Everything is possible if you try!

Nonnadiluca

Have a lovely birthday weekend!

Tea&Kittens

Back from London, spent a little overbudget, but I have logged every penny. This is a big change from my normal spending habits, so even though I overspent a little, I feel quite good that I know where it's all gone rather than just having a vague idea. Still early days!
I've found properly logging expenditure makes a difference particularly where some retailers take several days to clear a card/contactless payment. I now have it accounted for as gone, whereas the "old me" would have forgotten about those payments then panicked when they went out.
Working from home tomorrow due to an appointment, so I reckon Ive enough time to prep a large volume of tuscan bean stew (cheap and really tasty!) for this week

wishingthemortgaheaway

Hi.
I've found your diary whilst up cuddling my toddler who's sleeping in my arms, but won't be put down. (So I'm reading diaries)

You have made a great start - the boost from your utility refund has made a huge difference to you. You have been saving, you just didn't know it.

I've been thinking about your emergency fund whilst reading and have a suggestion.
If you are going to use it for birthdays etc, as well as real emergencies (washing machine does for example) you are going to need to replenish it continually.

This is what I would do. Set up a standing order from your current account to your emergency fund to go out the day after pay day. This could be £1, £20, £50. Whatever you think is realistic.
When your car tax is due, pay for the full 12 months from the emergency fund, but then also up the monthly standing order by the monthly amount your were paying. Then in 12 months time you'll have replenished the pot and have the next payment ready.
By paying those big, annual bills in 1 go and upping your emergency fund standing order as you go, you'll be creating a really secure financial footing.

Hope this makes sense.

Wish.

armchairexpert

Hi Tea&Kittens! Just a quick note to say hi and I've subscribed. You're doing great already, and I'm glad you got a birthday treat.

Tea&Kittens

Thanks for subscribing, armchair!

Wish - thanks for the advice! Happily my train of thought was already headed in the same direction. While the emergency etc pot appears to be one lot of money in the account, I have a paper record with a detailed breakdown of how I've allocated it (this includes car tax/insurance, some for household, and holiday fund as well as birthdays), so I'm hoping this works. I just need to be strict with myself.

EssexHebridean

I have to confess I'm really not a fan of an emergency fund account being used for anything else as well - probably because I know full well that I need a lot more structure than this in the way I organised financial stuff, so my natural assumption (which may be wrong!) is that others need something similar.

Might be worth taking a look at your online banking to see if you can open savings accounts off the back of your current account? We bank with Nationwide and can basically have an unlimited amount of internet-only savings accounts (paying a small amount of interest) which means we have them for car expenses, holiday stuff, household things, and entertainment stuff among other things - that way i can see at a glance whether there is enough money set aside to deal with something - for example, the car insurance - without having to do lots of sums first. (In my case I also know full well that I'd manage to forget to update the paper record, but again, that may just be me! :rotfl:)

The weekend sounded lovely - glad you got a treat and a chance to try out your new budgeting strategies "in the wild" as it were! We often revert to supermarket meal deals if off out for the day, it's a great way of keeping costs down! I'm also a massive fan of walking around London - you miss so much if you don't!

mrsonions

Hi tea&kittens, thought I'd come and have a look at your diary seeing as you commented on mine
Some great tips here, especially the one about the emergency fund. I get paid on Friday so I think I'll take that one on board - thanks!

enthusiasticsaver

I think you have had some great advice already and it is definitely better to sort this out now before getting to retirement age especially if you have health conditions. I was going to comment on high energy usage but see you have been overcharged and the £1000 credit returned. Sensible to tackle overdraft, emergency pot first. I would then focus on HSBC as it is charging you interest and smaller than Barclaycard which is part interest free anyway.

Areas to trim are groceries, energy, mobiles, entertainment, haircuts, one offs/luxuries and take outs, work lunches. Get organised re food by maybe having some ready meals or easy freezer stuff to save you being tempted to get takeaways when you are tired. If you have a slow cooker this is great for batch cooking a few meals. Menu plan for work lunches and take leftovers to make a change from sandwiches, wraps or salads/soups.

I like the spending tracker app and also think having four separate accounts would work well for you, your cash isa for emergencies, current account for direct debits and your salary to go into. That way you know all your bills are covered. Have a separate account for disposable income for food, travel, entertainment, petrol etc and another savings account for annual expenses, presents, holiday, Christmas.

When you are sorted debt wise make sure you look at your pension too for long term savings. If you can move the HSBC or the interest charging Barclaycard to a long interest free deal this will help. Don't bother with the short deals as the BT fee often wipes out savings.

Tea&Kittens

Hi,and thanks for the input, enthusiastic saver!
Spending tracker is working well, I have been finding it really easy as I can do it on the go.
Salary and bills (set up as dd) are coming out of main current account, so I've set up a new (basic) bank account for money to automatically transfer to, which will be to cover food/fuel/entertainments etc.
I had a recommendation from a friend for her hairdresser, who only charges £25, and I can get away with having hair cut every 2 months rather than every month, so that cost will come down.
Mobile contract is up in a couple of months, so I'm going to keep existing handset and switch to a cheap PAYG SIM.
Food is definitely an obvious one to tackle. I usually take food into work, it tends to be in the evenings where I end up struggling.

EssexHebridean

Have a look at SIM only deals as well as PAYG for the phone - depending on which provider you want there are great deals out there from the likes of Plusnet (EE), Tesco (O2) and Three that can be had for a lot less than a standard contract, and it does save that thing of feeling as though you never want to use the phone because of it costing you PAYG credit. There is usually a good up to date guide on the main site that's worth a look.

What works for me with food is to shop once a week, using a meal plan which then translates to a list. I find all too often if I'm tempted into the Supermarket in the meantime that means temptation will strike and extras will be picked up. The fridge and fruit/veg baskets in the larder get an "audit" once a week, and periodically the same applies to the other cupboards and the freezer too. That pretty much means I can stay on top of what is needed as well as avoiding waste. The other trick I employ is to add things that are needed to my shopping list as I think of them - that was it avoids the thing of wandering round an entire store trying to remember the thing I thought of three days ago that I can't now remember!