A Few Ideas For Boosting Our Savings

   I know when you are on a tight budget how hard it can be to save money and if you are anything like us you just manage to get a bit of money behind you and a big bill arrives like work on the car and eats most of it away. There is one thing Tom and I are trying desperately to save for and that is a little camper van. We have a dream of setting off for a couple of days with our dogs in the back and exploring all around the country. We don't want a massive luxurious one in fact a little one we could fit into ordinary parking spaces would be ideal. Just somewhere to cook little meals and sleep after a days walking would be perfect. The problem is how are we going to get the money together.
  I never underestimate the amount that can be made from small amounts of money saved and small amounts of extra money made. I recently read a good idea for saving extra money without noticing and it really works. Every morning when I get up I check my bank account, just in case something unexpected has gone out. What I read was to round the money down to the 0 or 5 below and transfer it into a savings account. So if you have £323.32 in your account transfer the £3.32 into the savings account or if you have £216.50 in your account transfer £1.50 out. I really didn't notice the little amounts transferred every day and it took me a month to save just over £100. If anyone said I had to save an extra £100 I would say I can't afford it but I managed it with no trouble.
  When I was student nurse in a shared house we had a money box by the telephone which we all put our loose change in to pay the phone bill and we were often amazed at how much money would be in there when we came to add it up. It was occasionally raided for a night out but on the whole it worked well.  I'm hoping to get everyone in our house into the habit of putting their loose change into this little money box I had as a child. This may boost our savings by about £50 a month with luck so just another £150 a month to find and we will be on track for next summer. I'm sure I can think of some more ideas to raise that and then it will be life on the open road for us!