A Year of Living Frugabulously

vasseur

Lula-Hula wrote: »

Gropey was out of the office all day & although Goblin was very pleased to have him back yesterday & they spent most of the afternoon yakking in the kitchen, I think even she realises how much more pleasant the atmosphere is without him. I'm just hoping that we keep enough work trickling in to sustain all our wages & make sure we all retain our jobs.

:rotfl:I'm starting to wonder if I work with you?????

Lula-Hula

polesalot wrote: »

:rotfl:I'm starting to wonder if I work with you?????

Hello Poles, Well that would be fun but unless you are the Goblin herself, then I'm fairly sure you don't, the only females on site are Goblin & myself.


Cheery - hello lovely, the savings pots are really quite simple once you understand where they are, how they're funded & what they're for :rotfl::

1 - Online Savings Account
This is linked directly to current account, no access other than online, whic is great as I can only transfer money in & out via my current account. This is funded monthly from my salary & is for the following future bills :
Gas £50
Electricity £50
Car Tax £10
Car Insurance £25
Car repairs, service, Mot etc £25 ( clearly underfunded judging by recent clutch issue )


2 - Old Black Nag savings account.
This one is a cashpoint card only account, I can check the balance online, but only access cash via the card or in branch. No debit or credit facilities here & it's separate from my other bank accounts. This account is funded by child benefit payments & I have also set up my quidco payments to go directly in to this account. I use this to save for holidays at the moment, both family & DDs school / Guides ones

3 - Basic Current Account

This account is with the same bank as my current & online savings which is fab as I can shift money around from one to another immediately. I have a debit/cashcard & can also use it for direct debits, standing orders or online payments. It's been dormant for the last year but I've now decided to use it for my Clothes Challenge, Pocket Money, Personal Savings etc. I have set this account up as my paypal one & it will be funded by gifts, pocket money & extra earnings.

4 - Buffer Fund Account

Errrrr hollow at the moment but this account is with the same bank as current, basic & online savings & comes with full online facilities & a cashcard. - never used - It did have my emergency month's worths of outgoings in it & needs to be replenished ASAP. This is my main financial project for 2012. Once replenished, I may well transfer the contents to the Online Savings fund & use this to get the Escape Reality Fund under way

5 - Cash Saving Funds

These are my envelopes kept in a folder & where I keep cash for all those things that are now paid by cash, but that I still need to save for otherwise I would ( & used to ) end up using the CC for. They include in order of priority:
- Childcare
- Xmas ( new fund for this year - 2 weeks & I've not missed a payment yet :rotfl:)
- Gifts (mainly DDs & friends)
- Fun ( day trips out, cinema, skating etcI top these up weekly with my home-job earnings
- Pocket Money ( mine, for drinks with boys, coffee with friends, beauty stuff, additional money for Fun etc) This fund only gets topped up if & when I have enough home-job earnings to do so after the other essential funds have been toped up, so nothing last week & not much this week. I spend sparingly as I never know when the next lot of money is coming in.


So there you have it; my personal money monitoring & saving systems; simples eh :eek: :huh: :rotfl:

It may seem quite complicated, but it generally works well & some of the accounts just take care of themselves, while I'm so used to having my envelopes in a folder topped up weekly, as they date way back to about 10 years ago & well before my LBM - it's how my Grandmother used to save up for her bills.

I've worn myself out now & only popped in to declare another NSD, 20 minute march, 15 minute yoga & 300 calories over my allowance :rotfl:.

More news soon,

G'night
xx

Karmacat

My brain won't take that in! But it obviously works for you - and I'm loving the march and the yoga, just been lamenting my non-fitness over on mine.

Hope today goes well, long may you march about

vasseur

Lula-Hula wrote: »

Hello Poles, Well that would be fun but unless you are the Goblin herself, then I'm fairly sure you don't, the only females on site are Goblin & myself.

