Rawr_'s Saving Diary

rawr_

Forgot to mention we are having our washing machine and dishwasher delivered today! Have a little to do list going before the end of the weekend and before we have to go back to work on Monday *sigh*

- Sort car insurance as mine renews on 8th March
- Do some washing as it's starting to pile up
- Wash all the bedding ready for in-laws coming on Thursday
- Make a lemon drizzle loaf cake
- Bake some apple crumble bars ready for pack ups next week
- Sort boxes for Mr Rawr to put in the loft

DD265

I'm glad you're in and I hope things went smoothly.

We're in exactly the same boat re constantly spending money. Luckily no emergencies/breakdowns, but we needed a fridge/freezer and washer/dryer. Thankfully said we'd hold off on the dishwasher as not essential and glad we did as we've spent a fortune on other things.

rawr_ wrote: »

All of the other joint bills have now come out apart from Council tax, which I think Feb & March are council tax free months. Plus we are due £80 refund which I'm yet to found out when we get this...

I wouldn't be so sure; Feb and March aren't 'free' it's just that we pay the example £1200 in 10 months (so £120 a month) instead of 12 (so £100 a month). I would be expecting to get a £200 bill for February and March - I only know that because it's happened to us! We've already had our old-home council tax refund but I told them we were leaving a few days before the 1st. I'm also expecting final bills for electricity and possibly water as our tenancy doesn't actually end until the 21st.

rawr_

Hi DD265 - it's been an expensive few weeks but all will be worth it I guess! Ahh yes, I know they're not technically 'free' it's just what we call them, as it just feels like a couple of months free as we don't have payments going out for them. We were paying £172 council tax per month at our previous property, so a couple of 'free' months was just going to be nice to have an extra buffer in the account. Think it's dropping to £116 per month here so will be a huge saving per month for us.

Hope everything has gone well for you!

rawr_

It's Monday so back to normal this week. Had a really busy morning back at work but I needed to make sure I had a break, so I'm writing this on my lunch. So I haven't completed all of my list yet...

- Sort car insurance as mine renews on 8th March (Got a note in my diary for Thursday, so will try and sort this then)
[STRIKE]- Do some washing as it's starting to pile up[/STRIKE]
- Wash all the bedding ready for in-laws coming on Thursday
- Make a lemon drizzle loaf cake (I think I'm going to do this on Wednesday when Mr Rawr is on his driving lesson, then they'll be cake for when inlaws are here Thursday)
[STRIKE]- Bake some apple crumble bars ready for pack ups next week[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]- Sort boxes for Mr Rawr to put in the loft[/STRIKE]

Although seeing as we've been busy all week I'd say it wasn't bad going, we're both shattered now! :rotfl:

Yesterday we needed to go to B&Q for a longer water pipe for the dishwasher, think we need another for the washing machine now as it keeps kinking, so will probably go back after work today. This was £6.97. Will also need a new lock for the bathroom ready for when the inlaws come Thursday, but I don't expect that will be too expensive. Whilst we were out I also needed to get some cereal and bit for pack up so popped to Sainsbobs. Ended up spending £14.59. I'm ok with it.

Today I've done an order for oil for our central heating, it's getting towards being low and don't want to be caught out (as we always are with the oil ) so should be here end of this week/beginning of next. This was £261.11 - always makes my heart drop. Luckily we had our council tax refund today of £80.78, and I had £30 in the oil fund (as only starting paying into it this month) so bought it down to £150.33 which has been covered by my £200 buffer I put in the account at the weekend.

This brings the joint account to £185.94, which will definitely see us through until the 25th, with hopefully a lot left over, but things happen so I don't want to get my hopes up I'm contemplating paying £200 extra into the joint again on the 25th and then start paying into the savings from end of March. Just thinking maybe I'll feel better with surplus money in there to cover anymore unexpected expenses that come with owning your own house.

rawr_

Cashed out of PA last week, so a payment of £19.54 hit my account today which was nice, I put this straight into the savings account so this brings it to £2845.63. Every little helps right?

We didn't go to B&Q last night, will be nipping in tonight after work instead. I had training last night, and planning on going again tonight so that will bring me up to my 2x a week target Need to make that £46 per month worth it...

