1 mortgage, 2 babies, 3 years to be MF, 4 goodness sake!- weezl's diary

LilacPixie

Thanks Shaz. OH works for a food distrabution company and they sell off over orders. Today it was 3kg diced steak and 2kg diced chicken thigh for £3. I seriously need a bigger freezer for it all and sausages seemed a genius idea. I'm thinking the lakeland one looks a good bet to start with.

Still not found a house we want to buy. seen a few pretty close to it but there always seems to be an issue with everything we see. food spends sitting at about two thirds of our budget with only 10 days to go. Electricity usage averaging 11kw a day. Hoping to be overpaying around £100 at the end of the month.

SusanC_2

weezl74 wrote: »

Some of you I know, like me, are following Mark88man and his 6000 meals under 50p challenge, with interest. Great ideas on there.

What struck me too was how many people feel that this is a low budget, and must be unhealthy. Further, people seemed to be saying that there is no reason for anyone in the UK to have to live like that.:(

I think the problem is that many people don't have the knowledge and abilities to eat healthily on a low budget and so they don't think it is possible. We spend slightly more than his budget (£2/person/day but it does include all non meal time food) and I wouldn't say we have any problems with eating healthily. We eat very little pre-made food and I always buy organic milk (and therefore have organic yoghurt, buttermilk, crea cheese and whey) and free range eggs and also buy organic verisons of random varying other things so it's not even like the budget couldn't be reduced easily. I think the general view is "If in doubt, spend more money on food and you'll be okay."

SunnyGirl wrote: »

As a matter of interest with your charitable giving each month - is it a particular charity every time or do you swap & change according to need IYSWIM? I only ask as DH & I try to give to certain charities on a regular basis - not as much now as he lost his job a while ago & hasn't found anything else yet, so our giving has consisted of donations to the charity shops when we have things to pass on, and he is a member of a local Lions group who do all sorts of charitable work for all types of people. What actually upset me was the amount of money that some had on deposit with the Icelandic banks when they collapsed. I was angry even though I understood the need to make money in interest for the greater good of the charity in the long run.

Just wondered if anyone else had any thoughts on this?

I don't follow the news that closely so didn't know about charities having money in Icelandic banks but just like we need to have a buffer of cash savings for the unexpected, so do charities expecially as a lot of their income is one off donations rather than regular giving. (This is one of the reasons why we do regular giving because it enables charities to operate more effectively if they have a regular income.) The way we do it is we have a separate giving account into which we pay a % of our income each month. (This is partly because our income is seasonal.) We have various regular monthly payments to a few charities which we can comfortably afford such that the amount in the account regularly builds up. The buffer allows for us to be able to continue to make our regular payments for a good while if for some reason we lost our income but we also use it to make one off payments as and when the need arises.

Cazzdevil wrote: »

After a lengthy discussion with my boss, brother and work colleague regarding pensions/mortgages/savings etc the general consensus is that we'd be better off trying to pay the mortgage off early.
...
I'm more on the side of getting the mortgage paid off. What's everyone's opinion?

Mortgage THEN pension, or a little of both now?

We both started our pensions before we bought our house (and we didn't know whether we'd ever actually be able to buy one) so now have both pensions and a mortgage. Obviously the more you pay into the pension earlier the better but the same applies to the mortgage and if your mortgage is fully paid then you will have a lower income requirement when you reach pension age (and therefore need to pay less into your pension). Without actually doing calculations of the various alternatives to see what financial effect they would have I would tend to lean towards thinking that paying off your mortgage more quickly first would give the greatest financial return. However, if something unforeseen were to happen say in five years time, how would that affect things? Because of that, I would rather be paying something into our pensions than putting it all into our house. It probably depends how realistic your chances are of paying off your mortgage soon though - if I thought we were able to pay ours off in as few as five years I would be willing to stop pension payments temporarily but since I know that that is pretty much impossible (we would have to spend zero on everything else) I would rather continue paying what we already are in pensions but put any extra money into the mortgage.

