Learning to think like a frugal person

ForMyGirls

Hello coaches,

Super brief check in. On track today with only spending what intended. Pay day tomorrow so looking forward to calculating the bottom line :-)

Credit: I was tempted to buy my parking vouchers a day early when I went past the office that sells them - there will be money in the budget tomorrow - but I remembered that while I am learning to be a frugal person it is good to not cross those lines. If there is no money in the "travel costs" budget there is no money, so it has to wait. Also had an outing to the shops with kids where I resisted spending unnecessary money - they took their pocket money and I didn't cave to the pleading face to top it up so they could get things that were more than the money they had.

chanie

Hi FMG,

You are really good for not buying your tickets - I probably would have bought them a day early!!!!

With regards to the lunches overspend, remember not to beat yourself up about it and move on from it.

I have really struggled with this month. I thought that February was going to be an easy month as it is such a short one, but I found that I had spent all of my play money by Tuesday (I take it out on Mondays to last for the week). Whereas in January, I had loads left. There have been lots of little things that I've had to buy (bottle of squash, lightbulbs etc) and it just meant that my play money hasn't lasted.

StressedSteph

Hi all

Sorry not been around, been busy in the stressed household.

You sound like you are doing so well FMG, well done on resisting the pleading faces. The children are my weakness I am afraid, I am soooo rubbish at being tough with them, but it does them no favours. I am desperately trying to get better at this.


Hi Chanie
Sorry to hear February has been a struggle for you. I must admit I have accidentally overspent on food this last couple of weeks so FEb has been abit tough for me. Had to do abit of juggling in YNAB to make it all fit

Still don't like reading that you are having to spend your play money on squash and light bulbs!. That really isn't very fair on you as they are most definitely not Play items.

I understand money is tight and you may not be able to afford it, but I would have put the light bulbs in a "HouseHold" allowance category and the Squash would have been in Groceries.

Not sure what sort of budgeting system you use, but if there is anyway that your play money can be put aside just for you, it would be much better.

Take care all. Speak soon.

chanie

Hi Steph,

I don't mind buying milk etc on the way home from work, my play money is the only cash I carry around with me, so it makes sense to use this. I'm hoping that February was just a bad month (Mr C's work has been a bit sporadic, so we have had to tighten our belts).

Knowing I have XXX per week does help to keep me on track, otherwise I just whack things on my card and 'forget' what I've spent. I guess I just need to make sure we buy enough shopping when we do our main shop each week!!!!

I do still have a bit of money I use just for me, if needed, so I'm not totally deprived, but it is kept separately from my play money.

StressedSteph

chanie wrote: »

Hi Steph,

I don't mind buying milk etc on the way home from work, my play money is the only cash I carry around with me, so it makes sense to use this. I'm hoping that February was just a bad month (Mr C's work has been a bit sporadic, so we have had to tighten our belts).

Knowing I have XXX per week does help to keep me on track, otherwise I just whack things on my card and 'forget' what I've spent. I guess I just need to make sure we buy enough shopping when we do our main shop each week!!!!

I do still have a bit of money I use just for me, if needed, so I'm not totally deprived, but it is kept separately from my play money.

Hi Chanie,

I understand now. I was just feeling sorry for you that you were having to buy boring stuff with your FUN money, but I see that we just use the category differently.

I have learnt I HAVE to be quite protective of my FUN money, because hubby ALWAYS has £30 per week just to himself, and won't share it for the world. So I have learnt that I am just shortchanging myself if I don't do the same. Otherwise he gets to treat himself often and I got absolutely nothing. .

Hope FMG is doing well, guess she is super busy. If you are having a tough time FMG, try to post back on here just a short post so we can give you some moral support.

Have a lovely weekend everybody. xx

ForMyGirls

Hello coaches,

Thanks for checking up on me Steph - I have been both busy and having a rough time - but I am OK.

I have a weekend with very little planned and kids who are delighted by my 'whatever' approach to excessive screen-time this morning so I it feels like the weight is lifting a bit today. I have also had a chance to do my fortnightly budgeting which has put a great big smile on my face. Check out my signature because it has a new mini-goal (finally!) :-)

It has been good to stop and notice as well that I am managing the cash flow despite some of the legal bills coming in this month. It has taken some creative shuffling of money, but I haven't had to borrow money from my partner or my parents (both of which are lines I really really don't want to cross!) There is no way I would have been in this position if I had not changed my spending habits so a) big credit to me and b) big thank you to you guys for being on the journey with me - it makes such a huge difference to have support.

chanie

Fmg - well done with managing despite having had a rough time and bills coming in. It must feel fab to see your debt going down. It just goes to show that even small steps do make a difference and even if you are far away from your goal, you are closer than you were before you started thinking like a frugal person.

