Frugal, thrifty, make do, mend! Let this debt come to an end!

Elisheba

LadyWithAPlan said:

Delurking to say it all sounds great in your new place. I was also shocked to read about your sudden move (i am also a renter saving for a hse deposit but London so its taking a while for me and also to commit to a large mortgage)

Great budget for 2024.. I am now a couple months into Ynab as I couldnt be bothered with notion and I never updated my own s/sheets enough although I always had lots of virtual pots and a monthly budget  and I have to say ynab  is already changing my spending/savings rate  due to the ynab dashboard being so  strict so there is nowhere to hide excess spending inc on the cc.

Sorry re spotty cat, they live in your heart forever.  Your dog looks gorgeous - as a renter here I cant have a pet so its another reason to buy . At least you are fitter for having to move your own wood

Thanks @LadyWithAPlan I have to admit when I saw you needed to pay for YNAB it out me off. I'll keep trundling along with a mix of Google Sheets and Notion, but if they don't seem to be working for me then I can revisit YNAB.

Good luck with you house saving! Sadly this year I'm back to focusing of debts. I have a vague notion I might still save to buy a cottage in Scotland as I can't afford much down here, and use it for holidays to see family and maybe rent it as a holiday let to cover the mortgage, then move back there when I don't need to be in the office anymore (probably retirement!). It's complicated by all the laws and tax around holiday cottages though, and I'd need to be in a position where I could cover the mortgage and running costs even if it's empty.

Yeah, pets.are a real problem as a renter. They limit your options so much. I'm very lucky to have found a place that will take them, and so quickly.

Elisheba

SuzeQStan said:

Oh Elisheba - am keeping everything crossed for you re this horrible weather!!

well done on packing in the smoking - BIG achievement!! 👏🏻👏🏻 

as always am in admiration of your MSE tips - some brilliant ideas there.  

Loved all creatures here as well - binged it over the holidays - I never knew that Sam West who plays Siegfried is son of Timothy West and Prunella Scales who star in one of my favourite series - ‘ Great Canal Journeys’ (many seasons available to stream on ch4 & Giles Brandreth and Sheila Hancock took over once Pru began to struggle with her health more.)

Thanks @suzeQStan It looks like the worst of the flooding has passed here now. Was a total nightmare getting to work in the University city yesterday though. The drive was fine until I got just outside the city, and then it was an hour and a half getting to the car park! Had to drive through a terribly flooded road that really shouldn't have been open. I'm really cross about the whole thing as once I got to work everyone (who had made it in) was really worried about the flooding and left at lunchtime! That was 8 hours driving for me me, there and back, for 2 hours work I could have done at home. Absolutely ridiculous.

I can't seem to get My5 to work on my Firestick at all now. I've deleted it and reinstalled it but now it cuts out before I can even sign in. Looking at the comments on the app this seems to be an ongoing issue. Very annoying. I can watch All Creatures on my phone, but not quite the same thing.

I actually only knew Sam West from Great Canal Journeys as he visits Tim and Prunella a few times. So when he was on All Creatures I was like, oh it's him from Canal Journeys 😂. He makes a very good Siegfried I think, a good balance of grumpy and irritable with a heart of gold.

MFWannabe

I would recommend opening a Chase Account. It costs nothing and I transfer my shopping budget into there every month and can keep track of how much I spend. I do ‘round up’ on any purchases too which automatically transfers the change into the round up savings 

Elisheba

Cheery_Daff said:

Hope things dry out soon, and that the electricity companies sort themselves out 🙄 Sounds like you have done some good bargainous shopping there!

