Head out of the sand. Saving for a shiny future

savingwannabe

I reckon a £150 budget for spending is fine. I have a £120 for food and about £100 for spending and interchange them always.  I don't think the small stuff matters as you are young and do need to enjoy yourself as you work hard with two jobs. It's great you are buying nice stuff for garden as that is not really wasteful and with lockdown we need to stay occupied and healthy. 

ForestBluebells

I felt very happy with my bargain plants as I don’t mind saving 83% buying a plant that won’t flower until next year. Especially when the leaves are so beautiful too. I’ve have these lovely cast iron lion plant pots just sat there empty so now I have one either side of the garden with a pretty plant in. My mum bless her was trying to buy me loads of plants for my garden but I just couldn’t decide (there’s my crippling inability to make any decisions rearing it’s head again). 

I think I’ve done a great job cutting back my spending and I’m sure I can tweak a bit more savings but I do want to enjoy some purchases too although I’ve swung the other way now and keep telling myself I can do without. 

I think in the next 5 years I’ll feel more happy to relax a bit after I’ve built up my pension/long and short term savings. Especially with 5 years of pay rises to boost my savings I should be in a much more comfortable position by then. 

I can’t wait until Friday so I can “pay myself first” again 😂

savingwannabe

It's great plant shopping. Do enjoy it you work so hard and must enjoy the lovely weather too.

ForestBluebells

I managed to save over £1570 in may! Pretty proud of that. That includes cash savings towards emergency fund/ car replacement fund, LISA contributions and bonus / savings towards annual costs (as realistically I’m ending up using my monthly spending budget For most of these so far so I’m unlikely to withdraw much. )

savings total for the year so far is now over £5,900. 

Focus for this weekend is to setup my next energy deal and I think I’ll just renew with EDF even though it’s more expensive than my current deal it’s the best price of the big suppliers and I get a smart meter which I quite fancy. It’s about £100 a year cheaper with symbio but I’ve never heard of them and I’m not confident going to a small provider this time at least. I think the smart meter will be fun and could help me reduce my usage further anyway. I’ll have to budget an extra £15 a month for my electricity from July and an extra £4 a month for water. I’ll nick this from my petrol budget or food budget. 

I decided to cancel my gousto delivery for next week to cut back my food spend and I’ll make some meals from leftovers from my Sunday roast. I wasn’t that enamoured with my choices next week anyway. I think I’ll do bubble and squeak With a fried egg for a few meals and a chicken curry, I have some coconut milk in the freezer and can bodge something together.  Maybe a chicken and veg pie of some kind. That should do me for the week. 

I got paid today 🙌 put my commission straight into my pension ... a pathetic £4.16 after tax/student loan deductions 🙈😂 must try get more commission next month! I can’t wait for my student loan to be paid off next year and stop eating up all my earnings. 

Still loving my new plants and trying to decide on what to put in the front garden as I want to create a new border. I’m thinking lavender and another shrub.maybe some kind of standard trees  Too to add height. I’ll have another look on Pinterest. 

Skint_yet_Again

Very good to hear such a positive post ForestBluebells 😊. Well done on all your savings. You have inspired me to work out a food plan. I am getting so bored of eating the same things, although I did treat myself to a chinese the other night. 

Energy comparisons is on my to do list for tomorrow too

ForestBluebells

Skint_yet_Again said:

Very good to hear such a positive post ForestBluebells 😊. Well done on all your savings. You have inspired me to work out a food plan. I am getting so bored of eating the same things, although I did treat myself to a chinese the other night. 

Energy comparisons is on my to do list for tomorrow too

Good luck with the energy comparisons. I was told to look on which comparisons and citizens advice for the best whole of market search. Also work out from the annual cost not shown monthly dd as that can vary. 

I love a good food plan. I use an app called meals up to plan my meals for the week. Helps me remember what I had planned

MovingForwards

My goodness that's a lot of savings! 

Maybe take the extra for your bills from your petrol and food. The last thing you want is to think you can't go somewhere because you haven't the petrol, with food you can swap brands or do a vegetarian day once a week to raise the money. A simple split red lentil curry / soup is pennies.

I'm sure you will find some wonderful ideas for your garden. Do tell us what you decide.

ForestBluebells

MovingForwards said:

My goodness that's a lot of savings! 

Maybe take the extra for your bills from your petrol and food. The last thing you want is to think you can't go somewhere because you haven't the petrol, with food you can swap brands or do a vegetarian day once a week to raise the money. A simple split red lentil curry / soup is pennies.

I'm sure you will find some wonderful ideas for your garden. Do tell us what you decide.

Yeah good idea. I was sticking to £125 monthly food budget pre lockdown and I’ll definitely cut back on my gousto deliveries going forwards and have cook in weeks. My cupboards are full of random things I bought before I started budgeting and I’ve never touched such as teeny tiny pasta bits I bought to make soups with and never opened. In fact I also have split lentils I never opened too so can use that in my chicken curry, good idea!  I have lots of stuff in my freezer too I probably don’t even need gousto deliveries at all next month but I do enjoy them and it gives me peace of mind given the current situation. I do really want to use up some of my freezer stuff though. I have quite a few chicken breasts but I usually end up cooking these up for my dogs treats 🙊 I also have some frozen mince I bought to make a meatloaf with so could do that soon too. 🤔

MovingForwards

@ForestBluebells have you done a freezer and cupboard audit recently to see what you have in? It may help use up some of the random things you have or allow you to bulk up meals and freeze a portion or two. Just put a label on, or pin a note to the freezer, so you know what it is. 

I did a freezer audit today and have five unknowns 😂

ForestBluebells

I have a list from a while ago but you are right it’s not up to date so that can be a job for the weekend along with planning some meals I could make with these items.