Mrs S, family life and debt

MrsSave

mummytogirls wrote: »

Yay to the bonus and payrise MrsS!

Boooo to the missing meat, I hope they sorted it out for you xx

They did.......we had a delivery of just one item :rotfl: I must admit I'm very impressed!!

MrsSave

That's Christmas (almost) done. We're off to the inlaws today and then celebrating with my parents on Saturday. We've had to move things around a little due to illness (not us!). We've spent the past few days eating, drinking (though not as much as usual!!) and playing with toys. Ds1 is very happy with what he's had (ds2 is too young to understand). We bought the boys less this year, instead of lots of random stuff we bought a couple of things that we thought they'd really like. It has definitely worked. DS1 has played with each gift on a loop since Christmas morning.........I'm so chuffed. I received some really lovely gifts and have been very lucky.

I've sorted through our finances for January. It's my pay day tomorrow and dh's last pay for the month. We talked about the best way to use this money which means we can save but can also enjoy the odd treat now. We decided to cancel the gym. There was no contract and we've decided that the extra £10 a week for us will be very handy when we're not massive earners. It's a shame but we need to prioritise.

I've also been looking at holidays!! (I know, I know!). We've already booked our 2018 break away. 4 nights at Center Parcs during term time. I've been looking today at prices for a week in a French gite during the Summer holidays (including the ferry crossing). It's around the same price!! So at the moment our 2019 goal is a holiday abroad. It'll be the first time we take the boys abroad. 2018 is all paid for and we've budgeted for our spending money. From June 2018 we'll start saving for the holiday abroad

Right, I'd better get moving!

MrsSave

Pay day :j I've updated ynab and transferred the money to the correct accounts for January. I'm aiming for a frugal January!! I may have a browse to see if there are any challenges here that will help. I've managed to increase savings to a nice round number, and may use it to buy more premium bonds.

I had an email to say my energy bill was going to jump up in around 6 weeks time, so had a look and couldn't get it much cheaper with my current energy provider. So, for the first time since buying this house, I've decided to switch. I should be getting £25 for doing it as well :j I used this site, and it looks like the bill will be just under an extra £1 a month, but at least it's not £15!! It's just a waiting game now, as apparently it can take a while.

Dh is popping into town today so I'll ask him to pay the boys' Christmas money into their accounts, and we've had a little too :j

MrsSave

Wow!!! I’ve just shocked myself!! I’ve gone through my card statements for 2017 and noted down how much we’ve spent on supermarket shops, top up shops, eating out and takeaways during 2017. Shocking!!!

Over the year we have spent: £6735.27 (£5504.83 on food shops, £1230.44 on eating out and takeaways)
This works out at an average of £561.27 per month (£458.73 and £102.53)
Per week that’s £129.52 (£105.86 and £23.66).

That’s far too much. My target for 2018 is:
Per week: £80
Per month: £346.67
Per year: £4160

That’s still a lot of money, but a saving of over £2500 a year.

debtaghh

That is interesting, I might try and work mine out but add a bit for times I used cash!

debtaghh

I’ve just worked mine out 😱

MrsSave

debtaghh wrote: »

I’ve just worked mine out 😱

It's very eye opening, isn't it!! I asked Dh how much he thought we spent on food/drink this year, and he said £1500 :rotfl: I wish!!!

We were going to go out for a meal week Saturday before we all headed back to work/school. We're not now. It's my birthday soon, so we usually end up going out for that. Don't need to eat out twice in one month.

enthusiasticsaver

It is very enlightening. What may be worth doing is what I do and have a yearly spreadsheet split monthly into things like food, eating out, days out or weekends away or personal spends for DH and I, gifts, car and household plus of course the non changing utilities. I update it daily or every couple of days with receipts. Cash has to be allocated so if it is spent on food shopping or entertainment it goes in that row.

I did it a few years ago so I could see exactly how much we needed to live off for pension planning. The heaviest months for us are always December (Christmas), March as lots of birthdays so presents and usually meals out too and the summer months for days out with the family or friends or on our own plus holiday spending usually.

MrsSave

Thanks Enthusiastic Saver - I use ynab so have something similar. My problem is that I move money around the categories instead of sticking to the original budget. I’m determined that this must stop and I will be sticking to our budgets from here on.

We have a food shop coming this morning. It’s estimated at £57. That will leave £33 for anything else for the week. I need to sort thank you cards with the boys for their Christmas gifts (they’re too young to do it themselves). I usually spend money on the printed picture cards, but I’m going to try a far cheaper method this time - we’re going to make our own! It will be a nice task for next week as we’re all off. We should have everything we need in the house already so shouldn’t cost anything.

I do need (actually I don’t need - I want!!) some more photo frames to hang as I’ve got a few pictures already printed out. I usually buy frames from places like Wilko or the Range so they’re not too expensive, but I think I’ll get 1 or 2 a week on weeks I can afford it and have money left over.

MrsSave

Dh has suggested that I go to the doctor as I'm not sleeping well!! I've said no - I'm not going to start on sleeping tablets. I'm going to attempt to cut down on carbs in the new year (well, starting the 8th Jan) which will cut out most processed food and alcohol so I'm going to see if that helps.

I've remembered this morning that when ds1 had his feet measured a month ago he was almost at the next size. Also, ds2 has started walking so we should buy him proper shoes (he's in pre walkers at the moment). That could easily cost £70-£80 :eek: I'm not tempted by supermarket shoes, as we often buy supermarket trainers and they fall apart long before he grows out of them. I've looked at other retailers, and M&S have some which are cheaper than Clarks for ds1. I also have a Sparks card, so will see whether I'll get a discount for children's shoes when they change the offers next week. We don't have a Clarks outlet nearby, it's a 3 hour round trip away!! For ds2 I think we'll take him to Clarks as I want his feet properly measured (though they can often get it pretty wrong!! I was disagreeing with a sales assistant once as shoes just weren't fitting right in store - she was adamant they were fine. In the end she asked the manager to double check them, and I was right They were way off!!).

The grocery shop is pending on my card account.......it leaves £33.43 for the week. I do save separately for the boys' clothes and shoes, but may need to use some of this as I don't think there's enough money in the other pot. They're both fully kitted out with clothes at the moment so it's just the shoes to sort.