Tesco_points_addict wrote: »

I'm confused whats whatnot:A

That thing people do that results in babies.

phizzimum

SusanC wrote: »

I think the problem is that many people don't have the knowledge and abilities to eat healthily on a low budget and so they don't think it is possible.

I do agree that many people are like this - but I would have thought most people posting on the Old Style board do have the relevant skills - or at least are aware of them even if they're not implementing them.

talking of which - I'm looking forward to hearing about the paneer.

SusanC_2

phizzimum wrote: »

I do agree that many people are like this - but I would have thought most people posting on the Old Style board do have the relevant skills - or at least are aware of them even if they're not implementing them.

Good point although I would think there are two categories of people on OS: those who are already OS and like to talk about it and those who are learning OS. Perhaps there are more people who are learning than who know lots and still hang out there? Or perhaps the thread title appealled more to people who are learning?

weezl74

following on from susan's thoughts there, I think the most surprising thing was Mark being challenged that perhaps his figures weren't fully inclusive, because posters elsewhere were feeling a failure because they couldn't match his budget.

My feeling was, 'well they're in the right place to learn!' rather than 'well, Mark's figures must be wrong!' I sometimes think there's a bit of an attitude on that part of the forums that if someone can do something more cheaply then they must be doing it wrong: unhealthy, cheating.... etc.

I guess it's ok to think that, but it seems kinda defensive to me, and like it would get in the way of people learning how to do better and therefore not feel like a failure!

I remember joining the grocery challenge thread in 2007 and being so impressed at some people's budgets and posting asking how they did it, and everyone seemed to swoop in and do a kind of don't worry about it, just do what's right for you, we're all different, etc...

I was a bit frustrated at the time though, because I was there to save money! Not to be told it was fine as it was!

I happened across Martin in order to save money! I didn't go for a website called 'keeping everything the same financially.com'. :rotfl:

Ooooh getting a bit ruffled there, calm down weezl!

Phizzimum:) the paneer cheese was lovely! I think I'll dry out more of the whey next time, so that the cheese stays more solid in the spinach sauce next time. It tastes lovely but more solid lumps of cheese would be even nicer I still have 2 litres of the UHT milk, so I'm debating whether to make a soft flavoured paneer for DH's lunch sandwiches or rice pudding.... I made DH some kidney bean pate as a change from houmous, but he likes a bit of variety!

mark55man

morning weezl

Paneer sounds lovely - we even have some frozen spinach in the fridge - may have to give that a try - even though it sounds a bit messy

on my other thread, my figures are as precise for the meal as I know how to make them without getting ridiculously precise, but I don't inlcude absolutely everything we eat in the house only main meals, and I have been known to splash a little soy sauce in without a full accounting - Honestly if I was that good at money, I wouldn't be up the swannee in the first place

Loving your idea for new website - keepingeverythingthesamefinancially.com (and .co.uk) - the names are available if you wanted to register them :rotfl:

weezl74

mark88man wrote: »

Loving your idea for new website - keepingeverythingthesamefinancially.com (and .co.uk) - the names are available if you wanted to register them :rotfl:

Shall I? :rotfl:How funny! We could have car stickers emblazoned with, 'set fire to your money! It's only paper!'

*shakes head sorrowfully, an unaccounted for splash of soy....... tsk tsk......*

ceridwen

Cazzdevil wrote: »

I'm more on the side of getting the mortgage paid off. What's everyone's opinion?

Mortgage THEN pension, or a little of both now?

Had to pop in on that one - MORTGAGE MORTGAGE MORTGAGE

ie pay the mortgage off first definitely.

REASON;
- You never know what is going to happen to any private/company pension you have. Lots of them have "gone down the swanee" and more will do so yet - leaving the poor employees/scheme members concerned with a lot less than they are supposed to have. A house is secure though - the chances are very small of someone physically heading for your house with a bulldozer lets say:cool:

- If you became unemployed and had to claim benefit ever - there are all sorts of restrictions the DWP have in place to avoid paying full mortgage interest (not paying for the first however-many weeks is just the first of them).

