Giving every £ a job

Blackcats

@ladyholly - you aren't mean at all.  I'd have done the same to the ungrateful little so and so.  And @badmemory I agree teenagers and fancy cars are not good combinations!  My kids had a Clio and a Nova as their first cars - both were old but mechanically sound cars that suited them very well for the start of independent motoring.

@joedenise - your 2026 holiday plans sound fabulous.  Where are you going in the motor home?

hello @RebeccaPAgain  - so nice to see you.  We had lots of great trips in 2025.  I think we might be tuning into Howard and Hilda (Ever Decreasing Circles) because we do like to go to the same places more than once.  We find that the build up is much less stressful and we can settle in quickly to relaxation and fun.  We are taking the ferry again from Portsmouth next summer 😉

Blackcats

Our 2026 priorities and plans are getting clearer and, of course, thinking about plans helps identify the costs associated with the plans.  It is obvious but for years I just went from month to month, usually trying to play catch up with myself.

first category is
Health & Wellbeing
we will continue our membership of the leisure centre.  On average we go 3 times a week which means each session costs under £4.   I will also factor in the £5 we spend on coffee and tea after our swim.  MrBC who is a coffee snob says it's very good coffee and we enjoy our chats which can be quite productive.  There's a loyalty scheme so every 8th drink is free.
I've included the cost of our vitamins and supplements in our monthly spends.  

Monthly allocation will be £180.00

In the longer term savings pot I'm including funds for glasses, dentist, prescriptions, vets, physio (just in case).  The pot is currently at £645 but dentist visits are due so it will need replenishing.  If I can get it to hover around £750 I think it will cover most eventualities.

monthly addition to the pot will be £80.00

We are turning our attention to groceries and eating out next.  

joedenise

We actually don't plan where we're going in the motorhome other than deciding which route to take to France!  Our first trip is via Eurotunnel and we're thinking down the east through Champagne but it needs to be good weather as all the aires (motorhome stopovers) are on grass so if it's wet then we'll go across country to Normandy and Brittany.

Our 2nd trip is by ferry Dover to Dunkirk and that's likely to be going towards Belgium and then Germany.  This is in September so hopefully we'll manage to find some wine festivals!

Scott_Weiland79

Couldnt agree more on the car front, when i turned 17 seventeen my parents bought me ten driving lessons. If i wanted more I had to pay for it. 

I @the time was at college/working part time in a supermarket and I hated the brats at college. I remember one girl coming in moaning about the fiesta her parents bought her new she wanted a BMW. gerrrrrrr

Blackcats

@joedenise - your trips sound fabulous - well worth your sensible approach to budgeting when you are at home.

@Scott_Weiland79 - how sad for that poor girl having to put up with just a fiesta 🤦‍♀️.  My daughter's friend got a BMW for passing one AS level.  Apparently it would have been a convertible if she'd managed 2 🙃

2026 Financial discussions cont'd ...

grocery budget
we will continue with £80 a week for food, drink, cat supplies and cleaning supplies
we will include an additional £30 a month for toiletries

any underspend will be split between holidays and pixie dust.

i work better when i can see a possibility of an underspend so I have set a comfortable budget.  When I think I'm going to bust the budget I just kind of think what the heck and give up trying.

personal spends
£100 a month - this doesn't have to cover eating out but if MrBC needs yet another wire or computer cable it is paid for from here.  If I want yet another new notebook then it comes from here.  

Any underspend will stay in the pot and accumulate.

eating out/fun
we are going to set this on a month by month basis.  We will look at the month ahead and see what our plans are and allocate funds to fit the plans with an amount for spontaneous fun.
any underspend will go to our membership/subscription pot.

birthdays/celebrations
we have plenty of children and grandchildren so we are going to put £80 a month into our birthday/celebration pot.  There is a child's "big" birthday in 2027 so any excess from this year can go towards that milestone birthday.

Holidays
1 pot for our family summer weekend get together £100 per month
1 pot for our Channel Islands trip in June
1 pot for a planned week's break with friends 
1 pot for 2 mini breaks 
1 pot for emerging holiday trips 

there are a few more pots to finalise but I'm feeling good about our thinking and planning.

joedenise

Like the way you've split up your holidays - just like me!  Much better than just having a holiday pot I think.

PennysIntoPounds

So lovely having the different pots not just for financial clarity but so you can look forward to each one when you allocate money in it 

Makingabobor2

Sounds like you've really thought that through. Loving the holiday pots. Nice to have things to look forward to

EssexHebridean

Loving the split down holiday pots - such a good idea when you have lots of things to budget for like that! We use our holiday pot just for the Hebrides trip, and our "Joint Fun" account is usually used to save for any additional trips. We've found having money set aside even just for weekends away makes a real difference. 

Blackcats

Thank you for your endorsement of my holiday pots plan.  I know that if I had one big holiday pot I would think I was richer than I actually am and I would think I could allocate the money more than once.

we had sad news that a family member was killed in the Swiss fire on NYE.  Not our immediate circle of family but an outer layer.  I can't contemplate how their parents coped with 3 days of waiting for news and then the loss of a 15 year old.  It reinforces our intention to do our very best with our love, time and money for our kids and grandkids.

I suppose I should add an MSE type update, so a regular saver matures this week which is ear-marked for my tax bill, however, there will be some money leftover so I'll start a new regular saver with that and allocate the remainder to our savings for a new mattress.  I'll do a couple of vinted listings this week which I hope will declutter some items and make a small amount of £'s.