Taking back the control

foxgloves

Meal planning is absolutely key, Thicknthin. My grocery budget is £50 a week for me, my big hungry husband & cat. That covers food, cleaning stuff & household stuff such as loo rolls plus cat food. Some months we overspend it a little, other times we underspend. Our most recent shop came in at £34.88 for the week. My meal plan was based largely on what we already have in the freezer & things we can cook from store cupboard ingredients. I like avocados, nuts, decent yoghurt, honey, etc, & cook everything from scratch, so am not living on instant noodles & rubbish. Once your meal plan is done, base your shopping list on those meals, followed by breakfast & lunch stuff for the week ahead, then add everyday things you've run out of. Then revisit your list later & see if anything jumps out at you that can be crossed off. I often find I've put something on the list which I later find unopened in the back of the pantry. I also batch cook. There are 2 of us, so even cooking for 4 & freezing 2 portions means a 'free' meal later in the month. I think meal planning has been the key overall factor in reducing our grocery spend.
Try it.....you might really take to it.
F x

Onebrokelady

Well done on all your planning so far,I think you're doing great and you've made it to page three of your diary:beer:

Thick_n_Thin

Thanks Foxgloves, I’m definitely going to continue with the meal planning and shopping lists, I tend to buy the same things routinely so I can often find I buy things that I’ve already got so this is going to be crucial going forward!

Onebrokelady - thanks for your comments and I was very excited to reach page 3 !

So I am really getting going with my frugal ways, today I really wanted some cheese on toast but I grated too much cheese, normally this wouldn’t be a problem as I would just eat it anyway but I though no, and I wrapped it back up!! Then I spotted 3 limes in the fruit bowl that where starting to look past their best so instead of chucking them I have sliced them ( still perfectly juicy) and frozen them! Also the strap on my favourite bra has snapped and I was just about to bin it when I had a brainwave! I could sew it back on!!!! ( I haven’t sewn anything since I was in school and wasn’t even sure I owned a needle and cotton but I found some and it took me minutes to do! I actually can’t belive I was about to throw it out!!
Spoke to my financial advisor and he has found us a 5 year fixed rate mortgage so I just need to fill out the paperwork and do all the admin bits which I hate but at least that’s another thing sorted out!

Thick_n_Thin

Hello diary, not much to report today, a nsd is about it! 8 days and counting till pay day!

Thick_n_Thin

Had another reality check earlier when I thought my oven had broken (it hadn’t) but it panicked me as I have no way of replacing or even repairing a large item that suddenly breaks down without resorting to credit or borrowing money, it’s strengthened my resolve even more to rid this debt and start building up some savings, so irresponsible at my age to be living pay packet to pay packet!
In other news sold another item on eBay and non payer has finally paid with another item with bids on ending tonight

joedenise

Just read your diary from the start. Once you've got your Emergency fund built I would use your Tilly Tidies to pay off your CC. How much are you planning for your EF? I'd suggest £500 to start with.

I have savings pots for everything but all most in my current account (as it pays more interest than the savings account!) but keep track with YNAB (I have the old version which I bought outright) but could easily be done with a spreadsheet.

Have subscribed to see hw you get on.

Denise

Onebrokelady

It's scarey when you realise how easy it is for things to go wrong,I have managed to save an emergency fund but it's quite low at the moment so I'm hoping I don't need to use it until I can't build it up again,I'm planning on using the money from my council tax to build it up after Christmas because I pay over 10 months so have two months off,I'm also going to put the money I would have saved for Xmas towards it in December January and February because i won't start saving for next Christmas until March

Thick_n_Thin

Hi Denise, yes I think £500 is a reasonable amount to aim for and it’s something I’m definitely going to focus on building this up after Xmas,
Onebrokelady- I have 5 savings accounts linked to my current account ( all empty:rotfl:) so they are going to be set up in the following ways
1 - emergancy fund - this dosnt have easy access and I need to go into a branch to withdraw so I think that this should be my emergancy fund, it currently has £10.57 in so I am going to aim to boost this to £50 before 31st Dec!
2- everyday bills - this will be my utility’s account so it will be used to pay my gas/electricity and tv licence, I have reviewed my last 2 years gas and electricity and £100 per month would be sufficient, long term I would love to be able to pay car insurance annually as well but baby steps needed 1st
3 - household improvements- we have a number of small improvements that we want to make to the house so this will be used to house this fund.
4- personal - I am going to drip feed some of my personal spends into this each month and will be used to fund bigger spends such as hair and beauty etc
5 - presents/Xmas - this will be set up for my Tilly tidys and the occasional eBay sale and donation from personal spends each month!

Thick_n_Thin

So I am on the home run now, 7 days until payday! I have minimal spends this week and I’m looking forward to doing nexts months budget although with Christmas I doubt I will make much progress in terms of overpayments but as long as i make a little progress I will be happy with that!
I’ve been thinking short term and long term and really need to recognise daily the small steps I’m making each day that are getting me nearer to where I want to be. There are going to be days or weeks where progress feels slow and not much is happening and I think that is where I loose momentum and I start to loose focus so i am going to try daily to recognise more the changes in my behaviour and attitude with regards to money management!

Friday plans
Have 3 eBay parcels wrapped and ready to post
Use public transport today rather than car for work this will save me minimum £4 in parking as I can get a lift home from OH as he will be nearby when I finish this evening!
All meals from home
Check my bank accounts
30 minutes household tasks

Onebrokelady

Thick_n_Thin wrote: »

So I am on the home run now, 7 days until payday! I have minimal spends this week and I’m looking forward to doing nexts months budget although with Christmas I doubt I will make much progress in terms of overpayments but as long as i make a little progress I will be happy with that!
I’ve been thinking short term and long term and really need to recognise daily the small steps I’m making each day that are getting me nearer to where I want to be. There are going to be days or weeks where progress feels slow and not much is happening and I think that is where I loose momentum and I start to loose focus so i am going to try daily to recognise more the changes in my behaviour and attitude with regards to money management!

Friday plans
Have 3 eBay parcels wrapped and ready to post
Use public transport today rather than car for work this will save me minimum £4 in parking as I can get a lift home from OH as he will be nearby when I finish this evening!
All meals from home
Check my bank accounts
30 minutes household tasks

Loving the savings accounts :beer: Im looking to add another to mine for days out and treats for my DGS ,I'm going to deposit his Xmas money in there and then it's there if I want to do anything with him or seem something I want to buy him,I'm just getting him a couple of little bits to open on Xmas day as he will on,y be 16 months old by then so won't really notice what he gets

Oops I quoted the wrong post:rotfl: