I put aside money every month from a certain client. And for Luke it’s ad-hoc. I also have a general savings pot. This is where I put money just for me that tends to be what’s left over after everything else. So if I wanted to treat myself something frivolous or fancy it would come from here.
Regular savings
There are a few set monthly and weekly savings that I do to help spread the cost of things over the year. I save money each month in an ISA for my car insurance. The thought of paying more just to pay monthly makes me sad so I save throughout the year so I can pay it off in one go. We’re hoping to do the same with Luke’s after his renewal later this year. We also have a set weekly saving towards Christmas. It makes such a difference saving a little each week so we don’t end up spending masses on Christmas.
Our final regular savings is for our emergency fund. Each week we put money aside for no purpose other than to give ourselves a buffer. When we move into our new house we know things will need doing. We may need a new boiler, or something might happen to the roof. Whatever it may be we want to have a pot of money to help pay towards things we may need urgently.
Bigger savings
Our house renovation was the biggest thing we were saving for. We’re still topping the funds up a little as we know we may need some extra money. But that one is just chilling there.
Last tax year I opened another ISA to use for our wedding funds. When we’re in the house we’re going to back to saving weekly towards our wedding costs, even though it may not be until 2023 that we tie the knot. For us an ISA seemed like the best bet as the money is going to sit there untouched for a while.
What I’m saving for: Adhoc savings
Ad-hoc savings which are going to be long term for us are mortgage overpayments. It’s not the top of our savings goals at the moment, but once we’re married and have more spare cash we want to make regular mortgage overpayments. This will help us to reduce our payment term so when we remortgage we may be able to drop this timeframe. In an ideal world we’d like to be mortgage free before we turn 60 (at the moment it would be 65/66). This extra time would give us space to save the money as additional for our retirement.
Current savings
I’ve always got random savings going on for things currently happening. Although most of mine are ‘on-hold’ at the moment. I have savings pots for two holidays; Portugal which has been re-scheduled for October/ November. And one for Bali. I was due to go at the end of this year but it’s been postponed. But I want to be saving for the trip so when it does happen I have the money to pay for flights/ the trip.
I have been saving towards two hen parties. They were both due to happen this March/ April but have been postponed. I have enough in the pot at the moment, but I want to top this up a little before they happen. Then the final one is for a really fancy meal at Hawksmoor. As Luke’s dad has helped us soo much with our house renovation we want to treat him and Luke’s mum to a fancy meal. So I’m putting aside some money as I go for when we have that meal after the house is done.
