Lulabelle's MFW Diary

Polkadot_Dress

lulabelle1 wrote: »

Just after some feedback, but how much do you budget each month for the following:

Food £500 for family of 5 (with 2 kids plus 1 teenager)
Fuel £400 due to Mr PD's commute
Eating Out/Takeaway £0 - comes from food budget above
Clothes - self and family together - £750 per year
Activities & Entertainment - £1000 per year includes weekly piano, swimming, brownies etc as well as family outings.
Treats - none budgeted but we do have them
Haircuts - £30 per month for 4 of us. I cut my daughters hair which just needs a fringe trim so she doesn't count!
Dentist - £8 per month plan I am on. Kids are free. Touch wood neither I or Mr PD have needed treatment, but if we did it would come out of emergency fund

Very new to all of this so not sure how these figs will stack up against the truly frugal :rotfl:

nattypants

lulabelle1 wrote: »

Do you save bits in to different accounts or just lump it together as a monthly "spend" allowance???

Ah, savings is an area (well one of many!) that I need to get better at.

Currently I have an ISA that I intend to start S/O in regular monthly amount.

I also have a Credit Union account which works well for me as the money is taken at source directly from my salary - I may transfer the current balance into this year's ISA actually. My other savings account is online and in my opinion, FAR too easy to withdraw from so is a bit pointless really.

I have S/O or DDs set up for just about everything else including a a dental plan through work, and a savings account at the vets, although I could do far, far better in this area though so you've made me think....

lulabelle1

Polkadot_Dress wrote: »

Very new to all of this so not sure how these figs will stack up against the truly frugal :rotfl:

Brilliant, thanks for this.... Sounds similar to what I had in mind and what I did at the start of the year....

lulabelle1

nattypants wrote: »

Ah, savings is an area (well one of many!) that I need to get better at.

Currently I have an ISA that I intend to start S/O in regular monthly amount.

I also have a Credit Union account which works well for me as the money is taken at source directly from my salary - I may transfer the current balance into this year's ISA actually. My other savings account is online and in my opinion, FAR too easy to withdraw from so is a bit pointless really.

I have S/O or DDs set up for just about everything else including a a dental plan through work, and a savings account at the vets, although I could do far, far better in this area though so you've made me think....

I think I'm going to set up a load of savings accounts again Natty and name them ent/activities, haircuts etc etc and transfer the allotted amount in to them every pay day. I will then just shuffle the money from the allotted account in to the spending current account every time something is purchased......

No idea if I will have more success at it this time round, but I'm going to give it a go.

If anyone has any other ideas, let me know.....

pavlovs_dog

some banks will actually let you name the accounts. I think ING used to when we used them a few years back

Dragonrider

Hi Lula,
If you have a smartphone, have a look at an app called EEBA. It allows you to set up virtual envelopes and keep real-time track of your spending - I always find that I underestimate how much I'm spending because my bank balance lags behind. It's really quick to add a spend (I do it while I'm waiting for the receipt or just after I've finished paying, and you can sync another phone with the same account so that you and OH can see what you're spending at the same time.
I've found it really useful, hope that helps!
I'm enjoying your diary, happy New Year!

Dragonrider

HelenDaveKids

I have spreadsheets but using a book to keep a basic track of in and out goings. My dd's are pretty much the same each month but then I write a list of stuff i know is going to occur each month, ie DH car insurance.


TBH the kids did arrive after the TV broke in the bedroom. We desperately wanted children, then discovered they are very much like buses, you wait ages for 1 then 3 come at the same time. I don't think you can plan for how expensive they are going to be but having 3 DD does mean that clothes travel downwards

Think ours are just hitting that expensive age. DD1 is nearly as tall as me and DD2 is catching her up as been on a massive growth spurt so now nothing fits. DD3 is still quite easy but that will change when she goes to comp this year. so much nicer to let them run of steam at the park than having them slormed all over the lounge.

lulabelle1

Thanks Pavlovs - I'm with nationwide and they allow me to name all of my accounts which is great although I'm sure if they other looked they'd think I was nuts if they saw some or the names...... Yes - there was once an account named "handbag fund".

Dragonrider - many thanks for the suggestion, I have downloaded and had a play with the app. I tend to use online banking and log all spends on a daily basis on my spreadsheet but there are times when I can't do this, I.e. if I'm away for a few days - so I may give it a go and see how I find it.

HDK - thanks for popping by. I'm great at planning our money and logging spends etc etc....so much so that I'm the butt of many jokes, I just need to focus on spending less of it!

I should me the most of the fact that the boys want for very little at the moment.... They don't care what they wear and enough toys etc to keep them going. I guess it will get more expensive when they show a preference to the type of clothes/shoes that they wear and want money for going out!

DH is still poorly but has gone back to work today. No idea whethe he will last the day. He shouldn't be going. He is having a small op at the end of the month and will need a week off work so is worried about taking a few days off now too.

Boys are still both at home today, so I won't be working. Perhaps will manage to catch up on a few bits on my computer but that's it.

I've done my meal plan and shopping list for the next week and have included a few batch cook meals too for the freezer. I'm going to make at least one huge meal a week to portion and freeze (so long as the freezer has the capacity). I'm hoping to go shopping tomorrow morning while ds2 is at nursery. Ds1 doesn't much like shopping, but tough luck.

lulabelle1

I've opened a stack of esaves, once they've been opened properly I will name them all in preparation for payday on the 20th and then I'll move an allotted amount in to each of them........

lulabelle1

In bag news......

I managed to cancel the order for the fancy bag that I ordered in the sale. They just called now to let me know that they managed to stop the order before it left the factory and that the held funds would be released from my card in the next few days.

Still no official news on the dodgy bag that is being inspected.......