Haven't spent out of my personal account either since I got fuel for the car last week, and will be leaving anything left over in there to help cover MOT and service that will need to be done next month on the 7th. Seems like theres something every month at the moment but I guess it's just an expensive time of year for us! After March, I don't *think* we have anymore large expenses. The next thing I guess will be flights if we're still going away in July. We're planning on discussing this with the in-laws when they're here on Thursday to try and get a solid plan. I don't like not knowing or not being organised so find it hard to go by somebody elses time planning!! :rotfl:

rawr_

Another week gone :eek:

I've started sorting my budgets for next month now (run from 25th - 25th of each month). We have a few larger expenses coming up which is always fun to juggle.

So the good news is we have been given the money from the in-laws for the dishwasher (£200) and also have some cash due back from the solicitors (£46.98) so £246.98 extra into the account. It's also council tax 'free' months in Feb & March, so we also have an extra £116 sat in the account. This makes it £362.98 - so in essence there will be £962.98 in the account as of next Monday, excluding money paid in for the mortgage and including any other money left over from what we don't spend.

The bad news is we have a £280 electric bill coming out around the 1st but luckily we have this extra to cover it. So this will leave around £82.98 as extra.

Budgets left until next week:
£64.19 of the food/other budget - I will need to get a few bits on Friday to last until Monday/Tuesday and will probably need some more pack-up bits this week so thinking there should be at least £40 to carry over to next month.
£134.57 of personal expendable - quite good for me! This will be staying in the account to help pay for my MOT and service due beginning of March.

Next Monday I'll do a break down of everything so you can see what goes out in a month for both the joint and my personal account. I won't be paying into the savings straight away this month, I'll need to see how my car goes, which means it could be another month where I don't pay into it. It's a shame but it needs doing.

Tonight I need to:
- Go and swap the bins over at the old house to get rid of the recycling
- Wash bedding
- Go to Kuk Sool
- Remember cash to pay in the account tomorrow for the dishwasher

This week:
- Sort Life Insurance (need to shop around and get some quotes)
- Call Car Insurance provider to get them down for beginning of March
- Have a tidy round the house cause it's a tip after the in-laws have been here :rotfl:

Not too many goals for this week. I'm shattered after the funeral on Friday, it was in London so was a long day for us all. Still feel like I've not recovered from it! Need to take it a bit easier this week I think.

rawr_

A lovely sunny day here in West Norfolk. Actually managed to complete everything on my list on Monday so that was an acheivement.

Tonight I need to:
[STRIKE]- Go and swap the bins over at the old house to get rid of the recycling
- Wash bedding
- Go to Kuk Sool
- Remember cash to pay in the account tomorrow for the dishwasher[/STRIKE]

This week:
- Sort Life Insurance (need to shop around and get some quotes)
[STRIKE]- Call Car Insurance provider to get them down for beginning of March[/STRIKE]
- Have a tidy round the house cause it's a tip after the in-laws have been here

Sorted car insurance yesterday. I was paying £39.49 per month with Hastings, and they quoted me £40 per month for renewal from March. Couldn't find it on comparison sites cheaper than £38 per month. Was going to call them to get them down to at least this, and decided to check Aviva on a whim. Aviva quoted me £27.53 per month :eek: so I've bought this and cancelled my renewal. That's a saving of £11.96 per month - £143.52 for the year!! So I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now haha :rotfl:

Planning on Mr Rawr passing his driving test this year, so I'm sure this will go later, but he is 30 so not sure how more it will be, as usually they penalise younger drivers.

I've got time set aside this weekend to do some cleaning and tidying, been far too tired during the week. Also planning on sorting the Life insurance on Saturday. Along with finding my old passport so I can apply for a new one next week. We'll be booking the flights for our holiday tonight as the in-laws I think have the villa booked. This will be coming out of my poor savings account but hey ho - we haven't had a holiday since our honeymoon in 2016, so I'm pretty excited about having some sun!

I'll be back on Saturday with an update on the budgets and a lay out of the new budgets that will start Monday. x

rawr_

As promised I'll be displaying next months budget for you to see.

Firstly my personal spend/bills.
In: £1506.19

Out
- £120 / Diesel
- £9.81 / Breakdown cover
- £27.53 Car insurance (This months is already paid)
- £46 / Kuk Sool Won Training
- £40 / Parking permit for work
- £7.99 / Netflix
- £164.71 / Car loan
- £12.25 / Car Tax (Although not sure if it's this price from April...)
- £600 / Joint account

This leaves me with £478.90 in my account after all the direct debits a bills. I normally put £200 of this straight away into my savings, but I have my MOT and Service in March and want to wait until this is paid for first in case it's an expensive one. I also have £82.29 left over from this month so: £561.19 which is a nice amount.

