Missy’s Surviving the storm so we can dance in the rain.

missymoo81

Oooh thanks @joedenise that is a really good idea, I’d have to hide it from OH though as he’d just scoff the lot if he found it in the fridge.

Thanks again for your kindness in your PM @mumtoomany this forum really does highlight some of the lovely human beings in the world 🥰.

Here’s a question. How does everyone manage their money? I tried YNAB and I just couldn’t get my head around it during the free trial. My problem is I have some guaranteed income. Some monthly some weekly and other non guaranteed income randomly through out the month. Now I can forecast roughly what I will get, but it’s so in dribs and drabs I struggle to put it into the right ‘pots’ before it’s spent out of the main account if that makes sense. As all my DDs come out of there. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated. 

missymoo81

Omg! I failed miserably last week, I just checked the bank and I spent £100 on cafes and meals out just last week! WTAF I’m so ashamed and gobsmacked how easy it was to spend that money and it’s not like I have that money spare either. I guess usually OH would have paid for half etc etc but there was a problem with his card. Not that that makes it any better! And I went out with a friend and it was my turn to pay. All excuses. But £&@* me! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

What an absolute waste! Don’t get me wrong we had a lovely time whilst we were out, but that could have been paid off of the mortgage! Honestly I feel sick about it. 

In future I’m going to set myself a spends budget of £200 a month, that’s to include all clothes or anything else, toiletries, books, days out etc things I want / need and all eating out will have to come out of that. And when it’s gone it’s gone. What an idiot! I knew I spent a lot on food out, hence my post last week but £100 a week is ludicrous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😢😢😢😢

RelievedSheff

We don't have pots for different things. All of our money goes into one account and all of the bills and spending comes out of that same account. But I guess we are fortunate in that we know that I get paid on the last working day of the month and the other half gets paid every Friday so we know when the money is coming in and how much it is that's coming in.

What was your £100 last week spent on? Is it things that can be easily swapped like taking a packed lunch to work or a flask of coffee/tea for example? 

missymoo81

Thank you @RelievedSheff everything was so much easier when I got paid on one set date and I knew that was what I had to last me. It would be easier if I could work a month in advance but I’m not sure I could save up that much money. 

Money was spent on:

1- food after work as forgot to make pack up and hadn’t been shopping 

2- food after training as didn’t have time to go home before school run.

3- dinner as hadn’t prepped dinner and didn’t have any time to make any between childrens swimming and work.

4- coffee and cake with friend. My turn to pay.

5- Treat Sunday lunch out as worked all weekend and wanted to enjoy the sun and absolutely didn’t want to cook.

The last 2 I don’t mind paying for as if OH had paid for half of the Sunday meal as normal. It would have been about £30 in total for 4 and 5. Which is doable and I don’t meet my friend every week. More like once a month and we pay every other time.

It’s the others that could have been prevented with more prior planning. It’s lunch that seems to be the problem. I need to think of a good way to do lunches without them being boring or not fancying them etc too. 

Still so cross with myself. But I’m sat outside with cogs turning in my head trying to sort through things and make them better. 

peb

I've thinking about your shopping list.  Yoghurt - I know you are busy but I understand from the OS board it's inexpensive and easy to make them?  Chocolate biscuits and crisps aren't really essential - I know you have baked things before but if it's for lunch boxes then maybe only have as an occasional treat.   If ham is for sandwiches then maybe a cheaper protein - cheese, eggs or even home made hoummous which is so easy  Maybe consider making little muffins for lunch boxes or frittata.  As JoeDenise says roasting a ham is definitely cheaper as is roasting chicken - either whole or for example thighs - even breasts though that's dearer.  I think you are buying cheaper sliced supermarket ham and tbh I wouldn't feed a lot of that to a dog. 

 Sorry, the issue is as always a time v money consideration. 

When I'm doing pack ups for work it's usually salad boxes or home made soup - easier for one rather than the four of you I know. The salad boxes are lettuce, tomato, red onion, carrot (sticks or ribbons) and green beans (a bag of frozen ones for a pound - put what's wanted in a mug with boiling water and they are done in no time) then the protein.  A tin of tuna does three boxes. With the muffins frozen spinach and Greek style salad cheese do make these inexpensive.

RelievedSheff

Dinners could be a relatively easy one to solve. Just bung something in a slow cooker in the morning and it will be ready when you are later in the day with minimum effort and fuss and you can use cheaper cuts of meat in the slow cooker as well. 

Lunches we tend to have sandwiches with a bag of crisps. We alternate what we have in the sandwiches. Monday's it tends to be some leftover meat from Sunday lunch and the rest of the days it is either cheese, egg mayo or tuna mayo. We occasionally have a salad box depending what salad stuff we have in the house and sometimes I will roast a load of veggies the night before and do some wraps instead with the left over Sunday lunch meat.

I know that it is nice to go out and eat out but while money is a bit tight is it really wise to be going out for Sunday lunch? This is probably one on the meals that is the easiest to make it go a bit further by adding lots of vegetables which are cheap. Then you can use the leftover meat for sandwiches and a meal one day in the week. 

Hopefully it won't be forever and when things come around to being easier again you can go back to enjoying meals out again.

We are finding that we are eating out and having takeaways less now that the cost of living is increasing sharply. 

missymoo81

Thank you both so much for your suggestions @peb and @RelievedSheff. i will take them on board and see what I can implement. 

Bluegreen143

I’m a YNAB user @missymoo81, I absolutely love it.

But maybe a simpler way if you don’t like YNAB is to have a separate account for spends, bills and short/long term savings. 

Whenever you get paid, move whatever you need to to the bills account to ensure bills are paid til your next payday. Work out what % is the minimum you’re able to put aside for savings - short term like annual bills, Christmas & holidays in one account and longer term savings in another. 

What you’re left with is your spending money til your next payday and you can play a game with yourself trying to make a cushion by stretching it further each time. If your cushion builds up too much, move some into savings.

Last year I tried out the daily budget app (either free or minimal cost). I went back to YNAB but it was an interesting concept. As you get paid, enter your pay (minus what you need for bills) in and how long the money needs to do you, and it tells you how many £ you have to spend each day. If you spend less it builds up which you can use for a big shop etc. If you overspend it goes red to warn you to cut back til it’s green again. You could make it complicated adding recurring bills etc but I only used it for spending money.

Sometimes it’s just a bit of awareness, you could add a sticky label to your bank card saying “is this purchase worth it?” To make you think. 

For lunches, if you’re buying lots of treats would you be cheaper with your kids on school dinners? We are still on the free ones here as Monkey is just P1, but once we have to pay I think it’s £1.90 a time. It may be your packed lunches are much cheaper so ignore me if so, but if it’s about the same, it saves you a chore at least. You could then spend the time making lunches for OH and you to avoid spending on eating out.

I’d probably give the Sunday lunch a swerve for now til things are less tight, but obviously it’s your call. I always think homemade roasts are much nicer than restaurant Sunday lunches though!

missymoo81

Thank you @Bluegreen143 I really appreciate your posting. School dinners would be nearly £5 per day so £25 a week for both, unfortunately not something I can stretch to. 

You’re all right of course with regards to Sunday lunch.

Bluegreen143

Oh yes, for £5 a day you could definitely do it cheaper yourself!