- I dont know how "skilled" your job is to know about your own personal circumstances. What I DO know though is Society does not have enough unskilled/low-skilled jobs available and the situation is still getting worse (as jobs vanish to technology/go overseas/and STILL the darn population is increasing - so the number of people wanting jobs is increasing). What this seems to have led to is it looks (to me) that both employers and the Government are colluding to force people to do involuntary jobsharing (ie those requiring the unskilled/low-skilled jobs). Employers prefer part-time people and the Government would rather share a job between two people in the hopes that that would mean both of them earning too much from their "half share" of a job to be able to claim benefit. Those in lower-skilled work need to be very aware that they could be the next person being forced to share their job with someone else against their will. If this means you possibly - then bring your financial needs down low enough that you could manage with a half-job if need be. DO be aware that jobs are starting to be "rationed" in effect - there are currently about 1 million would-be full-time workers being forced to share their job basically.

boredofbeingathome

weezl74 wrote: »

following on from susan's thoughts there, I think the most surprising thing was Mark being challenged that perhaps his figures weren't fully inclusive, because posters elsewhere were feeling a failure because they couldn't match his budget.

My feeling was, 'well they're in the right place to learn!' rather than 'well, Mark's figures must be wrong!' I sometimes think there's a bit of an attitude on that part of the forums that if someone can do something more cheaply then they must be doing it wrong: unhealthy, cheating.... etc.

I guess it's ok to think that, but it seems kinda defensive to me, and like it would get in the way of people learning how to do better and therefore not feel like a failure!

I remember joining the grocery challenge thread in 2007 and being so impressed at some people's budgets and posting asking how they did it, and everyone seemed to swoop in and do a kind of don't worry about it, just do what's right for you, we're all different, etc...

I was a bit frustrated at the time though, because I was there to save money! Not to be told it was fine as it was!

I happened across Martin in order to save money! I didn't go for a website called 'keeping everything the same financially.com'. :rotfl:

Ooooh getting a bit ruffled there, calm down weezl!

Phizzimum:) the paneer cheese was lovely! I think I'll dry out more of the whey next time, so that the cheese stays more solid in the spinach sauce next time. It tastes lovely but more solid lumps of cheese would be even nicer I still have 2 litres of the UHT milk, so I'm debating whether to make a soft flavoured paneer for DH's lunch sandwiches or rice pudding.... I made DH some kidney bean pate as a change from houmous, but he likes a bit of variety!

I am glad it is not just myself who feels like that. I do get put off posting at times on Oldstyle-for that very reason.

I have cut my budget by well over half of it's original amount. I feel that we eat far more healthily and where *possible* organic or free range. I am working on ways to get more in- as i used to shop at a Farm shop which i paid a goodly amount - the meat was of very high quality- but sadly our portion control was not very good:rotfl::rotfl:So less is more on the meat front. I do use local farms for veg and potatoes though and i have saved a fortune.

I know that i can do more- but take the approach that it is a work in progress and i keep on using the ideas to further educate myself and family so that they will be able to do as much in the future.

In_Search_Of_Me

oo weezl can you save me some paneer for weds so I can try some pretty please!! Lol re the website...I should start one that goes along the "I am trying but think I will always struggle with money" variety My friend laughed at me the other day when I said her supper was v luxurious cos it had so much meat in it!! I'd have had much more veg and sauce in mine and being honest am now so used to it that it was too meaty...re peoples thinking maybe part of it is that people are at different stages...ie weezl at the start of the money saving journey you'd probably have laughed if someone said you would spend what you do now (yea or nay?) but because of changes in lifestyle/thinking/attitudes its become second nature to you? I cant believe what I used to spend generally but also know I have a fair way to go...anyway...off to snooze!