Little by little

Emthemist

Hi there,

Ok, so here I am. A long time lurker on both DFW diaries and on here. I don't really have debt (except student loan and mortgage) but enjoy reading people's stories and tips, so MFW is where I belong.

I've been using different methods of money saving and tracking for years now, but I finally think I've found the way that suits me best. Yep, totally geeky, a spreadsheet!

A bit about me. I'm 30, DH is 35, and we have a lo of 1. DH and I both work but DH is on a fixed contract until end of Aug so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Lo goes to a CM four days a week while I'm at work. We bought our first house in 2009 and have approx 25 years left on our mortgage.

DH and I earn well enough, with some left over each month. This leftover money will not be dipped into (unless totally desperate) and is to go into savings to add to our buffer for if DH doesn't get a job straight away.

I love quidco and saving money in other ways so this will form the basis of making OPs on the mortgage (bonus money).

My spreadsheet tracks how much money we spend each month on groceries, petrol and other (there is a limit amount on each). Anything leftover goes to OPs. We use San****er for both current account and credit card, so interest from the current acount and cashback from both will also go towards OPs. Any overspends in any area will be deducted from that month's OP. Our OP amount will be different each month, depending on amount of cashback etc, and amounts are likely to be low, hence little by little. To quote my main supermarket "Every little helps"!

So that's my little intro, I'll update later about my small victories (and larger defeats!) in my quest for an OP for June.

xx

juststuff123

Nothing like a good spread sheet! :cool:


Good luck to you!:j


What's your outstanding Mortgage Value and when are you hoping to pay it off by?

Emthemist

Thanks Just!

We remortgaged for a smidge under £100k so have a long way to go. Managed to massage the figures to give us a lower LTV ratio and get a better rate. Followed Martin's instruction and went with London and Country and I can't rate them highly enough, they were fab! :money:

I don't have a date in mind, having a partner about to be out of work takes the shine off my MFW goal at the moment, but that's why I'm going to try to make the most of what we do have for now.

Yesterday I got an unexpected afternoon off work because I got a call to pick up my daughter from the CM. She wasn't ill but was very difficult to please so I picked her up and put her straight to bed. While she was sleeping I got on the phone to our old gas and elec suppliers to get a refund of the credit they have for us because I switched at the end of last month. Elec no problem, money straight into account (£225 into OP pot for the month ). Gas I'll have to wait 40 days for! Oh well, that will be a nice amount for next month's OP.

xx

icontinuetodream

welcome the board and good luck!!:D

Happier_Me

You will find lots of us on here that love a good spreadsheet. I'm one of them.

Good luck on your journey and fingers crossed all goes well on the job front after August.

Emthemist

Thanks for the well wishes x

So a halfway through the month update:

I have upped our weekly food budget by £5 as we weren't meeting it, so it's now £75. Does this seem like too much for 1 toddler (who has tea at the CM 4 days a week) and 2 adults who like wine?!

The petrol budget was a guess and we still have £75 left to spend.

And the worst one, we're overspent on our "other items" budget by £140 having already upped it from £70 to £120 to make it more realistic! :eek: We have bought a lot of one off items like clothes for Lo (she's just gone up a size and it was trousers to go with all of the tops she's already been given), compost, I can't remember what the other things were but I know how much they cost (because it's all on the SS!)

Overall, not doing too well, but thanks to the money back from the Electricity company we should still manage an OP (fingers crossed).

xx

Emthemist

I remember some now, one was a monthly swimming pass for me (need to do some exercise now Lo is getting older and can't use her as an excuse any more) and one was stairgates!

I need to use my pass 8 times in the month to make it cheaper than paying each time and since Sunday when I got it I took Lo once and I've been 3 times. Hopefully I can keep that up.

Had a good productive day yesterday, made some Father's Day handprint trees for Lo's grandads, baked a Paul Hollywood bloomer for the first time, and made a key lime pie as part of DH's Father's Day treats. Can't wait until I can bake with Lo x

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend and a fab Father's Day x

Goldiegirl

Hello, welcome to the forum

Emthemist wrote: »

I have upped our weekly food budget by £5 as we weren't meeting it, so it's now £75. Does this seem like too much for 1 toddler (who has tea at the CM 4 days a week) and 2 adults who like wine?!

I think that's an almost impossible question to answer, as apart from you, now one else knows what you have been used to spending in the past and what you are comfortable spending. to some, it might seem nothing at all and to others it might seem wildly excessive!


Instead of setting a budget, I worked out what I spent last year on groceries and then set about reducing it. So far, on average, I've shaved off £50 per month the supermarket expenditure. It's likely to be a bit more now, as I haven't spent much last month or this month, as I'd built a stock up, so now I'm eating it. Will start again in in July, so might be a bit over the average for that month as I build stocks up again and take advantage of offers when I see them.


I find it easier to at it from 'a reducing the average expenditure', angle. rather than 'setting a budget and sticking to it angle'. I find it more achievable.

Emthemist

Thanks Goldiegirl,

That's an interesting way of doing things and a great achievement too!

We already buy mostly own brand and I use mysupermarket to get the emails when the more expensive things I buy are on offer. I gave in to online shopping when I went back to work because there just isn't time any more. I quite like getting substitutions because although occasionally they're not right and I give them back, I quite like getting the more expensive version for the same price (cue smug face just thinking about it!)

We are pretty good at meal planning and buying what we need, so I think a budget is probably our best way of doing things. DH gets sick of me saying "your xxx has gone up in price, would you mind trying this cheaper alternative?". He always says yes to trying it but rarely sticks to it as "it doesn't taste right" or something similar! Still, at least he tries it. I'm still going to try to bring the shopping in at £70, just not get worked up if it goes towards £75.

Been for a swim with Lo this morning so that's 5/8 swims I need to make the pass pay, and if I keep up my motivation then I'll go again for myself tonight (I just hope my costume dries because I can't think of anything worse that putting on a wet cossie!)

xx

LittleMissGiggles123

Hi Em


On your grocery budget, have you tried shopping at a cheaper supermarket? We used to do all our shopping at Mr T's because we were brainwashed in to thinking that the clubcard points were worth it, but since we started shopping at A$da we are paying so much less for our groceries. They have loads of good deals & are generally cheaper anyway.


Why don't you do a 'virtual' online shop on MySupermarket. You can put in all the items that you bought last week, check the price you paid in Mr T & see what the other supermarkets would have come out as.


It's just a thought because I used to get so annoyed that all our friends who have a similar family dynamic to us (2 adults, 2 kids) seemed to be able to get their groceries for around £200-£250 per month. We were spending double that. We would originally blame it on the fact that we like good food & 'oh it's ok because we are earning decent money so can afford it'. But then one day I thought 'well just because we can afford it, doesn't mean we have to line the pockets of these big supermarket moguls just for the sake of it'. (I have visions of these 'moguls' sitting in an office, watching us all on CCTV, drumming their fingers together a bit like Mr Burns on Simpsons) haha.


So that's when we switched.


Plus the fact that our closest A$da is right next to a Costco which is great for bulk items like toilet roll, crisps, cleaning products etc.


Good luck


x

Emthemist

That's a really good thought Giggles.

We did our shopping tonight for delivery on Thursday with Mr T, and I actually think A$da was cheaper according to mysupermarket. I've signed up to a delivery contract with T for £3 a month so I keep saying that it's worth it because the delivery is so cheap, and I'd have to sign up for a different delivery scheme etc etc, and I do like the clubcard points!

I agree, I'm in the "we like good food camp" but also just because we can pay more doesn't mean we should, nor does it mean we're getting any better quality.

Hmmm, will have to give that more thought....

xx