It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

Spreadsheetman

I can't get anywhere near that low total despite thinking I am moderately frugal. I'm running at about £17k for the household complete before charity, clothes and personal spending for DW and I.

westv

What is this "frugal" which I keep seeing mentioned? 

Sea_Shell

westv said:

What is this "frugal" which I keep seeing mentioned? 

I have no idea!!!

😉😲😇🤭

Dizee123

Sea_Shell, I would like to say thank you for your thread, which together with the 'number' thread has inspired me to keep a more detailed record of our expenditure.  We are a household of 2 x 50 somethings, 2 elderly dogs, some tropical fish and a desire on my part to understand where our money goes prior to me giving up full time work in July 2021.
Total Expenditure for calendar year 2020 is £21,780 (compares with £21,538 for 2019).
Scores on the doors are:
Food and drink (including our weekly takeaway) - £5,870.  Room to trim this next year as can do more home cooking/freezer fill.
Clothes, hair & healthcare products - £338.  About 50% of last year as have been growing hair and only bought a few clothes.
Motoring/Transport -  £2,124.  This is for 2006 reg car and one motorbike.  (Other car and motorbike not included here).
Pets  - £2,554.  Becoming more expensive as dogs are now 12 and 10, and needing meds not covered by insurance.
Leisure, sport, holidays - £887.  About £1,067 lower than last year as not the year for holidays, so only memberships.
Household bills - £6,730 (of which around £3K is on Council tax and water alone - and for quite a small house!).  
Maintenance/Decorating/Garden/Furniture - £1,962.  £1,186 higher as had tree pruning work, new trellis etc.
Presents and gifts - £974 (3 x young grandchildren!)
Miscellaneous - £340
Although I'm happy with our spend level, there is a competitive streak to see if I can reduce it next year, so I'm setting a target to get it under £20,000.  No where your level unfortunately, but I don't think I will be able to persuade other half to give up his expensive TV package (sports fanatic!)
Thank you again for the inspiration.....
 

Audaxer

Sea_Shell said:

Good Morning everyone.

Following our last foray to Aldi yesterday, we've now closed off the "spends" for the year.    A grand sum of £11,337 !!    Which was actually £250 more than last year!!!

For those of you who may be interested, this is broken down as follows:
Bills - £3709 (CT, G&E, Sky, Water)
Holidays/Entertainment - £1292  (just 11 nights UK self-catering)
Car Expenses - £856 (includes a big service, and skewed by half a year of insurance DDs in this year, plus in full payment for 20-21)
Groceries - £2666
Household - £1437  (includes some new armchairs and bedding, and a new patio door lock mechanism)
Health/Beauty - £499 (running gear, haircuts and some gym/swimming)
Clothes/Shoes - £76 (no need for anything much)
Petrol - £220
Gifts - £185 
Bank/ISA fees - £372
Phones/Calls - £20

Our average spends over the last 4 years = £12,140.

We'll close off the investments and pension figures later in the week, but it's all looking pretty positive at the moment!

Well done again, amazed you can get your spending so low as ours is more than double that. Looking at our totals the big differences are in groceries and bills:
Groceries - £5,600 - that includes supermarket non-food items like washing powder, toiletries etc. 
Bills - £5,500 - CT, G&E, Water, Virgin (TV, broadband and mobiles), TV license, house insurance, dental plans, National Trust membership and a few other miscellaneous bills. 

Sea_Shell

Looks like our resolution for 2021 will be to spend more!!   

Try and actually get near £15,000!!

Although that will depend alot on what we can do and where we can go!!

Sea_Shell

Audaxer said:

Sea_Shell said:

Good Morning everyone.

Following our last foray to Aldi yesterday, we've now closed off the "spends" for the year.    A grand sum of £11,337 !!    Which was actually £250 more than last year!!!

For those of you who may be interested, this is broken down as follows:
Bills - £3709 (CT, G&E, Sky, Water)
Holidays/Entertainment - £1292  (just 11 nights UK self-catering)
Car Expenses - £856 (includes a big service, and skewed by half a year of insurance DDs in this year, plus in full payment for 20-21)
Groceries - £2666
Household - £1437  (includes some new armchairs and bedding, and a new patio door lock mechanism)
Health/Beauty - £499 (running gear, haircuts and some gym/swimming)
Clothes/Shoes - £76 (no need for anything much)
Petrol - £220
Gifts - £185 
Bank/ISA fees - £372
Phones/Calls - £20

Our average spends over the last 4 years = £12,140.

We'll close off the investments and pension figures later in the week, but it's all looking pretty positive at the moment!

Well done again, amazed you can get your spending so low as ours is more than double that. Looking at our totals the big differences are in groceries and bills:
Groceries - £5,600 - that includes supermarket non-food items like washing powder, toiletries etc. 
Bills - £5,500 - CT, G&E, Water, Virgin (TV, broadband and mobiles), TV license, house insurance, dental plans, National Trust membership and a few other miscellaneous bills. 

Our groceries also include non food items, and wine!!  We probably have about 1 bottle a week, but not expensive stuff.

Other than fish and chips whilst away, we haven't had a single take-away all year!!    To be fair, that's more a health decision rather than a financial one.

We've never been big fans of eating out either, and have only been to one pub back in September.

cfw1994

I admire your extraordinary frugality.....& health choices.
Sadly we have perhaps 1 takeaway a week, but mostly eat veggie which I feel balances that a little.    & I can only dream of our numbers looking so low: I can see what the tax year end is mildly irrelevant to you: long may your numbers continue, but as you hint, maybe you will need a blowout holiday in 2022!!

fred246

I'm married. Spending isn't something I have much control over so it's not worth me bothering analysing it.

geoffers4

Sea_Shell said:

For those of you who may be interested, this is broken down as follows:
Bills - £3709 (CT, G&E, Sky, Water)
Holidays/Entertainment - £1292  (just 11 nights UK self-catering)
Car Expenses - £856 (includes a big service, and skewed by half a year of insurance DDs in this year, plus in full payment for 20-21)
Groceries - £2666
Household - £1437  (includes some new armchairs and bedding, and a new patio door lock mechanism)
Health/Beauty - £499 (running gear, haircuts and some gym/swimming)
Clothes/Shoes - £76 (no need for anything much)
Petrol - £220
Gifts - £185 
Bank/ISA fees - £372
Phones/Calls - £20
Our average spends over the last 4 years = £12,140.

Nice figures Sea Shell, always interesting to compare figures to see where we might pick up a few pointers. Our breakdown for 2020 is very similar to yours, with a few noticeable differences:
Bills - £3985
Hols/Ents - £3018 (our luxury item - a fortnight in the Canaries in early March before lockdown, and a week in Devon later)
Car - £727 (zero car tax helps here)
Groceries - £2760 (Aldi!)
Household - £531
Health/Beauty - £323 (quite a few prescriptions, plus a Mindfulness course)
Clothes - £60 (wardrobe already full)
Petrol - £1352 (2 months' work commute + we live in a rural area)
Gifts - £202
Bank/ISA fees - none recorded (don't bother looking at the Vanguard S&S ISA)
Phone - £40
Plus some other lines in our spreadsheet; Milk £280 (supporting local dairy), Work costs £134 (leaving collections mainly), Dog £485, Wife £3480 (I don't ask for a breakdown so this is just money spent on various of the above), Boys (grown up) £75, Lottery £5 (still getting the wrong numbers)  = Total Spends £17190.