Haha no - plenty of girlies here. Love all your nicknames though, it's got me thinking about about some for here although I suspect every office has a Gropey

1 - Online Savings Account
This is linked directly to current account, no access other than online, whic is great as I can only transfer money in & out via my current account. This is funded monthly from my salary & is for the following future bills :
Gas £50
Electricity £50
Car Tax £10
Car Insurance £25
Car repairs, service, Mot etc £25 ( clearly underfunded judging by recent clutch issue )


2 - Old Black Nag savings account.
This one is a cashpoint card only account, I can check the balance online, but only access cash via the card or in branch. No debit or credit facilities here & it's separate from my other bank accounts. This account is funded by child benefit payments & I have also set up my quidco payments to go directly in to this account. I use this to save for holidays at the moment, both family & DDs school / Guides ones

3 - Basic Current Account

This account is with the same bank as my current & online savings which is fab as I can shift money around from one to another immediately. I have a debit/cashcard & can also use it for direct debits, standing orders or online payments. It's been dormant for the last year but I've now decided to use it for my Clothes Challenge, Pocket Money, Personal Savings etc. I have set this account up as my paypal one & it will be funded by gifts, pocket money & extra earnings.

4 - Buffer Fund Account

Errrrr hollow at the moment but this account is with the same bank as current, basic & online savings & comes with full online facilities & a cashcard. - never used - It did have my emergency month's worths of outgoings in it & needs to be replenished ASAP. This is my main financial project for 2012. Once replenished, I may well transfer the contents to the Online Savings fund & use this to get the Escape Reality Fund under way

5 - Cash Saving Funds

These are my envelopes kept in a folder & where I keep cash for all those things that are now paid by cash, but that I still need to save for otherwise I would ( & used to ) end up using the CC for. They include in order of priority:
- Childcare
- Xmas ( new fund for this year - 2 weeks & I've not missed a payment yet :rotfl:)
- Gifts (mainly DDs & friends)
- Fun ( day trips out, cinema, skating etcI top these up weekly with my home-job earnings
- Pocket Money ( mine, for drinks with boys, coffee with friends, beauty stuff, additional money for Fun etc) This fund only gets topped up if & when I have enough home-job earnings to do so after the other essential funds have been toped up, so nothing last week & not much this week. I spend sparingly as I never know when the next lot of money is coming in.


So there you have it; my personal money monitoring & saving systems; simples eh :eek: :huh: :rotfl:

It may seem quite complicated, but it generally works well & some of the accounts just take care of themselves, while I'm so used to having my envelopes in a folder topped up weekly, as they date way back to about 10 years ago & well before my LBM - it's how my Grandmother used to save up for her bills.

It does sound confusing but I suspect mine would written down and I think they are quite simple. It doesn't matter so long as it works.

taxi73

Doesn't matter how simple/complicated they sound to us as it's what works for you that counts.

Lula-Hula

And there was I thinking how simple my finances are now :rotfl:

Thanks Taxi, you're right

Funny really, it's only 4 years ago that at the height of my debt problems I only had the one Old Black Nag account & they wouldn't open a current account for me . I really only keep that account just to remind me of how things used to be ( & get my own back by making sure they have to administrate my millions :rotfl:)

4 years on here I am; debt free & managing to operate 5 different accounts, & a CC. It just shows how things can change with a bit of luck, a bit of work & a bit of cutting back & shuffling .

My current account is just about in credit although I do have to pay for DDs lunches tomorrow. I had completely forgotten about the TV licence which goes out at the beginning of February so that's £37.64 I hadn't accounted for .

Today I got my virgin media bill; £71.65 :eek: due at the beginning of Feb. the excessive amount is due to calls abroad when my Granmdother died, but unavoidable really. Those 2 bills pretty much use up the £120 I was due to save on Council Tax & Water, so I think I'll just make use of the free overdraft to get the Savings Funds back up to date.

Cash funds update :

Childcare £170
Xmas savings £30
Gifts £30
Fun £40
New boots/bike £68

No pocket money for me this week but I don't need to buy anything so that's fine.

I had to go to the shop to get some bread, but ended up buying reduced crumpets & teacakes instead, cheaper, yummier & I got a £2 coin in my change .

I have £7.30 left in my weekly spends purse so the new cash only plan seems to be working well.

I did my 20 minute march again today & might well brave a Davina session tomorrow instead of a walk. I only have about 150 calories left so might just have another crumpet for supper.

Plans for tomorrow include a quick trip to sainsbugs to get a few items & then tackling some tasks & laundry so the weekend is free from duties

Karmacat

Sounds good, Lula - as for the Virgin Media bill, I sympathise - always the way when there's a bereavement in the family, sadly.

Lula-Hula

It's a flipping outrage the way these supermarkets have put their prices up since before crimbo :mad:.

A tin of basics tuna has gone up by 20p a tin :eek:. The basics biccies I buy, for DD of course (because as we all know, I never eat biccies :whistle:) have gone up by 18p a packet. I'm not impressed .

I only needed 'a few items' & I'm trying to alternate my shopping between Sainsbugs & Waitrse & as DD insisted that she needs a lift to school I thought I may as well get myself in the car & head that way.

I withdrew my £50 & headed inside expecting to spend no more than about £25 ...

Well, the groceries did in fact come to £25.20 so I'm quite pleased with myself there . I got a few necessary household items such as kitchen roll & tissues & I confess that a couple of scented candles did do suicide leaps into my trolley too. Well, normal price is £4, but as they're 'wintry flavours' of spiced apple & cinnamon they were being knocked out for £1.75 each.

In my home, January is still winter & even if it weren't that's a bargainous price & I can reuse the jars for tealights, win win . My favourite shampoo, conditioner & styling stuff was greatly reduced too so I grabbed one each of those too.

I got to the till & passed the time / had a moan with the nice man about general increase in cost of living & left the store £36.55p lighter .

My kitchen light fitting has been down to 1 and a half bulbs for ages - 10 year guarantee my @rse :mad:, I've had them for 4 years & one is dead, one alive & one flickers. No, of course I cant find the receipt . I went inot my favourite electrical place & after some humming, hahing & a phone call the guy advised me to sit down while he told me the price for replacements.

£12, yes that's twelve freaking pounds for each bulb :eek::mad:. Sod the environment, what about my purse !

The bluddy lightfitting with bulbs included only cost me about £40. He advised I go to somewhere like homebase or another large supermarket as apparently they are subsidised by the government for supplying supposedly eco bulbs, whereas he, as in dependent retailer is not :mad:.

Anyone who has lingered on my threads will be in no doubt as to my feelings about the completely & utterly ridiculous issue of energy saving light bulbs. You know, the ones that use more energy & materials to create, cannot be easily recycled & NEVER, I repeat N E V E R last as long as they say they will, or provide the amount & quality of light to which they profess.

It infuriates me & I seethe at the way we have been forced into buying these expensive essential items rather than being allowed to choose, while the government blithely throws money away by overheating their buildings to the extent that the occupants walk around in short sleeved tops in & themselves complain about the heat :mad:.

How about some legislation on a maximum temperature allowed in all these buildings & offices, schools etc ?

I did not order the lighbulbs, I would rather buy more candles .

I did however, pop into the teeny independent shop over the road which was chock full with millions of random items & purchase a new draining rack for the sum of £2.50.

I also ventured in to the bike shop & nearly passed out after a conversation with the sales guy revealed that a bike in his shop would cost about £380 :eek:

It is an unfounded rumour, that such was my shock at the price of lighbulbs, tuna & bikes that I came home, brewed a large coffee & then bought some pretty lingerie from the figleaves sale with the £25 gift money that was going to be the start of a savings fund for a new bike ... :whistle:

Should this rumour turn out to be true, I will of course Declare & Confess on the clothes challenge

I'm off to do some calorie burning tasks such as hoovering, bathroom cleaning, bed linen changing etc.

Such fun :rotfl:

kerri_dfw

I miss 100w lightbulbs I'm sure I've developed S.A.D since they stopped selling them, I feel your pain *hugs*

vasseur

kerri_dfw wrote: »

I miss 100w lightbulbs I'm sure I've developed S.A.D since they stopped selling them, I feel your pain *hugs*

Same here. I was stockpiling the 100w and 60w 'normal' bulbs for yonks but sadly since they've stopped sellimg them my stash has been running out.

The energy saving bulbs are not as bright as the normal ones, they have been found to cause headaches (which would explain a lot) and they certainly aren't worth the price.

My kitchen resembles a victorian kitchen - only 2 bulbs out of 6 working.

I'll fight you for the candles Lula