Joint account:
In: £600 (from me)
In: £540 (from Mr Rawr)
+ £200 for dishwasher (present)
+ £116 because council tax didn't go out in Feb
+ £46.98 Over payment from our solicitor
+ (Anything left over from our account, which I haven't calculated yet)
= In: £1502.98

Out:
- £540 / Mortgage (Covered by Mr Rawr)
- £13.08 / Mortgage (Covered by me)
- £116 / Council Tax (Rough estimate, and won't go out this month)
- £10.13 / Buildings Insurance
- £12.20 / Contents Insurance
- £12.16 / Cat Insurance
- £30 / Heating oil (Gets put into a separate account)
- £320.27 / Electric (Final bill of £280.27 from last place and the £40 direct debit)
- £36 / Water (Anticipate this coming down once we can give some meter readings, we were paying £8 per month at last place)
- £30.98 / Internet

This leaves £382.16 for food and other bits we need - which will be plenty.

Apart from my car, I don't think there are any other large expenses to come out. We want to sort a cat flap for our porch but not sure when we will do that, may see how March's spending goes first. I plan on us going for a meal one Saturday night in March, but we have gift cards that will cover that, so won't matter. I have some Tesco Clubcard vouchers I need to sort out too to make the most of them!

We also paid for flights for our holiday with the in-laws. This came out of the savings ( ) so now down to £2452.27. It's great that Mr Rawrs parents are paying for the villa, but it's turning out to still be a bit of an expense for us. Was nearly £400 for the flights, and then we may have to book the cattery for the cats if my brother doesn't pass his driving test soon (as he would house sit if he can get to work in a car). We'll also need spending money....

I'm bringing my 2019 savings target down to 4K as that's what I've worked out I need now for us to start a family I for me to have a comfortable maternity leave. More on that another time I think!

rawr_

Realised it's been over a week since I last posted :eek:

So a quick updated on the budgets:
£313.05 / £411.28 Food/other budget - this is larger than normal as explained in my previous posts. Spent a total of £98.23 so far - but £77.43 was food. I have bought bathroom scales and a couple of other hoseholdey things we needed.

£282.82 / £360.87 Personal left over - resulting in a £78.05 spend so far. I needed a couple of make-up bits this week, I bought some lunches last week because I wasn't very prepared and I've also bought some meal replacement powder (which was about £35 for a months worth, more on that in a moment...), and I also had a work expense that I already have the cash back for for £15, but I've put this straight in my purse so this I assume will probably go on coffees or something through the month.

I haven't put £200 in savings this month - I've used this 'budget' on my MOT & Service, which is tomorrow (pray for me) and any other expense will have to be covered by my personal left over - or if it's too extreme I've agreed with Mr Rawr that it will need to come out of the savings, as it's better to do that and replace it then put it on a credit card.

Now onto the meal replacement powder... I'm basically trying to shed a bit of weight. I have been researching a product called Huel for a while - it's basically a meal replacement powder that you mix with powder (not a slimming shake!) that has everything you need in it, including vitamins and nutrients. The amount of scoops = the amount of calories, and I'll be having this as a replacement for lunch. We'll see how I go!!!! I find this will be easier to control my calorie intake and give my body what it needs. Yesterday I just had a salad for my lunch and had training last night, so I had one scoop when I got home to keep me going, and it was surprisingly filling. And it doesn't actually taste too bad either which is a plus...

With Mr Rawr having quite an active job it does make dinner times a bit more challenging, but I'm just trying to adapt what I'm giving him as a lighter version for me. So rest of the weeks meal plans are:

Tonight: For Mr Rawr Linda M 'Pulled Pork' Pasta, for me LM 'Pulled Pork' salad
Tomorrow: For Mr Rawr burgers, chips and coleslaw, for me burger (with no bun), salad, coleslaw.

I'm embarrassed to say I weigh 12 stone 12 pounds which is the heaviest I've ever been (and thats while being a vegan!!) and I want to be around 9 stone 7 pounds which I know is a very long way to go!!

rawr_

MY CAR PASSED IT's MOT, IT'S A MIRACLE!!

So the savings are safe (for now). I'm off to pick it up later and assume it will have some advisories, and I know I need a new tyre on the front (which I thought would have failed it to be honest?) which I'll sort at the weekend but I can pay for that out of my left overs.

I'm so relieved that this hasn't set my savings back.