Head out of the sand. Saving for a shiny future

ForestBluebells

Vet said my dog is fine so it’s behavioural him being too scared to go outside. Need to try find a training plan to build his confidence in going back out on walks. 

Cooked a gousto paneer curry with salad and naan bread for dinner. I have leftover daal from yesterday too and will have for my lunch tomorrow and will eat this either for dinner tomorrow or lunch the following day depending if I fancy cooking tomorrow evening. 

Didn’t win on premium bonds again, 2 months in a row of no win now 😔 might take some out to invest in my isa as I feel overweight in cash right now. It was earmarked home renovations but I’ve yet to find out if it’s even possible to change my windows without planning permission and it keeps putting me off as the council have stopped letting you ask them planning questions. I’d also like to replace my bathroom but hate to spend the money (it’s currently a 70s green bathroom 😂)

riotlady

Paneer curry sounds lush, we've get gousto boxes occaisonally too and it is nice to mix things up a bit!

Apparently all the 70s coloured bathrooms are coming back in, if you leave it you might end up being bang on trend

ForestBluebells

Mortgage	£            438.02
Council Tax	£              97.00
TV Licence	£              13.43
Energy	£              85.85
DVLA	£              13.56
Water	£              12.00
Dog Insurance	£            145.13
Email domain	£                1.19
Netflix	£                4.67
Prosperity Network contract ends 20/04/2021	£              60.00
Petrol	£              48.67
Food	£            160.00
Spending allowance	£            200.00
Gifts ANNUAL savings pot	£            33.33
Vets ANNUAL savings pot	£            66.67
Car Maintenance/insurance ANNUAL savings pot (prob need to add more)	£            50.50
Building Insurance ANNUAL savings pot	£            10.83
Prime	£              6.67
Email domain ANNUAL savings pot	£              1.00
Dog Food (£50 per month / £600 annual) Savings pot	£              50.00
LONG TERM SAVINGS LISA Then SIP once full	£            333.33
LONG TERM SAVINGS Vanguard SIP	£              79.30
LONG TERM SAVINGS S&S ISA (auto)	£            200.00
SAVINGS POT FOR ANNUAL SAVINGS Marcus (auto)	£            219.00
Premium Bonds (manual) TOWARDS NEW CAR	£            250.00
NatWest Digital Saver (auto) TOWARDS NEW CAR	£              50.00

updated budget -little confusing but couldnt seem to adjust formatting in here.

energy has gone up but i think I may end up in credit as i am only spending this per month now in winter so when i turn my heating off it will drop significantly 

Prosperity was a property investing course i signed up to but had a year contract so cant get out until april, still not sure if thats for me or not.

Petrol i do tend to spend a very small amount over that each month but top up from my spending budget haha, i only really drive once a week to canicross and to go food shopping occasionally

Food i always go WAY over - work in progress

spending allowance i give myself £200 a month spending budget, this tends to go on things like bits for my home and garden, dog treats, any over spend in other budgets, this always seems to get eaten up before i get to buy anything for myself haha.

the annual savings pots are my monthly budgets to set aside for sinking funds/known annual costs which goes into my marcus account further down and totals £219 a month for them all.

finally at the bottom is my savings i auto save/invest each month. i put aside £300 a month to go towards a replacement car (mine is 15 years old and although seemingly fine for now im conscious it may need replacing soon so building a pot - maybe £9ish k to replace it when it gives up the ghost)

i also put in any commission i make from work into my pension and all my freelance work payment after setting aside money for tax. this is just allocations from my base pay which is £2,411.15 net

im not sure i can really cut down anywhere other than stop overspending on food and once my contract ends for prosperity i can get £60pm back into savings. should probably add more to the car maintenance sinking fund so it covers car insurance too as i havent really budgeted that anywhere and my car may need the odd bit fixing on it over the year.

Skint_yet_Again

I think the budget looks good and your food is not much more than mine at £160. It’s sounds like the meals are large from gusto and are big enough to last several days. Do you need a car? This is a question I am asking myself as mine is just sat there outside due to me working from home. Could you get a car share to canicross & food shop online?

ForestBluebells

I live rurally so it’s not even possible to pop to the shops without a car, it’s a 45 minute walk to the closest shop on a road without pavement for some of it and that’s a farm shop so expensive, I’d feel too isolated without a car. I also couldn’t get my dogs to the vet or anywhere without a car. Canicross is a 45 minute drive away as there are no clubs near me. It’s my only human contact and only activity though as I live alone and work from home so I enjoy going, it’s free to attend other than petrol. I did invite someone from the village to come with me so maybe we could car share if she likes it. I offered to give her a lift this weekend. 

MovingForwards

Do you actually watch terrestrial TV? If not, ditch the licence as it's not required.

Save up your road tax as it costs more to pay by instalments.

I save £100pm for car insurance, MOT, repairs and home insurance (free car tax).

I've got regular savers for guaranteed interest each month, perhaps look at those for your new car pot as PBs have no guarantee of winning regularly. I use PBs are very long-term cash savings.

No other suggestions as everything else looks fine.

Skint_yet_Again

I understand about the car as I am in a similar position. Hopefully the car share will work out though. Not sure we would be able to get a taxi to emergency vets in middle of the night if needed. Have had to rush her in before. Also not sure I’m ready to give up the independence the car gives me but it does cost a lot 😬

ForestBluebells

I didn’t realise it cost more to pay road tax monthly I’ll look into that. I will have a look at regular savers too, I used to use them then once they all finished I just used PB instead but I’ll see if there is anything better out there. I do watch itv news and sometimes channel 4 news and I’ve been watching the new Attenborough program so probably need the license 

Skint_yet_Again

I have just been reading on another thread where someone was talking about Durham animal feed being good value for dogs as raw feed. I don’t know if that’s worth a look for you to see if it’s good quality / cheaper than what you feed now. 

ForestBluebells

I’ll have a look but it’s probably easier when I don’t have my old dog, he’s very very fussy and I’ve tried different foods before and even if it looks similar he just won’t eat it. I mix 1/3rd of their food with porridge to cut the cost so I probably do spend less than £50 a month now but i budget that still. I’ve got £180 in my savings pot for dog food at the moment but only usually spend £160 when I do a bulk order. I’ll probably order later this month. I’m trying to use up some other bits from their freezer before ordering again.