Thanks, @Cheery_Daff As yet the electricity bill is not sorted 🙄. Octopus seems to have got everything sorted out on their side, but Ovo is still a mess. I did however get a much more helpful person on the phone on Thursday, and she has scheduled another call for Monday so hopefully I can get it fixed then. They currently have six different readings on there, and still don't have the correct starting readings 🙄

Elisheba

I'm sorry your daughter is having to move @Slowdown. It's a sorry state of affairs that people can't afford to live near the places they work. Hopefully as you say you can see more of her now though 😁

Elisheba

fionaandphil said:

SuzeQStan said:

Budget looking well thought out as usual Elisheba 😊👍🏻 everything 🤞🏻 that you get that well deserved pay rise xx 

wanted to tell you about a little experiment with heating we’ve done over the Christmas holidays this year -

we normally use the central heating for 1x hr in morning, 1 hr at lunch, 1/2hr in evening & 1hr water heating. This usage of gas typically costs us approx £4.50/£5.00 per day.

Then we pretty much exclusively use firewood in our log burner in the evenings which we source from local tree surgeon (and season/test for water levels) @ £40 per ton bag-  £750.00 to cover us the whole winter = 19 x ton bags! Per winter phew!! 🙀

my family have been visiting this year and are nesh and hate the log burner so the heating has been on solid 6:30am - 11:45pm every day.

We thought we would be in for paying around £25 a day with gas being on so long but as the boiler cuts out once it reaches temperature (21C - been boiling! 🥵) and the average gas usage has been just under £8 per day for 17hrs a day over the last couple of weeks!! Mind that doesn’t include 5% VAT or standing charge.

so our gas costs have risen of course over last 2 weeks (nearly doubled) but if you divide our annual £750.00 firewood by the average days we use heating then it’s actually cheaper for us to heat the home with central heating by approx £100.00 per annum once you take out our regular usage. 

Sorry for the novel - but we have decided to go ahead with GCH and move away from so much reliance on the log burner (do love a cosy fire tho! 🔥) 

Thanks for posting this, its something we are always debating as we have oil and an open fire.  We don't use as much wood as you and it comes free but we are always debating whether it is cheaper to use the fire or boost the heating when it gets cold.  I also like a cosy fire though!

Elisheba you will find that you use next to no oil to heat water in the summer but once the heating goes on it does disappear quickly.

Thanks. You have reminded me I need to go out this weekend and eyeball what I'm the tank to see how much I'm using 😁

Elisheba

[Deleted User] said:

Very interesting reading about your budget for 2024. Just curious to see how this compares with your expected income? When I put together a budget I start with expected income and then allocate the fixed costs before looking at anything discretionary.
Feel free to check out my diary in my signature below to see how I do things. Fortunately I do not have any rent or mortgage costs.

I have my income on the s/s, and how much will be left each month after outgoings. There is a small bit of slack which can be used if things go a bit Pete Tong, but hopefully will be spent on holidays instead 

Elisheba

Good luck with your heating experiment today @SuzeQStan! Will be interested to know the results. I totally agree about unheated rooms sometimes being more expensive in the long run. 

Elisheba

MFWannabe said:

I would recommend opening a Chase Account. It costs nothing and I transfer my shopping budget into there every month and can keep track of how much I spend. I do ‘round up’ on any purchases too which automatically transfers the change into the round up savings 

Thanks @MFWannabe I've been thinking about it. I currently have the Amex card where I get 0.5% back, but I need to spend £3k a year on it to get the reward. So I might open a Chase account once this year's reward period is finished or when I'm sure I've spent £3k on it, and start the next year with Chase instead.

MFWannabe

Elisheba said:

MFWannabe said:

I would recommend opening a Chase Account. It costs nothing and I transfer my shopping budget into there every month and can keep track of how much I spend. I do ‘round up’ on any purchases too which automatically transfers the change into the round up savings 

Thanks @MFWannabe I've been thinking about it. I currently have the Amex card where I get 0.5% back, but I need to spend £3k a year on it to get the reward. So I might open a Chase account once this year's reward period is finished or when I'm sure I've spent £3k on it, and start the next year with Chase instead.

Chase beats Amex, it gives you 1% cash back in first year on all debit card payments and 1% interest on current account balance 
5% on ‘round up’ account and 4% on savings account