Our attempt at being MF!!

Baby_steps_2 · 14 September 2010 at 9:56PM

Hi,

Worth thinking about sky phone in the future at least. As for iPhone insurance, mine is covered by my bank as kne as the perks of a gold account (along with travel insurance and breakdown cover and a few extra bits all for £12.95 a month).

As for quidco, my understanding is that validated means qudico have registered the
spend on your account, tracked mean the supplier have acknowledged the transaction and received means that quidco have received the money front the supplier and are waiting to pay it to you. Hope that helps and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong!!

cha97michelle · 14 September 2010 at 10:54PM

tracked and validated are the other way round on Quidco.

I think i need to look at our SOA again. I only did it a few months ago but a few bills have changed a little bit.

CathT · 15 September 2010 at 7:54AM

Thanks baby steps and Michelle. With SOA in the past I have found that I have cancelled something (i.e gym membership) to save money and then one of my other dd's goes up completely wiping out my saving!

However, does make me reluctant to add anything new. DH prob upgrading car but willing to forfeit some of personal spends, cancel sports etc and hoping the money saved on tax (going from 1.8l to 1.1) and insurance will recoup the cost of the car!

We could have a balance of £3000 (after deposit and trade in) but they only offer 7% on finance. Wondering whether to use a CC then use 0% transfer deal to save some interest costs. Would need to be disciplined with repayments tho. Or just take the loan and save extra to pay it off as quick as possible but not sure what would be left for OP's.

I also get payrise next month so could poss afford it without noticing much difference (in theory anyway, doesn't it always work like that?!)

museumworker · 15 September 2010 at 12:12PM

CathT wrote: »

SOA

Sky 46.00 I think others have commented already on combining with other offers. I would consider getting rid, reducing number of channels, or calling them to threaten getting rid and see how much better they can do! My sis recently halved her virgin bill as she called to go to a better deal at sky - they reduced price greatly and gave better service to keep her.

Sky cover 9.00 What is this?

British Gas 70.00 sounds like you shop around already for this, would look at cheap ways of improving heat output (bleed radiators, have boiler serviced, add reflective foil to behind radiators to reflect heat back into room, draft proof doors, thick curtain in front of outside doors/windows etc). Our joint elec and gas for 3 bed house is about £55 a month. Have newish boiler though (although radiators are rubbish too).

Gas Cover 16.37 may be able to shop around for this

Life Ins 11.57 can always check this - is it for 2 people or one?

I-phone 47.00 (includes 12 insurance) :eek: but you've said this is important to you, others have mentioned insuring through other means

Food and petrol £400 maybe split out food and petrol. Food is the one area big savings can be made through meal planning etc

OH personal spends £200 what about your personal spends? OH and I both have £150 a month pocket money to spend on what we like.

Currently send minimum of £100 to mortgage. Not sure where the rest goes actually!!

Did you put down childcare, clothes, christmas and bday presents, holidays? These mount up, although we normally pay for them annually is good to see how much that averages out a month.

Hope these comments help, will do my own SOA soon so you can do the same for me :rotfl:.

CathT · 15 September 2010 at 12:53PM

Thanks for your comments MW.

I am hoping we can reduce our gas and elec consumption and due to new deal with BG should be getting cheapest tariff availiable across all providers.

I will cancel the sky cover, maybe today? Someone told me if there is a fault just threaten to cancel anyway! We took it out when we had work done to front of house and had to call out an engineer as the dish got knocked.

Our life insurance covers us both and pays the mortgage should either of us die.

We NEVER stay on budget for food and petrol and although we have this set amount in a separate account we always end up using the other joint account at end of the month. Am definitely going to look at meal planning esp with colder weather approaching soups and stews/casseroles seem more appealing and I know DD will enjoy these meals.

We don't currently budget for clothes, presents (don't have holidays argh!) and buy as and when we need them so would be good to have a reserve account for things like this.

My wages are after my childcare voucher comes out and this tends to cover most if not all of the costs each month.

Am planning a cheap christmas (don't people always do that!)

So, things to do today:

1) [STRIKE]Cancel ESPN (can't alter rest of package till Jan) saving £7 a month[/STRIKE]
2) [STRIKE]Cancel Sky Cover - saving £9 a month[/STRIKE]
3) Look at options to fund possible new car purchase and also think of haggling tips!
4) Set OP goal for next month after working out what wage will be next week (we were both underpaid last month!)
5) Look at meal planning ideas
6) Persuade DH to have less personal spends since I barely spend anything on myself!
7) Be more frugal overall!!

katsu · 15 September 2010 at 1:37PM

Thanks for posting your SOA. I use Martin's budget planner too.

I'm sure you can save money on the gas cover - try Martin's site articles.

I personally just pay for an annual service rather than insuring it. I had mine done today at £65, and have spent ~£400 on the boiler over 4.5yrs - basically all because it was badly maintained and bodge mended in the past when it broke :mad: My boiler is at least 11yrs old and the engineer says it has life in it yet. If I'd had your insurance it would have cost me ~£900 over the same period :eek:

My theory is one of "self-insurance" - sometimes it is better to save the money/think how you would replace the item if it broke/consider the realistic maintenance costs, than to insure it.

For pressies, I keep a spreadsheet (goes back a couple of years) showing what is in my stash, what it cost, and when I allocate gifts to people it keeps a running annual budget. I spent around £180 last year on 23 people as we have a large family. I love my list and feel it helps me appreciate the bargains better.

CathT · 15 September 2010 at 5:10PM

Thanks for popping by Katsu, i will look into the gas cover savings. Since I've had it for 2 years now I think if i cancelled my boiler would go BANG!

I'm rubbish at keeping track of what presents i've bought, already started christmas shopping but not sure where i have put the stuff and who it's for!!

Not managed to do much off my list today!

themull1 · 15 September 2010 at 5:44PM

What are your husbands personal spends? they seem a bit high?

CathT · 15 September 2010 at 6:08PM

Just so that he has his own money really and some sense of control cos i organise the rest of the finances! Sometimes he buys food shopping (often junk tho) but i suspect he wastes rather a lot. Might reduce him down to £150 this month and see what difference that extra £50 makes to my MF spreadsheet!

What does everyone else have for personal spends?

museumworker · 15 September 2010 at 10:47PM

CathT wrote: »

Not managed to do much off my list today!

Looks like you've saved £17 pm today already = £204 per year. Set up a direct debit into the mortgage/savings account for it from next month, as you won't miss it if you never see it! With the potential extra £50 saved from OH's shaving of personal budget (£600 pa), sounds like a very good day! It takes much longer than you think to make changes (permanent ones at least), make sure you recognise every achievement!

We do £150 a month personal spending / pocket money each, I think it is plenty. We don't always get through it - as it is all that is left in our personal account after transferring to joint account, makes you keep an eye on it and not overspend! Any leftovers are transferred to savings at the end of the month.

Our attempt at being MF!!

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