Making savings before it's too late

maryb

I'm quite open with DH - he never remembers what I tell him anyway

"When did you tell me that?" "That time you weren't listening!"

[Deleted User]

Daily money adjustments are done. Transferred some into cc account to pay for the two items ordered last week, paid > half of the monthly amount needed into bills savings account. I might well be able to top up to the required figure at the very end of the month and will leave adding more cash to my cash wallet until next month. I won`t need to buy any more food until march and purple sprouting brocolli on the allotment is about ready to pick

Eating from supplies is very successful, stretches the cooking mojo, thinking about what to cook

tori.k

I'm in the dog house with DH, but everyone on here knows I'm in the right
We cancelled the viewing on the house we had on Saturday, due to the vendor messing around with the price it's been up since last September with no interest dropped 10k in January still a little bit high but more in line with the others thats sold on the street but a few days after we booked to view they put the price back up by 10k, so we dropped out and I guess others did as the price was reduced 10k again by the next day. When the EA called I told her it doesn't matter if the vendor not sure what they want we are not getting involved.

During this DH found a house on the same street way above our budget, it's been on for a while due to the way they first tried to sell it more than the price ( modern online auction) so now reverted to a traditional sale, the EA and DH have been mumbling in corners because of our position thinks there is a deal to be had.

It would cost us everything right down to the loose change in the sofa. I'm of the mindset just because you can doesn't mean you should, it's a lovely detached house but my plan was to reduce the amount of maintenance going forward, I really wanted this move to be our last and this house would tie up a lot of income, and definitely scupper my idea of a early retirement.
He knows I'm making sense but he's sulking.

[Deleted User]

[QUOTE=tori.k;73903279
It would cost us everything right down to the loose change in the sofa. I'm of the mindset just because you can doesn't mean you should, .[/QUOTE]

yes, I very much agree with you tori. We got into a similar house buying scenario once, when we were first time buyers, we could not afford carpets or a lawn mower for the front and were out of our financial comfort zone. A nice new build detached at the top of a cul de sac. We sold in the house boom 6 months after we bought and bought again quickly, went to a semi on a housing estate and suddenly we could breathe. 1971

I had to take a deep sensible breath last week, EA sent me details of a nice house but lots of £000 above my mental limit, I would have had to raid my pension, again. I deleted the post pdq

mardatha

Sometimes it hurts to be sensible - but just for a bit. Once you wake up free of the dream and the mental images then you heave a sigh of relief
I'm reconsidering my tactics here. I switched to Asda home shopping instead of Sainsbugs as they have a £25 min spend compared to SainsB £40. But after 6 weeks I'm fed up of them - they always seem to be out of stock of items, really simple things like milk, cream, and Duck Dreamies. (VITAL item as it's the only way we can get the wee furry sod to go to bed !).
No big supermarket is out of stock of things like cream for 6 weeks. And they keep suggesting I choose "this" instead - "this" being something that costs more. Sainsbugs don't do that, they just substitute something for the same price. And their drivers don't seem to be so smart or intelligent which sounds really snotty but it's true.
So I'm going to revert to SainsBugs again starting this week. Sometimes cheaper isn't really cheaper.

Wednesday2000

mardatha wrote: »

I'm reconsidering my tactics here. I switched to Asda home shopping instead of Sainsbugs as they have a £25 min spend compared to SainsB £40. But after 6 weeks I'm fed up of them - they always seem to be out of stock of items, really simple things like milk, cream, and Duck Dreamies. (VITAL item as it's the only way we can get the wee furry sod to go to bed !).
No big supermarket is out of stock of things like cream for 6 weeks.

I have noticed that too with Asda that whenever they bring the delivery there is always a list of substitutions or stuff missing because it wasn't in stock. It's seriously annoying.

Siebrie

maryb wrote: »

Back in the 80s when we got married, the tax system still treated married women's money as belonging to their husbands. If the wife worked he had to pay tax on her earnings but HE got tax relief on an amount equal to the personal allowance. (As tax rates were still quite high this bumped DH up into a higher tax bracket)

So in theory, a woman should have disclosed to her husband any interest earned on her running away account so he could include it on his tax return. I can't recall if anyone ever got done for this but there was a case (not tax related) where a woman had saved from her housekeeping (probably a running away fund) and there was a judgement saying it wasn't her money - even though the husband had given it to her, if she had money left over from the purpose it was given for she was not entitled to keep it.

And that is not so very long ago ladies. You know, whenever I hear people saying the 1950s were a golden age it's usually the case that they weren't there or they were damn lucky

My Mum and Dad got married in 1969, and Mum insisted on a proper washing machine. When she went to buy it, she had to go back home and come back with my Dad for him to authorise the sale. She was livid! Mum: 35, stable Executive job, savings; Dad: 29, STUDENT, the only item he brought to the marriage was a rusty bike.

THIRZAH

I earned more than DH when we were first married and can remember being so annoyed when the Building Society wouldn't give us a mortgage based on my salary not his. In those days you couldn't shop around for a mortgage as easily as you can now-you usually had to have an account with the Building Society.

Fortunately my parents were able to lend us enough so we could pay a bigger deposit.

suki1964

Someone must be guiding me at the moment because Ive not read this thread for a while, come back today, and its all very pertinent to me at the moment

We have always had a joint account Mostly he's been the biggest wage earner so obviously he's contributed to it the most over the years

Saying that, he's also the biggest spender

So anyways I got took on permently in work in January so I had my wages paid into my own account. Now I don't earn a lot, on average 20 hours a week on NMW. Out of my wages I pay my car tax, insurance, petrol and I get the groceries and any take away we might have, pay for trips out, treat the grandkids etc etc

Now last year my phone needed upgrading and I found a great deal and DH said go ahead and order it and put it through the joint account which I did

Last week I decided to buy an MacBook Got a good price on interest fee credit. Only my account is never accepted for credit as I don't have a credit history attached to it - phone etc all went through the joint account. So I ordered it and paid the deposit from the joint account and immediately transferred the deposit over

He went mad. Called me a "fly one"

Then this weekend all I got to hear was how he pays my phone and how I don't contribute to the joint account. He doesn't seem to get that with me paying for what I do pay, the joint account isn't being used so what he pays in is accumulating faster then before so therefore I am contributing

Anyways I just changed my phone over to my account so I can't be beat with that stick again

What really annoyed me was that fact that last year he bought a new car @ four figures, for him, I can't drive it, and this year he's gone and bought a classic car on top which not only was expensive but is costing even more as he does it up

I never ever thought he was so bloody tight.

So Im keeping a close close eye on where my pennies are going and when he slipped in a crate of larger in the trolly, I put my hand out and got the money off him

Seems Im going to be building my own private nest egg seeing as he's not willing to share

Sorry for the ramble. Im kind of p****d off right now

maryb

Suki there have been times when I was the main one bringing home the bacon and times when DH earned more. We put money into a joint account in proportion to what we earn and we both know what it should cover and what it doesn't. It works for us and I prefer it to a system where we would pay for certain things out of our own accounts because I think it's too easy to overlook and underestimate a contribution you don't actually see, which is what seems to be happening with you buying the groceries.

Though when we first started, DH used to buy things from the joint because he decided it was the sort of thing the joint should cover. I pointed out to him in fairly tart terms that if there wasn't enough money in the budget then it wouldn't actually cover it and it would be me making up the shortfall which meant I was paying for his splurges.