When life sends you lemons..... Well I guess you just knuckle down

Naomim

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

This weekend just gone was mega expensive, I could cry as I feel I've messed up all this months hard work. We really must get food shopping under control, we've been better this month by a long shot but have exceeded the new monthly budget of £400 and that includes using a fair bit from the freezer. We're definitely having to continue frovember into December
.i had to be rather vague with OH about the joining fee we'll get for switching banks, its going to be used to set up the monthly fuel pot so he'll get a benefit for it as well, but if I told him how much it is he'd want half in cash so he can just fritter it away. He's not great with money and just spends till its gone then starts on the credit card which is half the battle these days

It's a slow process working out how much your shopping etc can be and tweaking it until it's right. How many are in the household? I aim for £450 for four of us but one is a teenage boy eating me out of house and home so often spend more.

Probably a good idea to be "inventive" with the cashback too. It's not like you're keeping it for yourself and treating yourself with it.

Keep your chin up

Naomim

EssexHebridean

C'mon LT you know the drill - start afresh, you CAN do this. I fact still having plenty in the freezer for the next month gives you a head start, no?

Not sure what to suggest as far as your OH's spending goes - Do you have a personal bank account each as well as a joint account that all the household comes out of? I ask because MrEH and I have always had our own accounts and we have a set amount each month for personal spends which neither of us would quibble over with the other - but equally we absolutely never spend personally from joint funds either. That method works for us - he's always been thoroughly on-side with the spending side of things though, even though being in debt makes me a lot more nervous than it does him, and it was me that drove forward our DFW & MFW plans. .

Lemon_Tree

We have a joint account for all house related costs and a personal account each, abd get an amount each that we can spend no questions asked, trouble is I attempt to make mine last the month whereas OH's runs through his hands and he starts on the card. We keep having discussions to try and explain about the budget.

Lemon_Tree

Naomim there's 4 in the house and I'm trying to work with a budget of 400 - 450 which should be achievable we just need to plan better and stick to the plan

Greying_Pilgrim

Morning Lemon Tree


Just ducking in to say - 'Keep Going - you got this'.

EH is right, start afresh and do the drill.



Funnily enough, recently I had reason to think about the 'old' days of MSE - the days of the Stripey Gang , recalling the love and support that flowed back and forth between diaries and posters. That's why this place is so special; people know stuff, they can help, they can sympathise, they can listen. And there are some pretty broad shoulders amongst the crowd too :D


Greying X

Lemon_Tree

Thanks Greying, there was some lovely support around then wasn't there.

I've updated my accounts, just waiting for OH's second payslip so I can finalise the numbers and really see the damage. Fingers crossed he'll get paid some overtime

One more NSD yesterday so that's good

EssexHebridean

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

We have a joint account for all house related costs and a personal account each, abd get an amount each that we can spend no questions asked, trouble is I attempt to make mine last the month whereas OH's runs through his hands and he starts on the card. We keep having discussions to try and explain about the budget.

That's a tricky one. Can you get him to agree a deal where you BOTH put your cards in a drawer at home, maybe? Or just be absolutely blunt, and ask him where he THINKS the money he's spending on the card will come from?

*waves at GP* <-- who talketh much sense!

Naomim

Lemon_Tree wrote: »

Naomim there's 4 in the house and I'm trying to work with a budget of 400 - 450 which should be achievable we just need to plan better and stick to the plan

Same as us, 4 and a budget of £450 tops. It's hard, I try and make as much as I can, bring in lunches. I find I'm much better organised with a meal plan and online shopping. Less temptations in my face.

Naomim

Lemon_Tree

We shop online, and take lunch, we fall down on meal planning

Naomim

I find with meal planning we actually eat a more varied array of meals. When I wasn't doing it i was just falling into making the same things over and over.

I started writing down what meals we liked, what I could make easily and what I could do in the slow cooker. I then split it into days of the week then into 4 weeks trying not to repeat a meal over two weeks. The amount of meals I'd forgotten we liked was much larger than I thought. I can probably do about 5-6 weeks without too many repetitions apart from roasts.

My freezer is currently full so I think next week might be interesting eating stuff from there.

Good luck

Naomim