Cheeseface makes a plan

Cheeseface

jvr wrote: »

Your OH sounds like mine there... he always says can't you just sort it and let me know what I have to spend! And then I end up having to always say no we cant have that/ do that as we can't afford it and I feel like his mother telling him no. The sit down and going through it all together helped even if I was still basically saying what we needed to pay/ do. My plan next time he asks can we do this/ buy that is to say I don't know do you have the money?... answer will be no I am sure but at least he knows all other money is allocated to something so it would be up to him to find it in his 'allowance'

I'm thinking of once all the regular monthly bills are paid whether to split all of the remainder 50/50. So then anytime either of need anything we have to use our own money. It might encourage us both to spend less.

It will encourage both of us to save money on non essentials such as eating out and force hubby to think ahead for the rest of the month.

jvr

We calculated all direct debits and took that off our wages. We then added up our debt and everything (well nearly everything) that we would need to pay during the year etc. car insurance pets injections bla bla plus holiday. We then divided this by 12 and took it off our wages. We then looked at what was left and worked out food budget etc. Dividing the remainder between us both as an 'allowance' each. We can choose how we spend it but everything clothes, entertainment, drinks etc. has to come out of this. Idea being it is up to us to priority what we want.... will let you know how it goes!

Cheeseface

Hello

Long time no post. I have been super busy with work but my extra contract ends today so I can focus again.

Money saving is not going brilliantly this month. With the eldest back we've just spent too much. I have £85 until payday on 26th. This would be ok if hubby didn't need to get lots of petrol but at least he will get that paid back in February. I have money in everyday savings to cover until we get it back.

I have made a bit of a breakthrough with him. We wrote down what spend on presents and now have to budget for that across the year. It's quite scary how much we spend. I'm going to go through bills with him next week.

I took eldest back to Manchester on Friday. Had to buy him bed linen because he left his here. Found him a nice duvet set and flat sheet in the sale for £18. He's got a king size duvet for a single bed so it was typically the most expensive one.

While driving there the tyre pressure warning light went on my car. I've checked the pressure twice and it's ok so I need to book it in at the garage. :mad: I don't need that.

We are going away at the weekend to see a show in London. Everything has already been paid for, tickets, train and hotel. I'm going to look out for some restaurant bargains. We usually use Tesco vouchers but since I've been shopping in Lidl I haven't got any left. I have the money saved up separately for this weekend.:T

Bobarella

Hi Cheeseface

I wondered how you were. I am broke as well. But comforting myself with the thought that broke for me means I haven't got any spending money till the 25th, not someone's knocking on my door looking for me broke. I can imagine there are a lot of people out there in dire straights right now post Christmas.

Hope the car is ok, and the show is really good fun!

Bob

Seasidegal58

Hi Cheeseface - Hope you enjoyed your weekend away. I think we are all going through the "January blues" at the moment. Still the breakthrough with hubby is very positive news.

Cheeseface

Finally made it to the day before payday!

It's been a long month but it's ok. My car needed £300 spent on it, that came from everyday savings. The tyre pressure was fine, and just needed resetting �� But the garage kindly decided to do a free health check on my car and I needed new brake discs, a brake light and a few other bits.

The weekend in London was great. We saw Lazarus, the Bowie musical with the chap from Dexter in the lead. Such a great show, the storyline was a bit disjointed but the singing was brilliant and it was very well staged.

We ate out twice at independent restaurants but bought breakfast from the supermarket to keep costs down. We walked everywhere so no need to top up our Oyster cards. We spent most of the time in Camden and hubby chose himself some old vinyl for his birthday. The weekend was finished off with a very enjoyable 8 mile run around London on Sunday morning.

We got the cheapest trains which meant going very early in the morning, but we checked into the hotel before 10am so we could leave our luggage there. The hotel gave my husband a birthday cake too which was a lovely gesture.

Financial wins since I was last here was a £50 reward from my life insurance company for some referrals. I mentioned it before as I get rewarded for exercise, with Starbucks, cinema tickets, half price trainers etc. I didn't think I got rewarded for referrals but they have given a code for this, so please PM me if you want a link to the website for a quote. If you sign up from the quote I'll get a reward.

Eldest has found a house for uni next year which is cheaper than I expected and it has bills included so no unexpected surprises. I need to work out how much we give him towards that now.

Anyway, tomorrow is payday so it all resets and hopefully we can pay a few more bills off.

Bobarella

Your London trip sounds great. Camden is an interesting place to mooch isn't it. Happy almost payday

jvr

Your trip sounds amazing... I love Camden! We took my friends daughter to London for her 16th birthday and I think Camden became her favourite place in the whole world.. she swears we will all go back when she is 18 and has lots of her own money to spend
Well done on finding savings were you could on your trip!

Seasidegal58

What a great trip!:j. Well done on the 8 mile run too!

Cheeseface

Payday came and went. Stayed out of overdraft in January. Excellent stuff.

Hubby's wages came in with a loan from his company for his season ticket. It's interest free so worth having. I paid that straight off the credit card (which we had bought his season ticket with).

Then I sat down and worked out all the money we'd need this month. £X per day to buy everything we need. No birthday's or days/nights out planned this month. We can still do things but it will have to come out of the budget. Hubby appears to be on board. I have withdrawn a week's worth of cash so we have to use that. It's in a pot in the kitchen that we must draw from. I think it will help us both if we see it. Hubby took £20 for personal spends, I don't need anything this week. I'll continue doing this all month.

As I said, eldest has found a house for next year. It looks quite nice online! I said that we would give him £300 per month and that he will have to find the rest himself. He's ok with this and is looking for jobs now. He's very sensible so will find something.

Marathon training isn't going well. I am really fed up. I just can't seem to get into it at all. I had a huge headache yesterday and that meant I missed a run. I can't seem to push myself past 7 or 8 miles at the moment. Worst case scenario is that I have to walk some of it but I reallly don't want to.