Put away your purse & become debt-averse

DawnW

We must be a bit odd - we don't actually like takeaways. Maybe 3 or 4 times a year we will get fish and chips, usually when we are away on holiday. We certainly had other spendy habits in the past, and sometimes still do, but takeaways never really caught on with us, it has always seemed more trouble to go out and buy something than to just stick a potato in the oven or make an omelette. Even when I had my real s*d of a job and OH was working long hours, we rarely succumbed. I don't always enjoy cooking, so try to arrange to cook once and eat twice. I made a big fish pie yesterday, and there is enough left for tonight as well. Also leftovers of the apple and mincemeat crumble I also made, which I am far more excited about!

foxgloves

Wish I could say the same, Dawn. You know how much I love cooking & mr f is a good cook too. We make lots of 'fakeaway' type meals now, which mostly hit the spot. Pre-LBM, one of the problems was that we live in a town with a lot of really good takeaways - excellent Indian & Chinese & plenty of pizza places. If they were all greasy not-very-enjoyable meals, the temptation wouldn't have been as great, but they are very good. One thing we did decide though, once we converted from silly over-spenders to budgeters, was that we wouldn't use national pizza 'chains' for take-away again. We tried a little local indie one & the pizzas were just as nice, if not sometimes better, but the cost is much lower. We always use that little place now. They are usually quicker at delivering than the big chains & the fact that they keep going in a small market town which also has 4 national pizza chains would seem to show that other people have noticed that they are a much better deal too.
Particularly when we're dieting, we find that cooking certain 'fakeaway' type meals helps stop temptation - I make all sorts of curries, & mr f does a lovely Quorn one & a Keralan-style one too. I regularly make pizza with various toppings & spicy things like fajhitas, quesadillas & kaati kebabs all hit the spot too. What we find now, is that on the rare occasion we DO send out for a takeaway, we enjoy it much more because it is genuinely a treat, instead of being something we knew, really, that we couldn't afford - mr f is built like a brick privy & can eat his bodyweight in curry, so our post-LBM takeaway policy must have saved us an absolute fortune over the years. We were also rather good at re-enforcing each other's bad habits on both the unhealthy food & the overspending front.
Looking forward to our New Year's Eve Indian takeaway much more than we would be if we were still having them on a weekly basis.
Hope everyone's got off to a decent start to the week - must go & give the slow cooker a bit of a stir in a minute, & get tomorrow's packed lunch made.
F x

joedenise

I'm with you DawnW! I loathe most takeaways but DH loves them but as I enjoy cooking we very rarely have them. When we do it will be a chicken kebab & salad without sauces and pitta - it's about the only thing I'll eat.

Like foxgloves I make a lot of fakeaways especially curries.

Our biggest spend used to be on eating out but again not very often but it was too often. Since I started budgeting we plan when we'll eat out and I'll always try to pick sensibly and healthy meals.

It's definitely better being in complete control of the finances.

Denise

foxgloves

JoeDenise - I really second that re being in complete control of the finances. Back in the Spendy Decades, I used to moan constantly about my lack of funds, but I was always in work, never unemployed & I didn't have an expensive mortgage. I just lacked self-control where money was concerned. I'm an intelligent person, but I don't think I really wanted to acknowledge the 'cause & effect' where my finances were concerned. So I always made excuses for being broke & it was almost never 'my fault'. Yet the over-riding reason was always that I spent more than I earned every single month & never bothered with a budget. Budgets were for geeks, tightwads & old people, as far as I was concerned. Now of course, I wish I'd seen the light a whole lot earlier! (But I think you'd all have to agree that I'm making up for it now).
F x

Onebrokelady

You certainly are making up for it now and inspiring others to do the same
I was bored the other night so very roughly worked out that my debt which was accrued by spending more than I earned was caused by spending about £145 a month more than I earned for roughly 10 years,there were a few emergency spends included like vet bills and appliance replacement,but for the most part it was just frittered away,I didn't even go on any holidays or anything like that,I do have some things to show for my irresponsible ways but I have no idea what I spent most of that money on
I'm so glad I've come to my senses now as I am managing to pay it back and I've even managed to reduce my hours at work which I never would have been able to do if I hadn't started my DMP

Baileys_Babe

I have reread this diary Foxgloves.

I would like it if me and OH planned our spending better and also tracked actual spends to see if we are on track. I'm evidently failing to explain myself properly to OH as he can not understand what I'm talking about.

Any hints, tips or suggested reading from yourself and your lovely readers, very much appreciated.

I like the idea of using piggy banks, probably virtual ones, but OH does not like the idea, but can't explain why.

Baileys_Babe

Since posting on here earlier, I have been reading an article on the main site called "Budget planner" which might help.

With the exception of the mortgage we are debt free. I would like to build up a piggy banks for various things including home maintenance, holidays etc. Additionally I would like to over pay the mortgage so we are secure in our home as soon as possible.

OH doesn't see any reason for a budget as we have no debt (except the mortgage) and we are able to have a little bit of money in the bank. He doesn't think piggy banks will work as we don't have much/any money left at the end of the month.

I feel so frustrated.

Neither of us wastes money, very rarely a coffee out, we take packed lunches, shop in Aldi. OH is on a good wage but we don't seem to be able to save often.

PurpleFairy26

Baileys_Babe wrote: »

Since posting on here earlier, I have been reading an article on the main site called "Budget planner" which might help.

With the exception of the mortgage we are debt free. I would like to build up a piggy banks for various things including home maintenance, holidays etc. Additionally I would like to over pay the mortgage so we are secure in our home as soon as possible.

OH doesn't see any reason for a budget as we have no debt (except the mortgage) and we are able to have a little bit of money in the bank. He doesn't think piggy banks will work as we don't have much/any money left at the end of the month.

I feel so frustrated.

Neither of us wastes money, very rarely a coffee out, we take packed lunches, shop in Aldi. OH is on a good wage but we don't seem to be able to save often.

Baileys babe could you explain that it would be helpful to track so you could just be in control/more aware/ have a transparent picture [delete as appropriate]

Whilst virtual piggies seem a stretch for the first year when you don't have much money left at the end of the month but still get by, for me are definitely worth it. We save for all our annual payments monthly, plus a gifts amount and any other know expenses, termly swimming, cubs etc....

Ok, so the first year you might get 6 months in and have an annual bill, but draw it down, either let it go in to negative, if there is some from other pots in that account or make the rest out of your current account as you'd have been paying for it all anyway normally.

I started this about 5 years ago for annual expenses and modified it about 3 years ago to include clothes, fuel, holidays, house maintenance, EF and a few other categories. Personally I couldn't go back to before and love my virtual piggies and keeping track of them.

It's so much better know thinking, we can do that because we have x saved rather than having to take spikes in our income for it.

HTH. Purps.

joedenise

I've been using YNAB4 (the old version) for several years now and it really helps having the virtual pots as you know there is always money available by looking at your budget.

If you're any good at spreadsheets you could easily set up something like YNAB which means your savings will still be in your current account. This might make your OH a bit happier with budgeting as he will still be able to see you have money in there.

Denise

Baileys_Babe

Thank you PurpleFairy and joedenise for your input.

A nothing I need to consider is if OH see a reasonable balance in an account he takes his eye off the ball as everything is ok. I feel by having goals for different budgets he is more likely to stay focused as he will realise that money is already spoken for and the truly available funds are very low.