The Piano Diary

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

So the recent stock market recovery means that the first fund has returned to its original value of £189k which is no gain or loss from the original investment. The only growth I am really seeing at the moment is the amount I am managing to save each month into the other DC fund. Thanks to the recent tax changes in April, the amount I can save pre tax has increased. The other fund has reached £110k so a grand total of £299k. Creeping closer to £300k which is a milestone I should cross in September. 

According to the news, food prices have peaked and are falling. I have noticed in the local C**p lots more yellow sticker food as I think basically people just aren't willing or able to pay the prices so the food is just not selling. Some of the prices are now eye watering.

Back at work this week, trying to clear the backlog and then away for another week. Its a quieter time of year so it's feasible to get away.

savingholmes

Hope you manage to get a holiday soon.

Yay to market recovery and lower pricing. I've been really shocked at grocery and eating out prices.

LeighofMar

Congrats on your investments reaching the milestone soon. The stock market has definitely been dragging over the past year but we're finally seeing some progress over here too. I feel we have a decent budget of 250.00 every 2 weeks for groceries for 2 people. We have been coming in at budget now and still not being able to get everything needed. I need to start getting all my basic supplies at Aldi to try to save a bit. It's crazy. 

glass_half_full

Thanks @LeighofMar. That's a good budget you are keeping to on groceries. I did the weekly shop today and spent £180. It was a bit higher due to having been away for a week so a few extra items in there. No meat as we are vegetarian (although I eat fish) and no alcohol. We have been running at £700 per month for two adults. We probably could cut down but we are in our comfort zone with the current supermarket. It would be cheaper to shop at Aldi / Lidl but they are not in convenient locations to us. We could also save more cooking from scratch and buy less convenient foods. I need to get back on it.

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

I thought I would check on how we are getting on trying to live within our means. Since April, we have been endeavouring to save more into my pension and live largely on OHs income plus what is left of mine and the bit of income I get from a side gig. I am deliberately ignoring holidays and one off costs which for the time being are coming out of savings. So looking at the spend from YNAB for April to July across all the categories, I have averaged these out to get a monthly amount. It seems that we can just about squeak in under a monthly budget based on these amounts as the outgoings are totalling £3175 and the income is totalling £3155. So with a bit of frugalising it should be possible to keep this going for the rest of the year. Although this is a bit artificial it is helping to keep us focused on seeking value for money and savings.

Some headline numbers from the analysis.

Largest category : Groceries are averaging £740 per month (around £170-180 per week) and this is our largest single category. This is high and is probably a function of the supermarket we shop at S*insbury, although I noticed when I walked around this week they are price matching quite a lot of products to Ald*. Also, some of the Nectar prices are pretty good. I think also that we are reducing our eating out and so this is pushing up the grocery bill. No meat or alcohol in there. I think maybe we are paying too much for fruit and veg and perhaps there are cheaper local options. Also, we could cook more from scratch. I am going to target this over the next few months.

Support to DS - £400 per month. We have been supporting DS and his GF in getting set up on their own in a little flat and getting established. They are doing really well and I think we will be able to phase this down over the coming months. Will talk to him about that. It has been necessary over the last several months. But DS’s income is increasing as his reputation as a teacher is growing as is his number of pupils.

Next category – Council Tax - £299.

Electricity and Gas – this has finally fallen from a peak of £380 per month back to a more reasonable £260 per month. This is really going to help. Used almost no gas since April and low electricity also. Need to keep this low over the autumn winter period as much as we can.

Eating out - £100 per month. This doesn’t go very far any more! I think we are going to have to limit eating out to real treats going forward as unfortunately it has become very expensive.

Beyond this are a couple of hobbies which cost a bit eg piano lessons. These are quality of life things so no intention to cut back here at the moment. Then lots of smaller categories around the £50 per month level. I think the key thing here is to be a bit more mindful of spending on this and that. These relatively small amounts £20-30 here or there really do add up. It should be possible to live within this income.

 

South_coast

I'd say there is definitely scope for reducing that grocery spend! You'll have to keep us updated on how you're getting on 👍

savingholmes

South_coast said:

I'd say there is definitely scope for reducing that grocery spend! You'll have to keep us updated on how you're getting on 👍

Do you use all you buy? Would batch cooking and then freezing some give you variety but reduce your cost. It would be interesting to understand what you are spending on. You can afford it - but it does seem high.

glass_half_full

Thanks @savingholmes. We don't use all we buy and sometimes food waste is higher than it should be. We could do better with the meal planning and using up ingredients. I think batch cooking and freezing is a great idea and I need to start getting into this.

glass_half_full

Dear diary and all,

Just back from a week away and we are lucky enough to have another week off together at home. I’m trying to focus on the grocery spend to bring it to a more reasonable level. This morning went to local fruit and veg shop which has good reviews. It’s a short drive away and I got there for 9am. Bought our usual selection of fruit and veg and it came to £24.32. The produce was nicely presented and overall it was a positive experience. When I got home I did a price comparison to our usual supermarket which came out at £20.73p so its slightly more expensive. Unfortunately, I went to have an avocado for lunch and it was off and so was the other one I had bought there. I guess this can happen anywhere although as yet it hasn’t happened to me with supermarket bought ones. So the issue here is that it is more expensive and is an additional journey. So unless there is another reason ie quality or environment or supporting a local business, it doesn’t really make sense.

Then I went to do the normal weekly shop at the supermarket. I had done a stock take yesterday of what we already have and a meal plan for this week and so the shop was a bit more focused. I also was shopping a bit more mindfully and looking for bargains on the way around ie switching brands etc. The total came to £97 but in that were a couple of more expensive items eg a lightbulb and bottle of wine. If we could keep to this weekly eg £125 for everything then that would be around £500-£540 per month which would be a big reduction on our current spend. Not sure it will be this low each week as we seem to have quite a lot in and this may be because we were away last week on holiday.

Whilst away last week I had a good chat with OH about the budget going forward. We talked about what our priorities are for the coming year with regard to spending on various things. Our current budget and the level of pension saving is based on our running costs ie costs without holidays and other significant extras. So any extras would have to come out of savings. In reality of course we will need to spend above the running cost level, so this is not really sustainable. To that end, I am working on a budget to include these other areas, especially holidays and other special occasions, visiting friends etc. So I am coming around to the idea that I may have to rein in the pension savings a little in order to fund this. To be fair level of saving was quite ambitious and was an experiment since April, so I think this is a reasonable rebalancing. I am still figuring this out and will probably implement it from September onwards.

savingholmes

Like you say you've been radically saving this year. Hopefully you can get your groceries down and that will free up other money without you having to divert too much money from your pension goals. It's a balance and you are doing amazing whichever way you decide to go.