bourbon-biscuit

If you were able to save in the UK but not here, are you on a family income that is less than 3x your UK one?

Of course it's possible to save money in NZ but like anywhere else you need surplus money to do it. Whilst you have posters above saying they are saving - and one poser in particular that he is doing it on a modest salary while owning a home and running cars, etc. - we don't know what they actually earn, spend and save. Our family income is decent enough but we have some huge costs related to our kids that mean we struggle with our budget - our choice, our priorities, but no we can't really save.

suggesting teens get a job and contribute only works if they have hours in their week going spare - and for families who were well off in the UK and have brought their teens out here, it could feel pretty desperate having to send the school kids out to work! I do think part time jobs are brilliant ways to learn about the world of work and kids get great skills from them, but it's not an option for all kids and I don't think kids should have to contribute financially (beyond buying their own 'wants' as poster above describes) while still in full time education unless it's a total necessity. I would hate to rent out a room - our home is where all four of us come to retreat from the world and spend time together and recharge our batteries, I would not want to have a stranger live with us.

bourbon-biscuit

Ps anyone really struggling with their budget could do worse than give the envelope method a try. I find it helpful for two reason: 1. You are on a cash budget, which sharpens your awareness for what you actually have for each type of spend 2. You do actually get money put by for things so there is less worry about unforeseen.

You just draw up a list of all your weekly outgoing and then out a reasonable figure on them. Then all the other outgoing that happen through the year and do the same but divide the costs into weekly. If it all exceeds your income, you have to pare back until they match. Then draw the money out in cash (for the stuff that rarely arises you can use multiple internet accounts) and keep a track of spending on the front of the envelope. I do it fortnightly as that's how the money comes into the house. I do auto payments for phone/ broadband and gas/leccy and I overpay the latter so we remain in credit to make use of the prompt payment discounts.

I can handle living like this because I know it's not forever (our situation is that we decided to be a single income family when the kids were babies and we both have study plans that mean in ten years time our world will be totally different) and though we've had some periods where it hasn't been so tight, we have done this for 16 yrs. I think it would be very very hard to move here and find yourself struggling financially if you didn't have money anxieties in the UK. My sympathies to anyone finding themselves in that situation.

BEVS

That's the type of method I use.

bearskin

Not only do I not really understand this; but the idea of drawing cash out and putting it in envelopes that you then scribble on the front of (to detail what's left in the envelope?), sounds like something your grandparents might have done. Surely with technology these days, there are plenty of budget planners you can track on your computer?

eg I have one with my bank that automatically logs my transactions into categories I've set up online. The whole thing took about an hour to set up.

bourbon-biscuit

Yes, I use online banking too, and I similarly use a filing system for the cash that stays in my account. However, The envelope method is very good for getting to grips with a new, reduced budget - particularly for groceries. It is well known that using physical money is a useful tool for making a psychological adjustment to less money, ditto mentally calculating what remains and writing it down. If it's not for you, all well and good, but it is a good system for some people, so why be critical?

And as for claiming you don't understand the method I think you mean you want to claim you don't understand it to further highlight how ridiculous you think it is.

BEVS

Yes. All too easy to seep dribs and drabs of money when using cards. So, a cash amount for a weeks groceries, for instance, will focus the spend for that week. Good way to aid the memory of what stuff actually costs when menu planning.

I've stated previously I find it irksome & boring to do this but needs must . If I seep $20/30 with groceries, that is $20/$30 that I don't have for something else.


edited....

I should say that I do save . It's not from a surplus of income over expenditure though. It's always a decision to not afford something. Often I get a savings thing going only to have to use that for something that crops up.

MrsFychan

I do squirrel money away, in sistema pots, but keep forgetting where I've put them

All empty now though as things got a bit tight and I am NOT taking money out of my "ticket back to UK" account just on case

davros1984

no I work in IT. skilled work but very little job security. as said elsewhere, all whom i work with, our jobs are all at risk in the next 6 months. i have no idea what mechanics earn in NZ. it is possible to save, but the question is about how much you are willing to give up to be able to save.

bearskin

Hmmm. Can I just ask: if anyone doesn't 100% agree with (or in this case, understand) something you have said/think - are they just being "critical" ?

