A penny saved is a penny earned! (Saving tips)

Member Name: Whizz11

Product:	Saving tips
Date:	02/03/09 (323 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A little goes a long way

Disadvantages: None

In a previous review I wrote that my Grandpa had always taught me, " a penny saved is a penny earned," so you see, from an early age, saving has been something that I have always been aware of and tried to do with quite a bit of effort.

Once I have kids I think the best way to teach them saving tips is to begin at an early age and then hopefully once they get into adulthood it will come naturally.

I know, it's all well and good saying that you are going to save 10% of your paycheck but in these credit crunch times I know it is hard but just a few simple things could really help you out in the long run.

My first tip would be to get a pension. A lot of companies nowadays (although I am aware a lot don't either) offer a company pension. At the moment I am lucky enough to have one that is non-contributary so the company put money into and I don't have to match that if I don't want to but in my last job I paid in about £100 a month. This is money that goes into your pension before tax which is a great benefit because then the amount you do have to pay tax on is less so you are saving some money then. Also, I feel that if you have the money set to come out each month you will not notice it and it will just become habit and thus once you reach retirement age you have saved money without really even thinking about it. Just to add, I'm not a pensions expert at all and I strongly recommend talking to an pensions advisor before contemplating getting one.

Secondly, I would open a savings account that gives you a little bonus payment if you do not make any withdrawls during the year. I find these often offer a higher rate of interest (even though it's not very good right now) and even though the bonus is small (last year I got about £0.98 bonus on my savings) it is money you didn't have before so you are actually earning. I only put £20 in a month, not very much and I hardly miss £20 (that's s a sandwich for two in London one lunchtime) and plan on doing so for the next 30 years and not ever touching it. So, by the time I get to retirement age I will have about £8,000 in it. Ok, this is not enough to live on but it's money you don't even notice you're saving and can be used for a round the world trip or something like that.

Coupons are my new favourite money saving tip. Just recently it seems like just about every high street restaurant is offering "Buy one main meal, get the other one free." THis is generally offered from Sunday to Thursday, so not on the weekends but I used one at Pizza Express on Thursday with friends and one t Cafe Rouge on Sunday with my family and saved over £30!

I really do save my pennies! I have a little piggy bank on my nightstand and whenever I have some coins in my purse I put them in there instead of keeping them in my purse where I know I will spend them the next day if I am out. I only put 20p, 10p and 5p in there, nothing bigger because you notice 50p but you don't notice 5p's so much and then every two months or so I find I have at least £5 to deposit in the bank in coins.

Just a few little tips to hopefully make us all better off!

Summary: Save those pennys