Diary of a spendy cow

mooomin

I can totally identify GAP! Between now and April next year I have:

• Birthdays x many - Papa Mooo, Brother Mooo, my two best friends, the SIL, both my uncles and aunties and Mr Mooo (that I can remember, there's likely more) :eek:
  
• Good friend visiting next month
  
• Christmas :snow_laug :eek:
  
• Trip to the middle east to visit Brother Mooo
  
• Trip to Dublin to visit the friend who's visiting me

I have no idea how I'm going to afford all of this. Plus the kitchen if I ever get a half-decent quote :rotfl:


Budget shenanigans have been done for the coming month. Further post to follow once I get a cuppa

mooomin

Budgeteering!

Having listed all the things I need to find money for, I began panicking a little, so here's the budget for the coming month. This includes any leftover balances for this month which get added on. Not all categories are listed, as I have quite a few non-changing expenses that are very dull to list

Food: £180.56 Includes all toiletries, cat stuff and cleaning products
Spending money: £112.34 Plan to roll over some of this to next month as well
Health and fitness: £70 This includes my WW membership, the possibility of swimming a couple of times a month and the fact I'm thinking about saving up for a bike.
Fuel: £55 A spend of £40.52 last month, so I kept a fiver and put the rest to my holiday fund.
Clothes: £80 The culmination of a few months budgeting!
Haircuts: £42 I won't be adding to this for a month or two because I got a Groupon that'll sort my hair out for next month and then I can keep this aside until my next one is due
Entertainment: £67 with my friend visiting, I'm keen to keep it under this but it'll be a miracle if I manage!
Holiday: £54.79
Presents: £112

My wee holiday fund has come from keeping an eye on budget categories which had "too much" in them and pruning or rounding down accordingly. I need to be stricter in the coming months and really work hard on saving up! I want to avoid using my "proper" savings for my holidays.

The presents budget isn't big enough I don't think. Time to get creative with the gifts again!

rising_from_the_ashes

Moo forgive me as I missed a chunk of the year earlier so not sure of your job situation

If you're on a perm or temp contract for a decent length of time, see if your employer does a Cycle scheme

Great tax benefits to it (deductions are made from gross pay so you save a decent amount) and you can usually pay over 12 months (or for the length of your temp contract)

(it will say you have to use it for work but there is no requirement for employers to check people do this )

mooomin

I'd forgotten about those schemes. A quicky shufty at the website for work seems to indicate we offer one as long as A) My contract is more than 12 months (it's 18) and I've worked there for three months (I have!) so I'll investigate properly tomorrow Thanks for the idea! If I buy a bike for £300 I will save about 30% on the RRP, so it's definitely worth looking at.

Two more C-word presents sorted. A bumper colouring book thing (RRP £15 :eek:) for our friend's daughter and a Links of London charm for one of the MIL's bracelet. The charm was only £5.99 thanks to a sale and judicious use of money off codes

Pippilongstocking

Most excellent budgeting there. I have petrol spend envy.

Although I'm happy to report today is a PFD. *petrol free day



Meant to say, if ever need any shonky advice re garden and where to start. Happy to throw tuppenceworthin

beanielou

How to get rid of pesky wesky weeds Pipster??
Me no likey.

mooomin

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

Meant to say, if ever need any shonky advice re garden and where to start. Happy to throw tuppenceworthin

Burning it with fire appears to be the best approach

Mr Mooo is demanding a chainsaw, I'm not convinced...

mooomin

Morning all

A quick update on some points and things:

Nectar: £48.59 / 9718 points Most of them are coming from surveys at the moment, but I have a double points on fuel coupon and will use that before the 10th of the month to top up the car.

Clubcard: 1096 which should be £10.50 of vouchers and £42 of rewards if I use them well I've got another £7 of vouchers waiting to be redeemed as well.

I will use the Nectar points for Christmas I think and the Clubcard ones for treats for myself. I've been booking a few things for work recently and claiming back the money, so earned a good few Clubcard points that way. Every little helps as they say

tomtombeanie

Morning, moo! Points looking healthy

What is your advice for spending nectar points? I know tesco points are better transferred into deals (I use nationwide vouchers from this to get my car service/mot cheap every year) but I am new to this whole nectar points thing. If I spend them in sainsburys am I diddling myself out of more value somewhere else? (Iykwim!)

mooomin

I think you can swap them and double up at certain times on things like clothes, but I plan on saving them and just using them to buy treat food at Christmas.

I'm not an expert at spending them, just gathering them