Tom1983

Nope, it's not just you

But we are going down the miserable route since apparently every other Kiwi is doing the same

1. We have no TV now. We cancelled our sky and since the tv is old, it can't pick a signal up. We're not buying a freeview box as they're a rip off
2. We don't buy any alcohol. No wine or beer
3. My golf membership is coming to an end in April.
4. We just go and buy a meal every evening. No juices, we just drink water
5. Telephone connection has been removed. We only have pay and go mobiles and broadband. realyl annoys people that are trying to contact us since the partners family don't have skype
6. All our weekends are spent at Hagley Park, or in the city centre of Chch. We don't use the car at all weekends apart from taking the wife to work in order to save money
7. All the electrical plugs bar the fridge are turned off during the day and night. Only turn them on when we're using them
8. Neither of us take any lunch with us to work. We only have 2 meals a day apart from our wee boy
9. We only buy homebrand stuff - and any luxuries are bought from Kmart or Warehouse
10. We never get any takeaways etc.

Because apparently that's what everyone has done so therefore everyone else should do it. Yes, people have gone through 10-15 years of miserable lives but it works in the end. This way should make us save some money

So in the likely exmaple of our health deteriorating and possible medical treatment, no doubt the press commentators will find other ways to attack our methods despite them doing what we did. If we weren't ripped off with extortionate rental and cost of living costs, then our serves us right story would have some other sort of ways. Perhaps they'll say we should live in a backpackers or live in a cardboard box - oh in my day we did this, we did that

....

Bo-Jangles

You might mock but if you study any of 'money saving' methods this one is tried and true and recommended by many that give guidance on budgeting - the new ways are not always the best and we don't need the technology.

Having physical money is a good visual exercise and teaches restraint and priorities - when you can see dwindling away and see that you're down to the last five bucsk you're less likely to buy lipstick or such fripperies that might fall into your shopping basket. Having money in a bank account where you can easily dip into the virtual pool of money / to borrow the leccy money or reprioritise to pay for other basic living expenses from money that's not necessarily there or already accounted for elsewhere.

I guess you have to have been there to understand it.

BEVS

Good on you.

Good start.

Don't try to save big $$ at the beginning. Set a small target for each week - even $5 or $10 & put that in an account away from your normal bank accounts. A building society or something.
As you hone your budget you can up that little by little.
Then nothing unforeseen comes up where you have to use it. In any case if you do have to use it, at least it's there.

Hoping it doesn't sound like 'teaching to suck eggs' . It's not meant that way at all.

bearskin

Ever heard of the phrase 'burning a hole in my pocket'? This is when you go out with, say, $20 in your pocket - and, guess what? you end up spending it - because it's there. If it's not there, you can't spend it - without getting out your wallet and putting it on a card like Eftpost or VISA. That puts in place a couple more steps that gives you the opportunity to stop and reflect on whether you actually need it.

Also - you're suggesting every two weeks when I get paid, that I go down to the bank and withdraw (some of/all of it? - like I say, I don't actually understand the technique, but please, laugh at me over that eh?) the money and come home and put it into lots of different envelopes?

I'm not sure that i want to do that - not least because it would cost me to do that - at least the cost of getting to and from the bank. It seems like a waste of time and effort. I could understand it back in my grandparents day when you actually got paid cash - but these days? I can instantly see what I've spent on petrol, or groceries by logging onto my banking - without envelopes of cash?

barnsleymat

It's bloody hard, the only way it seems to save is living life as if on the breadline. We managed to cobble enough money together to send my wife home for a holiday, plus family gave us some money towards it. There's no surprise it's hard to save compared to the UK when she sends me messages and pictures of the price of stuff back home. The other month I had a massive gripe about how a small bag of wallpaper paste costs $23, to wind me up she sent me a picture of a bigger bag in Poundland. That's yet another minor thing that's over 10 times the cost, the many things that cost between 3 and 10 times the price mount up over the months and cripples and economy drive.

Justcol

If you cant live an "interesting" life in NZ there's something seriously wrong.
music, indie-rap-rock-metal-country-jazz-blues, arts sculpture trails and installations right through to urban graffiti, theater local amdram to international productions,
culture, everything from European settler-Maori- Pacific islands-Chinese-Asian, sports you can actually participate in such as cycling, road or mountain bike, surfing, kayaking,
windsurfing, diving, SUP, fishing, sailing, kite surfing, jogging, iron man, racquet sports, cricket,walking, hiking, mountaineering, motorcycling, we have some of the best biking roads and scenery on the planet, real honest friendly people, beach life.....etc etc etc

If you dont like the place just say so but dont blame the fact that you cant settle on the place itself, it's you that doesnt fit in.
You chose to come and brought your own expectations with you, if they havent been met then maybe you should have done your research a little better before leaving blighty.
We dont see folk like you a lot on here, thank goodness, things dont suit you and suddenly its everybody else's fault. Your attitude is the equivelent of running home to mummy
crying after your first day at school. For gods sake man, grow up and grow a pair, just admit you made a mistake, pack your bags and sling your hook.

Sorry for ranting folks.....