2017 - my frugal year

SkintTeacher

Right. I'm still proud of the amount in my bank account but I must admit to spending £90 on my cheese wedding cake.

I also booked a room at our wedding venue but was good and went for a standard rather than executive as I'm assuming I'll get to be in there only a few short hours.

Other than that, I've been very good.

Maiden_Mum

Sounds like you are doing really well Skintteacher. Coming on here, reading and posting, will definitely help you, or it does me at least. I also have nothing planned for half term as yet although I must admit I am thinking of going for a cheap, family meal one night.

SkintTeacher

Had a lovely day out today, OH payed for lunch and I got some brand new leather smart shoes for £9 in a charity shop. I also got gelato for us all ( less calories than ice cream apparently) and some amazing lego and playmobil sets for my nephew and neice from a little shop that sells second hand and new toys; the owner is retiring in May and ill really miss going in there and browsing. He even sells individual figures/ whole houses. I've sorted xmas 2017 for £20! Other nephews are under 1 so I'll have more of a think closer to the time.
Having put money in savings at the start of the month, I'm struggling much less with guilt and getting a lot more pleasure from spending knowing that the money is within budget - next year when I do my budgets I'll certainly remember to account for things like half term treats as they do give us all a lot of pleasure. My partner works really hard during term time to make sure we're all fed and live in a clean, tidy house and when I finally get a break from work it's lovely just to mooch around together.

Here's to family time!

SkintTeacher

Half term is more than half over; I've resisted the normal temptation to spend, spend, spend and instead done little things each day with my mum or the boys and have had a really relaxing time. Interestingly, I was listening to my mum talking about something she was going to buy and she was panicking about the cost - I was thinking that this used to be how I spent money :
Panic about the cost
Buy it anyway
Regret and feel guilty
Suffer the last 2 weeks til Payday as a kind of penance
Repeat

Glad to have broken the cycle.

Treadingonplaymobil

I recognise that cycle too! I was so good at feeling the panic, but deciding I wanted/needed it and justifying it to myself, then feeling guilty afterwards or feeling extra stressed about our finances.

SkintTeacher

I've been looking at my spending over the half term - it seems I still have the 'money burns a hole in my pocket' problem!

I tried transferring a set amount to my 'shallow' savings but I reckon that will have to go back to my current account by the end of the month.

Any suggestions for how to help with this!?

boxofpaws

I am the wrong person to ask but just wanted to reassure you that you are not alone. Surely half the battle is that you/we recognise it and are trying to fix it?

I sniggered at "panic about the cost. Buy it anyway":rotfl:

SkintTeacher

I don't know how to solve it without squirreling the money away or leaving myself a really stingy amount to spend. I've already fixed the ' not saving ' part of my money issues by setting up direct debits. The last few months I've even forked out quite alot on wedding stuff so the money is obviously there... I'm just thinking that all my sound financial decisions need to be made in week 1 after pay day or something!?

But how much 'fun money' is reasonable? I find it fluctuates wildly depending on what I'm up to. Eg. Half term - so many opportunities to spend versus a normal week where I'm either at home or at school 5 days out of 7.

I don't want to always feel guilty for spending... I was getting on top of that but then felt I 'overspent' and the guilt came slamming back. And all this despite still having £200 to 'last' til payday (this is purely 'fun' money - without it I wouldn't starve or go without any essentials and yet somehow it is my crutch and my mind whirrs over and over how I will spend it - I almost look for how to spend it in one chunk so that I can stop thinking about it)

Money! :mad:

SkintTeacher

I'm feeling a renewed sense of motivation after my first day back at work. So here is the plan:
Create a budget for March which includes all social occasions so there are no surprises. done
I'm prioritising my health, so personal training, swimming and yoga are all budgeted for.
No birthdays or major events so no need for spending there.
A zero clothes budget (after shameful spending this month as I'd gone down a dress size)
After tracking my spending, I know exactly where my money is going - I've really got to grips with my supermarket spending.
Caf! visits have been a bit too frequent over half term but the next 7 weeks should be lots better.

ada-or-ardor

I definitely think budgeting is the key here. I think its hard to say how much fun money is reasonable, and certainly fluctuates month to month. If you HAD to pay a big amount to something big, ie your wedding, one month, you would survive with less fun money, but when you have more disposable income, it seems like time and invites expand to fill your fun money!! I was wondering if you could take an MSE approach and save throughout the year for your half term spends? It's just a thought, but it seems to work well with things like car maintenance and other annual bills. So maybe every month, as part of your budget, you have a line for Holiday activities, and just put a moderate amount, say £20. Then when HT rolls around, you'll already have around £40-60 to spend, and therefore you can put the rest of your disposable income to work, whether that's paying debt, going to proper savings, etc. I guess its important to figure it out now because a one week half term break is one thing, but what about your big summer holidays - you don't want to really go overboard and spend more than you have, and if you're saving throughout the year, that's less likely to happen.

The other side of the coin is I'm sure a lot of people who get the finance improvement bug feel guilty just spending money on little things - they either want to save it or pay something off with it. But fun money is just that - as long as you are meeting all your commitments first, be it debt, savings, overpayments, whatever; then what's left should be yours to enjoy! Every month, when I do my budget, I put in all the events and meet ups I know I have, the purchases I need to make, a little buffer for those things that crop up that never make it into your original budget (grrr) and then if I have anything left over (rare!!) I know that's my fun money to do with as I will (usually candles or wine or carry over to next month if I know I have something big coming up like a trip, a wedding, etc) :-)

Anyway, I hope that's a little bit of food for thought if nothing else!!

Ada