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

DT2001

michaels said:

DT2001 said:

I thought we were frugal with 3 kids and 28k excluding mortgage.  Would be really interested in your breakdown if you were willing to share?  Thanks

As I said these are not exact
House - CT £2.8k, Water £0.3k, Gas/Elec/wood £2.5k, Ins £0.6k
Motor £4.3k (less mileage on 1 vehicle this year but 2 lots of preventative expensive repairs)
Computer type costs £750
Mobiles inc 1 newer phone £650
Clothes £200
Food + shopping £6k
Household maintenance/refurb £3k
The rest £1.5k inc gifts, eating out (very low this year!)
michaels where does your spend vary to ours?

Thanks, will reply later.  Are your 4 kids to some extent self supporting now as an immediate difference we have is on clothes, pocket money, kids activities etc.

1 self supporting bar food, 1 at French Uni (online for most of year so  living costs v low) and has some grandparental support, no pocket money! earn from OH’s business, activity costs v low as curtailed by pandemic (indoor lessons). ‘Normal’ year £1k. Clothes - majority bought on overseas travel (none in 2020), charity shops and with 4 kids hand me downs. Without Covid there would have been 5 hols inc the States and skiing which would have made the figures look vastly different.

michaels

DT2001 said:

I thought we were frugal with 3 kids and 28k excluding mortgage.  Would be really interested in your breakdown if you were willing to share?  Thanks

As I said these are not exact
House - CT £2.8k, Water £0.3k, Gas/Elec/wood £2.5k, Ins £0.6k
Motor £4.3k (less mileage on 1 vehicle this year but 2 lots of preventative expensive repairs)
Computer type costs £750
Mobiles inc 1 newer phone £650
Clothes £200
Food + shopping £6k
Household maintenance/refurb £3k
The rest £1.5k inc gifts, eating out (very low this year!)
michaels where does your spend vary to ours?

House: CT 2.4k, Water 0.4k, Gas/Elec 1.9k, Ins 0.3k
House Maint/Refurb: (accrual) 1.2k
Phone/BB/Mobile(5 contracts)/TV (one of nowtv, netflix, disney+ or Prime at a time): 0.6k
Clothes: 1.2k
Kids Allowance (inc clothes): 1.5k
Insurance Life(500k)/Travel/Dental+Optical/Breakdown (Home and Car): 1.1k (this also covers, glasses, contact lenses, basic dental treatment)
Food and Household Products: 5.4k
Eating out/Takeaways (not on holiday): 0.3k
Cars (Two, total 13k miles): Insurance 0.5k, Tax 0.3k, Petrol: 0.6k, Maint (accrual) 0.4k, Deprecation (accrual) 1.5k, Parking 0.1k (Electricity is under household bill)
Kids activities (guides, scouts, sports, music etc etc): 1.8k
Kids school trips: 0.7k
Random household items (electronics, furniture): (accrual) 0.8k
Xmas/Summer hols: 1.2k
Birthdays, presents: 1.2k
Hair cuts: 0.4k
Total is 25.8k so I must have missed/underestimated some bits.  Not all is being spent this year because of covid.  Accrued amounts are not spent every year but hopefully are the 'average' over potentially a number of years.  The house refurb budget is obviously only really enough for ongoing maintenance/minor redecoration but would not cover new kitchens/bathrooms.

Sea_Shell

Greetings Earthlings!!

Well isn't 2021 getting off to a fab start....not.       Well financially things seem OK, but that's about it!!!

I've tried to order some posh smellies from Ireland, but they are not currently shipping to the UK.    Hopefully it's just a temporary thing whilst they sort out their customs paperwork!!

So I've bought new running shoes and leggings instead!!   (seeing as running is something I can still do!!)

Although looking out the window this morning, i doubt anyone wants to go anywhere in that!!

Oh well, we'll keep on keeping on.


*ETA - Just found a UK stockist of my Irish smellies.   I am now another £77 lighter!!

MallyGirl

Yes it is wet out there - I went out for a flu jab and had to change jeans, shoes and socks when I got home. I will hold off on the running till its not so wet. I did take time out from work last week to go for a run as it was the best weather we were going to see for a bit - employer encourages getting outside even if it is during normal hours but I still felt a bit odd doing it.
I have ordered new running shoes but had to get them direct from Asics and they are very slow compared to Amazon. I have awkward sized feet so I don't have a lot of choice.
Daughter is home from uni for the whole term so we are having to heat the whole house during the day but we got a new boiler just before Christmas and it actually works so that is still a novelty.

michaels

MallyGirl said:

Yes it is wet out there - I went out for a flu jab and had to change jeans, shoes and socks when I got home. I will hold off on the running till its not so wet. I did take time out from work last week to go for a run as it was the best weather we were going to see for a bit - employer encourages getting outside even if it is during normal hours but I still felt a bit odd doing it.
I have ordered new running shoes but had to get them direct from Asics and they are very slow compared to Amazon. I have awkward sized feet so I don't have a lot of choice.
Daughter is home from uni for the whole term so we are having to heat the whole house during the day but we got a new boiler just before Christmas and it actually works so that is still a novelty.

My DDs insist on Asics for netball (I think it is a fashion thing) and I'm pretty sure they ship from Netherlands or somewhere so not surprising it is a bit slow at the moment.

Audaxer

Alexland said:

Audaxer said:

I'm just trying to decide whether to hang on to all the UK Equity Income funds hoping they continue to recover to pre-Covid levels, or replace with some with global funds/ITs focused more on growth than value to give me a bit more diversification and lower my UK weighting.

I seem to remember you also hold CTY? I had wanted to own it for years but it never seemed to made sense until recently with all the Brexit no-deal nonsense being discussed before Christmas. We could have bought it at a 6%+ yield during the recent crash but it was better to wait for the rebound and gains on our global shares and use the greater capital to buy more units at a 5%+ yield.

My perspective (having not suffered the years of pain you have) is that it's a very nice income for our ISAs and a good style and geographic diversification from the global trackers we hold in our other accounts which seem to be gradually turning into growth funds. The UK market is looking good value and the clouds that have been overshadowing valuations seem to be clearing. If you go further into global funds/ITs then that might hurt if exchange rates continue to improve.

Thanks Alexland, I do hold CTY and am happy to keep hold of that IT as well as MRCH as they have recovered quite a bit and should be able to continue paying increasing dividends. I've got some similar UK Equity Income funds that I am more minded to sell to reduce my UK weighting, as unlike the ITs they have been not been able to keep up the same level of dividends. However I think I'll probably hold onto them a bit longer hoping they recover to pre-Covid levels, then I may reduce my UK allocation.

While the recent performance of the UK ITs and funds has been disappointing, I can assure that I've not suffered years of pain because of them.

fred246

Just found a UK stockist of my Irish smellies.   I am now another £77 lighter!!

£77 for Irish smellies sounds a bit steep. Have you budgeted for that?

Sea_Shell

fred246 said:

Just found a UK stockist of my Irish smellies.   I am now another £77 lighter!!

£77 for Irish smellies sounds a bit steep. Have you budgeted for that?

😁

Of course!!

It was for...
Perfume

Body lotion
Hand cream

Shower gel
and a soap

I might not be able to go anywhere or do anything, but I'll smell nice not doing it!!
😇

MallyGirl

you absolutely need to treat yourself in whatever way is possible right now.

Sea_Shell

MallyGirl said:

you absolutely need to treat yourself in whatever way is possible right now.

Exactly.   £77 is cheaper than a spa day too!!!   And calorie free!!!