2015 Frugal Living Challenge

naturaljazz

JustStartingOut wrote: »

hiya guys,
Need some help please.

I'm really wanting to track mine and my partner's expenses, I've made up a spreadsheet for each area, including personal spends for us both. My fiance agrees it's a good idea but doesn't do it and doesn't keep receipts so I end up giving up because it just wont work without his input :mad:

Sorry if it doesn't make sense, I'm finding it difficult to put in to words

If your wages and bills are joined up in bank accounts can you open an account and send over your spending money every month so you can keep tabs on your own? Extradite yourself from his spare cash. That way his money will pay the bills and he needs to know how much he has left over and live within that. If it is a case of you going down financially as a couple/family than you need to put things in place that secure the bills/essential outgoings money, and all he has left to fritter etc is his own bit that is left over for him. He needs to know you mean it when you say you want to sort the finances out. Your actions will always speak louder than any words. Go for it and he will have no choice but to follow! Good luck

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Happy mothering sunday..


I bought some basic tinned chicken soup reduced in asda for 6p..


I was thinking of trying to bulk it out by trying to make as a base for some sort of chicken and leek casserole sort of thing..


was going to porch a chicken breast and leeks, and then plonk it into a shallow pie dish, warm up the chicken soup and add some cornfour to 'thicken' it up and then pour over the chicken and leek, and then plonk some mash potato on top with a cheesy top..


was thinking I can cook the chicken/leek and potato today, and then make it all up tomorrow and plonk it in the oven when i get home from work...


so tin of soup...................6p
chicken breast .................free.....( part of the meat box I won)
leek... .................approx. 30p


potatoes...........................30p


cheese..................approx. 30p




over all ingredient costs..........96p




will serve with carrots and a Yorkshire pudding.....

JustStartingOut

naturaljazz wrote: »

If your wages and bills are joined up in bank accounts can you open an account and send over your spending money every month so you can keep tabs on your own? Extradite yourself from his spare cash. That way his money will pay the bills and he needs to know how much he has left over and live within that. If it is a case of you going down financially as a couple/family than you need to put things in place that secure the bills/essential outgoings money, and all he has left to fritter etc is his own bit that is left over for him. He needs to know you mean it when you say you want to sort the finances out. Your actions will always speak louder than any words. Go for it and he will have no choice but to follow! Good luck

We have separate banks, but we half the bills. it's things such as food and the little extras that I cant get him to keep tabs on. It's so we can cut back and put the extra towards our wedding/honeymoon

quidsy

So why not agree to a set budget for personal expenses & the rest is put away for future spends? I personally wouldn't ask oh to list every penny spent so he gets his own personal budget to do with as he wants. The rest of his wages are paid into my account to manage.

Ask you oh how much he thinks he needs & see how he gets on with it.

JustStartingOut

quidsy wrote: »

So why not agree to a set budget for personal expenses & the rest is put away for future spends? I personally wouldn't ask oh to list every penny spent so he gets his own personal budget to do with as he wants. The rest of his wages are paid into my account to manage.

Ask you oh how much he thinks he needs & see how he gets on with it.

Thanks.
Think I'm panicking a little bit with my wedding only 6 months away, and other things to save for in the future

[Deleted User]

I haven't been particularly frugal this month. OH and me decided to give the kitchen a facelift - it was badly needing it. We are keeping the fitted kitchen units but have got rid of a breakfast bar and bought a table with 2 benches. New flooring, a TV (I like watching TV when I eat alone as OH works shifts), some new shelving and a lick of paint.

I discovered the great range of cake boxes in Home Bargains today. I am planning to do a few homemade sweets for Easter for my family so these will be great for presenting them as gifts.

his_missus

Still working on cutting back on the shopping. I drew up a shopping cost list (I usually buy the same things from week to week) to see where we could make cut backs. Over 4 weeks I'd probably spend £220 on food, household and cats (my moggies cost me £60) and there isn't really anywhere I'd cut back to be honest. I mean, if we were desperate I could save quite a bit by buying cheap supermarket meat and swapping to budget brands but we worked hard to become debt free and I can now afford to buy these "luxuries".


So much to Hubby's disgust, I'm cutting the alcohol and entertainment budget

JustStartingOut

payday for me today :j and OH's is next week and normally our household budget is next to nothing, but we have £100 left :j
I was away for a few days last week and hubby was working 10 hours a day so that helped. Also made a meal plan for this week as I want to clear out the freezer so i can defrost it (frost-less freezer my a*se!). So we have stuck to that this week meaning all we have bought is milk and bread this week

It is strangely satisfying knowing that I haven't been to the shops and have saved so much money in doing so.
I will be using the £100 to stock up the freezer with meats etc. and put the rest into our wedding fund.

Would love a chest freezer for all those YS bargains everyone gets but literally have no space for one!

Also I've paid £150 off my catalogue today :T

happybird71

Hi everyone,

I've been in la la land I think! This is the first month we have actually made more than we spent. January was all tax returns, birthdays & broken dishwashers, February was a new car. Thankfully we managed to borrow money from a family member for it so don't have interest to pay but I'm just aware that we have this debt I don't want to have. We'll just have to chip away.

JustStartingOut, I know how you feel. Hubby is generally very supportive & compared to most people, pretty frugal but does have a tendency to buy food things on impulse when I have a meal planner and a full freezer! The freezer inventory has been great. I just need to keep tabs on it.

I find the Facebook for sale pages brilliant for buying & selling baby/kids things. I just checked out AirBnB. It looks amazing! We don't 'do' holidays currently with our nocturnal children but in the future it's a definite maybe! X

Not much more to report.

naturaljazz

quidsy wrote: »

So why not agree to a set budget for personal expenses & the rest is put away for future spends? I personally wouldn't ask oh to list every penny spent so he gets his own personal budget to do with as he wants. The rest of his wages are paid into my account to manage.

Ask you oh how much he thinks he needs & see how he gets on with it.

I agree. That is the way forward I think. I wouldn't want to list every penny. But this is a sensible approach. Presuming the OH wants to spend as much on a wedding and honeymoon as the OP does? Only saying that because I wouldn't spend more than the license fee on a wedding, (I got witnesses off the street) but a nice holiday would be my priority!