savings

fix your finances, save money - step 3

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I hate it when things don’t quite go according to plan. I intended to finish up my personal finance challenge last week, by totalling up the money that I’d saved in my regular bills and then putting that towards my investing and charity funds. Sadly, I was hampered by an RSI-type injury, which left me only able to type long enough to do my day job all week. My hand is much recovered after the break and the typing free bank holiday, but I’ve missed the end of the Olympics.

how much did I save?

Also, I actually didn’t find as many savings as I’d hoped for. I can switch my mobile phone provider and save about £2.50 a month. I can also switch my home phone/broadband provider and save about £12.50 a month, for a grand total of £15 a month in savings. Not a great deal of money

All this assumes of course that I’m not changing the standard of living that I’m enjoying. I’m not cutting back, I simply want to get the same things cheaper. I’ve done it before (I try to do it every year) so the opportunities to save money get less and less.

what shall I do with the money?

£15 a month, is still good money. I could put add it into my investment pot, where over time, it will compound to an inflation adjusted (i.e. in todays money) £17k, giving me an extra £710 a year in retirement income. Which still isn’t an awful lot of money, but would definitely pay for an extra holiday.

Alternatively, I could add it to the amount that I give to charity, which definitely needs to increase. I don’t give nearly as much money as I feel that I should, but I’m often selfish, and increasing my charitable donations doesn’t occur to me. £15 buys a mosquito net preventing the spread of malaria, or pays for 250 school dinners, or does any number of wonderful things via Oxfam (my number 1 charity choice).

What’s important is that I make a decision about where to put this money, and don’t just fritter it away. There’s no point in making savings in one area just to accidentally lose them in another.

If you’ve found savings by cutting back on your major bills, what will you do with this money? And, what should I do with mine?

Similar Posts:

• fix your finances, save money – step 2
• money decisions this week
• charity telesales

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