My underspending diary

ecoelle

i take you point about the smoking, but.....
we don't drink alcohol, we don't gamble, we don't drive very often, we don't eat out unless it's a very special occasion, we don't buy any dvd's, cd's and very rarely do we buy clothes, neither of us like shopping, we don't eat meat, smoking is my one and only vice!

ecoelle

Ok...a bit of background and the reason for this thread.

I'm 27 my partner is 28. We havee been together 5 years and bought our house about 3 years ago now. I was in a very well paid job but due to illness had to leave and go back to working in retail which i love! My partner was made redundant in august 2007 and found work again in may 2008. Due to the fact that we had savings and no children or disabilities we were not entitled to much help and so had to use the little money we had saved up to pay the mortgage for those 9 months. We are now back on track and i want to save as much money as possible because we got engaged in september and are planning to get married next year.

We owe 5000 to B and Q andd i want to pay it off as soon as possible so that we can start to save for the wedding. Plus i want to be mortgage free asap and also we want to have children so we need to be as frugal as possible. I do all the budgeting and my partner does whatever i tell him is the best, that makes him sound like a complete wimp but it's a partnership, he's just not very good with figures, he trusts me to look after the finances which i enjoy.


So the point of this thread is to look at my budget, stick to it (hopefully) and pay off Band Q as soon as possible. so i'm going to use this as a way of tracking our progress, i'm going to post what we are spending and try to track how we are doing on paying off the loan.

Kavanne

ecoelle wrote: »

i take you point about the smoking, but.....
we don't drink alcohol, we don't gamble, we don't drive very often, we don't eat out unless it's a very special occasion, we don't buy any dvd's, cd's and very rarely do we buy clothes, neither of us like shopping, we don't eat meat, smoking is my one and only vice!

How much do you spend on cigs per week? Per month? per year? Putting that into the mortgage, how much quicker could you clear your mortgage if you used that money to overpay? I think you will be shocked.

ecoelle

Ok

Spending today
Food 21.98
Petrol 35.22

Total for week
57.20

ecoelle

We each buy 1 small packet of tobacco, a box of filters and multipack of rizla
it costs us
£10 a week between us
so £520 a year
thats awful isn't it!

Kavanne

ecoelle wrote: »

We each buy 1 small packet of tobacco, a box of filters and multipack of rizla
it costs us
£10 a week between us
so £520 a year
thats awful isn't it!

So that's nearly another month's mortgage you pay on fags each year... or a holiday... or into an emergency fund for when your boiler packs up or pipe bursts...

chuckley

why u spendin £160 on groceries for 2 people and no kids?!

where u shoppin?! m&s?!

chuckley

ecoelle wrote: »

I put in 160 a month for groceries etc.

This includes, 2 adults food, 2 cats food, litter and biscuits, and cigarettes for me and my partner. I basically take out £40 on a saturday, do the food shopping and buy 2 packets of tobacco and some rizla.

did u know £land go felix cat food pouches @ 4 for a pound?!

id say u r buying weekly and maybe at 'metro' stores where u pay more, due to the convenince. i suggest u buy monthly and supplement in the week for fresh/daily stuff. that way u buy in bulk for the cupboard stuff with offers, e.t.c. rather than weekly frittering away...

chuckley

ecoelle wrote: »

i take you point about the smoking, but.....
we don't drink alcohol, we don't gamble, we don't drive very often, we don't eat out unless it's a very special occasion, we don't buy any dvd's, cd's and very rarely do we buy clothes, neither of us like shopping, we don't eat meat, smoking is my one and only vice!

pointless havin a car then really... public transport or walk... free exercise i call it

ecoelle

I tend to prefer to buy my groceries weekly, in groceries i am including
food
toiletries
cleaning products
loo roll
cat food and litter
cigarettes
i thought i did quite well to get all of that for £40 a week or have i been fooling myself?
We have the car due to the fact that sometimes i have to work late and being female don't want to walk in the dark, i have seriously considered selling it and just paying for taxis as and when i need them. Not including petrol the car costs us £520 a year, and that's if it passes the mot and service without needing work, and £520 could pay for a lot of taxis! I don't know why i don't just sell it. I think if i was in debt then i would, but at the moment we can afford to run it so i think i will keep it on for now. I may look at selling it when the weather improves!