2017 - my frugal year

SkintTeacher

Lonire wrote: »

Happy Sunday, Gonna go down and try and get one today heard so much about them and few friends were chatting about how good they are. Do you leave yours on at work?

Chucking over the back gate made me chuckle. love how they always risk it.

I do weekend cooks on them, but my partner certainly leaves it on when he goes out. Let me know which one you go for! :T

SkintTeacher

Yesterday very spendy (as detailed above) but so worth it. Today an NSD with a lovely frosty walk along the canal and a visit to my dad in his home (he had several strokes, cutting him down in his prime)
Back to work tomorrow, should clock up a few more NSD s (except Wednesday which is the day I will pay my tea money and pay for a fitness class)
Onwards and upwards! Only one more weekend til Payday...

SkintTeacher

Ooh look everyone! A shiny new SOA - been meaning to do this for ages but wanted it to be as accurate as possible so I have looked at it in a realistic way. Any spends at £0 are either something the OH pays or something that for whatever reason we don't have/ do. (Ie. drinking - we'd buy gin as a present for each other at Christmas so I count that in my xmas budget) A lot is also hidden in the £500 'groceries' spend for the month - this will include absolutely all food, cleaning and bathroom products and anything like a new kettle when the old one dies.

Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Income from Employment (after tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,209.00
Income from Self Employment (before tax). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
State Pension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private Pension / Annuity Payout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Benefits (Inc. Child Benefit/Tax Credits & Income Support). . . . . . . . . . . 80.00
Income From Savings & Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gifts From Family / Friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Monthly Expense Details

In Your Home

Mobile phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00
TV licence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.12
Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cleaning products/Cleaner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Garden maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Household maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27.00
Council tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105.00
Overdraft cost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Bank account fee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Home insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.11
Mortgage/Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375.00
Plumbing/Boiler cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Mortgage life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.33
Mortgage payment protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Life insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Food and household shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500.00
Drinks for home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Motoring & Public Transport

Petrol/Diesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90.00
Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car tax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.00
Car insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37.96
Car maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Rail/Buses/Taxis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Breakdown cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Debt Repayments

Credit card repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
Hire purchase repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Personal loan repayments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Car loan repayments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Savings & Investments

Pension payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Buying shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Investments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Cash ISAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Lump sum saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular saving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250.00

Family

Pet food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Pocket money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Nappies/Baby extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Laundry/Dry cleaning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Children's travel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Baby-sitting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Childcare/Playgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.00
Pet insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Travel insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Entertainment

Satellite/Digital TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Family days out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Cinema/Theatre trips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Books/Music/Films/Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Big days out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Shopping for fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Pet costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Hobbies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
IT/Computing (antivirus, etc) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
DVD rental. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Drinking out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Eating out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00

Clothes, Health & Beauty

Complementary therapies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Optical bills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Haircuts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.30
Dentistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Beauty treatments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Healthcare cash plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Dental insurance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Private medical insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Fitness/Sports/Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Work clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
New children's clothes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00
New clothes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00

Education & Courses

University tuition fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
School fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Your courses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00

Big One-Offs

Funeral expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Wedding expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Sofa/Kitchen/TV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.00
Birthdays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30.00
Winter holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Summer holiday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00
Christmas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50.00

Odds & Sods

Newspapers and magazines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Tax & NI Provisions (self-employed only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Regular charity donations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Meals at work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Smokes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00
Coffees/Sandwiches/Snacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.00


Total monthly income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,289.00


Total monthly expenses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,195.82

SkintTeacher

Spending today - £25 on personal training session and £5 tea money at work. Back to no spend days tomorrow. Still got my £500 unexpected savings in my account.

SkintTeacher

Chalking up some positives:
I've had 17 no spend days this month so far (should get another 4 before pay day).
I'm into the next kilo category (73) - started at 79.
I'm no longer craving sugar or chocolate.
Work is less painful as January goes on, although I had a foul encounter with a parent this evening.
I still haven't gone anywhere near the 500 in my shallow savings - wondering how to distribute this across savings accounts when I get payed.
I get to spend £25 on a dress to go out for my partner's birthday as I have promised myself £20 per 5 kg and have £5 left over from this month's clothes budget (plus another £10 from my son's as we were gifted so many clothes recently he is in need of nothing!)

Lonire

Well done, you have done so well! Ive started having no spend days. Only had two this week but hey its better than none. Starting to feel positive about them. Well done on getting the new dress! I am sure you are delighted!

Work is certainly getting better with the January days passing by! hope the encounter wasn't too bad.

Great that you got over the sugar cravings. I am getting withdrawal from the usual caffeine intake. Cut down to one instant coffee per day. Def give me headaches. But hey cheaper and better for me in the long run

Any big plans for the weekend?

SkintTeacher

No big plans, just visiting my dad, playing with my little one, a park visit and a possible dress/ top purchase.
You?

SkintTeacher

The weekend is looking up... just had a friend ask if we want 2 tickets to see the Leicester Tigers (our local team) as she'd won tickets and her children weren't interested. My little one has been dying to see them so I snapped them up. I'll now do that instead of going to town to buy a new top. How MSE!

I also contacted my mortgage company and found out how much and how to overpay on my mortgage- up to £8000 a year apparently and it resets in Feb. So me and the OH have a new goal to get the LTV down drastically by the next remortgage. This has helped me with my 'what to do with the £500 I unexpectedly saved this month' conundrum.

I do find that by leaving my weekends free, opportunities tend to crop up that I wouldn't have take advantage of had I not been being frugal. I've probably done more fun stuff (and enjoyed it more, knowing it wasn't contributing to my spendthrift ways) in the last two months.

We're also in discussions about summer and (I know, it's early!) Christmas 2017. Last year, to get me through school, I booked three holidays and we were barely in our house over the 6 weeks off. This year, we would like to go camping as that was the little one's favourite last year. Apart from that, we are going to do modified 'staycations ' - we are lucky enough to have family in Sussex, Cornwall and Scotland so we will try to visit these over the next couple of years and keep costs minimal (without scrounging). I have such a generous family that sometimes I have to exercise great willpower to not let them just pick up the tab for my newly frugal ways. Eg. Going shopping with my mum, she suggests a coffee out and I had to say no because I wasn't willing to pay for a caf! visit and didn't want her paying for me!

Ah, the evening ramblings of a knackered teacher. Do pop up and say hello if you're reading this! Have a great weekend all.

Maiden_Mum

Hi SkintTeacher. What sort oof things do you make in your slow cooker?

SkintTeacher

Hi! We've made tagine (nice but I do think chicken dries out a bit in a slow cooker), Irish beef stew with dumplings, curry, beef stroganoff and a lamb stew. Do you have one or thinking of getting one?