Steph - I divide my play money, some goes towards a treat like an item of clothing and the rest I give myself £10 a week for ad hoc spending. In January, I managed to buy myself some make up and dd a toy through saving it, but in February it went on household stuff, which isn't a problem but did leave me feeling rather deprived.



On thursday my licence plates from my car were stolen. People steal them to rob petrol stations of petrol or avoid the congestion charge zone payment. Anyway, I registered it with the police and I had to pay £40 for a new set. Luckily I got paid on Friday, but I hate the fact that as a 'victim' of crime, I'm left it of pocket. Now,I don't really regard myself as a victim, but this has happened to me a few years ago and the police offered me counselling as a 'victim of crime', so I used the term.

I haven't really read my ARC much recently and feel quite detached from the plan, so I need to focus on what I'm doing why. It's coming up to Lent, so as a Catholic (a bad one!!!!!) I've decided to read my ARC every day during Lent.

Credits - quite a few coming!!!!!

Went to Costco to buy my washing powder which was expensive, but will last 6 months, so I won't have to think about it until autumn!!!

Used up some leftover rice from dinner yesterday for dinner today.

Shopping in aldi today, I bought some beauty products that were a quarter of the price of the items I have been eyeing up in the Body Shop.

Watered down everything that I can get hold of - clothes detergent, clothes softener, body wash, washing up liquid.......

Took a load of clothes to the 'cash for clothes' shop and made £7, which had gone into the children's savings.

ForMyGirls

Chanie - you sound like you are going great guns!

Has been a weekend of big thinking. The conclusion of it all is that I need to give myself a bit more wriggle room for the next month. The "big stress" is going to be pretty much constant until the end of March after last week's developments but then it will be all over. Plus the next month is going to be very busy at work - an exciting positive busy which will be a nice emotional balance for the other - but between the two things i will be incredibly time poor and not have much headspace for doing anything but getting through the day. So - i have set myself a reminder to restart all these daily steps in a months time and between now and then I will do the best I can. I am also going to slow down the debt repayment slightly for the next month so that i can buy myself a bit more time by driving to work (rather than public transport) a bit more, and have an occassional take away meal. So - there is still a budget and i will still stick to it - but it just won't be quite as tight.

The ohter implication of all this is that i probably won't be posting here much in the next month. I will read posts when i can, and post if i am able but i am not sure how much that will be. So - at the very least i will talk to you all again in early April!

Good luck in your frugal thinking in the meantime - i look forward to hearing all your news in a monht!

StressedSteph

Hi FMG,


so sorry to hear you are going to have a whole month of stress
Will that be it all over by the end of March?? I do hope so, then you will have an end in sight to focus on.


Don't worry about not posting on here for a while, we will miss you but understand that you are having an extraordinarily bad time at the moment. We will still be here, waiting .


Keep your head down and plod on, try to stick to your adjusted budget as best you can. Its good you are being realistic about needing the odd takeaway, at least it saves feeling like you have failed when you do end up having to get one.


YNAB is so flexible like that and when the storm is over, you can tighten up again and get going with the debt busting.


Keep smiling. xxx

chanie

FMG - Sorry to hear that you will be having a rough month. Hopefully, the month will fly by and then you can move on from it. I totally agree with having a bit of a relaxing month. Sometimes, you just have to do, what you have to do to survive.

I've decided to spend Lent going back to the beginning of the plan to revisiting what I have learned. I have just spent this morning re-reading some of the first posts and the steps that stuck in my mind is day 3 and day 5, which goes back to considered spending and spending wisely. As I said in a previous post, February was such a bad (and mad) month - I normally give myself some play money at the beginning of each week and I was finding that I had spend most of it by Tuesday. I do have a few things I need to buy this month, so I've written a list of what I need to buy and will target 1-2 items each week. But, I am going to force myself to wait towards the end of each week before buying.

I don't use YNAB, but I do use manual envelopes!!!! I have a few at the moment. I've just set one up for Ds birthday next month. We want to get him a bicycle. He was given one by his older cousin and MIL paid £30 to have it repaired, but it has broken again, so we want to get him a new one. When Mr Chanie told me how much his Mum had paid to have it repaired, I did say 'it would have been better to put that money towards a new bike'. Low and behold, I was right. I was going to put some money away this month, but as I had to pay for new licence plates for my car, I can't really afford to. I'm hoping to save some of my weekly play money, even if its just a couple of pounds. Luckily, Mr C put in a bit of money, so we should have enough.