When the going gets tough

SJ1

Hi Everyone

Well doing ok today, lunch at home so that was nice and free! Got some meat for weekend - not joint as going to cost that out for the best place..... But for tonight and for kids for tomorrow and spent £3 so still plenty left for the joint for the weekend. Eyeing up a nice Banana Syrup Sponge pudding that I think I have all the ingredients for = it's in Economy Gastronomy so should be cheap to make surely!!

Got £30 out for babysitter :eek:so going to have to try to cut down on my 'other' budget next week:o. Feel a bit naughty but I think I can pull things back next week and we so rarely go out...

So all is well with my envelopes apart from the fact that all the money in them is gone!!

Roll on Monday....

S

SuzySu

Sounds good Susi....have fun tomorrow night. How many hours of babysitting will that £30 cover?

Mags30

:wave:Hi, I started that thread about the envelopes, I'm hating it though, it's making me feel deprived. It's so much more difficult than it sounds.

kavics17

Hi!

Good luck on your journey. Food budgets can be depressing, ours is usually £50 over than it supposed to be just because OH is off on Wednesdays and he likes to do the top-up shop which means he always buys something else as well:(.

Envelop system is really good but I modified it a bit, I set up different saving accounts and put money aside every month. One is for loan overpayment, one is food budget, one is holidays/treats/etc, one is emergency savings, etc. I use my airmiles credit card to pay for everything but than at home I just move the amount to the current account from the particular saving account so i know it's budgeted for! It might sound complicated but actually it's really really easy!

SuzySu

Mags30 wrote: »

:wave:Hi, I started that thread about the envelopes, I'm hating it though, it's making me feel deprived. It's so much more difficult than it sounds.

It sounds as though you are possibly being too strict on yourself? Do you have enough in there for a treat at the end of the week. I am intending to start mine but will do it for a 2 week period as my various benefits go in at different times during the month.

Anything left over will go into my debt-busting account, rather than being left in my current account and then frittered away.

Could you possibly increase the amount you put in some envelopes Mags? You have to get the balance right. There's no point in making yourself miserable in the process.

Mags30

SuzySu wrote: »

It sounds as though you are possibly being too strict on yourself? Do you have enough in there for a treat at the end of the week.

Could you possibly increase the amount you put in some envelopes Mags? You have to get the balance right. There's no point in making yourself miserable in the process.

I decided I was going to live on €100 for the week. (I live in Ireland--we use euro). Here's the post I wrote about it. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=36267011&postcount=72

If I was setting a budget for someone else I'd consider those amounts to be reasonable so I'm not understanding why I'm having so much difficulty with it. Next week might be easier when I get more used to it. I think it's just me, other people on here seem to love the envelope thing.

[Deleted User]

Mags30 wrote: »

I think it's just me, other people on here seem to love the envelope thing.

Hi Mags,

I confess I haven't got into the whole envelope thing. I think Suzy's right though you do need to find the right balance in order for it to work. xx

Mags30

Purpletea65 wrote: »

Hi Mags,

I confess I haven't got into the whole envelope thing. I think Suzy's right though you do need to find the right balance in order for it to work. xx

I'm not giving up just yet, I'm hoping that if I do it for a few weeks it'll get easier. I still think the amounts are reasonable and that it's just me being bad with budgeting. But like SJ1 and the babysitter, there seems to be endless things that don't quite fit with the envelopes allocated. In that video Maria said she borrowed from one envelope to the other as required and that was ok because she was still within budget.

SJ1

Hi Everyone

What a lot of lovely replies...:j

Suzy - £30 for the babysitter was for 5 hours so £6 per hour. She was lovely and well worth it. I could have used the 14 year old round the corner and saved £5 but I feel much happier and safer if they are with the 20 year old student who knows what she is doing. I find I don't enjoy my time away from them if they aren't being looked after by someone I trust.

Kavics I have the same problem with the OH who is a nightmare round Sainsbury's or Tesco. He always comes back with a DVD we don't need and drives me nuts by saying it was only £6 and then I say, we will watch it once and it will never get watched again. He watched EvanAlmighty the other day and then went out and bought it - like why?!!! I just don't let him go and luckily he is busy enough that he doesn't get much time to go. But you can guarantee that if he is volunteering to go to the supermarket - there will ALWAYS be an ulterior motive.:D

Mags - I think you need to be pretty generous with your envelopes to stand a chance as you are right, there are lots of things which don't fit into them very well. I have been generous with myself and actually I think I would have been ok this week but the start of school combined with night out meant more dosh out. I have a £15 misc budget that is for coffee, and you know what I feel entitled to a cup of coffee to plan my week and sit down with my friends. I find if I am too strict with myself then I don't meet my budget then I get depressed and then I have a major blow out because I just think it isn't worth it and I can't do it. Have a little treat budget, I think on my slightly odd logic, that it is worth it!!:beer:

Have got this week's money out so now feeling quite rich, again! Done the shop and stayed just inside my budget so pleased with that as got shampoo and things as well and stocked up on cereal - special offer, 3 for £6! Have discovered mysupermarket.com - that is brilliant! Filled both cars so I should be on cash only until this time next week. All the money is in envelopes although I need some change now - that is the only problem with this system!

Have a lovely evening guys- poached eggs for me tonight, had roast today so very full....STILL....

S

SJ1

Soooo everyone

All good today. Not too much spending going on which is always good.

£2.30 on coffee
£3.70 on yoghurts and fruit
£9 on meat for the week
£3.50 on sweets and a mag for the kids (they are really expensive!)
£1.00 on paper

So pretty happy with myself. Food shop for the week arrived and all looked good, got some money off due to something being damaged.

Going to try to keep my 'other' budget intact!.. I do always say that:rotfl:

S