Creating a super savings plan

If as Dave Ramsey says "personal finance is 80% behaviour" then changing that behaviour is central to your success. Creating a super savings plan will provide you with the tools you need to achieve your financial goals. 

First of what is a savings/plan goal?
While your budget takes care of your monthly expenses a savings plan take a more long term view, whilst it is connected to how you budget it is essentially deicing how much you are going to set aside, to save for a specific purpose. 

How to create a successful savings plan?

Budget Mastery
Central to saving success is having control on your budget. If you are not already doing so, taking the time each and every month to go over the previous months spending, looking at where change can be made, and praising yourself for your successes, before moving on to making a plan for the coming month. Once you have managed to wrestle your budget under control you will be in a better position to see how much money you actually have available each and every month to contribute to your savings plan. 

You might find that you are budgeting, but yet there is not money spare to contribute to savings. There are two ways to tackle this, either by reducing expenditure or increasing your income (or a combination of both). By having a solid grasp of your budget you will be able to easily identify where you are spending your money, and in turn where you can make cutbacks. 

Earn More, Spend Less
There will be expenses, essentials which it will not be possible to cut down spending. It is worthwhile separating expenses into two categories, essential and non-essential. Then rank those non-essentials in order of importance. Know you know which of your non-essential expenses is least important to you, this is where you will start making cutbacks, progressively working up the list of importance until you are able to cut back the amount you want to contribute to your savings goal. 

The alternative is to increase you income, there are lots of ways to add additional income beyond simply picking up as second job , we have plenty of them on our site that work around busy schedules so be sure to check out all your options. 

Goal Setting 
Setting goals is very important but setting goals in the right manner is the key to achieving them. You might remember as a child SMART goals, a principle of goal setting that increases you success rate. 

This means that these goals must be:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time 

An example could be "I am going to save £50 a month, towards my car maintenance sinking fund, for 12 months". 

Lets break down this goal
- It is specific, it is for the purpose of a sinking fund. We know where the money is going and what it will be used for. 
- It is measurable by the set amount each month, rather than "I'll just save a bit each month".
- It is attainable because it is not a huge amount to contribute each month, though of course, this should assessed in light of your budget. 
- It is relevant to the needs of car ownership.
- It is time specific, only for the duration of 12 months. 

Accountability 
Now you've determined your SMART savings goal, it is important to write out your plan for success. Maybe even consider filling out a chart where you colour in as you make progress such as these ones.  Share your goals with others for added accountability. 

What are your savings goals at the moment? 

Hiring a car with a debit card

Here at Saving Scotts were big advocates of living a debt free lifestyle. When we paid of the credit card for good almost two years ago, we also decided to cut up the card and enjoy life without that temptation.

Whilst using a credit card wisely, paying it off every month, is great for building a credit score for a mortgage. We knew as Chris was only just starting university at this point that would be a while away. We instead decided we would get a card after I finish my masters (and start full-time employment or a funded PhD). So until then we live debit only (or cash). 

Up until a couple of months ago, we have had no issues living debit only. We have been travelling, hired cars abroad, even paid £1000s in tuition for my masters. However, hiring a car in the UK saw us run into a bit of challenge, credit card requirements, in the name of the driver. As far as we understand the desire for hire companies to have a credit (rather than debit) stems from the fact that if you cause damage or steal the car they can charge it to the credit card (also it is easier to put money on hold for the deposit). 

It took some time but we finally found some car hire companies that allow you to pay on the debit card only. Many will require a refundable deposit (similar to the holding fee on a credit card) so be prepared to put some money aside, and contact the hire company if you are not sure how much you need to put aside.


Whilst they may not be the cheapest companies out there, it is worth shopping around between those who allow debit cards to find the best option for your needs. None of them accept pre-paid debit cards or international debit cards, so you will have to look for an alternative solution if that affects you.

Sixt
Allow hire on a UK debit card (in the driver's name) with a £250 deposit + the cost of the hire. This means if you pay for the cost of the hire upfront (which is always the cheapest option), you only need to set aside £250 for the deposit. See link to further info

Enterprise
Allow debit card only hire but it is a bit more of a tricky process.
They too require a deposit between £200 and £400 and this must be made on a card in the drivers name. 
They also require additional security checks when you pay by debit card. This is what enterprise had to say about the checks when we enquired. 

If the driver choses to use a Debit card in their name then we do perform an additional security check as we deem this payment method a less secure method than a Credit card. This check that is performed to every Debit card paying customer across the UK checks the person, their personal details against their address. It is checking if they have 3 connections to that address. By connections it checks electoral register, mortgage payments, utility bill payments & other payments in their name at that address. To qualify to rent with ourselves that renter must have at least 3 connections as described above to that address. If this is not the case and they cannot pay on a Credit card then unfortunately we are unable to rent to that individual. This is done as an insurance underwriting tool to securely protect our asset.


EasiRent
Easement require a return ticket and a priced deposit (may vary at location but around the £200 mark, worth checking with them before booking). They do require you to take the full-comp coverage if you are paying on debit only so you won't be able to get the cheapest prices available on their site. But they are still pretty competitive, but their customer service can be less than satisfactory. 

Have you hired a car using a debit card only? Who did you hire with? 


*Part of Financially Savvy Saturdays on brokeGIRLrich.*